Grosjean will ne Kimi's teammate. Great news! I think that I may be supporting Lotus Renault GP next year, I can only hope that the car will be good!
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Grosjean will ne Kimi's teammate. Great news! I think that I may be supporting Lotus Renault GP next year, I can only hope that the car will be good!
Interestingly they'll still have to pay Petrov not to drive, similar to Kimi's own situation when he left Ferrari.
Renault picks Romain Grosjean for F1 2012 | Page 1 | F1 News | Dec 2011 | Crash.NetQuote:
Originally Posted by F1boat
Ah! Pity, I was hoping for JV to partner Kimi at Lotus. Then we could have 7 WDCs on the grid, and who knows... maybe someone could tempt Mika as well with an offer ;-)
JV should buy a stake in HRT and race for them!Quote:
Originally Posted by aryan
It would be epic!
Regarding the signing of Kimi I can't help but recall the Heidfeld situation. I wonder, how would Bouiller react if Kimi faces similar troubles in re-adjusting to F1, failing to get the best out of the car/outperforming team-mate convincingly/whatever. In any case, Bouiller was quick to criticize Heidfeld and sack him. But I guess they would be more understanding towards Kimi, who is more marketable due to his huge fanbase. And Lotus is perhaps actually prepared to wait and build the team around him, which they were not in Nick's case.
Or the Mansell situation, or the Villeneuve situation...Quote:
Originally Posted by jens
Odd choice.
I may be wrong in 12 months time but Grosjean, Bruno & Petrov seem about the same drivers to me.
I'd add Piquet to that list, too.Quote:
Originally Posted by wedge
I think Grosjean (and Hulkenberg for that matter) are a level above Petrov, Senna and Piquet in all honesty and have much more potential to go further in F1 IMO
Grosjean is managed by Geniiso so I guess Boullier has better room for maneuver for Kubica's comeback.
He looks better off in endurance racing. He has the makings of a top driver.Quote:
Originally Posted by Robinho
Several levels above Piquet in honesty, certainly!Quote:
Originally Posted by Robinho
Has there ever been a driver who has performed well in the second Renault seat? I suspect that just like the second Stewart/Jaguar seat used to be a poisoned chalice there is something about the Renault team that leads to a failure in getting the second driver to perform. Whether this is due to preferential equipment for the first driver or due to political machinations and a failure to extract the best performance from the second driver I don't know but I can't recall any Renault second driver sounding particularly happy. Imagine how desperate Piquet must have been to go along with the whole Singapore plan for instance.Quote:
Originally Posted by BDunnell
I wish Grosjean well and am glad that he got it over Senna and Petrov who both showed that their best skills and assets are firmly off-track.
In the period of 2002 - mid-2004 both Renault drivers were performing well, with the line-ups of Trulli-Button and Alonso-Trulli.Quote:
Originally Posted by Malbec
1 WTF do they let there drivers do stuff in the offseason
Raikkonen unhurt in snowmobile crash - Yahoo! Eurosport
Renault says Kimi Raikkonen did not suffer any serious harm when he crashed in a snowmobile race in Austria on Saturday.
when dose the lotus name take over ?Quote:
The Formula 1 returnee was reported to have fallen on an early run in the event and suffered pain from his left wrist, ruling him out of the rest of the weekend.
But the Renault team has issued a message via its Twitter feed underlining that Raikkonen was largely unscathed.
Very unprofessional IMO. I think that an F1 driver should focus on F1...
I was trying to think back that far, I don't think Button was at Renault then, by 2002 he had switched to BAR. But you're right, Fisi/Trulli was probably the only 'equal' driver pairing the team has ever had.Quote:
Originally Posted by jens
^^^ That is not cool. But I doubt that would hinder Kimi in any way.
I think Hekki and Fisi were well matched too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Malbec
(Add to that, Hekki is a damn good driver, except for his stint at McLaren, he has been very impressive.)
Button was racing for Renault in 2002 and joined BAR in 2003. Fisi and Trulli have never been racing together in the same team. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Malbec
I'm clearly getting old, I couldn't even remember Heikki driving for Renault...Quote:
Originally Posted by jens
I hope he does after all that bad luck that was chasing him and breaking his car...He deserves his victory this season.
Ow, imagine the irony overload if he'd sustained a Kubica-style injury :sQuote:
Originally Posted by CNR
Given what I see as Kimi's character , and the issue with Kubica's injuries being fresh in memory , I would imagine that a clause allowing him do with his off time as he wishes being one of the first things that he would insist upon in a driving contract .
I see Kimi as more a guy who would want to be thinking about how he was going to get past the rider ahead in that snowmobile race than whether he could race it or not , according to the team .
By the way , who won the race , and did Kimi's accident occur as he tried to pass for the lead ?
And , whose first-born did they have to promise him , to get him to join , or does he own the team now ?
