Grand Prix Rejects

According to some sites, Mirko Bortolotti, a F2 driver, may replace Badoer after Spa. Montezemolo seems to like him, since he was the best of the three F3 drivers that Ferrari tested. He's 19 years old.

Noooooooooooooooooo.....

Italian driver in a Ferrari? That'll be the end of his career, then.

He says that he's focused on the F2 championship
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78004

That would make him the first child of the 90s to race in F1 (which makes me feel old, as a child of 1989!). He's too young and inexperienced, surely, and it's not like Ferrari to throw a 19 year old in straight away. They may as well keep Luca; if Bortolotti comes in and gets soundly beaten every week (like Luca did at Valencia) then it could affect him psychologically and do huge harm to his career. At least Badoer's career is nearly over, so any psychological damage he suffers won't affect it too much.

Last time Ferrari gave a driver his first race - Arturo Merzario in 1972 (I think).

Doubt this will happen. Though you never know - who'd have predicted Badoer stepping in for Schumacher before Q2 in Hungary!

Warren Hughes wrote:That would make him the first child of the 90s to race in F1

Alguersuari was born in 1990.

I find it unlikely. It's entirely possible he won't do any better than Badoer, and they don't even know yet how Badoer is going to go in Spa. I think if they do replace him, it'll be with an experience driver like Piquet.

This one doesn't make sense to me either. Ferrari only need a driver to see the season out so I highly doubt they will go for a young driver. If Badoer does get dropped I would expect to see Gene/Piquet/Bourdais back or a driver from another team making the step up.

Still though, the idea of an F1 driver from the 1990's does frighten me a little, even if Alguersuari is also younger than me!

Of course, if Bortolotti does replace Badoer, that'll be a driver from the 90s being replaced by a driver from the 90s.

shinji wrote:

Warren Hughes wrote:That would make him the first child of the 90s to race in F1

Alguersuari was born in 1990.

Whoops

Note to self: don't assume knowledge without checking first

I'm starting the campaign for Sato for Ferrari right now. So here goes:

SATO TO FERRARI!

LionZoo wrote:I'm starting the campaign for Sato for Ferrari right now. So here goes:

SATO TO FERRARI!

+ INFINITY


But I doubt that they'll replace Badoer as I personally believe that he'll do quite better at Spa (or let's say it otherwise: he won't be so embarrising XD).

LionZoo wrote:SATO TO FERRARI!

+100 internets to you my friend.

I will start a counter Campaign for HWSNBN to Ferrari.....

Personally I would like to see Anthony Davidson get the drive. But for now let's hope Badoer proves us all wrong in Spa, for all we know he might only drive well on interesting circuits.

Tealy wrote:Personally I would like to see Anthony Davidson get the drive. But for now let's hope Badoer proves us all wrong in Spa, for all we know he might only drive well on interesting circuits.

And who could blame him?

Does anyone remember how he drove last time he raced in Belgium? The only thing it says on his F1Rejects.com profile is that he was fighting with Villeneuve at some point in the race, though that wasn't much of an achievement in itself in 1999.

Waris wrote:Does anyone remember how he drove last time he raced in Belgium? The only thing it says on his F1Rejects.com profile is that he was fighting with Villeneuve at some point in the race, though that wasn't much of an achievement in itself in 1999.

Yeah, he and Gene were battling with Villeneuve for much of the race, but Badoer took way to much kerb at the Bus Stop chicane and destroyed his suspension(I have footage from the 1999 season review of him leaping the chicane completely airborne). It started a sequence of 5 DNFs through to the end of the season and his tenure at Minardi.

Yes, Belgium 1999 was the race meeting where BAR had both their race cars destroyed by Villeneuve and Zonta in massive crashes at Eau Rouge, and Villeneuve finally got his first finish of the year, after eleven DNFs in a row, in 15th place, ahead only of Gené.

I remember Badoer's trip over the Bus Stop chicane in 1999 wrecking the suspension too. If the chicane were still the same now, a driver could probably perform the same manoeuvre and not break the suspension on a 2009 car, seeing as the wretched things seem to be almost totally indestructible (apart from the front wings).

Badoer's record at Spa isn't all that great in the races, unfortunately:

1993: BMS Scuderia Italia Lola - Ferrari: Q24 P13, 2 laps behind.
1995: Minardi-Cosworth: Q19 R 23 laps-accident.
1996: Forti-Cosworth: Team didn't compete.
1999: Minardi-Cosworth: Q20 R 33 laps-suspension

He hasn't been slow around there driving for Minardi though, and his crash in 1995 was as a result of having a big battle with his team mate at the time, who he went off the road trying to pass. He also was comfortably quicker than Alboreto in 1993, and was ahead of Gené, if I recall correctly, when he mangled his suspension in 1999, so am I am expecting a much better performance than they which he gave in Valencia.

