First Driver to be sacked in 2010?

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Not my cup of cake
Valued Member
4 races into the season and it is becoming easier to compare who is performing well in the machinery they have been supplied. Certain teams we know aren't going to bump anyone out: Red Bull, Mclaren & Ferrrari for example, but the situation at some of the other teams is not quite as clear cut.

For example, would Mercedes dare to run Nick Heidfeld (even in a practice session) to see if the problem is Schumie or the car. Neither of the Williams drivers are setting the world alight, although the team has been quite up beat I'm sure they must be a bit disappointed. Hispania are muttering about putting an experienced driver in for practice, to sort the car or find out if the drivers are up to it?

My personal favourite to be put on gardening leave before the end of the season is Jarno Trulli. Kovy looks to be trying his heart out in the Lotus (and enjoying himself) but I don't seem to hear anything positive about Trulli who seems to be very much in the twilight of his career and just picking up the cheque. And wouldn't Lotus love to have a Malaysian driver sitting on the grid in one of their cars?

Anyone else care to make any suggestions as to who is going to be first out?
 
I don't think Merc can run Heidfeld, as he's run in races in the last couple of years. I thought the criteria for an F1 Friday driver was that he should not have competed in the the last so many seasons?
 
I doubt Mercedes will bin Schumacher before the end of the season.

They reportedly paid him £21 million and announced him with huge fanfare so it would do the team, Brawn, Fry and Haug huge damage if he was to be sacked.

Trulli is a possibility.
As is Beumi, he's just not delivering.
The biggest disappointment so far though (after Schumacher) has to be Kobayashi - 4 races and 4 retirements and he's looking decidedly amateurish.
 
I very much doubt Jarno will get the chop unless Lotus give the "Pit Bull" the elbow. Mike Gascoyne is a huge fan of Jarno for no reason that is fathomable by man! :dunno: He has as usual qualified well and the car keeps breaking down.

Buemi has been qualifying reasonably well was blameless for the accident in China, finish one race in 11th. Hardly grounds for dismissal.

Kamui is looking completely out of his depth, yet so too is the Sauber! :crazy: I am at a loss to know how they could have appeared to be setting competitive lap times in both quali and race trim during winter testing! :dunno: They must have been running with no ballast at all, giving them no chance of finding a genuine balance on the car or developig an understanding of the tyres. Effectively shooting themselves in the crutch! :givemestrength: There are usually fall guys and sacraficial lambs in these situations so it wouldn't surprise me if kamui was made to fall on his sword.
 
I think people are looking into Kamui's retirements a bit much:

Bahrain - Hydraulics, nothing he can do about that.
Australia - Front wing failure, on the first lap and again he could do nothing about it.
Malaysia - Engine, the Ferrari engines have been struggling so I doubt it was his driving style that made it blow.
China - Accident, taken out by an out of control Liuzzi.

So all of his retirements have been through no fault of his own. The car is looking slow and he has been outqualified 3 to 1 by his teammate but not by much. Given that circumstances have only allowed him to complete 19 race laps in four races then I don't think we should jump to conclusions about Kamui's pace - or future for that matter!


I've never liked Trulli - well his driving anyway. He is a good qualifier but that's it. I still remember his Trulli trains and it was so frustrating to watch. He is a boring driver past his sell by date and I doubt F1 would miss him.
 
I pretty much agree with everything that's been said by everyone. :thinking:

There isn't much danger of Merc sacking Schuey. A flair up of that old neck wound and an nobal exit stage left is far more likely than a sacking. Just imagine how that would go back home in Germany. Mercedes become the team that sacked Germany's 7 time world champion.

I see no danger of anything changing at Williams either. From what I understand, Rubens loves the team and the team love him. What they've needed for a long long time is a good development driver to help cure their ills and Rubens is that man in spades. The Hulk had a poor race last time out but he's only on race number 4 so there is plenty of time to develop.

I don't see any change in the immediate future at Lotus for all the reasons Snowy has said. When the Team Director is a big fan then you ain't going nowhere. Fozzy has gone quite well in testing and is sure to be given a couple more runs out over the course of the season but the Loti need to catch up to the rest of the pack before changing anything. Experience is what they need and what they've got. I must admit Kovi does seem to be doing Ok at the moment.

