photo credit: Flickr/Ian C

There’s nothing like coming across a headline in the midst of testing season involving Franz Tost still trash talking Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi.

Seriously, the Toro Rosso team boss didn’t think it was good enough to just toss the two out. He has them down and still insists on kicking them.

Tost claims, “thanks to Red Bull they have a very good basis to pursue their careers from” in an interview with Autosport. Really? You agree with the assertion that the two aren’t winners, let them go, and that should be that.

But no, they should be thankful for your apparent charity for letting them drive for you, while saying they were never going to be good enough.

Newsflash, Mr. Tost: you aren’t team principal for Ferrari, McLaren, or even Red Bull. Yes, Toro Rosso has acted as a jumping point for Red Bull, but you have ONE success story in Sebastian Vettel. EVERY other driver you have employed, where are they now? Not a single one is in Formula 1 anymore! Red Bull’s success is NOT Toro Rosso’s to share from midfield.

» Continue reading “Sky Is Blue, Water Is Wet, Franz Tost Is A Jerk”

Alex Wurz (credit: Flickr/janebelindasmith)

With the 24 Hours of Daytona going on, I do believe we can declare the start of the 2012 motorsports season!

While typically this race tends to feature NASCAR and Indycar drivers more than anyone, there are a couple former F1 drivers who were on the entry list….or in the case of Juan Pablo Montoya, a former F1 driver who is a NASCAR driver.

Giancarlo Fisichella is driving for Risi Competizione, just as he has in the American Le Mans series. This year’s race actually features a lot of American Le Mans competitors with Rolex competition GT cars.

In the Le Mans prototype world, Toyota is getting ready to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and will be asking Sebastien Buemi to drive for them. The team has already recruited Kazuki Nakajima and Alex Wurz.

Nick Heidfeld will be joining the Rebellion Racing team, and he is set to drive at least 3 of the races on the FIA World Endurance Championship calendar.

Oh, Helmut Marko, it’s time to shut up now.

Even though it’s clearly over and done with, the Red Bull team advisor doesn’t seem to want to drop the talk about Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari, despite dropping the drivers. Toro Rosso need winners, says Marko.

Let’s take a look back at all the winners Toro Rosso has ever signed, beyond Sebastian Vettel, who remains the only driver to ever win a race for this team.

Sebastien Bourdais…nope. Continually places second in Le Mans races.

Scott Speed….hahahahahahahaha.

Vitantonio Liuzzi….drives at the back of the grid now.

A look at the Formula 1 results tables on the Toro Rosso Wikipedia page tells you that this is a total joke. Vettel has provided their two best results ever as a team: first and fourth.

Marko continues to insist that Toro Rosso is a team for young drivers. He also says that Alguersuari and Buemi never provided any exceptional results. That’s funny, because that previously mentioned table shows they provided the best results behind Vettel in the team’s history. Sucks to be delusional.

It’s time to just let it go, Marko. There’s a reason that when you type “Helmut Marko” on Google, “Helmut Marko idiot” is one of the top results.

Photo from Flickr user nasmac

Hired, fired, hired again. I wouldn’t want to be Sebastien Buemi. After being ousted in favor of Toro Rosso becoming a team for drivers with less experience in Formula 1, Red Bull have announced that Buemi will be the team’s reserve/test drive for Red Bull, and will perform testing duties as needed for his former team too.

In other news, Williams has confirmed they are looking for a new title sponsor after failing to renew a contract with AT&T. Supposedly they are already in negotiations with another telecommunications company for sponsorship. Embratel is thought to be the company, and if that is the case, Bruno Senna would likely be the one driving for the team next season.

Kimi Raikkonen had a seat fitting with Team Lotus today. Raikkonen has said the fanfare surrounding his return has not effected him. He’s Finnish, is this supposed to be a surprise?

