Talk > Sports Chat > [Auto] F1 Silly season\off season news.

[Auto] F1 Silly season\off season news.

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LONDON (AP)—Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen will be back in a Formula One car next season after agreeing to return to action with the Lotus team.

Lotus Renault GP said Tuesday that the 2007 world champion, who quit in 2009 and switched to rallying, has signed a two-year contract.

The 32-year-old Raikkonen said he is glad to get back into action after experiencing mixed fortunes in the World Rally Championship and a subsequent stint in NASCAR.

“I wouldn’t come back if I wouldn’t be motivated,” Raikkonen said on the team’s website. “There’s always a lot of talk about motivation to race, but nobody really knows what I do or what I think apart from myself, so I don’t really care what people think.

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PARIS (AP)—Charles Pic will drive for Marussia in Formula One next year, replacing Belgian driver Jerome d’Ambrosio.

Virgin Racing will be known as Marussia Virgin Racing next season. It announced on its website that the 21-year-old Frenchman will drive alongside Timo Glock of Germany.

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Renault still want to hold talks with Robert Kubica to see if there is a possibility for him at the team next year, despite signing up Kimi Raikkonen for 2012.

With Kubica having been unable to guarantee the outfit he will be ready for the start of winter testing, Renault moved quickly to secure the F1 return of Raikkonen with a two-year deal.

And although Renault has a contract in place with Vitaly Petrov for next season, team principal Eric Boullier admitted on Tuesday that the outfit was still open-minded about its plans for the second seat - and could not rule out Kubica taking that slot later in the campaign if he is fit.

"All the scenarios are possible," Boullier told Autosport. "I need to sit down with Robert and his manager to understand what is the timescale for him to come back.

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As soon as I saw Rubica wasn't ready I knew they had to sign someone else.

reply to CylonRed
US GP of the America's on the schedule for 2012:

»sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slu···calendar

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PARIS (AP)—The U.S. Grand Prix has been included on the 2012 Formula One calendar, ending fears the race in Austin, Texas, would be cut for financial reasons.

The sport’s governing body said Wednesday on its website that the 2012 “calendar was confirmed as previously published.” The unchanged F1 calendar was approved at a World Motor Sport Council meeting in New Delhi, India.

The Nov. 18 event in Austin will mark F1’s return to the United States for the first time since 2007.

Last week, F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone gave U.S. GP organizers an extra week to save the Texas race by proving they had the necessary finances in place.

Backers of the race include billionaire businessman Red McCombs, a founding partner of event organizer Circuit of The Americas.

“Mr. Ecclestone received his check today,” McCombs said in a statement Wednesday. “We want to thank the fans supporting us, the local officials and businesses that have encouraged us, the State of Texas, Circuit of The Americas’ staff and Bernie himself.”

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reply to CylonRed
Well that's good news.

reply to CylonRed
Petrov looking for a ride as well as Senna:

»sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slu···grosjean

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PARIS (AP) —Romain Grosjean will drive for the Lotus team in Formula One next year alongside former world champion Kimi Raikkonen.

Lotus Renault said in a statement Friday that the Frenchman, who was a reserve driver during last season’s F1 championship, impressed during practice sessions at the Abu Dhabi and Brazil Grand Prix at the end of the season.

Russian driver Vitaly Petrov and Brazilian Bruno Senna now both have to look for a new team.

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reply to CylonRed
New drivers for Toro Rosso:
»sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slu···erlineup

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FAENZA, Italy (AP)—Toro Rosso has chosen Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Jean-Eric Vergne of France as the Italian team’s new driver lineup for the 2012 Formula One season.

The pair, who came through Red Bull’s junior driver program, will replace Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari.

Ricciardo was Toro Rosso’s third driver in 2011 but made his grand prix debut racing for HRT in the second half of the season.

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That's a shame for Buemi. He seemed to do rather well for STR. We'll see if he ends up somewhere else.
--
Golf is a relatively simple game, played by reasonably intelligent people, stupidly.

reply to CylonRed
Kolles out at HRT:
»sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slu···rtkolles

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MADRID (AP) —Hispania Racing Team says it has parted ways with team principal Colin Kolles after two seasons.

The Spanish Formula One racing team said on Thursday that the decision “is due to the new direction that the team has taken” and thanked Kolles “for his work and dedication.”

