Kubica's replacement... (It's Heidfeld!)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Roamy

well thank god I am not paying you 10mil to drive. It just shows you the disrespect by the current crop of drivers. And yes probably a handful of them are not competent enough to walk out their front door. So you want all the freedom and all the money too. Well a Pig gets fatter and a Hog gets slaughtered. Ole Kub may never even make it back to F1 and when he does he may be driving for HRT

---

Please say what's disrespectful about it. His employer knew and was perfectly happy, just as Red Bull, for example, has been perfectly happy for its drivers to fly back-seat in aerobatic displays for publicity purposes. Pretty dangerous, wouldn't you think?

Would you say that Jim Clark was disrespectful to Lotus for wanting to drive in formulae other than F1, carrying with it the risk of injury? Or Mario Andretti, for keeping up a punishing schedule of races for different teams the world over, carrying with it the risk of industry? Or Vic Elford for racing for Cooper in F1 in 1968, when his main employment was with Porsche as a rally and racing driver, carrying with it the risk of injury? By your reckoning, drivers of eras past were far more disrespectful than their counterparts today, who might occasionally compete in other formulae, but hardly ever.

I would hope teams would have a clause in there contract saying if you injure yourself doing another dangerous sport then you do not get paid or get a small percentage of your salary until fit to race again. So you can do it if you like but it's your risk physically aswell as financially.
It also seems that it's only Canadians clamouring for a return of JV, you need to get yourself a new younger driver to follow not keep trying to resurrect a career that's well finished in F1. Are there no decent young Canadian drivers ? Heidfeld would beat JV without having to break sweat in fact JV would be a match for Badoer these days. you need to let go !

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by foxystoat

I would hope teams would have a clause in there contract saying if you injure yourself doing another dangerous sport then you do not get paid or get a small percentage of your salary until fit to race again. So you can do it if you like but it's your risk physically aswell as financially.

---

I doubt this would work in terms of employment law. There is no way such a thing could only be applied to F1 drivers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by foxystoat

It also seems that it's only Canadians clamouring for a return of JV, you need to get yourself a new younger driver to follow not keep trying to resurrect a career that's well finished in F1. Are there no decent young Canadian drivers ? Heidfeld would beat JV without having to break sweat in fact JV would be a match for Badoer these days. you need to let go !

---

I agree with you there — it's rather ridiculous. Rather like us Brits constantly going on about how we'd like to see Damon Hill or Coulthard making a comeback.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Roamy

well thank god I am not paying you 10mil to drive.

---

Yeah well, Renault was happy to pay RK 10 mil (or whatever) to drive in F1 and still do stuff on the side, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they actually helped him pay for the rally drive. So, what's the deal, really? That you wouldn't have made the same decision if you were team manager? That's your opinion, it doesn't make RK disrespectful by any means.

We obviously don't share the view on money so that's pretty much a pointless discussion that I won't get deeper into, but I just can't understand how RK would have wronged the team when he obviously had their support.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mr Alcatraz

And how would you pay your bills and feed your family Laddie?
Still living at home are we? :confused: :s mokin:


http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...yHJF8H6F2Pg1pQ

---

you should change your name to Dick Head :p

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Roamy

well thank god I am not paying you 10mil to drive. It just shows you the disrespect by the current crop of drivers. And yes probably a handful of them are not competent enough to walk out their front door. So you want all the freedom and all the money too. Well a Pig gets fatter and a Hog gets slaughtered. Ole Kub may never even make it back to F1 and when he does he may be driving for HRT

---

You're assuming that the team had no idea Kubica was going to rally and was unable to control it. I don't think that is the case however, and the freedom to pursue risky non-F1 activities (or lack of it) would have been part of his contract.

Some teams are notoriously strict on what their drivers and other key team members are and aren't allowed to do such as McLaren. I know for a fact that one of the key inducements Red Bull offered to Newey involved giving him the option to take key weekends off to allow him to race at club level with McLaren having refused to let him do that. Kimi had to get special dispensation from Ferrari to go rallying when he was still racing for them too. Renault would have signed Kubica on knowing that he wanted to go rallying over winter, they knew what they were doing when they signed him.

There is no disrespect involved if its all done with mutual consent, and that was exactly the case between Renault and Kubica.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BDunnell

I would not prevent any of my drivers from doing anything they want to in the off-season

---

Bingo.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SGWilko

Bingo.

---

Nor, indeed, during the season, I should add.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Roamy

Robert has shown arrogance and disrespect for the team who is paying him a ton of money.

---

Hold on a sec here! It was with consent from his employer that Robert went rallying. The point I was trying to make, and which Baggy has elaborated on, is that where there is a risk, some mitigation of how that risk might affect you if something happens needs to be factored in.

My viewpoint is - fine, do extreme ironing off a snow capped mountain if you like, - but don't do it any time near the start or during the season, just in case you wake up in a foreign hospital with an ironing board up your Harris......

To me, it's common totty.

If anyone is to blame perhaps it be the rally organizers? That road looked far too narrow and dangerous to race on... That armco is designed to stop SLOW moving vehicles from falling off the cliff... Then again I guess most rallies are held on extremely dangerous roads... I do believe the Rally world needs to up their game in the safety department, because it sure seems that they just race whereever they want with little regard to driver and fan safety. Just like in the old F1 days, wrecklessness brings death / serious injury often.

I am sure Robert now regrets rallying, and he would be a smart man to never set foot in a rally car again, it's just too dangerous when you are hardly making any money (rallying) and there are plenty of other safer ways to get an adrenaline rush.

Unfortunately by the sounds of the severity of his injuries, it's highly likely he'll never race F1 again. The whole right side of his body from his foot leg arm hand were severely mangled. So lucky to be alive, just as he was lucky to be alive from that horrific crash in montreal..

I think the main part of the problem with rallying is there are far too many turns to memorize and even if your codriver reads perfect notes, on extremely dangerous narrow roads just an extremely tiny mistake means catastophe, even worse than racing F1 in Monaco. Just how many deaths and serious injuries have their been in rallying around the world since 1994?!

Anyways, I am rambling, I guess what makes the most sense is Heidfeld #1 and Petrov #2. I think it would be cool to see just how well Bruno could do though. I mean hell he has A LOT to live up to and he knows it. At HRT I think he simply lacked the passion to push the limits because the car was a joke, slower than even GP2 cars!!!! But it is true that Heidfeld is a supremely solid driver and just maybe he could get his first F1 win and who knows really, maybe make a big impact.

Very sad for Robert but also very much looking forward to this F1 season. :) Can't wait to see Robert in the paddock watching the races, cus I know he is a big fan of racing even when he is not racing, I wonder which race that will be? :) Maybe most imporantly for Roberts state of mind is that his codriver came away unscathed. That must bring so much relief to him. Man it takes some huge balls to be a rally codriver just sitting there at the mercy of the driver.

Oh one more thing, would be very interesting to know about the other teams and their driver contracts and what they will let their drivers do and not do. Surely a rally such as this would be off limits for the Ferrari and McLaren guys? I know they do some skiing but it's only for marketing (right?) and I believe they just go on a very easy slope and ski slowly?