I also agree with all that Boyle has written about Sauber and Kamui. Nothing to add there.

Looking up and down the rest of the field I don't really see anyone in the zone for the sack just yet. At this rate I think we are on for a sack free season.
 
Boyle99 said:
I think people are looking into Kamui's retirements a bit much:

Bahrain - Hydraulics, nothing he can do about that.
Australia - Front wing failure, on the first lap and again he could do nothing about it.
Malaysia - Engine, the Ferrari engines have been struggling so I doubt it was his driving style that made it blow.
China - Accident, taken out by an out of control Liuzzi.

So all of his retirements have been through no fault of his own. The car is looking slow and he has been outqualified 3 to 1 by his teammate but not by much. Given that circumstances have only allowed him to complete 19 race laps in four races then I don't think we should jump to conclusions about Kamui's pace - or future for that matter!


I've never liked Trulli - well his driving anyway. He is a good qualifier but that's it. I still remember his Trulli trains and it was so frustrating to watch. He is a boring driver past his sell by date and I doubt F1 would miss him.

Weird - I almost wrote an identical word-for-word assessment of Kobayashi on Joe Saward's blog (he's had a pop at him despite us noticing the 4 unlucky DNFs)!

Completely agreed about Trulli too, how on earth has that man got a seat this year? He's a good qualifier, that is it. Poor race pace, poor race craft, poor in the wet, always seems to be defending his position rather than on the attack, can't believe he's still in F1 when Heidfeld isn't.


Anyway back on topic - my candidate for the first lamb up for slaughter is Tonio Liuzzi. Di Resta's got his seat warming up nicely for him, and Liuzzi's never inspired me as a driver. We're told (by who?) that he's a very good driver who hasn't had the chances, well, now he's got a solid car underneath him, let's just say I will not be surprised if he's not there by the end of the season.
 
Enja said:
Weird - I almost wrote an identical word-for-word assessment of Kobayashi on Joe Saward's blog (he's had a pop at him despite us noticing the 4 unlucky DNFs)!

Fools seldom differ, eh? :D

I see where you're coming from with Liuzzi but he's got 15 race weekends to prove his worth for next season. Can't see him being sacked by FI this year though.
 
I’m afraid it could be Pedro Martíez de la Rosa. Sauber needs money, and there are a couple of guys like Luca Filippi or Pastor Maldonado, who could bring the sponsors.

Schumacher?

No he can’t be sacked. He has a 3 year contract, and Mercedes would have to pay him an indecent amount of money to fire him. Mercedes already had problems in the factories in Germany when they signed Schumacher. The employees could not understand why the company was hiring Schumacher for such a big amount of money while they were being fired.

No, Mercedes would have to wait until Schumacher decides to walk away, or search for a new Banco Santander. Ooooooh wait!!!! :thinking:
 
I don't know if any one else agrees but I think the winner of the "sack race" has already been deceided. I think that honor goes to poor Karun Chandhok.

While Bruno was dropped for one race to give Yamamoto a run it would seem that Karun has been dropped for good in the HRT quest for cash.

I'm still amazed that a certain well discussed neck has remained injury free throughout the season. I wonder if it will suffer a relapse while at home in Switzerland over the winter break ??
 
By all accounts Karun is set to make a comeback before the end of the season but of course we won't know until/if it happens.
Technically speaking though he is still an HRT driver.

Regarding Mr Schumacher, Eddie Jordan yesterday was trying to start a rumour that there was a lot of activity in the Mercedes motorhome related to a replacement driver...
 
Brogan said:
By all accounts Karun is set to make a comeback before the end of the season but of course we won't know until/if it happens.
Technically speaking though he is still an HRT driver.

Regarding Mr Schumacher, Eddie Jordan yesterday was trying to start a rumour that there was a lot of activity in the Mercedes motorhome related to a replacement driver...

If Heidfeld is heading to Sauber which driver (probably German) is the most likely to replace Scumacher? I don't think he will be replaced before the end of the season but I will be surprised if he's back for 2011.
 
Jerome D'Ambosin is replacing Lucas Di Grassi in the Virgin for FP1 in Singapore and the next 3 races after that.

Glock has been signed for a further 2 years but Di Grassi is still an option.
 
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