In-Season Driver Changes 2011

Hmm... I'd quite like to know the reasons for Trulli's absence - especially given that Lotus are negotiating an extension to Trulli's contract....

I have my suspicions that this may even be Jarno's idea! - He's been moaning that the power steering is useless for him, and given that there is an update coming in Hungary, this is the ideal opportunity to give Karun a run out... However, just imagine what will happen should Karun outperform Heikki this weekend (However unlikely that is!)
 
Hurrah - for Chandock getting an outting. Much rather see him in the Lotus than Jarno (bless his cotton socks) just so we can see how he compares. I thought it would be India that he came in for but hey ho I guess he was dropped by HRT just before the German GP so kind of poetic sense he gets to drive in it this year.

Will be really intersting to see how he matchs up to Kovi - as the Artist says if he out performs him then Lotus are in a mess.

Can you imagine if we get a wet race with lots of offs and Chandock comes through to score Lotus first points?

If Mr Trulli really wants a drive next year I think this is a dangerous game.
 
Trulli will be back for Hungary apparently, though you'd expect Chandhok will get another opportunity in India at least? I think Chandhok deserves his chance, money issues aside he didn't deserve to be dropped by HRT last year as his race results were better than Senna's. Also, he comes across as a really nice guy!

If he qualifies and finishes ahead of the Virgins and HRTs then I think that will be job done. Shouldn't be too difficult...
 
Doubt we'll be seeing much of Trulli now, he might go into early retirment, (or depending of some people's opinions late retirement)
 
An interesting revelation has come about this morning, with Team Lotus announcing that Karun Chandhok will replace Jarno Trulli. It looks like Trulli will be back for the next GP in Hungary the following week, so it isn't a long-term replacement, but they could be looking towards the future.

I'm personally very happy to see Karun given a chance. I honestly think anyone driving a HRT last year, could not be judged either way. He certainly didn't do much wrong with the car he had that was notoriously hard to handle. It will make Karun feel good who recently has been battling in the press with Force India owner Vijay Mallya, who essentially said Karun didn't deserve a place in F1.

It will be a tough test for Karun, as the cars and regs will be quite different to handle this year, with the tyres especially being difficult to nurse over a race distance. His few runs in practice will held him in good stead, however, it will be unrealistic to expect him to match Heikki. If he can somehow manage to match him or beat him on merit then it will be very impressive.

For Jarno, I think it makes sense as he has not been a happy bunny in recent races, complaining about the power steering. The power steering will supposedly be fixed for the next race at Hungary, therefore he may not even mind having the week off and then coming back to a car that he will actually be happy driving.

Crucially, this will give Karun a race before he races at the India GP (which has already been unofficially confirmed) and it would be great if he can put in a good performance in front of his home crowd. He is a very likable guy and I will miss his commentary on 5 live, but I'll definitely be routing for him to do well.
 
Yay, good to see Karun getting a run out so he can shake off the cob webs before the Indian GP.

That said, I've never rated Trulli as a driver - never looked like he would ever become a consistent race winner. Or to be able to put in consistently fast laps. He was always a mobile chicane and his pace this year is hardly noteworthy having been trounced by Heikki in every area. Can't see him getting a drive next year now.
 
Boyle... Whilst I'd agree that this season he's not been exactly scintillating, Trulli was a very fast driver once upon a time! Remember that this is the driver who was beating Alonso in 2004 (Up until Flavio dropped him for (allegedly) refusing to renew a management contract with Briatore).... This is also a driver who was always spectacularly fast in qualifying - putting cars into positions that they shouldn't rightly be in, and then holding the field behind him. I suspect this is why he has the reputation as a "mobile chicane"!
 
I like Karun and am happy to see that he is at least getting a chance at Lotus. How long he last will depend on how close he is to Heikki, if he's a few tenths off and finishes on the same lap I think it's fair to say I expect him to be racing in Hungary. If anyone had to leave the grid I'm glad it was Trulli, yeah he used to be a good qualifier and not too bad in the races, but in a season where you're regularly qualifying behind your team-mate and finishing behind in the races your going to get replaced, He's had his time.
 
The BBC have quoted this from Trulli

Trulli said he was "looking forward to working with Karun this weekend and doing whatever I can to help him get the most out of his opportunity in Germany".

He added: "It's great that the team is true to its word of helping develop young talent, particularly from parts of the word where it is even harder to break through into the top rung of motorsport, so I'll be there to give him guidance and assistance, in and out of the car

What do we make of that? PR or truth? I can;t imagine any driver actively given tips to another who might take his seat off him! Surely Trulli doesn't feel so secure at Lotus he doesn't see a chance of it happening.
 
What do we make of that? PR or truth? I can;t imagine any driver actively given tips to another who might take his seat off him! Surely Trulli doesn't feel so secure at Lotus he doesn't see a chance of it happening.

Or maybe simply he knows he's not going to be around much longer and doesn't want to make Chandhok an enemy!
 
Very pleased for Karun, who deserved far better than he got from both the car and the treatment provided by HRT. Good luck to him, I will be watching and hoping for him to do well.
 
Very Happy with this news about Trulli been replaced, IMHO he's done nought but moan recently about his car and really doesn't look at all interested in dragging Team Lotus up the grid.

Hopefully Karun Chandhok will impress so much that he'll keep the second seat alongside Heikki and we'll never see Trulli ever again in F1.

COME ON CHANDHOK :).
 
Hmm I disagree with you about the BBC being unfair to Sutil, so far he's had a quiet season that hasn't needed much publicity. To be fair to the BBC they should put slightly more emphasis on British drivers as a large portion of the BBC's viewer are British and and therefore will be more interested in the British drivers.

It's totally understandable that the BBC would focus, and give more coverage to their drivers, especially when 2 of their drivers run at the sharp end of the grid. Sometimes a country's broadcast can go too far, because last year at Suzuka I felt that I was watching the Kobayashi GP, with the amount of coverage that he had received during the race.
 
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