2011 Driver Transfer Market

I'd take any combination of Sutil, Hulk and Di Resta. Di Resta has a lot of promise from junior formula and already knows the team very well. Sutil is a known quantity, and would be a good benchmark to judge the other two on if in 2012 Sutil leaves and they could only pick Hulk or di Resta. Hulk also has huge potential and had a steady and decent season in 2010.

Its not really a financial decision anyway, as Liuzzi didn't bring money, only Sutil did. Neither di Resta or Hulk bring money, though obviously di Resta has the approval of Mercedes which may or may not have bonuses to do with the engine supply deal.
 
Karthikeyan to drive for hispania?

Saw this story floating around... Not sure of it's validity, but I always thought Karthikeyan deserved another shot. Only time will tell on the article's validity.

Edit: Forgot to mention, Karthikeyan had a few outings for Team Kolles, and has a lot of personal sponsorship. Wouldn't be too unreasonable for the story to be true. Again, all this hinges on whether or not HRT even make the grid.
 
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I'm faceplaming if HRT have signed him, TATA must be paying a stupid amount to get him back in a F1 car.
 
Only_in_f1
Jon Noble @ Autosport reckons its spot on confirmed tomorrow.
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Linked

Good news then. Providing HRT make the grid, and stay there long enough. Anyone see this one coming? Had thought that given Karthikeyan's "strained" relationship with Vijay Mallya his F1 chances were over. (when the force india team was announced, Narain was the first name that popped into my head)

Good to see him return, and it will give us another insight into returns to f1 from a long absence.

Bee
I'm faceplaming if HRT have signed him, TATA must be paying a stupid amount to get him back in a F1 car.
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I thought he performed quite reasonably with Jordan. But given the fact that he's signed with HRT, I think it's obvious that there's a lot of money involved.

EDIT: His wikipedia page has been updated. Not that that really means anything though...
 
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F1 fan
Good to see him return, and it will give us another insight into returns to f1 from a long absence.
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We seriously going compare him to Schumacher? :lol: Ok.



F1 fan
I thought he performed quite reasonably with Jordan. But given the fact that he's signed with HRT, I think it's obvious that there's a lot of money involved.
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Absolutely, which is why the best driver they had all of last season (Klien) won't stand a chance of a drive. I'm half expecting Senna to be retained alongside.

They should totally sign Takuma Sato mind you.
 
Bee
We seriously going compare him to Schumacher? :lol: Ok.
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No, but it should give us another insight. By that logic, we could also compare him to Luca Badoer or Jan Lammers.





Bee
Absolutely, which is why the best driver they had all of last season (Klien) won't stand a chance of a drive. I'm half expecting Senna to be retained alongside.
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Don't really think anyone wants Senna. Not unless he comes up with a massive sponsorship package. I agree that Klien was the best they had. Maybe someone will take note of that and put him in a test and reserve role in a team that has half a chance of scoring points.
 
And here I was thinking Hispania knew when they were shooting themselves in the foot.

Also, there's no way Senna will be retained. Colin Kolles said that Davide Valsecchi "learned more about the car in a single afternoon than some drivers did all season" after the Abu Dhabi young driver tests. It's a backhanded swipe at Senna for sure. I'm surprised Kolles didn't drop him sooner, though I suspect Senna's contract protected him and the most Kolles could do was boot him out for Silverstone after that damning internal e-mail did the rounds.
 
Actually, Karthikeyan going to Hispania is not as random as first thought. In fact, you could say that if we knew some things about him yesterday, he wouldn't so much be the rank outsider for the drive as he would be a favourite - because he already knows Colin Kolles. They met back in 2005 when Karthikeyan was racing for Jordan and Alex Shnaider's Midland consortium bought the team. Kolles was the man Shnaider put in charge. Although they went their separate ways shortly thereafter, Kolles called Karthikeyan up to drive for him at the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours, but Karthikeyan injured his shoulder in the lead-up to the race, and the on-site medics didn't give him clearance to take part. It's an obscure history between the two men, but Kolles obviously thought enough of him to draft him into the Le Mans team and recal him for Formula 1.
 