Photo from Flickr user brad2021hk.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, perhaps you also got the Haynes manual for the RB6. My ability to get on the internet currently relies on the use of a Verizon MiFi right now, so needless to say it’s not very much.

from the Bruno Senna Fans Page on Facebook

Bruno Senna posted this absolutely precious picture on Facebook on Sunday. For other cute holiday photos, you must go to Karun Chandhok’s Twitter. He kept me entertained at the airport with photos with his dog.

Speaking of Chandhok, he hopes to keep his spot as reserve driver for Caterham or with another team and drive in the new World Endurance Championship. There is also the new i1 series, but Chandhok has his eyes set on racing in Le Mans. It’s possible he could join the WEC with a privateer team rather than a factory team.

Damon Hill believes that Kimi Raikkonen is definitely capable of at least one more world championship. Hill doesn’t think Raikkonen will have any problems getting back into the pace of Formula 1.

Michael Schumacher was the top passer this past season, narrowly beating out Sebastien Buemi. Schumacher made a total of 116 passes, with Buemi right behind at 114.

- HRT wasted no time naming a new team principal. The team appointed former driver Luis Perez-Sala to the position. He is, of course, also Spanish, making it look more and more hopeful that maybe Jaime Alguersuari will race with the team….or they could really go for a surprise and grab Maria de Villota…

Oddly enough, Perez-Sala was teammates with the man who first started the HRT team, Adrian Campos. The team was called Campos Meta when it was first founded, before it even ran any races.

- Speaking again of those former Toro Rosso drivers, Adam Cooper reported on Twitter that Sebastien Buemi was in the simulator in Milton Keynes when he got the news that he was out at the team. Seriously.

- Ferrari plan to unveil their 2012 car in “early February.” Testing begins on the 7th, and they will be ready for it.

- While it was believed that Force India would make a driver announcement today, it’s not looking so likely. Of course they might also be going for that weird time of day thing that Lotus has used twice so far. It’s widely believed now that Nico Hulkenberg will in fact replace Adrian Sutil.

Photo from Flickr user JiteshJagadish

Dear Franz Tost,

I started out a Toro Rosso fan, because Sebastian Vettel was driving for you when I started watching Formula 1. Obviously he didn’t stick around long because the circumstances were right for him to move up to Red Bull Racing.

You can’t keep the same lineup for THREE seasons and then claim your team is “for rookies.” Every driver involved in this lineup change is shocked.

If you say the team is for rookies, that would mean your drivers change every season or two.

So far this has pretty much happened in the short history of the team, but only due to guys getting dropped mid-season.

If it’s all about getting a “taste” of the sport, then fine. But you’re clearly not “for rookies” so far, and it’s kind of funny that suddenly that’s the story when you shock everyone, including your two former drivers with your news.

The problem with what you’re claiming that it’s two seasons and done is that Buemi drove for three seasons. Obviously Alguersuari is excellent enough to not warrant mid-season replacing like Bourdais. But if this “two seasons with Toro Rosso” thing wasn’t pulled out of thin air yesterday, then Buemi shouldn’t have been racing for you in 2011.

And come on, you know Sebastian Vettel well. Toro Rosso drivers can’t just freely move up to RBR every 2 years.

If you’re mad you lost in the constructor’s championship to Sauber, then just say that’s why you want a switch in the lineup.

It’s just disappointing to find out that Alguersuari and Buemi were blindsided by this. Alguersuari did an interview with Autosport and said he is very surprised by the decision. It also sounds like he isn’t even going to try to find a racing seat at the end and pursue that whole DJ thing some more.

The whole rookie thing would be okay if a) you didn’t suddenly decide that’s how it works and b) if a driver is good enough to make it 2+ seasons with you, help him find a new seat for crying out loud.

Sincerely,

Amanda

In keeping with their tradition of introducing a couple good drivers along with mediocre drivers, Toro Rosso has dropped Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari. Their 2012 lineup: Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.

While I like Vergne, I can’t understand dropping Alguersuari.

Toro Rosso is apparently all about introducing young talent into F1, but what is the point if Alguersuari never races in it again? He’s actually worthwhile unlike the other drivers who have come through in the past for the team *cough*Scott Speed*cough*.

