60 replies to this topic

[William Hunt]

Hungarian Nordic F3000 driver Zsolt Baumgartner is to drive a Jordan-Honda in Budapest, Jordan just anounced. Zsolt visited the Jordan factory already for a seat fitting.

He will have the chance to impress his homecrowd with a test on sunday morning, just prior to the race. Baumgartner is aged 21 and drove F. Renault , German F3 and F3000 (for Prost Jr. last year and for Nordic this year). He might not have superb results but he does have the backing to reach F1 one day. This year he was a bit dissapointing but then so was his teammate (Toyota test driver Ryan Briscoe who was sacked by Nordic) and Thed Björk also wasn't faster then Zsolt. Although he hasn't scored any F3000 points yet, Zsolt never looked ridiculous.

The last Hungarian who drove a F1 car was Kesjar Csaba testing in Budapest for Zakspeed in '87 but a month later he was sadly killed in a F3 Schübel entered car at the Norisring. The first man to win a GP (Dieppe 1906) was also a Hungarian : Ferenc Szisz in a Renault.

It will be interesting to see Zsolt Baumgartner driving the Jordan in Budapest.

[maclaren]

Bye bye Sato's race car

[StickShift]

Do you have a link for a story that sounds like fecal-bull matter?

Why would a driver who has never even driven an F1 car drive at Hungary?

[917k]

I don't think its legal to ''test''a non-participating driver during a GP weekend.[esp. on a GP track]

Sounds mighty hokey to me.

[William Hunt]

It is allowed : Zakspeed have done it before with Kesjar Csaba. And Baumgartner has a LOT more experience than Csaba.

[Richard Jenkins]

Without checking the BBC etc.. to check the authenticy... I'm going to bring up something that Ross does regards possible drivers.... if Herta & Mauricio are superlicence doubtfuls (according to RS), surely Zsolt is too - surely this special test might require one....? Or am I wrong?
Yes, he's good but...
Mind you it looks like Mauricio may be in the Arrows after all (until Bourdais' championship challenge is over) so who knows? I'm off to check the Jordan website me thinks...

[StickShift]

I don't think so. Infact, I'm almost 99 percent sure it isn't. There would be a much better place and time to do it.

btw, did you get this story from the Ross Stonefeld News Agency?

[Richard Jenkins]

Originally posted by StickShift
btw, did you get this story from the Ross Stonefeld News Agency?

That agency is more reliable than the Dutra News Agency.... That reports Tarso Marques is DRIVING the Jordan in the race

[William Hunt]

I always double check my sources and I wouldn't open a thread on it if I wasn't sure !

[Ross Stonefeld]

I think its just demo laps, as part of the pre-race stuff. He's not doing official testing or sessions or anything.

[StickShift]

Then what is your source?

[Richard Jenkins]

It's true, from http://www.f1jordan.com


Hungarian Baumgartner to feature in Jordan car at Budapest
Zsolt Baumgartner, the Hungarian F3000 driver, will have a unique opportunity to impress his home crowds at the Hungarian Grand Prix on 18th August, when he will drive the Jordan Honda EJ12 for a demonstration run on race day morning. Baumgartner visited the Jordan factory today (Thursday 8 August) to check he is comfortable in the EJ12 seat.

Baumgartner, aged 21, races in F3000 this year with Nordic Racing. Previously he has competed in international F3000, German F3, European Formula Renault and Formula Renault in France and Germany. He began his motor racing career in 1994 with Hungarian Kart.

There have been no Hungarian drivers in the FIA Formula One World Championship since it was created in 1950, however the first ever motor race to be called a Grand Prix, held at Le Mans, was won by a Hungarian called Ferencz Szisz in 1906.



Still strange timing mind...

[benn5325]

jordanf1.com It's on the Jordan site.
It's only a little jolly so he can run in front of his home crowd.

[StickShift]

oh. oops.

It still seems very odd that they do this on a race weekend. It seems like way too much would be going on.

[917k]

munch,munch.......[eating my words];)

It does seem strange,though.I thought virtually every minute of on-track time was accounted for during a GP,not enough time to stick in a ''test session.''

[Ross Stonefeld]

At hungary doubtful, it doesnt have much in the way of support classes. Maybe Supercup and F3000. F3000 will be done saturday afternoon so there's time Sunday morning pre-race to get in say 5 laps demo run.

It should be fun to watch some rookie try to get up to speed in 5 laps in front of a packed crowd

[nigel red5]

Typical European F1 sunday itinerary goes like so.....

