Sad news for the italian fans. Mirko Bortolotti lose red bull support and he's thinking to abandon races because he don't have money to continue his career in motorsport. To italian magazine autosprint he told that he have 2 options, remaining in f2 if he found money, or quit his career and go to university. He also told that toro rosso have just selected the 2 drivers for 2010.
I'm very sad for this news (I'm italian) because Mirko is the only talent that Italy have in this period and we are losing him.
We have only Jarno and Tonio in F1, but after them we don't have nobody. Nobody here in Italy are doing nothing for our drivers, and Ferrari have selected Bianchi (good driver)....managed by Todt Jr.

Here in Italy we are losing races (1000km monza, dtm,fia gt) and for the media (tv and magazines) only 2 things are important, ferrari and valentino rossi...all the rest is outline...
We have great drivers like dindo capello,pirro,tarquini,bruni,bertolini, but nobody are interested in them...
Bortolotti is another sad story of how is intended the motorsport here in Italy...

I'm sorry for my english.

Bad news for the lad, i wish him well in the future

You mention Rossi, he's not a bad person to have flying the flag for your country is he

Don't worry, you speak better English than most Brits on here

Hey, hey, it seemed only yesterday that he set a 58.xxx in Fiorano. What happened since then?

he have raced very well in f2...he have done good tests in toro rosso last time....unfotunatley his italian, he don't have money, and the federation here in italy don't help him...and the other italian drivers...half day of test divided in 3 drivers in ferrari after f3 is not enough...

I'm sadalso because Bertolini after the test of Mirko have reported great impression about him

He should try to get in the Ferrari junior driver program or whatever it is called.

Been known for a while now that Bortolotti wouldn't have any further funding from Red Bull for 2010, alongside Rob Wickens and Mika Maki, with the latter saying: "The financial support is nice, but I don't care that much."

Shame though, I thought Bortolotti was involved in too many incidents in F2 this year to show his true worth, though he did pop up in the top three most weekends. Not as good as Soucek or Wickens though.

I'm sorry that he lost Red Bull backing, hopefully he manages to find the budget to keep racing in F2. He would be one of the title contenders this year IMO.

he have got some failures in tha car during the races in many occasion in F2

Soucek is in for Ages, how can you compare with a newcomer ?
I'm more surprised when a new guy doesn't have incidents. At this stage the non-questionable speed is the most important.

How can I compare him to Soucek? Easily. They're racing in the same category, in the same machinery, on the same circuits, on the same weekend. Yes Soucek may have more experience under his belt, but it was up to Bortolotti, Wickens, whoever else to rise to the occasion and show their worth, which for the main part they did.

my big concern is that Bortolotti story is another sign that here in Italy we are lost the culture of motorsport...everybody speaking only about ferrari and rossi...
we have italian drivers on le mans podium (pirro,alboreto,capello,martini winners) since 1998...and only this year magazines and tv have speaks about le mans,only because there was Montezemolo...If you ask somebody who is capello most of the people don't know...
For example...sebring is usually in the same period of the first races of f1...the commentator usuallyspeaks only 2second of sebring and only to report if that ferrari have won in gt class...if an italian driver have won the race (like dindo done several times)...doesen't matter.
I'm not against ferrari or rossi...but it's not possible that everybody here in italy speaks only about them...after f1 races for example, television news speaks only about ferrari...not also about jarno or fisico...unlikely when they reace the podium...
I remeber very well when in 2004 jarno won in montecarlo and after the race commentator spoke only about schumacher crash...zanardi was at the phone and he said that an italian driver have already won in monaco..why speak about schumacher?the commentators say hallo immediatly to alex!
and I don't want also to speak about international races that we are losing every year like 1000km of monza or dtm or fia gt..
I'm very sad

That is todays world: without money you can't do shit.

Maybe he can work as a gigelo for those spoiled brats from that MTV serie 'The Hills'.

Or become Berlusconi's friend. Let's see how fast he has money then.

the problem is not to be berlusconi friend (also because he prefer female friends..I joke), the problem is the federation here in italy that don't do nothing...they think to have a clear conscience with a day (divided in 3guys) of test in ferrari after f3..but they are wrong

I'm not buying that. There are many promising talents coming from Italy competing in different classes.

I have always been surprised on how national motor racing in Italy has deteriorated in the last, let's say, 15 years: Italian F3 used to be great, now is barely relevant; the touring car championship became a dull low spec series the last time I checked (when Argentinean Adrián Hang was racing there) and this year we have been closer than in a long time in having no Italians in F1 (Trulli could have gone to NASCAR, I guess; and Liuzzi could have been fired from Force India in benefit of a 'rich kid').

Have you ever heard of Edoardo Mortara? The guy who won @ Macau and led Hulkenberg in F3ES with VW power? What about Davide Valsecchi? I would never put Bortolotti in front of Edoardo for talent and he's certainly a lot closer to F1 and has quite a lot better CV. I never understood how Red Bull chose Bortolotti, I think it was more to do with marketing after their Ferrari test. This years F3 Italia was a lot stronger and next year it will be even stronger, Formula Abarth coming along... it's getting much better.

