F1 Silly Season 2012 #2

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Op maandag 16 januari 2012 19:23 schreef Tarado het volgende:

[..]

Hier dus weer

The new Williams driver revealed…
January 16, 2012 by Joe Saward
The Mole’s latest missive would seem to be announcing that Bruno Senna will soon be signed by WilliamsF1.

The Mole says that we should watch out tomorrow.

http://joesaward.wordpres(...)new-williams-driver/

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'Bruno Senna legt beslag op tweede stoeltje bij Williams'

Het team van Williams staat op het punt om de line-up voor 2012 af te ronden. Bruno Senna heeft maandag een contract getekend bij de Britse renstal, melden Autosprint en Grande Premio. De Braziliaan volgt zijn landgenoot Rubens Barrichello op.

Senna dankt het stoeltje bij Williams vooral aan zijn rijk gevulde sponsorbuidel. Hij brengt maar liefst veertien miljoen euro mee, met sponsors als OGX, Embratel en Gilette. De 28-jarige coureur wordt de nieuwe teamgenoot van Pastor Maldonado. Een officiële aankondiging lijkt een kwestie van dagen.

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Oksana Kosachenko, manager van Vitaly Petrov, is gespot bij de fabriek van Caterham F1 Team in Hickham. De Russische coureur zit na een gedwongen vertrek bij Lotus Renault GP zonder werkgever voor 2012, maar kan mogelijk bij het team van Tony Fernandes terecht.

Dat gerucht zoemt al enige tijd rond, al ging het daarin steeds om de plek van Jarno Trulli als racecoureur. De Finse krant Turun Sanoma bericht echter dat Caterham F1 Team het contract van Trulli honoreert en dat Petrov in beeld is voor de positie van reserverijder.

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Het team van HRT vraagt minstens zes miljoen euro voor het tweede racezitje voor 2012. De nieuwe teamgenoot van Pedro de la Rosa moet betalen, zo schrijft de Spaanse krant Marca. En het dagblad zet Giedo van der Garde bovenaan het lijstje kandidaten.

Het management van de Nederlander doet verwoede pogingen om Van der Garde voor komend seizoen in de Formule 1 onder te brengen. HRT is wat dat betreft nog de enige mogelijkheid, alle andere stoeltjes zijn reeds vergeven. Van der Garde kan de vereiste 6 miljoen euro ophoesten, maar er zijn meerdere gegadigden voor de plek bij HRT.

De Nederlander schreef gisteren nadat Williams Bruno Senna presenteerde voor 2012 op zijn Twitter: “Ik wacht nog op nieuws. Ben hard aan het trainen om me zo goed mogelijk voor te bereiden. Ik ben positief dat we spoedig goed nieuws hebben.”

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Op woensdag 18 januari 2012 12:11 schreef Katlaah het volgende:
Vraag me nu toch af, heeft ie de plek om zijn skills, of om zijn geld/naam? Want veel verrassende dingen heeft Bruno Senna nou niet laten zien in het afgelopen jaar, tenminste mij staat niks bij .

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Williams chief operations engineer Mark Gillan said that the team was adamant that it would go for the best driver it could - rather than the one offering the highest money.

"From our side we had an extensive driver evaluation programme with a handful of drivers, and we made the final decision based on raw pace, consistency, tyre management, technical feedback and mental capacity - and most importantly the potential impact they would have on the team," he said.

"I think in all those areas it was very clear that Bruno has not had a lot of experience in single seater racing, but has consistently shown improvement and real talent.

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They know a decent driver when they see one at Renault. Trackside operations diretor Alan Permane has worked with Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica and he says his impressions of Senna were largely positive.

"I don't think there's any doubt about his pace," Permane says. "What lets him down - and he knows it - is his consistency. But he didn't get a chance to show it. He had eight races with us but a lot of them were compromised by car problems."

Permane admits that it is difficult to be sure exactly how quick Senna is because Petrov is not exactly a proven top-level benchmark.

"Bruno was at least as quick as - if not quicker than - Vitaly," Permane says. "It's difficult to say whether he's going to be an Alonso/Kubica/Schumacher character, but some drivers take a long time to come along.

"Look at Jenson Button - when he drove for us, Giancarlo Fisichella destroyed him, and Fisi would be the first guy to admit he's not a mega. He was a very good number two. But now Jenson's fantastic. Can Senna do that? Only time will tell.

"He's very confident, very relaxed, almost performs better under pressure. The cars these days are trickier to drive (than they used to be) for someone who jumps in cold. And I think he did a brilliant job to do that.

"There's definitely something there. He definitely can be there on merit."

Backed by a budget or not, then, Senna more than deserves a chance to show what he can do.

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Vitaly Petrov is in the frame to land a test driving role with Pirelli for 2012 if he fails to land a race seat for the season ahead.

The Russian, who has most recently been linked with a drive at Caterham following his dismissal from Renault at the end of last season, made a surprise appearance on Wednesday at a Pirelli press event in Abu Dhabi.

Although the appearance with Pirelli is a one-off for now, Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery has confirmed that the Russian is being considered for an expanded role if he does not race.

"We will see how it goes," Hembery told AUTOSPORT. "There is always a lot of tyre development work to do, and we are eager to have a driver who has experience of racing from the previous year."

Pirelli currently has Lucas di Grassi as its tester, and the Brazilian is also expected to stay on for the season ahead.

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Petrov has been in talks with Caterham about a role for 2012, and there were rumours that he could even replace Jarno Trulli if the Italian decided that he did not wish to continue with the team.

However, Trulli said last week that he was unaware of the rumours and he spent time at the outfit's Hingham factory on Monday talking through plans for the season ahead with his engineers.