Start of silly season, F1 drivers changing ships!

[nopanic - neil]

First one I have seen confirmed.

Nico Rosberg - jumps ship  

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/oct/29/nico-rosberg-williams-formula-one-f1

[Weena]

mmmmmmmmmm Nico Rosberg, he's gawwwwgeous!! 

[Rhino]

And it seems bernie has finally shut the door on Donninigton today.

[Barry]

And it seems bernie has finally shut the door on Donninigton today.

will the GP for that slot now revert to Silverstone?

I'm sure the PD will find some reason not to.

[Boorish Grobian]

Yawn!  Does anyone really care who's driving in F1 now.  F1's really become a laughing joke at this point.  This season will probably go down as one of the most forgettable in history.

[Boorish Grobian]

Hi Peter,
Life's good thanks, hope all's well with you and that your feeling better.  As far as the USF1 project?  I personally hope the wretched thing never turns a wheel.  I have nothing but comtempt for Peter Windsor, and think him one of the biggest dirt-bags to ever show up in the paddock of a racing circuit.
Fax

[nopanic - neil]

Hi Peter,
Life's good thanks, hope all's well with you and that your feeling better.  As far as the USF1 project?  I personally hope the wretched thing never turns a wheel.  I have nothing but comtempt for Peter Windsor, and think him one of the biggest dirt-bags to ever show up in the paddock of a racing circuit.
Fax

Tell me what you think about the USF! project, all this beating about the bush -  

[Robbo]

Hi Peter,
Life's good thanks, hope all's well with you and that your feeling better.  As far as the USF1 project?  I personally hope the wretched thing never turns a wheel.  I have nothing but comtempt for Peter Windsor, and think him one of the biggest dirt-bags to ever show up in the paddock of a racing circuit.
Fax

Grape vine is saying that Peter Windsor has been removed from USF1 - How do you feel about having F1 racing in the USA?

There has been some interesting interviews with amongst others, Derek Daly and his views on his son racing single seaters in the USA. Basically, the career ladder goes so far, then the money from stockcars is too good to resist - Hence the lack of decent American single seat drivers.

Jeremy Shaw's program of Team USA is an interesting one, bringing good American single seater drivers over to Europe, indeed Connor di Phillippi won The Walter Hayes Trophey at Silverstone yesterday and Honda Performance Development has a program of fitting a 1.5l Honda Jazz engine to a formula ford to help grass roots racing.

I wonder if America would be more intersted if they had a front running driver??

[Boorish Grobian]

The USF1 project will have alot more credibility if Windsor's out of the picture.
Kind of hit it on the screws, the temptation to go stock car racing is too great to pass up, given that its much easier to land a competitive ride rather than plodding around in a mid-field car in the single seater ranks.
Fax

[Nordic]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80002

Toyota are following Honda and Bridgestone out the door??

The Jap's really have fallen out of love with F1, shame as it looks like they may have finally found a driver who can put up a decent show.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8341602.stm

its now confirmed. Toyota are gone

[Boorish Grobian]

Could see this coming a mile away, I stand by what I've said before, what the hell do the big manufacturers have to gain by being in F1 now, if you look at the costs involved, and the venues for the race meetings, what's the point?  How many cars are Honda and Toyota selling in Bahrain or Abu Dhabi?  Seriously WTF!
Toyota's NASCAR program costs a fraction of the F1 program, and they race in a country where they actually sell a few cars.
It's all about bang for the buck...
Fax

[nopanic - neil]

Toyota's NASCAR program costs a fraction of the F1 program, and they race in a country where they actually sell a few cars.
It's all about bang for the buck...
Fax

 

So will Toyota do Le Mans - now or in the future?

[Barry]

So will Toyota do Le Mans - now or in the future?

Hope they do!

[Nordic]

looks like Renault are heading towards the open door as well, at this rate all the competition will have disappeared.

Well maybe the works teams, with the exception of Ferrari will be gone, replaced with a new breed of garagistes.

Renault works team may go, or at least be sold, but i suspect there motor will remain in the sport at least for a while.

I agree with Fax, the major car makers have little to gain in F1 and should stick to suppling engines.

As for Toyota at LM, I doubt it will happen next year as a works team, but there reletionship with Dome is well know. Maybe a bit of works support next year.

TTe I expect to have an R & D role for hybrids in motorsport, maybe WTC and a future GT or rally program.

[Andy Zarse]

Could see this coming a mile away, I stand by what I've said before, what the hell do the big manufacturers have to gain by being in F1 now, if you look at the costs involved, and the venues for the race meetings, what's the point?  How many cars are Honda and Toyota selling in Bahrain or Abu Dhabi?  Seriously WTF!
Toyota's NASCAR program costs a fraction of the F1 program, and they race in a country where they actually sell a few cars.
It's all about bang for the buck...
Fax

Agreed, I could never understand why Renault, Honda and Toyota invested this amount of money in F1 when they don't have a single sporty car in their range other than a couple of lairy front drive wheel-spinning hot hatches. They should be like Vauxhall/Opel and not even bother with motorsport as it's pointless to their dull products and image.

At least BMW and Mercedes - though I personally don't really like them - makes some proper rear wheel drive cars with a sporting edge.

Oh and do Peugeot make a single car a keen driver would actually want to drive?