Investment firm Thesan Capital bought HRT in July.

The team has yet to win a point in two seasons in F1.

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reply to CylonRed
»en.espnf1.com/tororosso/motorspo···600.html

Jaime and Seb from STR are both out... Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne are in... a Rookie team, c00l!

... And, Kimi's Back!

reply to bjf123

reply to CylonRed
Hulkenberg goes to....... Force India:
»uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/17122011/···eat.html

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Force India has confirmed Nico Hulkenberg will join Paul di Resta in its racing driver line-up for the 2012 season.

Hulkenberg was the team's reserve driver during the 2011 season and will return to racing next year, having made his grand prix debut with the Williams team in 2010.

He replaces Adrian Sutil, the German having been expected to leave Force India for some months.

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reply to CylonRed
Kubica Breaks leg in a fall...

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Robert Kubica has broken his right leg in a fall in Italy, the same leg he had broken in his rally accident last February.

Reports claim that Kubica slipped on an icy road close to his home in Pietrasanta and was taken to hospital in nearby Viareggio where x-rays showed that he had reopened the fracture in his right tibia sustained in last year's crash.

Kubica was out of contract after his Renault deal ran out at the end of December. He had informed the team in November that he would not be fit for the start of the 2012 season and had yet to test a his fitness in a car. At the time he said: "On a personal level, my recovery is still very encouraging and my doctors keep being impressed. I just need more time, as I want to be 100% ready before I commit to anything driving related."

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Yea - it does - if his leg is still that weak then there may not be much hope in getting into a car again...
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Brian

"It drops into your stomach like a Abrams's tank.... driven by Rosanne Barr..." A. Bourdain

I agree, but then again F1 is much like any other sport, the player or in this case driver downplays the injury and spins the recovery. Even my Dad who passed away 6 months ago who was 65 slipped on ice and all he did was tear a ligament in his knee. Possibly his leg is far too weak to be able to fully recover like you said to be in the car again.

reply to CylonRed
Senna to Williams:

»sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slu···amssenna

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MADRID (AP)—Formula One team Williams signed Brazilian driver Bruno Senna to complete its 2012 team lineup on Tuesday, returning the Senna name to the British outfit 18 years after his uncle died in a crash.

Senna, the nephew of three-time F1 champion Ayrton Senna, joined Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado to give the British team an all-South American lineup going into the March 18 opener in Australia.

Ayrton Senna joined Williams from McLaren in 1994 and was fatally injured during a crash at San Marino, only his third race with the team.

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reply to CylonRed
Caterham CT01 out....

reply to CylonRed
Barrichello testing IndyCar:

»sports.yahoo.com/irl/news?slug=t···chellote

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Formula One driver Rubens Barrichello drove an IndyCar for the first time on Monday. Whether it leads to a ride in the open-wheel series remains to be seen.

Barrichello tested Sebring International Raceway on Monday with KV Racing Technology. The two-day test was organized by fellow Brazilian driver Tony Kanaan, who is so close to Barrichello, the two refer to each other as brothers.

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MUNICH (AP) —Former Force India driver Adrian Sutil was convicted on Tuesday of causing grievous bodily harm to a Formula One team owner in a nightclub confrontation in China and given an 18-month suspended sentence.

The Munich district court handed down the verdict and sentence after a two-day trial. The prosecutors asked for a 21-month suspended sentence. Sutil also was fined $262,200, to be paid to charities.

“The defendant knew that he had this glass in his hand. The glass was moving in an intended direction,” judge Christiane Thiemann said in her ruling.

Sutil was charged with causing grievous bodily harm to Renault team executive Eric Lux at a party following Lewis Hamilton’s victory at the China Grand Prix in Shanghai on April 17. Lux needed two dozen stitches after being cut in the neck by a broken glass.

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reply to CylonRed
McLaren Launches MP4-27

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McLaren has launched its 2012 car - the MP4-27 - at the McLaren Technology Centre.

The car is an evolution of the MP4-26 which took six victories in 2011, with the team hoping to close the gap to Red Bull this year. The car features a different front end solution to the Caterham that was launched last week, with a gradual transition between the lower nose and chassis. The sculpted sidepods that were prominent on the MP4-26 have also been redesigned, while the car features a neater rear end than the 2011 car.

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Shiny!