9am.....FIA track inspection.
9.30 - 10am.......Warm-up.
10.15 - 11am (roughly)....Porsche Supercup (if it`s on)
11.15 - 11.35am......Drivers parade.

All the red carpets and D-parade truck, and other bumph are off the track by about 11.40am.
It`ll be about this time i`d reckon that the Jordan will take to the track.
It`ll have to be off the track for about 1pm , as the parade of flags and gridgirls will start about this time, with the race starting at 2pm.
Plenty of time to play with - he could easy get 10-15 laps in to entertain the crowd in the baking sun.

[orange]

here come next Schu/Senna , move aside JPM

[ensign14]

Originally posted by nigel red5
All the red carpets and D-parade truck, and other bumph are off the track by about 11.40am.
It`ll be about this time i`d reckon that the Jordan will take to the track.
It`ll have to be off the track for about 1pm , as the parade of flags and gridgirls will start about this time, with the race starting at 2pm.
Plenty of time to play with - he could easy get 10-15 laps in to entertain the crowd in the baking sun.

Hmm...given Zsolt's speed in F3000 to date, he may struggle to get more than 3 laps in...

[Ross Stonefeld]

2002 Hungarian GP Schedule

Friday GMT+2
» First Free Practice 11:00-12:00
» Second Free Practice 13:00-14:00

Saturday
» First Free Practice 09:00-09:45
» Second Free Practice 10:15-11:00
» QUALIFYING 13:00-14:00


Sunday
» Warm Up 09:30-10:00
» Up 10:15-10:15:32
» THE RACE 14:00-16:00

[Ricardo F1]

Good for him, and good for Hungary I say. Ross - why so bitter dude?

[Ross Stonefeld]

Im not at all. I just think it will be potentially very amusing to watch him try to learn an F1 car as he goes along on what is normally a very slick track in a very short time in front of a very expectant crowd.

[Ricardo F1]

Originally posted by Ross Stonefeld
Im not at all. I just think it will be potentially very amusing to watch him try to learn an F1 car as he goes along on what is normally a very slick track in a very short time in front of a very expectant crowd.

Ah. Apologies. Well I wish him all the best, I'm sure he'll not push anything to ensure that he doesn't make a fool of himself.

[William Hunt]

Well he drives the F3000 race on saturday in the red Nordic car so that should give him a pretty good feel of the track conditions.

[Elspeth]

Shouldn't your thread title be ...to test Jordan... not to drive ? Your title makes it seem that this person will be driving in the race.

I notice this happens alot, something is stated as fact in the thread title, and then in the thread it will say 'it is rumored' or 'it is possible'.

[Scudetto]

Originally posted by Richie Jenkins
It's true, from http://www.f1jordan.com

The AtlasF1 picture gallery also has shots of Baumgartner having his seat fitting.

[Riker!]

This year he was a bit dissapointing but then so was his teammate (Toyota test driver Ryan Briscoe who was sacked by Nordic)

And he wasnt SACKED by Nordic, Toyota just pulled him outta the team.

[William Hunt]

Originally posted by William Hunt
.......He will have the chance to impress his homecrowd with a TEST on sunday morning, just PRIOR to the race.......

Elspeth : I clearly said that it was just a test. Besides this is not a rumour but a FACT.

BTW : when U test a car U are driving it thus my thread title is correct. Or did U think he was going to push the car instead of driving ?

[William Hunt]

Riker : Ryan Briscoe wasn't pulled out by Toyota (that's the official statement though) , he was really sacked. Briscoe wasn't performing as good as they had hoped thus Nordic decided to replace the underperforming Australian by a paydriver (Thed Björk).

[Jackman]

http://www.atlasf1.c...e=deh0208au13-2

[cv2000]

Originally posted by William Hunt
Riker : Ryan Briscoe wasn't pulled out by Toyota (that's the official statement though) , he was really sacked. Briscoe wasn't performing as good as they had hoped thus Nordic decided to replace the underperforming Australian by a paydriver (Thed Björk).

Briscoe isn't the only one underperforming on that team

[Bex37]

I hope its true. I remember the suspense in waiting to see an Aussie drive. To all the Hungarian's out there; enjoy!!

[Geza Sury]

Originally posted by William Hunt
The last Hungarian who drove a F1 car was Kesjar Csaba testing in Budapest for Zakspeed in '87 but a month later he was sadly killed in a F3 Schübel entered car at the Norisring.