interludes
Actually, Karthikeyan going to Hispania is not as random as first thought. In fact, you could say that if we knew some things about him yesterday, he wouldn't so much be the rank outsider for the drive as he would be a favourite - because he already knows Colin Kolles. They met back in 2005 when Karthikeyan was racing for Jordan and Alex Shnaider's Midland consortium bought the team. Kolles was the man Shnaider put in charge. Although they went their separate ways shortly thereafter, Kolles called Karthikeyan up to drive for him at the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours, but Karthikeyan injured his shoulder in the lead-up to the race, and the on-site medics didn't give him clearance to take part. It's an obscure history between the two men, but Kolles obviously thought enough of him to draft him into the Le Mans team and recal him for Formula 1.
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Yes, nothing to do with the Tata money and the CFD partnership....:rolleyes:

I don't see how anyone didn't make the connection between him and Kolles (unless they didn't know obviously). Its not some secret we only learnt today. So although no one really saw it coming, its not because we didn't think Kolles would call on drivers he knew, its because its pretty clear Hispania are not looking for talent just yet. That meant that the HRT seats were/are completely open to anyone.

The surprise is more about the backing he suddenly has. Why wasn't he in the seat last year? Maybe Tata are looking to increase their stake in F1, who knows. Obviously the Indian GP will have been a catalyst.

Obscure history? :lol: Clearly someone hasn't followed Colin Kolles very much at all...

I'm as surprised as everyone else to see Narain back. He didn't do badly in 2005, but he wasn't impressive. For Hispania, its win-win because they secure proper funding and a CFD partnership, which matters far more than hiring a GP2 champion or whatever, as well as a driver who should be better than Yamamoto. At this end of the grid, it doesn't matter how good your drivers are, just as long as they finish races. Its more important to gain as much immediate funds as possible and to invest in the team's staff, facilities and car. Once they form some kind of stability they can focus on driver line-ups. Sure, hiring Klien and Heidfeld would be more beneficial results wise but when you barely have the facilities and car to let them deliver results, its really better to try and secure the finances of the team than go for star drivers.
Ideally, Hispania would love to take on a great driver who has a mass of funds and connections with wind tunnel companies or engine suppliers. Problem is, there aren't many great drivers who have those things behind them.
Hispania really weren't going to hire better. I will be surprised if the other seat is filled by a non-paying driver.
 
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Ardius
Yes, nothing to do with the Tata money and the CFD partnership....:rolleyes:
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I don't mean that their history was the only reason why Karthikeyan got the gig, but rather that it helped grease the wheels. If you were Kolles and you had two identical drivers vying for the seat with the same amount of sponsor money and experience to their name, but you had already worked with one of them, which would you choose, assuming you can only have one?
 
Well yeah, obviously, but I don't see where anyone said this was a completely random sigining with no connections? You post as if its a revelation that Kolles already knows these drivers from before.
I doubt Kolles would have turned down drivers who had bigger wallets or connections just because he knew other drivers better. Its not really surprising he seems to know a lot of pay drivers...they were pay drivers before too.

May I ask did you know that Gascoyne has worked with Jarno Trulli before? Or that John Booth has worked with Lucas Di Grassi before? Or are these obscure histories to you too?
 
How is Di Grassi's history with Manor obscure? Its quite easy to find out if you bother to even look up. I didn't ever watch F3 Euroseries, I did easily find out why Virgin hired Di Grassi for 2010...mostly because Virgin/Manor mentioned it themselves at the start of the season. But also because its right there in his race records...I knew bugger all about Lucas Di Grassi till he signed up last year other than seeing a few glimpses of GP2 and knowing he was previously Renault reserve/test driver.
Obscure is if Kolles only ever met Narain Karthikeyan through a dental appointment. Having raced for him in both F1 and LMS is certainly not obscure.

I'm surprised that for someone such as yourself, who I assumed read quite a lot of F1 gossip and news, doesn't know about these connections. I also didn't like the tone of your earlier post, as if responding to an opinion no one voiced, I don't really know who you were addressing. There's nothing wrong with not knowing, there is with the way you address the thread with "Actually its not random" - who said it was?
 