It was widely reported that his talks with Williams fell through partly because he had two partners who wanted to buy into the team. I suspect his deal with Renault is similar in structure and involves a partial buyout.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bagwan
They do also have lives and hobbies besides F1.Quote:
Originally Posted by CNR
They do and it's a tricky thing. Teams invest multi-millions in these guys and need to protect that somehow. Let's think about the most recent mishaps outside of F1 racing. (Montoya tennis injury :rolleyes: , Webber bike/leg, Kubica, now Raikkonen). These injuries at times make a difference whether a team/ driver can seriously compete/ win a championship.Quote:
Originally Posted by 555-04Q2
I bet Lotus are kicking themselves for letting Kubica rally. How would they have ended 2011? A few ranks up the constructors list is worth millions.
I bet they were nervous as hell right after Kimi's fall.
Button was never liked by Briatore during that time.Quote:
Originally Posted by jens
Trulli pressed the self-destruct button at the 2004 French GP and ended up getting sacked.
From a team's point of view, they should not allow their drivers to risk their health in the off-season (or on-season for that matter). It's a risk that could ruin the whole plan of action for the team and that of the driver.Quote:
Originally Posted by kfzmeister
However, it's not fair to see drivers as commodities. In my opinion, the drivers should be given a free leash to use their spare time as they wish. They work hard during the year - it's only fair that they get to use their social life as they wish. If they themselves don't wish to risk their health by competing in order sporting events, then so be it. But I don't think I could sign a contract forbidding me to use my relaxation time as I like. Bearing in mind, of course, that I've never been in that exact scenario but I was told this at work once:
I had an injury to my arm which meant I had to take a few weeks off work. As the arm was recovering, I went out and played two gigs back-to-back. Unfortunately, this was too much for the arm to take in the recovery process, it seized up that night (a Sunday night before work on a Monday morning) and I had to call off work the following morning. When I went in on Tuesday my boss said "Well, Paddy, you'll have to quit playing gigs at the weekend." I told him to shove it (not literally obviously but he got the idea). There was no way I was going to let me day job stand in the way of my side passion and something that is closer to me than anything else I do.
On the other hand allowing drivers do something that is more dangerous than badminton can create a more attractive image for sponsors. Unless your main sponsor is a insurance company. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by 52Paddy
And you did not get fired at the spot? If my employee had behaved like that, I would have fired him right there and then and thrown him out.Quote:
Originally Posted by 52Paddy
I notice a distinct lack of forum members complaining about Red Bull allowing Webber to take laps on the back of the bike w/ Troy Bayliss at the end of last yr - or is it just a Lotus witch-hunt?
End of the day they aren't robots; accidents do happen; drivers have the choice whether they want to wrap themselves in cotton wool outside the season and team's have the ability to contract such that a driver is limited in what they can/can't do outside the cockpit to a reasonable extent.
Right. Well I wouldn't. I'd understand where they're coming from.Quote:
Originally Posted by Garry Walker
And you'd have had a fine lawsuit on your hands as well. Paddy's boss or any boss does not have a right to dictate what their employees in their free time unless it is enforced by contract.Quote:
Originally Posted by Garry Walker
If you reinjure yourself during sickness leave doing something your injured body-part clearly was not ready for, you will find I have a very good case going for me.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Black Knight
You will also find that I have enough experience in dealing with employees and if I want to get rid of someone, let's put it this way, I will get rid of him. It will also hold up in court.
Again, I have enough experience dealing with employees, in fact, I have been in court for that (obviously I won). My point was that someone telling me to shove it will not spend another day working at my company, it is really that simple.Quote:
Originally Posted by henners88
I would keep my expectations down in order to avoid a massive disappointment, which is seems highly likely. It is sufficient to observe Schumacher's uneventful return in 2010-2011. It's possible to draw too many parallels. Both former world champions left Ferrari after a not-so-good season. Both spent 2-3 years off and both return/returned to drive a car that can't fight the top three teams on equal terms.
I thought their final seasons were pretty good. Just the team thought that this 'good' was not enough and felt the need to move on. Of course in Schumacher's case age was and is working against him too.Quote:
Originally Posted by zako85
...and you'd be done for unfair dismissal. You'd've been within your rights to have written the first warning though - two more and they are out........Quote:
Originally Posted by Garry Walker
True - but if you are off work due to an injury preventing you from working, you cannot then decide you can do 'other stuff' while you are off.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Black Knight
I used to (actually, I still unofficially do) work for a property chap who was renowned for sacking people. They were morons mind you, but I recall one day (we used to have a door entry key code thingy that would get changed when a bod got the boot) when that door code changed about 5 times!
He was a ******* to work for, I had to duck the odd flying mobile phone or coffee pot. On the flip side, loyalty was rewarded. I would not be living where I am now if it were not for this chap......
Can we please keep this on topic (Kimi) thank you :)