Csaba Kesjar drove the Zakspeed Turbo in August during the Hungarian GP weekend. I'll try to post some images tomorrow. He was killed in June 1988 during a practice session. His correct name is Csaba Kesjar as Hungarians use their name is reverse order. (Family name: Kesjar, christian name: Csaba) (To be precise: Csaba Kesjár)

He was the country's first hope for F1. He started his carrier in karts, and became a multiple national champion. BTW, he was a member of a Hungarian racing dynasty, already his grandfather had been a racing driver! After karting, Csaba graduated to the so called 'Formula Eastern' class, which was a category for formula cars made up by East European car parts. Csaba drove four years there, scoring one win. Why was he so unsuccesful? Well, because cheating was virtually allowed for the soviet team. Kesjar's only victory came after a disqualification, when he launched a protest against the result of a Bulgarian race. As it turned out, the winning soviet driver used a 1400cc engine instead a 1300cc, which the rules stipulated!

When the first Hungarian GP took place in 1986, Csaba graduated to Formula Ford. He won the Austrian Championship. One year later Horst Schübel signed him to race in German F3. He was blown away by team-mate Bernd Schneider, who walked away with the championship. Kesjar's best result was fourth place, but he won a non-championship F3 race at the end of the year. He was destined for better things, but he was tragically killed in 1988. In his time, he was way popular in Hungary as Zsolt Baumgartner is now. Believe it or not, today an elementary school bears Kesjar's name in Hungary!

Excuse me for getting a bit carried away, but I admired that guy so much. He was one of my childhood heroes. I saw him racing in a hillclimb, and got his autograph.

Back to Baumgartner, please don't be sarcastic, he HAS the ability to drive a F1 car. As ever, I will be there to watch. Hope he will do a good job. It will be 5 demonstration laps, so don't expext staggering lap times.

[heki]

... on Baumgartner's homepage stays that he will be all weekend at the Jordan box (exept the F3000 race) and on Sunday he was told to make 4 laps with Fisichella's car as he is the exact height and weight as Giancarlo...
... the whole thing is managed by Tamás Frankl (who is I believe the son of a famous Hungarian reporter András Frankl a good friend of Bernie)

[Breadmaster]

good god you lot!

IT'S A PUBLICITY STUNT.

Jordan do this sort of thing all the time - why so shocked?

[Geza Sury]

Originally posted by heki
... the whole thing is managed by Tamás Frankl (who is I believe the son of a famous Hungarian reporter András Frankl a good friend of Bernie)

No, his exact name is Tamás Frank, not Frankl. Andrew (András) Frankl's son is Nicholas Frankl, who participated in two winter olympics as the member of the first ever Hungarian bob team.

[FlatFoot]

Good for him. I think any of us would jump at the chance to drive one of these beasts...regardless of when or where. For him to do it in front of a 'home' crowd probably makes this all the more special.

Best of luck to him.

[Foxbat]

Originally posted by Elspeth
Shouldn't your thread title be ...to test Jordan... not to drive ? Your title makes it seem that this person will be driving in the race.

But then we'd all think he was offered a test-driver job, while he only gets to drive a few laps....;)

[Mat]

Originally posted by nigel red5
Typical European F1 sunday itinerary goes like so.....

9am.....FIA track inspection.
9.30 - 10am.......Warm-up.
10.15 - 11am (roughly)....Porsche Supercup (if it`s on)
11.15 - 11.35am......Drivers parade.

All the red carpets and D-parade truck, and other bumph are off the track by about 11.40am.
It`ll be about this time i`d reckon that the Jordan will take to the track.
It`ll have to be off the track for about 1pm , as the parade of flags and gridgirls will start about this time, with the race starting at 2pm.
Plenty of time to play with - he could easy get 10-15 laps in to entertain the crowd in the baking sun.

You guys are getting ripped off in Europe. You must visit the Aussie GP!!

Mat

[Viktor]

What is with Jordan and east-europiean drivers? In 1999 Thomas Enge was there test driver (dont know how much he drove) after ½ season of F3000 and 1 point finish, a good race at Spa. And now Zsolt Baumgartner is going to test there car. Do thay have any east-europiean sponsors?

/Viktor

[William Hunt]

And Tomas Enge is strongly rumoured to partner Giancarlo Fisichella next year ! Aparently Eddie Jordan needs cash to be able to buy an engine (Ford Cosworth probably) for next year and is considering Enge who has considerable backing.

[MortenF1]

Poor Sato! It would be a shame if he was to be sacked, 'cause this guy is spectacular! Yes, he's trashed a few cars, but he's clearly fast! Just need to smooth out those rough edges. Tomas Enge is backed by Coca-Cola, or atleast he was last year. How the hell did he manage that???? Many F1 teams have tried to lure Coca-Cola into the sport, as this major company should be able to replace a fag-sponsor cash-wise.

