Thread: Renault sign Yamamoto as test driver

Strewth.

Well, I guess if the car is a dog this year no surprises as to who gets the blame........

Is this the same Sakon that did so badly in the Super Aguri......?

It was Ide that caused the incident at Imola. Yamamoto hardly distinguished himself, though.

Originally Posted by cosmicpanda

It was Ide that caused the incident at Imola. Yamamoto hardly distinguished himself, though.

Ah yes. Well, fair play to Sakon then, good for him.

Sakon didn't do too badly in the Super Aguri.

Brazil 2006 - he got the 7th fastest lap.

To say he had no experience of the car before he raced it he did well. Same with '07 at Spyker.

Originally Posted by tamburello

In other words, he'll do the shake-down tests of the new chassis's and then do a lot of the demo work in last years car.

Well, it looks like new sponsor SANHO HUMAN SERVICE is the common link here for looking at the pic below of Sakon last year at Spyker, seems they were sponsoring him then too so am sure this is it.





Also, if SANHO HUMAN SERVICE wanted maximum publicity around this, and hence maximum publicity of their brand, why wasnt Sakon announced/presented with all the other Renault drivers/testers at the official launch recently where all the media was present?? Well... either this driver element of the deal came about very recently (which I doubt) or more likely, the deal involves relatively little money owing to the very small and ambiguos on-car branding (almost hidden away!), that any monies was likely offset with the Sakon part of the bargain as it were.

If you see the pic below, indeed Renault had their two testers (Grosjean/DiGrassi) on hand, as well as Ben Hanley from their RDD program (running GP2 this year as is Grosjean) - the fact Sakon wasnt even at the launch indeed makes me think that Tamburello's thought is very plausible.



Purely commercial and the fact they mentioned the Renault Roadshow so many times in the press release, well id imagine this willl form the bulk of Sakon's work in 2008 and that the bulk of development work in an era where testing is becoming ever more limited, will go to Alonso (and that magic 0.6secs!) and Piquet as he aims to acclimatise himself more to his new role.

Yeah, this is obviously sponsor related. Ok, aside from Alonso he's the only driver in the team to have actually started a race yet, but he's not performed too well at Super Aguri or particularly Spyker. It's not like di Grassi has a regular seat anywhere in 2008, I'm sure he could be a full time tester, with Grosjean being lined up for a possible seat whenever necessary.
I wonder how much time he'll actually spend in the car...

It is embarrasing for a team like Renault to hire someone for money only.

Originally Posted by Garry Walker

It is embarrasing for a team like Renault to hire someone for money only.

Not doing them any harm.

Originally Posted by Garry Walker

It is embarrasing for a team like Renault to hire someone for money only.

Well, they were not the ones being embarrased winning the WDC twice in a row, on an average budget now, were they?

May it create a speculation?

As there have been rumours about Renault's departure from F1 for some time, then maybe it hints that Nissan will replace them on the grid? After all, both car manufacturers are in alliance. Sure it looks unlikely now, but strange things have happened before.

Renault has several test drivers now (besides mentioned 3 also Parente?) - makes me wonder whether it's really worth hiring so many of them?

I reckon his experience, which equates to almost a full season of Grands Prix, could be useful for him to pass on to the younger drivers such as Grosjean and di Grassi, regardless of what people perceive as his lack of ability despite being in the worst car on the grid for the past two years.

All this without prior testing of the car.

Originally Posted by theugsquirrel

Not doing them any harm.

Well, the reason Renault hire Sakon was money. So yes, I think it is somewhat embarrassing for a top team to do such a thing.

Originally Posted by SGWilko

Well, they were not the ones being embarrased winning the WDC twice in a row, on an average budget now, were they?

How is that RELEVANT to hiring sakon the champion?

Originally Posted by jens

May it create a speculation?

As there have been rumours about Renault's departure from F1 for some time, then maybe it hints that Nissan will replace them on the grid? After all, both car manufacturers are in alliance. Sure it looks unlikely now, but strange things have happened before.

Renault has several test drivers now (besides mentioned 3 also Parente?) - makes me wonder whether it's really worth hiring so many of them?

Sakon was brought in for one thing only - his mum leads one of Renaults sponsors and Renault were a few millions short on money. The only testing Sakon will do will be demonstration runs and possibly straight line testing.

Originally Posted by woody2goody

I reckon his experience, which equates to almost a full season of Grands Prix, could be useful for him to pass on to the younger drivers such as Grosjean and di Grassi, regardless of what people perceive as his lack of ability despite being in the worst car on the grid for the past two years.

All this without prior testing of the car.

di Grassi and Grosjean especially are much better drivers than someone like Sakon, so what you said has nothing to do with it. If they want to learn from someone, there is Alonso.

Originally Posted by Garry Walker

How is that RELEVANT to hiring sakon the champion?

Erm, errr, ahhhh, errmm, perhaps, given that Renault are keen on keeping costs down, they hire a pay tester to that end.

It requires a little thought to work that out, but not too much.

Originally Posted by SGWilko

Erm, errr, ahhhh, errmm, perhaps, given that Renault are keen on keeping costs down, they hire a pay tester to that end.

Exactly what I have been saying. It is just my opinion, that for such a top team, doing that is a bit embarrassing.

If Ferrari hired Ide, I would think that is embarrassing as well.

Originally Posted by Garry Walker

Well, the reason Renault hire Sakon was money. So yes, I think it is somewhat embarrassing for a top team to do such a thing.

It gives Renault someone to offload their demo runs and straight line tests on, so their drivers can focus on more important things. It's a win-win situation. Looks like a pretty smart deal to me!

Originally Posted by Garry Walker

Exactly what I have been saying. It is just my opinion, that for such a top team, doing that is a bit embarrassing.

If Ferrari hired Ide, I would think that is embarrassing as well.

Renault is (or certainly was) partly state owned. Ferrari are still relying on the bottomless pit that is fag money, so budgets are not an issue.

And anyway, aren't Ferrari 'special' so FOM chucks money at them anyway..

Originally Posted by Garry Walker

If Ferrari hired Ide, I would think that is embarrassing as well.

Yamamoto is much better than Ide.

When I mentioned the other drivers learning from him, there are probably useful things he can pass on to them that Alonso wouldn't necessarily have the time/want to help them with.

I never said he was better than grosjean or di grassi but for all i know he could be as i've seen di grassi race about twice and tbh never heard of grosjean before this year.

even if they actually went for Yamamoto's money, having a test driver with F1 experience, will help a lot the other test drivers, as Alonso might/should be concentrated on winning races and not teaching newbies