The Return of Sakon

S951 · Post by **S951** » 23 Mar 2011, 09:56

reserve for first 3 races for virgin

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 23 Mar 2011, 10:16

YES!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90097

D'Ambrosio, watch out!!! :mrgreen:

P_Friesacher · Post by **P_Friesacher** » 23 Mar 2011, 11:49

DanielPT wrote:Alonso, watch out!!!

Fixed

Jynister · Post by **Jynister** » 23 Mar 2011, 12:18

The best news all year. And possibly the most unexpected.

eytl · Post by **eytl** » 23 Mar 2011, 12:29

John Booth wrote:"In keeping with our commitment to nurturing young talent, our reserve driver strategy is to help a number of drivers gain hard to come by track time and so we will be operating a roster featuring a number of racers that we are interested in evaluating during the forthcoming season."

Despite the fact that:
(a) Sakon is not particularly young
(b) Sakon is not particularly talented, and
(c) Sakon won't be getting any "hard to come by track time".

Henrique · Post by **Henrique** » 23 Mar 2011, 13:09

Ridiculous. Sakon is not young talent. He has no talent at all. I wish the teams would just let him go away.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 23 Mar 2011, 13:57

WTF Virgin

That's all I can say.

Debaser · Post by **Debaser** » 23 Mar 2011, 14:27

John Wilkes Booth was the guy who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. Any links to be made there? Probably not.

Valrys · Post by **Valrys** » 23 Mar 2011, 15:02

Actually, maybe there is a little bit of method in Virgins madness:

1) Sakon has experience in the 2010 cars, of which Virgins car is not too different (no KERS)
2) Sakon showed that he wasn't embarrassingly slow in 2010-spec cars
3) Sakon showed that he was able to keep a 2010-full fuel car on the track
4) $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5) What are the chances he'll drive anyway?

Post by **mario** » 23 Mar 2011, 16:07

eytl wrote:
John Booth wrote:"In keeping with our commitment to nurturing young talent, our reserve driver strategy is to help a number of drivers gain hard to come by track time and so we will be operating a roster featuring a number of racers that we are interested in evaluating during the forthcoming season."

Despite the fact that:
(a) Sakon is not particularly young
(b) Sakon is not particularly talented, and
(c) Sakon won't be getting any "hard to come by track time".

Too right; we are talking about a driver who competed in seven full race weekends last year, so he has hardly lacked for track time before. Besides, much as we may celebrate the rejects, Yamamoto has, if we are honest, only shown modest amounts of talent. The way that the statement is phrased makes it sound like an euphemism for "We would like to try and get as many rich pay drivers into the cars in the hope of squeezing a bit of money out of them".

However, to turn to Valrys post:

Valrys wrote:Actually, maybe there is a little bit of method in Virgins madness:

1) Sakon has experience in the 2010 cars, of which Virgins car is not too different (no KERS)
2) Sakon showed that he wasn't embarrassingly slow in 2010-spec cars
3) Sakon showed that he was able to keep a 2010-full fuel car on the track
4) $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5) What are the chances he'll drive anyway?

The points are accurate, but not necessarily what I would consider to be in the right order. May I suggest that a more accurate order would be
1) $$$$$$$
2) No real chance of actually driving the car
3) Everything else

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 23 Mar 2011, 21:07

Jordan, Super Aguri, Spyker, Renault, HRT, Virgin, Who next?

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 23 Mar 2011, 22:06

YEN!!!!!

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 23 Mar 2011, 22:25

His always seemed to be an accidental career to me. Fell into Super Aguri due his Japaneseness, been hanging around since.

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 23 Mar 2011, 22:40

redbulljack14 wrote:Jordan, Super Aguri, Spyker, Renault, HRT, Virgin, Who next?

*cringes* Team Lotus?

David AGS · Post by **David AGS** » 24 Mar 2011, 09:55

He did test for Renault when they were champions did he?

I think he was fourth driver behind Montagny or Grosjean. I dont think he tested though, similar like a Senna this year.

Or Briatoire just took his yen, put it on the Reno and he said 'Grazie' (puff) and 'Ciao' (puff).

Myrvold · Post by **Myrvold** » 24 Mar 2011, 17:29

David AGS wrote:I think he was fourth driver behind Montagny or Grosjean. I dont think he tested though, similar like a Senna this year.

