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”

RB8, photo credit Red Bull Racing on Facebook

Red Bull Racing unveiled their car this morning, the RB8. The back-to-back champions are aiming for a third win with their updated car.

The car looks pretty similar to last year’s car, as does the McLaren. The only clear changes are to the nose and to the exhaust, obviously, to meet the new 2012 regulations.

The longer this goes on, the more I hate the nose. Two bad we have two more cars to cover… » Continue reading “Triple Launch Monday Unveils Red Bull, Toro Rosso, And Sauber Cars”

(Photo credit: Flickr/cybaea)

Williams have announced they will unveil their car on the morning of the first testing day in Jerez. That means no fancy event, just covers off in the pit lane on February 7.

Toro Rosso will launch their car the day before, which is the same day Sauber and sister team Red Bull Racing launch their cars. Unveiling for the Toro Rosso will also take place in the pits of Jerez.

Updated calendar of launches:
January 26: Caterham’s car revealed on the front of F1 Racing magazine

February 1: McLaren, you can watch live at 6am EST (11am GMT) on McLaren.com

February 3: Ferrari, launching from Maranello at 4:30am EST (9:30am GMT)
Force India, launching at Silverstone Circuit

February 5: Lotus F1, 11am EST (4pm GMT) (assuming this is online too as that’s what their website says).

February 6: Red Bull Racing, you can watch live at “13:00.” Just going to assume that’s also GMT, so that’s 8am EST.
Sauber
Toro Rosso, launching at Jerez

February 7: Williams, right before the first test starts in Jerez

February 21: Mercedes AMG, second testing session in Barcelona

Who knows: HRT, Marussia

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.

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

Sebastian Vettel won his 11th race of the season, also attaining the fastest lap of the race to match his pole position and victory in the first great race in India. It was the first time Vettel has been able to score all three.

Despite all the dust and slow work that almost led to a cancellation, the event was a success, unless your name is Felipe Massa. Massa left Lewis Hamilton no room and the pair collided for the sixth time this season. Six. In seventeen races.

Massa was given a drive through penalty, and shortly afterwards hit a curb and broke his front suspension. No, that’s not a replay from qualifying, where it broke on the right…this time around he needs to break it on the left! And the first shot of Felipe after retiring? Him heading into the stewards’ office to complain about being penalized for closing the door on Hamilton.

Kamui Kobayashi was taken out by contact during the first lap, as was Jarno Trulli’s wing. He was able to continue on, 5 laps down from Vettel at the end, clearly making it worthwhile to have an experienced driver in over Karun Chandhok. Mark Webber again had a fine start, but he was no match for Jenson Button who quickly passed him before DRS was even enabled. Vettel was able to take off and easily cruise his way to a win, of course.

Though Massa-Hamilton was clearly the incident of the race, the fight for points between Toro Rosso and Sauber was a bit less explosive. Both teams are now tied in the constructor’s championship. Toro Rosso more than likely lost out on points when Sebastien Buemi’s engine blew. Jaime Alguersuari finished 8th, and Sergio Perez 10th.

Racing will be back in 2 weeks at Abu Dhabi, only two more races to go this season!

Results follow: » Continue reading “Indian GP Recap: Leave No Front Suspension Unbroken!”

Sebastian Vettel secured his 13th pole position of the season. After setting the time his engineer told him, “Prost, 13. Senna, 13. Vettel, 13.” Vettel beat his own pole position time at the end of Q3, with a fast 1:24.178 lap on the new Buddh International Circuit. This is also the 16th pole position of the year for Red Bull Racing.

There are so many grid penalties for this race. Besides Vitaly Petrov’s penalty from last race, and the penalties for driving fast through the yellow flags for Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez, three more drivers have penalties. Narain Karthikeyan was given one for “impeding” (being slow) during qualifying, and Daniel Ricciardo and Timo Glock changed gearboxes.

Timo Glock also managed to not even set a time within the 107% rule in Q1, so he’ll be the one actually starting last. Q1, as always, knocked out the typical slow three teams plus somebody else. Of course “somebody else” was always going to get to move up a bit: Kamui Kobayashi starts higher thanks to his teammate Sergio Perez’s penalty.

Actual list of drivers knocked out in Q1 (18-24): Kobayashi, Kovalainen, Trulli, Karthikeyan, Ricciardo, D’Ambrosio, Glock

Actual grid for spots 18-24: Kovalainen, Trulli, Perez, D’Ambrosio, Ricciardo, Karthikeyan, Glock

In Q2, Toro Rosso showed their power as Renault continued to struggle. While Vitaly Petrov was fastest during Q1, he was knocked out this time. Both Williams cars were also knocked out, along with Paul di Resta.

Once again, Q3 turns dull with drivers saving tires: that would be both Toro Rosso cars and Adrian Sutil. This is incredibly boring for the fans, and either something needs to change with tires or penalties start getting awarded. You don’t want to run in Q3? Then you get to start like you were knocked out in Q2.

Anyway. Sebastian Vettel set a fast lap, which was good enough after Lewis Hamilton could not set a better one. That was not enough, as Vettel went fastest again, perhaps to give everyone a show with only 7 cars being out on track.

Felipe Massa’s front suspension broke over a curb towards the end of the session, leading him to call for changes to the curb. He will start sixth.

Because of Hamilton’s penalty, it will be a Red Bull 1-2, with Lewis starting 5th after his penalty.

This is the first time ever that all four Red Bull-owned cars are starting in the top 10. Owning an energy drink company and buying some racing teams truly pays off.

Provisional grid below the cut. This is the actual grid for tomorrow, complete with everybody’s penalties and not the one from qualifying. » Continue reading “Indian Grand Prix Qualifying: Lucky Number 13″

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.