[William Hunt]

Coca Cola is very interested in the East European market. However isn't Coca Cola more the sponsor of Nordic than of Enge ? I don't see any Coca Cola sponsorship on his car this year neither did I see it on the Prost last year.

[Sir Frank]

Good for the publicity.

I think, when Kesjar drove a few laps, he was right on the pace from the word go and would have qualified the Zakspeed with the time he did, Ill try to check his times and post them later.

[Dudley]

I believe it was Enge that lured CC to Nordic but they decided to stay when he left, at least partly no doubt because of Zsolt.

He does have some eastern european sposner with a kind of flower logo that was on nordic, prost and now arden but I've no idea what it is.

Enge's nothing special. This is his 5th season in F3k and he's only now getting anywhere. Alex Yoong outdrove his Prost 2 races out of 3 last year.

[BRG]

Originally posted by Dudley
Enge's nothing special. This is his 5th season in F3k and he's only now getting anywhere

That's a little harsh. It is only his 4th F3000 season and he came equal 2nd last year with Mark Webber. Which is not so dusty. But his episode with Prost was extremely disappointing and he has probably stuffed his F1 chances for the future. He is an exciting and spectacular driver, if not perhaps ultimately F1 material.

[Sir Frank]

Originally posted by Sir Frank
I think, when Kesjar drove a few laps, he was right on the pace from the word go and would have qualified the Zakspeed with the time he did, Ill try to check his times and post them later.

Here we go:
Kesjar: 1:36.0 (Zakspeed)

The grid:

22. Brundle 1:35.754 (Zakspeed)
23. Danner 1:35.930 (Zakspeed)
24. Campos 1:36.067 (Minardi)
25. Ghinzani 1:36.109 (Ligier)

[Geza Sury]

Originally posted by Sir Frank
Kesjar: 1:36.0 (Zakspeed)

What's your source? IIRC Kesjar drove just 3 exploratory laps in the Zakspeed his best time being 1 min 52. So what's the truth?

[Sir Frank]

Now thats a good question, I had it off the intenet so it should be totally bullocks.
http://www.extra.hu/f1plus/kesjar.htm
F1Plus: Bartók László, Czita László, Érsek Zsolt (Az utolsót megtalálod az Index Fórumon, talán õ tudja honnan van az info)

I assume it is, you just cant drive a 87 F1 car in a couple of laps at its limit or close to it, especially without the qualifying tires (If Zakspeed had any) and the Turbo. Maybe some can, but for sure not Kesjar who struggled quite a bit against Bernd Schneider in GF3. I think this is just another myth about Kesjar. He might have been the best Hungarian, but still so far away from being professional and a genius. My understanding of him is that he drove off the wheels anything he got his hands onto. He was a true racer without real technical knowledge, which is not surprising since he was only starting to learn the basics of single seater racing.

[Geza Sury]

Originally posted by Sir Frank
Now thats a good question, I had it off the intenet so it should be totally bullocks.
http://www.extra.hu/f1plus/kesjar.htm
F1Plus: Bartók László, Czita László, Érsek Zsolt (Az utolsót megtalálod az Index Fórumon, talán õ tudja honnan van az info)

I assume it is, you just cant drive a 87 F1 car in a couple of laps at its limit or close to it, especially without the qualifying tires (If Zakspeed had any) and the Turbo. Maybe some can, but for sure not Kesjar who struggled quite a bit against Bernd Schneider in GF3. I think this is just another myth about Kesjar. He might have been the best Hungarian, but still so far away from being professional and a genius. My understanding of him is that he drove off the wheels anything he got his hands onto. He was a true racer without real technical knowledge, which is not surprising since he was only starting to learn the basics of single seater racing.

Köszi, Érsek Zsoltit ismerem (ha nem is személyesen), majd érdeklődök tőle.

I clearly remember, that Kesjar has done a 1 min 52 lap and it was slower than he managed in his F3 car. (1 min 47) In 1987 there wasn't any qualifying tyres since Goodyear was the sole tyre supplier that year. Kesjar was instructed not to change above third gear (and I think eventually the highest gear he had used was fourth), so I very much doubt that he has done a 1 min 30 lap. He was a brilliant driver, and a qualified engineer. He studied at the Bánki Donát technical college in Budapest, so he had some technical knowledge. Still, he was much slower in F3 than his team-mates. Despite this he was one of my childhood heroes and his death shocked me since I was only 14 at that time.