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Ardius
Obscure is if Kolles only ever met Narain Karthikeyan through a dental appointment. Having raced for him in both F1 and LMS is certainly not obscure.
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Perhaps "obscure" was the wrong word to use. I do regularly check out drivers and their histories, but my main source on this is Wikipedia. It's not the best source, I know, but I have no other. And taken at face value from those pages, it's easy to miss where Karthikeyan and Kolles crossed paths. Kolles was involved with Jordan in 2005, but only once Midland bought them out. And while Karthikeyan was set to drive for him at Le Mans in 2009, he was dropped before the race began and the Wikipedia page makes no mention of him. Until today, I had no reason to suspect a connection between either driver. The only reason why I found one was because I looked at Karthikeyan's page on Wikipedia. I never would have picked him as being in contention for the drive, because he hasn't raced in Formula 1 in five years. So when I'm looking at potential candidates for Hispania, Karthikeyan wasn't at the top of my list. He wasn't even on my list. But if I had known that he and Colin Kolles had collaborated in the past before now, he certainly would have appeared on my shortlist.
Ardius
There's nothing wrong with not knowing
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I find it more frustrating than anything. I like the silly season, and I like to think I've had a pretty good track record with predicting driver moves. Even if I don't get them exactly right - I can be very stubborn; I denied Jenson Button would go to McLaren last year right up until the moment he signed, but that was largely because I was invested in him as a driver and I care where he went - but the drivers who do end up in race seats are usually on my shortlist for those seats. Karthikeyan took me completely by surprise, and I'm kicking myself that I didn't see it sooner.

Also, I kind of copy-and-pasted that message into a couple of forums, so it might be a little out of context.
 
interludes
Perhaps "obscure" was the wrong word to use. I do regularly check out drivers and their histories, but my main source on this is Wikipedia. It's not the best source, I know, but I have no other. And taken at face value from those pages, it's easy to miss where Karthikeyan and Kolles crossed paths. Kolles was involved with Jordan in 2005, but only once Midland bought them out. And while Karthikeyan was set to drive for him at Le Mans in 2009, he was dropped before the race began and the Wikipedia page makes no mention of him. Until today, I had no reason to suspect a connection between either driver. The only reason why I found one was because I looked at Karthikeyan's page on Wikipedia. I never would have picked him as being in contention for the drive, because he hasn't raced in Formula 1 in five years. So when I'm looking at potential candidates for Hispania, Karthikeyan wasn't at the top of my list. He wasn't even on my list. But if I had known that he and Colin Kolles had collaborated in the past before now, he certainly would have appeared on my shortlist.

I find it more frustrating than anything. I like the silly season, and I like to think I've had a pretty good track record with predicting driver moves. Even if I don't get them exactly right - I can be very stubborn; I denied Jenson Button would go to McLaren last year right up until the moment he signed, but that was largely because I was invested in him as a driver and I care where he went - but the drivers who do end up in race seats are usually on my shortlist for those seats. Karthikeyan took me completely by surprise, and I'm kicking myself that I didn't see it sooner.

Also, I kind of copy-and-pasted that message into a couple of forums, so it might be a little out of context.
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Its more the way you said it that got me. I'm not saying you were stupid for not seeing it earlier or not knowing. Its just the way you worded the post.

tankuroded
^ Given Tata is Indian, they should be in Force India. :dopey:
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Tata did have ties with Force India till recently.
 
Nakajima could be a good choice for the second seat. He's backed by Toyota and has a modest amount of experience.
 
And Karun turns down HRT as well. That means that either Klien or Sakon will get the other seat, unless they get someone out of the team. Maybe that's why they were waiting until FI made an announcement so HRT could get whoever they dumped.
 
How is the 3rd/Reserve driver scene shaping up? There must be at least 5 teams with unconfirmed 3rd/R drivers?
A very long shot but I believe the mercedes seat is still available, so I would like to see Bruno miraculously sign in there.
 
Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes, Renault, Force India, Lotus, HRT and Virgin all still have vacancies for a reserve driver. So all is not lost for people like Senna who don't have a race seat.
 

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