So, hopefully that Alguersuari to HRT to make an all-Spanish team rumor is true. It’s a downgrade, but maybe it’s just temporary.

Of course, the duo had raced for the team since 2009.

Photo from Flickr user nic_r

One cannot get writing a season review right away when a team drops a driver in favor of another immediately after it ends!

Now to just get used to calling them Marussia instead of Virgin Racing.

Marussia signed Charles Pic to replace Jerome D’Ambrosio after one season and announced it shortly after the race yesterday. The 21 year old French driver did testing for the team at the young drivers test in Abu Dhabi.

Pic has raced in GP2 for the past two seasons. He finished 4th in the championship this year.

Team principal John Booth said in a statement, “I’m very pleased to welcome Charles to Marussia Virgin Racing as Timo’s team-mate for 2012. We naturally keep a close eye on the junior formulae and Charles is certainly someone we have been watching over the past few years. The real barometer however was our Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi last week, where we put him through a series of tough tests to thoroughly evaluate his potential.

“This was his first time in a Formula One car so it should have been quite daunting, however Charles was extremely focused on what needed to be done and absolutely rose to the challenge. He continued to improve in every area but his race simulation work particularly caught our eye.”

As for D’Ambrosio, Booth thanked him for his work and wished him the best of luck elsewhere.

Other teams and drivers are being linked together even a day after the end of the season.

Daniel Ricciardo is rumored to be replacing Jarno Trulli at Caterham (known as Team Lotus this past season). Trulli is under contract with the team, and Tony Fernandes, team principal of Caterham, has said he doesn’t see any reason why Trulli wouldn’t be racing for the team in 2012.

Rumor has it that Red Bull want to keep Ricciardo racing, but do not want to replace their current lineup, and the deal with HRT will not continue. Then Jaime Alguersuari will go to HRT to make it an all Spanish lineup for the Spanish team, with Jean-Eric Vergne joining Sebastien Buemi at Toro Rosso.

Personally, I think Red Bull needs to get Vergne somewhere on the grid next season. They just have way too many talented young drivers in their program, and it makes this extremely difficult. Time to buy a third team!

Photo from Flickr user sumisso.

Friday’s first practice session at the Marina Bay Street Circuit had a long delay, thanks to loose plastic curbing along the track. The session ended up being cut down to an hour, as crews worked to fix the loose curbs around a couple turns. Problems continued into the second practice session,

The race organizers will be working overnight to fix curbing overnight, and the plan is as follows:

Turns 3 and 7: Curbing removed, a white line will be painted instead. Drivers will be instructed not to cross it.

Turns 10 and 13: Curbing will be fixed and will hopefully provide no further issues.

Turn 14: Curbing removed entirely.

Onto the practice itself! Lewis Hamilton topped the time charts in the first session, 1:48.599. Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso, and Jenson Button were the next four quickest in the session. Beyond the issues with the curbs, Heikki Kovalainen’s car caught on fire. This time he did not put it out himself, sadly.

Mark Webber busted his front wing on Timo Glock’s car as he tried to pass the slower driver around the track.

Sebastian Vettel was the quickest driver in the second practice session, completing a lap around the track in 1:47.375, almost three-quarters of a second over teammate Mark Webber, who finished fifth. This time around, Vettel was the one who found Timo Glock to be in the way, but managed to not damage anything.

Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and Felipe Massa took spots 2, 3, and 4, respectively.

Vitantonio Liuzzi, who sat out the first session for Narain Karthikeyan, finished last, and still has to start 29th on Sunday.

Both Sebastien Buemi and Michael Schumacher got cozy with the walls around the track, although Schumacher escaped any damage. Buemi managed to destroy his suspension. His teammate, Jaime Alguersuari, had to sit out most of the session with a mechanical problem. Toro Rosso did not have a very good day, as they “broke curfew” when Franz Tost showed up too early in the afternoon. Seriously. Instead of the usual overnight hours, curfew is 9am-3pm in Singapore.

Kamui Kobayashi took his Sauber flying, to round out the eventful day for everyone.