Well, if you don't count the test he had at Jerez (Senna)

Yannick · Post by **Yannick** » 24 Mar 2011, 19:03

Is this move from the 11th placed team to the 12th placed team in the standings an upgrade or a downgrade for Sakon-san? Somehow, it rather looks like it's the latter.

jackanderton · Post by **jackanderton** » 24 Mar 2011, 21:06

He came back in F1 to school the Senna lad in the ways of driving and now clearly has unfinished business. Those who can't see the ways of this exciting maverick from the east need to open their eyes quickly.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 25 Mar 2011, 11:10

Given the pace of the Virgins I say that Sakon knowledge in sluggish off the pace race cars might come in handier than what Virgin thought!

Peter · Post by **Peter** » 29 Mar 2011, 01:41

Sakon isn't completely useless. He's not especially talented, but he is far from a useless pay driver. I'd rate him about the same if not better than another japaness pay driver, Nakajima.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 29 Mar 2011, 10:19

Peter wrote:Sakon isn't completely useless. He's not especially talented, but he is far from a useless pay driver. I'd rate him about the same if not better than another japaness pay driver, Nakajima.

This might be true. Nakajima last season in F1 was one of the worst seasons I've seen in a while (comparing with your team mate). He only loses to Piquet Jnr because his team mate didn't had a victory, never mind championships. And in his season for SUPA AGURI he fared better compared to Frank Montagny (results only). He even out qualified Sato (like Montagny) and more often than not was close to Sato (like Montagny and unlike Ide). During Spyker times, sometimes he was within .5 of a sec from Sutil. Almost nobody went on to beat Sutil in his team (until this season). He was usually close to Bruno Senna in HRT (I know, nothing to grab about) and out qualified him once. Looking back and ignoring those occasions (not that often) when he found himself 1 to 2 sec off his team mate pace, he actually was competitive given his machinery. If he had a pre season testing to adapt himself and get used to F1 (something he never had) then it could have been different.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 29 Mar 2011, 10:21

DanielPT wrote:Nobody went on to beat Sutil in his team (until this season).

*Cough*Fisichella*Cough*

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 29 Mar 2011, 10:24

Wizzie wrote:
DanielPT wrote:Nobody went on to beat Sutil in his team (until this season).

*Cough*Fisichella*Cough*

Oooppsss

forgot Fisi. Fixed!

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 29 Mar 2011, 10:27

DanielPT wrote:
Wizzie wrote:
DanielPT wrote:Nobody went on to beat Sutil in his team (until this season).

*Cough*Fisichella*Cough*

Oooppsss forgot Fisi. Fixed!

Well, Fisichella is pretty forgettable (being a sufferer of Fisichellaitis and all) which probably doesn't say much more about Sutil :lol:

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 29 Mar 2011, 10:38

Wizzie wrote:
DanielPT wrote:
Wizzie wrote:
*Cough*Fisichella*Cough*

Oooppsss forgot Fisi. Fixed!

Well, Fisichella is pretty forgettable (being a sufferer of Fisichellaitis and all) which probably doesn't say much more about Sutil

I have to agree, of course. More, Di Resta doesn't seem that off the pace. And he is a rookie...

midgrid · Post by **midgrid** » 10 May 2011, 13:09

A Belgian user of the Autosport forums has posted that d'Ambrosio is in imminent danger of losing his seat due to a sponsor defaulting, and that Yamamoto would thus take the second Virgin seat. I know we have a few Belgians on here - does anyone have any further information?

Ed24 · Post by **Ed24** » 10 May 2011, 14:54

It would be a pity for D'Ambrosio, because he's actually done a very good job this year so far.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 10 May 2011, 15:19

That would be criminal, he's really been running up there with Glock, compared to Di Grassi's season he's already done more with the car than Lucas ever did (barring the one fluke 14th position he got). I know Sakon was only signed up for the first three races though so do they even have a third driver at the moment? Either way I'd take this news with a pinch of salt till we hear any more on it.

EDIT: Forgot D'Ambrosio has a 14th from Australia as well so I'd say he's already outperformed Di Grassi easily!

Post by **mario** » 10 May 2011, 17:01

AndreaModa wrote:That would be criminal, he's really been running up there with Glock, compared to Di Grassi's season he's already done more with the car than Lucas ever did (barring the one fluke 14th position he got). I know Sakon was only signed up for the first three races though so do they even have a third driver at the moment? Either way I'd take this news with a pinch of salt till we hear any more on it.

EDIT: Forgot D'Ambrosio has a 14th from Australia as well so I'd say he's already outperformed Di Grassi easily!

