35 replies to this topic

[noikeee]

http://www.motorspor...lp-rising-stars

 

 

“I am sure that there are lots of good drivers out there that will never get the opportunity [to race in F1],” Ecclestone told Motorsport.com.

 

“They will never get the opportunity to be in a competitive F1 car because people won't take a risk.

 

“If they are looking for somebody and they have a seat vacant they look at somebody who has a chunk of money.”

 

Asked what could be done about the situation, the 84-year-old replied: “I am thinking we can maybe do something in GP2.

 

“We can run a team and if we can see people who can move on [into F1], then we will put them in the car.”

 

Okay, so which scandal on Bernie is about to blow up for him to be trying to buy our sympathy?

 

Or is he actually going to do this but conveniently promote talented drivers from "emerging markets"? Or is this just an excuse to run a GP2 team at a profit like everyone else does?

 

I don't know, call me a bit skeptical but I just don't see Bernie doing something generous and altruistic purely for the good of the sport...

[Kev00]

If it was up to Bernie i think the team would consist of Haryanto and Leal.

[FerrariV12]

Yep I'll believe it when I see it. Russian Time kind of did this in 2013, but I don't think it happens often, and I don't see Bernie being the type to do it.

 

EDIT: Jagonya Ayam Carlin are probably the closest thing currently I can think of, they fund Gelael (owner's son) but also his teammates even when they don't have additional backing e.g. Blomqvist, Giovinazzi, Dillmann.

Edited by FerrariV12, 11 August 2015 - 12:30.

[FullThrottleF1]

http://www.motorspor...lp-rising-stars

 

 

Okay, so which scandal on Bernie is about to blow up for him to be trying to buy our sympathy?

 

Or is he actually going to do this but conveniently promote talented drivers from "emerging markets"? Or is this just an excuse to run a GP2 team at a profit like everyone else does?

 

I don't know, call me a bit skeptical but I just don't see Bernie doing something generous and altruistic purely for the good of the sport...

 

 

"I mean, I could give teams more cash so that they don't have to hire pay drivers and make it more viable for new teams to enter but nah... this works just fine" 

[Ross Stonefeld]

So we have a Super GP2 grid of the best 26 drivers not currently in F1. All the hottest single seater drivers, Kyle Busch, Loeb, Valentino Rossi, everyone.

How does that fix the problem of drivers being able to get rides in F1?

[rhukkas]

haha poor drivers? The experience you need to jump into a GP2 car and be competitive requires millions. The idea has no basis in reality.

[SealTheDiffuser]

So we have a Super GP2 grid of the best 26 drivers not currently in F1. All the hottest single seater drivers, Kyle Busch, Loeb, Valentino Rossi, everyone.

How does that fix the problem of drivers being able to get rides in F1?

??? Valentino Rossi might be the best of the best of the best of all time on two wheels, but was dead slow in the Ferrari tests.

 

to Bernies proposal: WTF? is he becoming senile and soft now?

 

all that would make sense "emerging markets" tyrant funded.

[aramos]

How do drivers make it to GP2 if they're poor?

 

Its not like WSBR, GP3, Formula Ford etc are cheap.

[noikeee]

So we have a Super GP2 grid of the best 26 drivers not currently in F1. All the hottest single seater drivers, Kyle Busch, Loeb, Valentino Rossi, everyone.

How does that fix the problem of drivers being able to get rides in F1?

 

It doesn't. But it does fix the problem of drivers being able to get rides in GP2.

 

haha poor drivers? The experience you need to jump into a GP2 car and be competitive requires millions. The idea has no basis in reality.

 

Yeah that's true. Well, the word poor isn't part of Bernie's statements, I just dropped it into the thread title. I can change it for "poor" in quotemarks if you'd like. 

[JHSingo]

??? Valentino Rossi might be the best of the best of the best of all time on two wheels, but was dead slow in the Ferrari tests.

 

Where on earth did you hear that?

 

The times Rossi set were in fact very competitive. Ferrari were so impressed, they offered him a race seat (not a test/reserve role, an actual race seat) for 2007. But he declined the offer.

 

I very much doubt Ferrari would have made him that offer if he was 'dead slow'.

[FullThrottleF1]

??? Valentino Rossi might be the best of the best of the best of all time on two wheels, but was dead slow in the Ferrari tests.

 

to Bernies proposal: WTF? is he becoming senile and soft now?

 

all that would make sense "emerging markets" tyrant funded.

I think that happened a long time ago mate.

[SealTheDiffuser]

Where on earth did you hear that?

 

The times Rossi set were in fact very competitive. Ferrari were so impressed, they offered him a race seat (not a test/reserve role, an actual race seat) for 2007. But he declined the offer.

 

I very much doubt Ferrari would have made him that offer if he was 'dead slow'.

 

nah... he was too slow.

[aramos]

Where on earth did you hear that?

 

The times Rossi set were in fact very competitive. Ferrari were so impressed, they offered him a race seat (not a test/reserve role, an actual race seat) for 2007. But he declined the offer.

 

I very much doubt Ferrari would have made him that offer if he was 'dead slow'.

 

Source on this race seat offer? That seems a bit far fetched.

[Vibe]

Didn't Rossi post better times than Coulthard,Webber and Trulli?

[JHSingo]

Source on this race seat offer? That seems a bit far fetched.

 

Read Rick Broadbent's excellent book, Ring Of Fire. It is mostly about the history of MotoGP and Rossi, but explains it in some detail there.

[aramos]

Read Rick Broadbent's excellent book, Ring Of Fire. It is mostly about the history of MotoGP and Rossi, but explains it in some detail there.

 

Telling me to read a book isn't a very good source.

[JHSingo]

Telling me to read a book isn't a very good source.

