Team Willy spoilt for choice

Who'd have thunked it, eh?

A seat in a Williams F1 car for 2012 is now the most hotly contested thing in F1 (if you ignore the piece of tarmac Lewis and Rubens want to be on, that is).

With surprise signings at both Lotus Renault and Toro Rosso resulting it all their 2011 drivers getting the F1 heave-ho, it's fallen to Frank's mob to offer a chance for the refugees from these two teams, plus a few other drivers unceremoniously dumped in the constant quest for "the next Seb".

Sutil, Senna, Petrov, Buemi, Alguersuari and D'Ambrosio all need a drive, and Barrichello certainly wasn't planning on calling it a day either. And, before you mention it, I know HRT have a seat free too, but... seriously... who'd go there? Apart from Pedro de la Rosa, of course. It's on the way to the pension office, I believe.

I'm guessing Sutil, but with Maldonado signed up again for next year (along with some more hefty bags of cash), Williams need a decent driver, which to my entirely biased and untrained eyes, rules out Petrov at least.

When the musical chairs stop, there will be at least 6 unhappy boys, who'll be trying to look convincing next year when they say "I really wanted to sign to xxx as their test driver - it's an important move for my career". Yes. A move towards the exit.

Good luck with that, chaps.

(Tunage tonight by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. A CD I purchased by mistake when buying a present for someone. I got them confused with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Easy mistake.)

Comments

Malaysian Grand Prix - Vettel hot, but not bothered

Malaysia. It's always hot, and it always rains. Except the 2nd part is no longer true (unless you count the drizzly bit around lap 14). Saturday's qualifying session had highlighted the fact that Red Bull and McLaren seemed well matched on pace, but also that Ferrari were struggling. Whilst Vettel bagged another pole, followed by Hamilton, Webber and Button, Alonso was only 5th, and Massa 7th, with Nick Heidfeld an excellent 6th on the grid between the two red cars. At this point, I would like to break momentarily for a small rant: How many times do I have to say Heidfeld is good? Why wasn't he given a top drive years ago? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?! ARE YOU BLIND!!!?? Ahem. The Hispanias somehow managed to a) turn up b) remember to bring cars c) get both of them on the track d) actually get both of them within 107%. Pretty remarkable really. Oh, and it didn't rain. Race day looked a more likely candidate for a drop of the wet stuff. The start was exciting, with

I know I'll regret this...

For @Feisty_Onion @BroughtonLass @LizWestmorland Me... before the grumpiness set in. Have a great weekend.

Senna bags Willy drive?

The great thing about F1 rumours is that they change every 5 minutes. Just last week it was looking like Barrichello might be back in at Williams, as new engines, tech staff and a general reshuffle would mean they needed someone who actually knew what they were doing in an F1 car. Which rules out Maldonado, obviously. Now it looks like Senna might be about to get a seat with the team where his Uncle lost his life. I'm sure Bruno's mum must be delighted. I don't hold with all this superstitious mumbo-jumbo though, and with the extraordinary level of safety in modern F1 cars, Bruno should be pretty safe. There is one significant problem with Williams signing him though - and this is going to be a bit unpopular I suspect - Bruno isn't very good. Yes, he put in a couple of reasonable performances with Renault, but Nick Heidfeld (ah... Nick and his lovely beard...) would have been able to do likewise, has he not been dropped. And then they dropped Senna too. Thi

grumpyf1

Search This Blog