Not only that, but with that 14th place D'Ambrosio is ahead of Glock in the WDC - and that is before we consider that he has outqualifyed Glock twice in a row in the last two races (and in China, he finished ahead of him too). At the moment, D'Ambrosio does seem to be steadily improving, whilst Glock is beginning to flag, perhaps because he is disenchanted with the team.
So, at the moment I'd say that, performance wise, D'Ambrosio does seem to be performing well enough to justify his seat - if anything, his current form is beginning to put pressure on Glock. Perhaps the only upside would be hearing what Brundle or others have to say if Yamamoto turned up on the grid again (his comments last year - like "Well, it's money isn't it?" when asked why Yamamoto had returned, said it all).

But, as others have said, I might be more inclined to wait and see if this story is affirmed by other sectors of the motorsport press - we've heard rumours surrounding a few drivers, and so far there has been little of substance to back them up.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 11 May 2011, 09:47

Quick little update on the situation, a curious message was posted on the Virgin Racing Facebook page:

Virgin Racing on Facebook wrote:In response to reports regarding Jérôme’s future John Booth, Team Principal, had this to say:

“Jérôme has done a fantastic job in the first four races of his debut season in Formula One. Together with Timo Glock Marussia Virgin Racing has a very strong line-up and the growing competitiveness between the two is very exciting. Jérôme is one to watch for the future and we have no doubt that when we have honed our upgrade package and can start to take more of a fight to the competition, Jérôme will be able to reveal even more of his potential, which is great for the Team and Jerome’s growing fan following both in Belgium and internationally. As with any driver agreement with the Team, as long as the terms of the contract are fulfilled, it would be our intention to continue with Jérôme.”

Of note is the final sentence, so whilst they are clearly delighted with D'Ambrosio's performances, if the contract isn't upheld, he's history. Whether or not that contract includes clauses for sponsor payments is unknown but there must be some substance to the rumours for the team to issue a statement like this.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 11 May 2011, 09:57

AndreaModa wrote:Quick little update on the situation, a curious message was posted on the Virgin Racing Facebook page:

Virgin Racing on Facebook wrote:In response to reports regarding Jérôme’s future John Booth, Team Principal, had this to say:

“Jérôme has done a fantastic job in the first four races of his debut season in Formula One. Together with Timo Glock Marussia Virgin Racing has a very strong line-up and the growing competitiveness between the two is very exciting. Jérôme is one to watch for the future and we have no doubt that when we have honed our upgrade package and can start to take more of a fight to the competition, Jérôme will be able to reveal even more of his potential, which is great for the Team and Jerome’s growing fan following both in Belgium and internationally. As with any driver agreement with the Team, as long as the terms of the contract are fulfilled, it would be our intention to continue with Jérôme.”

Of note is the final sentence, so whilst they are clearly delighted with D'Ambrosio's performances, if the contract isn't upheld, he's history. Whether or not that contract includes clauses for sponsor payments is unknown but there must be some substance to the rumours for the team to issue a statement like this.

It is probable that he has these kind of clauses. After all Parente was selected to be Virgin test driver last year (he was present at the team presentation) only for a sponsorship to default. Virgin thought there was a breach in the contract so he lost his place to Andy Soucek.

S951 · Post by **S951** » 11 May 2011, 10:57

latest from another site this morning is that he could be out by barca and sakon has his money ready for at least half a dozen races

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 11 May 2011, 11:00

S951 wrote:latest from another site this morning is that he could be out by barca and sakon has his money ready for at least half a dozen races

Which site?

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 11 May 2011, 11:16

I beg to differ. Canadian Robert Wickens could be in the lineup.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/can ... story.html

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 11 May 2011, 11:35

golic_2004 wrote:I beg to differ. Canadian Robert Wickens could be in the lineup.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/can ... story.html

If Wickens resists the urge to go to F1 now and wins the F3.5 ahead of Vergne and Ricciardo then he might find a drive way better than Virgin. Anyway Wickens is a good prospect.

S951 · Post by **S951** » 11 May 2011, 11:53

was reading on a few threads on autosport before I left for work members on there had links up

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 11 May 2011, 11:59

S951 wrote:was reading on a few threads on autosport before I left for work members on there had links up

Could you post these links here?

Ed24 · Post by **Ed24** » 11 May 2011, 12:38

Here is one of the Autosport threads I think he is referring to.

http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=139159&st=480&start=480

Peter · Post by **Peter** » 12 May 2011, 01:46

I don't think Virgin would go for a rookie. Sakon already has good experience with a bakcmarker team in recent history and would be a good support to Glock and provide some decent feedback, as well as money. Plus, his pace isn't bad anyway.

cretoxyrhina · Post by **cretoxyrhina** » 12 May 2011, 02:51

Why Sakon? Bring Rio Haryanto in!
(sorry, I'm being unusually nationalistic today)