 

It's a better source than most.

 

But believe what you want to, if you can't be bothered to research it for yourself.

[BlinkyMcSquinty]

"I mean, I could give teams more cash so that they don't have to hire pay drivers and make it more viable for new teams to enter but nah... this works just fine" 

 

That is the way I perceive this too. Instead of fixing the core issue of unequal distribution of funds between the Formula One teams, throw out a diversion and hope this band-aid will solve everything.

 

If the sport was healthy we wouldn't be talking about this.

[Seanspeed]

The times Rossi set were in fact very competitive. Ferrari were so impressed, they offered him a race seat (not a test/reserve role, an actual race seat) for 2007. But he declined the offer.

Nah, that didn't happen, no matter what some book says. Ferrari are way too cautious as it is with their driver choices, only picking proven drivers, so offering Rossi a position to replace god damn Michael Schumacher for 2007 is not even remotely believable.

Even if Ferrari were risk takers, that wouldn't happen. Nobody from outside 4-wheel racing is going to immediately be a viable choice for a top seat in the most elite of categories.

Edited by Seanspeed, 11 August 2015 - 15:57.

[maverick69]

Bernie doing something out of the goodness of his heart? Yeah. Right.

 

Who's the gibbon coughing up the dosh?

[Jimisgod]

"Please sir, may I have some more seasons?"

[BRG]

.... the 84-year-old replied: “I am thinking we can maybe do something in GP2.

 

“We can run a team and if we can see people who can move on [into F1], then we will put them in the car.”

 

Just who the hell is 'We'?  The royal We?  FOM and CVC?  THe F1 teams?  Bernie and his daughters?  In politics, this is called an 'unfunded pledge'.  As others have said, what is he trying to obscure?

[Jon83]

Don't see anything wrong with what Bernie is suggesting. 

[FullThrottleF1]

Bernie? Is that you?

[Imperial]

This story I took simply as BCE saying it is something that technically could be done.

But we all know won't happen.

The Valentino Rossi thing...

That was done to death in the specialist media. IIRC no test times were released and again IIRC his tests were all done in private, precisely to avoid comparisons with others.

The media consensus seemed to be that Rossi set comparative times but was generally down on what he'd need to be competitive at the sharp end, whether that was tenths or hundredths who knows and so bowed out gracefully.

He was testing for a good chunk of time, so I have no doubts in my mind that the intention was to slot him into a race seat. No marketing came out of it, they didn't spend all that money for a jape.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Except when he ran during the public Valencia test with everyone else.

 

But that was during the V8 to V6 transition so lots of people were out in hybrid cars so it's hard to say how fast he really went. But Ferrari know, and the public times weren't embarassing.

[Talisman]

He was testing for a good chunk of time, so I have no doubts in my mind that the intention was to slot him into a race seat. No marketing came out of it, they didn't spend all that money for a jape.

 

I thought it was mostly marketing, both Rossi and Ferrari got a lot of publicity out of the whole will he won't he drive for them drama.

 

Didn't he lose a lot of time under braking?  I heard thats where he couldn't close the gap with the current drivers.

[apoka]

I assume Valentino Rossi is not too poor to enter F1, so discussing him seems offtopic.

 

For promoting talent, I think something more relevant than a GP2 team would need to be done to have some significant effect.

[ANF]

I would be surprised if any of the poor talented drivers would make it to F1 anyway thanks to the ridiculous new super licence points system. (You didn't win the championship and finish runner-up the year before? Go race somewhere else.)

[Kev00]

Don't see anything wrong with what Bernie is suggesting.

The problem is the situation that gp2 is already in. Drivers have to pay millions for a race seat as teams don't recieve any prize money so they have to charge ridiculous prices to have the opprtunity to race in the f1 'feeder series'. Gp2 should already be about the best young drivers out there proving themselves. I don't think Bernie has any interest in making this happen.

[noikeee]

 

.... the 84-year-old replied: “I am thinking we can maybe do something in GP2.

 

“We can run a team and if we can see people who can move on [into F1], then we will put them in the car.”

 

Just who the hell is 'We'?  The royal We?  FOM and CVC?  THe F1 teams?  Bernie and his daughters?  In politics, this is called an 'unfunded pledge'.  As others have said, what is he trying to obscure?

 

 

I presume "we" means him plus someone who'll fund the operation.

[HoldenRT]

Would be easier to talk about if it actually ever happened, which it most likely won't.

[ch103]

Just a story to fill in the boredom of the summer break.

[aramos]

It's a better source than most.

 

But believe what you want to, if you can't be bothered to research it for yourself.

 

Yes thats how making a statement works, its the burden of the person questing the fairly nonsense statement to research it.

[YoungGun]

Nah, that didn't happen, no matter what some book says. Ferrari are way too cautious as it is with their driver choices, only picking proven drivers, so offering Rossi a position to replace god damn Michael Schumacher for 2007 is not even remotely believable.

Even if Ferrari were risk takers, that wouldn't happen. Nobody from outside 4-wheel racing is going to immediately be a viable choice for a top seat in the most elite of categories.

 

Schumacher told reporters at practice for the Monaco GP that it was “sad” that the road race champion had decided to stick with bikes rather than join Ferrari. Although Schumacher said that he understood the 27-year-old Italian’s decision. “It is maybe a little bit more difficult to know the world of F1 and how you adapt to different circumstances,” said Schumacher. “I think he has a lot of talent in terms of driving, but it is not only in terms of driving.”

[noikeee]

Yeah, that's a great PR story. I have trouble believing they really wanted to put him in the car though.

 

From the top of my memory, it might not be accurate, the testing laptimes were difficult to compare (as always) but it did look like he was a second off the other guy in the same Ferrari (Schumacher?).