All-purpose open-wheel (F1, IRL) racing thread

It's easy to forget now just how lost in the woods Ferrari was back then. They went two full seasons without a win, a pole, or even a fastest lap.

 

Ivan Capelli was pretty decent at March/Leyton House, though.

 

I didn't realize that, but you're absolutely right. The only driver with more points in a March is Ronnie Peterson. That's pretty impressive.

 

Vettel wins again.

Silly season updates/rumors:
Bruno Senna signs with Campos
Kobayashi probably locked up a seat with Toyota today
Kimi still hasn't signed with McLaren (this was considered a done deal a couple of weeks ago), Toyota and Red Bull are apparently interested.
McLaren and Renault are interested in Nick Heidfeld
Fisichella might end up back at Force India
Fairuz Fauzy will probably be at least a test driver at Lotus

 

Love Kobayashi. He's really impressed me.

Thought Abu Dhabi was pretty cool. Good layout, actually passing opportunities, unbelievable facilities. Quality addition to F1.

Sounds like Kimi has narrowed it down to McLaren or nothing, and if his price tag is really $30 million McLaren should pass. If I'm McLaren I'd look at Sutil instead.

I've always liked Jarno Trulli, but man, he really hasn't done himself any favors lately. First he goes berserk over the Sutil incident in Brazil -- one that appeared to be at least 50% Trulli's fault, if not more -- and then he continues the rant in Abu Dhabi, insisting he has photos and documents proving Sutil was to blame. Meanwhile he's being outdriven by a kid with 150+ fewer F1 starts on his resume. I suspect he ends up at Lotus next year -- he's close with Mike Gascoyne, and a new team could use his experience developing the car -- but it wouldn't surprise me if even Gascoyne backed away from him at this stage.

 

Just saw this: Bridgestone is bailing after next season. And there is no particularly obvious replacement.

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns21971.html

 

Wow! That's rather massive.

Bring back Pirelli!

 

The first domino falls, Barrichello to Williams.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8337807.stm

 

And I think it's a virtual lock that Rosberg is at Brawn, which leaves a hole at McLaren. It's looking more and more like it may not be Kimi going there. They probably won't take Kovalainen back. Sutil is apparently close to re-upping with Force India. Glock is going to Renault. I'm not sure where that leaves them, but I don't see a lot of obvious choices out there.

 

Hope you liked that same Izod commercial over and over and over on Indy Car ... http://bit.ly/3ydeba

 

The Indy Racing League IZOD IndyCar Series. A bit of a mouthful, but good to finally have a sponsor for the series.

 

Hulkenberg (GP2 champ) to Williams also.

It makes sense since Williams is dropping Toyota as their engine maker, leaving no pressure to drop Nakajima. Plus with Hulkenberg the Williams test driver this season it just made sense. I was calling for this to happen after GP2 finished, but for some reason they didn't give him a couple races this season.

I'm surprised there haven't been many rumors of USF1's drivers. Waiting until Sprint Cup ends?