F1 Silly Season 2012 #2

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Adrian Sutil and Vitaly Petrov have emerged as candidates to become Ferrari's official reserve driver in 2012.

With Jules Bianchi moving into Force India's Friday practice seat this year, it was reported that Italian GP2 driver Davide Rigon had succeeded him at Ferrari.

In fact, the Maranello based team is believed to not consider the 25-year-old as ready to step in should Fernando Alonso or Felipe Massa need replacing during a grand prix weekend.

Indeed, Ferrari said Rigon has extended his contract and will be "on call ... for all racing and promotional activities".

The team did not mention official reserve driving duties.

Finland's Turun Sanomat said the real frontrunners for the job are the respective Renault and Force India refugees Vitaly Petrov and Adrian Sutil.

Russian Petrov played down the rumour.

"If you want to go to Ferrari, you don't want to go for one year only," he insisted.

"I can't say whether it has been discussed or not, but for me I think it is too early to go to Ferrari. Maybe in one or two years the time will be right."

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Jan.31 (GMM) After his Toro Rosso ousting, Jaime Alguersuari could emerge with the Mercedes team in 2012.

The Spanish sports daily AS reports that Ipic, Abu Dhabi's international petroleum investment company, is unhappy with Red Bull for ousting the young Spaniard from its driver programme.

IPIC owns the Spanish oil company Cepsa, which last year became a major Toro Rosso sponsor.

Alguersuari, according to the report, "had become the image of the company in its international expansion plans".

Through its investment vehicle Aabar, Abu Dhabi is also involved in F1 as a significant shareholder and sponsor of the works Mercedes team.

AS said the Abu Dhabi link could see Alguersuari, 21, line up as the official reserve driver for Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg this year.

The report added that an Abu Dhabi-backed Alguersuari could be important to Mercedes, amid rumours the team's title sponsor Petronas might leave the sport.

Petronas, the Malaysian oil company, recently stopped sponsoring the Yamaha team in MotoGP.

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The latest rumours from the F1 world suggest that Giedo Van der Garde is about to be named as the Caterham F1 Team test driver, unless Vitaly Petrov comes up with money to take over Jarno Trulli’s drive. The word is that there was a deal between Petrov and Caterham, but that the promised money has yet to arrive from Russia. It is said that one of the reasons that Petrov lost his job at Lotus F1 Team (the old Renault F1) was that his money took a long time to appear.

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Narain Karthikeyan has been revealed as HRT's second driver for the 2012 season, returning to the Murcia-based squad after an eight-race spell in the sport last season. The Indian, who marked his 35th birthday in January, joins Spanish driver Pedro de la Rosa at the outfit, the latter also making a full-time comeback.

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Dani Clos has been revealed as HRT's 2012 test driver, the Spaniard joining Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan at the Murcia squad. Having contested GP2 for the past three years, picking up one race win and a further seven podium finishes in the process, the 23-year-old has hailed it as a pivotal career move.

“I’m very proud to be a part of HRT Formula 1 Team,'" said Clos, who hails from Barcelona. "It is a great step in my career, something that I have dreamt of all my life and, finally, my dream is starting to come true. I’m very impressed with the job the team is doing; they’re achieving fantastic things in a short space of time.

"I want to thank Saúl Ruiz de Marcos (HRT CEO) and Luis Pérez-Sala (HRT Team Principal) for the trust they’ve shown in me and, above all, I would like to thank the people who have always been by my side, such as Leonardo Soldevila and my father."

Clos tested for the outfit during the Abu Dhabi Young Driver event in December last year, but he believes big structural improvements have been made since then.

"The team has changed a lot since we met in the Abu Dhabi tests and I think it’s a great opportunity and an honor to form a part of this team," he added. "What they’re achieving is very important for motorsport in our country and has a lot of potential.

"Also, being alongside Pedro de la Rosa is very important for me, since he and Karthikeyan can positively contribute to me becoming a better driver."

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Op maandag 13 februari 2012 12:01 schreef vosss het volgende:

[..]

Ik snap niet dat het mensen hun droom is om bij een derderangs gaar F1 team te rijden

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Op donderdag 29 maart 2012 15:37 schreef sasquatsch het volgende:

Verder wil Pirelli Alguersuari of Trulli gebruiken als testcoureur.