Comments on: Toro Rosso boss expects ‘nothing’ from Alguersuari

By: Leigh O'Gorman

Leigh O'Gorman — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:29:28 +0000

James,
I too would like to see the return of testing as long as it’s limited, but why don’t they apply the testing regs that they have in the IRL.

You get several thousands kilometers of testing, but for every time you put a young driver in a test, your team gets “bonus” miles.

I think it would also be better if they didn’t test on any of the circuits that were on a current calendar.

By: Pitlane Fanatic » Hungarian Grand Prix Preview

Pitlane Fanatic » Hungarian Grand Prix Preview — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:01:02 +0000

[...] Bourdais, not least the question of how to pronounce his name. Nobody is expecting much of him, even team boss Franz Tost said, “I do not expect anything from him for at least his first three races, during which he [...]

By: James Allen

James Allen — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:10:01 +0000

Rudy, I think they should go back to having a 3 day test immediately after the Barcelona race, at the start of the European season, then have a test in the 3 days following Silverstone (if we are back there next year) and then a pre-Monza test in early September. It’s daft for the world’s most sophisticated sport to have no testing. And the tests are a great opportunity for more people to get close to the sport at lower cost. I think one or two tests may come back next year, as many teams have been inconvenienced this season.

By: John

John — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:50:31 +0000

They expect…a check from his sponsors.

By: Rudy Pyatt

Rudy Pyatt — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:55:05 +0000

It’s the New Math, where nothing = two million. Ridiculous, and grossly unfair to both Bourdais and Alguersuari.

Stuart, I’m with you on the testing idea. But if you’re going to sell tickets and have that many cars running, I’d prefer a return of the non-Championship GPs that were once common. You get to test under REAL conditions, judging form on that basis rather than on the Test Times Grands Prix. Your race team would BE your test team, getting the whole team (young drivers and those otherwise without F1 experience) tuned up for the coming season.

Example: American stick-and-ball sports (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL) all have a pre-season, exhibition games – the NFL has four – that don’t count toward regular season standings. The players get beyond mere training camp conditioning and into “game shape,” and the coaches get to evaluate new talent (and ideas) under the pressure of an actual game. Ya think McLaren, Ferrari and BMW would have benefited from this approach this season?

This can add extra revenue to circuits Bernie’s abandoned, and to others that would provide compelling spectacle in untapped or under served markets – even at tracks that are sub-F1 on the glitz and glamour scale. Let CVC pick up the travel tab as you suggest, but give the track owners and local promoters a profitable deal and everybody wins: More exposure for F1, more testing for the teams and, most importantly, more value to the fans.

Even a post-season non-points race would provide a chance to test new ideas, new rules, and new drivers for the coming year. Sure it will add some costs, but those costs will be a true investment into the sport. That’s worth spending a bit for. If FOTA really is serious about catering more to the fans, they should really go for this idea. Make it four races and you have it covered.

What do you think, James? How about Portimao (sp?) and the Sachsenring in the Spring and Watkins Glen and Montreal in the Fall? Or is this such an obvious idea (“too much like right” as we say over here) that it can’t ever happen?

By: Steven

Steven — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:26:28 +0000

They expect nothing from him? With the upgrades STR have got Bourdais could have got points. Ridiculous. I feel sorry for Sebastien and hope he makes a success in other racing categories like he clearly deserves too.

By: Al (21prods)

Al (21prods) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:40:25 +0000

From what I know (which is not too much, by the way), I think you’ll be proved wrong, James. I think Jaime Alguersuari has what it takes to become successful in F1, though I find his chance may have come a bit too early.

Let’s see what happens…

By: links for 2009-07-20 « vee8 - a Grand Prix and Formula 1 blog

links for 2009-07-20 « vee8 - a Grand Prix and Formula 1 blog — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:10:33 +0000

[...] Toro Rosso boss expects ‘nothing’ from Alguersuari – James Allen on F1 "Alguersuari is a rookie in the strictest sense of the word. He doesn’t know the F1 environment, has almost no experience of the cars and has to learn everything from scratch. It’s one of those situations where half of him will be saying, “I must take this opportunity, you never know if another will come along,” but the other half of him is saying, “The chances of failure are higher than the chances of success and my career may be over by the age of 20.”" (tags: JaimeAlguersuari ToroRosso HungarianGrandPrix) [...]

By: Warren

Warren — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:45:56 +0000

Not so sure this makes any sense to me. On the weekend that the car is due to get the major upgrade they replace an experienced racer with a teenager and then say they expect nothing from him for the next three races?

Bourdais may not have set the world alight in F1 but surely he would have been a safer bet for a result with the new package than having 2 rookies in the team, 1 who hasn’t even been to GP2 yet?

By: TinyJim

TinyJim — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:38:53 +0000

I think many media types overstate how hard an f1 is to drive in the modern era. Physically this lad won’t have many problems. Conveniantly the media didn’t pick up on Schumacher’s and Piquet’s quotes about they two days karting were ‘more tiring’ than F1. Jaime does a lot of proper karting so he’s certainly fit enough

He probably will struggle at Hungary purely due to the lack of familiarity with the car, but even though the lad is vastly wealthy he has shown in the past he has the talent to compete. Anybody that is racing KZ2 at a European level and then gets called up to test F1 in the same weekend has respect in my opinion.

f1 aint like it used to be. The lad will be fine!