Now that's sad to hear. Although I have always wondered why there never was a truly great Italian driver after Alboreto. Don't get me wrong. Michele might not have been one of the greatest ever, but after having followed the sport for over 25 years he is the last Italian with some kind of legend in him I can think of. I wonder how Jarno or Vitantonio got themselves funding as they're no way near as appealing as Michele was.

Of course there's Luca Filippi, Davide Valsecchi and Giacommo Ricci in GP2 and Edoardo Mortara in F3 of course. I don't see Ricci reaching F1 but the other 3 are talented enough. Filippi already tested for Honda in the past and Valsecchi is part of the Renault young driver development program whilst Mortara was supported by Volkswagen in F3. I do think Bortolotti is a talented driver but there is no proof why he would be better as Filippi, Valsecchi (both race winners in GP2) or Mortara.

I now that there are edo mortara..and I like him a lot..but it's seems that only mirko have chance to rech f1...and without reb bull support this itìs not possible.
Filippi I think have got some problems last years in gp2 and he have lost an opportunity to go in f1...the same for valsecchi...is in renault program but everybody now the econonomy situation of renault...
I hope for them that, if they cant reach f1, to find a place outside f1...like endurance, irl or other championship..because Pantano show that a talent can be lost with the only idea to arriving in f1
This is want I want tell...our drivers are not help by our federation

I'm Sorry for my english

Mortara is a GP2 race winner too y'know..... His only highlight of what can only be described as a 'difficult' year in GP2.

Apparently the reason why Mirko Bortolotti lost Red Bull's support was because he was reluctant to move to Milton Keynes. And who can blame him?

Davide Rigon is quite handy too, but he has zero money

Don't think they're good enough. Filippi shone for a while but he's been in GP2 for years and years, even got an ART seat and didn't get results. Valsecchi is getting better now, had a fantastic weekend in GP2 Asia recently, but has spent many years in these formulas without showing any particular display of talent and almost always getting beat by his team-mates. Mortara was great in F3 but something went really wrong last year - maybe he can still pull it off somehow. Ricci I know little about other than he was a backmarker.

Bortolotti on paper was their best hope, so I can see why the italians are a bit bitter at this - and I do think Red Bull are being too harsh by dropping both him and the canadian Robert Wickens. Not sure what they expected from them on F2, nothing but the championship?

Good call, I'd like to see Rigon get a proper GP2 chance. He was great in the big powered Superleague cars.

In before "if he really wanted that RB support, he would live in a box and drive for a 3 warm sandwiches a day for it!"

Now, seriously, how big a deal is it for RB to have him nearby? Savings on flights? Logistics? Going to races in short notice? More testing? Averting everything that Michael Andretti did wrong? Was it worth it ditching someone of his talent, presumably in exchange for someone else willing to acquiesce?

It's not about saving on flights and logistics. It's about a company policy and if he want's to be part of the program he better get on with the program. If he really lost his sponorship because he didn't move closer to the RB facilities than he doesn't deserve to be even close to an F1 car. There are 1000's of young talented racing drivers out there that would give up a kidney to have the opportunity to get sponsored by RB. There is nothing to add really.

Only Red Bull understands this logic: Give a kid (19 years old with only 1/3 days of experience) a chance in an F1 car, then watch him equal their official reserve driver when it comes to times set, then drop him less than a month afterwards

Had it not been for Vettel, the Red Bull programme would've been a travesty. The problem is that it dictates the ambitions of many young racers, and throw them into F1 way too early (Speed, Alguersuari, Klien to mention a few).

Didn't Ferrari test Bortolotti and he was quick around Fiorano?

I think this is a very underrated driver. He was awesome in Superleague Formula; this guy's got superb driving skills. would love to see him in a competitive GP2 team.

Seemed Badoer was the benchmark, so it doesn't say very much

Red Bull's Helmut Marko (former F1 driver and head of Red Bull's driver development program) showed a new light on why they dumped Mirko Bortolotti. And reading what Marko said in an interview I can only conclude it was Bortolott's stupid fault.

Red Bull had offered to pay another year in F2 for Bortolotti, so that he could compete for the title. But in return Red Bull demanded that Bortolotti moved to Milton Keynes (England) because they have a simulator there and their other drivers live their now too to train in the simulator. Bortolotti however refused to move to the UK and as a resullt they fired them. I would have fired him too in their case, they support and invest in his carreer and then he refuses to co-operate.

If this is true, bizzare decision on his part. I wonder if he had a good reason...

LOL, he has a very sound reason - the weather! Or may be he doesn't believe in sims and prefers his PS3, and it's more fun, there isn't an engineer to scream in your ear if you cut a chicane

Didn't fancy Milton Keynes, I guess. I can understand that.

Mind you, if you offered me an F1 drive

Your English is great, no problems there

Interesting thread... I remember a few years ago being Italian was a definate advantage to getting on in motor racing... didn't Mark Blundell say that he was tempted to change his name to Marco Blundelli at one point

F1 is super hard to break into right now without major major backing.

His career seems saved now (at least for the moment), great news

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81893

Being part of the Ferrari organisation he can also measure himself against Bianchi in the simulator and such stuff, and I reckon he'll learn a lot, being one year younger. Let's see how it goes. But the Ferrari initiative is great for Italian racing

Yep, they're really serious about growing an Italian driver and using the Ferrari brand helps A LOT!

P.S. Jules is basically Italian, a bit like Buemi ;)

My post from January 12th