As was said earlier, maybe the fact Spa is a decent and interesting circuit will also inspire him to go quicker. After all, if somebody said to me (if I had not been driving an F1 car for nearly ten years) that they wanted me to make my comeback at Valencia, I wouldn't have known whether to laugh or cry!

Autosport's John Noble is tweeting Fizzie Keller is being mentioned as the best candidate to take over from Luca.

CarlosFerreira wrote:Autosport's John Noble is tweeting Fizzie Keller is being mentioned as the best candidate to take over from Luca.

Fizzie who? Never heard of him before...

I think Fizzy Keller is a nickname for Fisichella. God I hope he doesn't get a Ferrari drive.

Nuppiz wrote:

CarlosFerreira wrote:Autosport's John Noble is tweeting Fizzie Keller is being mentioned as the best candidate to take over from Luca.

Fizzie who? Never heard of him before...

Giancarlo Fisichella's alter ego.

CarlosFerreira wrote:

Nuppiz wrote:

CarlosFerreira wrote:Autosport's John Noble is tweeting Fizzie Keller is being mentioned as the best candidate to take over from Luca.

Fizzie who? Never heard of him before...

Giancarlo Fisichella's alter ego.

Ah, should have recognized that...

It makes absolutely no sense of kicking out Luca once he has settled himself comfortably in the car, and he will become comfortable with the car this weekend. So succumbing to the desire of the press and other ramblers and replace him for Monza would be the worst thing that Ferrari could do, because then, the whole acclimatisation process would start anew again for the replacement driver.
Just look at why Renault kept Nelsinho Piquet in their car for so long and learn from them. They did the right thing and kept him on.
Even Sato-san or Villeneuve-san or Bourdais-san couldn't do better than Luca. Much less a rookie even.
Luca Badoer is the man, so please let him be it for a few races more.
After all, Massa will be back next year.

Yannick wrote:It makes absolutely no sense of kicking out Luca once he has settled himself comfortably in the car, and he will become comfortable with the car this weekend. So succumbing to the desire of the press and other ramblers and replace him for Monza would be the worst thing that Ferrari could do, because then, the whole acclimatisation process would start anew again for the replacement driver.
Just look at why Renault kept Nelsinho Piquet in their car for so long and learn from them. They did the right thing and kept him on.
Even Sato-san or Villeneuve-san or Bourdais-san couldn't do better than Luca. Much less a rookie even.
Luca Badoer is the man, so please let him be it for a few races more.
After all, Massa will be back next year.

Badoer is not comfortable, and won't become comfortable. His dismal performance in Valencia has made him the laughing stock of the whole F1 Circus. Not only was he dog slow, he was inconsistent and committed a series of rather unfortunate and childish mistakes: the 4 pit lane speeding tickets, the drive-through caused by stepping the white line, the being passed by Grosjean while leaving the pit lane, rear-ending Sutil in parc fermè...

Remember the concept of ROTR is not just someone that's slow, but someone who is rubbish? That fails in style? That's Badoer in Valencia.

CarlosFerreira wrote:Badoer is not comfortable, and won't become comfortable. His dismal performance in Valencia has made him the laughing stock of the whole F1 Circus. Not only was he dog slow, he was inconsistent and committed a series of rather unfortunate and childish mistakes: the 4 pit lane speeding tickets, the drive-through caused by stepping the white line, the being passed by Grosjean while leaving the pit lane, rear-ending Sutil in parc fermè...

Remember the concept of ROTR is not just someone that's slow, but someone who is rubbish? That fails in style? That's Badoer in Valencia.

It's always darkest before the dawn.

Well I'm listening to the Friday practice from Spa and Badoer is still totally gash. Making loads of errors and is dead last, well off the ultimate pace.

He will be replaced for Monza. Probably by Jules Bianchi, which would be very unusual for Ferrari to give a young driver a shot.

Personally I think Liuzzi, Piquet or Bourdais would all be better bets.

I think Badoer's performance in Valencia is forgivable, but he has promised to improve for Spa. If he doesn't, he should be replaced. I'm a big Badoer fan, and I hate the sneery remarks from the commentators and suchlike. If he's going to trog around at the back for every race, we all need to be saved the humiliation.

But his replacement shouldn't be a new guy, it should be someone who's raced within the last year or two.

Irisado wrote:After all, if somebody said to me (if I had not been driving an F1 car for nearly ten years) that they wanted me to make my comeback at Valencia, I wouldn't have known whether to laugh or cry!

Well he has been. What he hasn't done is competing.

Looks like Badoer is out. Despite his improvement near the end of practice, his results are hardly befitting of a Ferrari racer. Pity, as I'm sure you'll all agree.

It looks like he's out, but we have to wait and see if - however unlikely - he manages to get himself together for qualifying and the race.

Yeah you simply cannot be that slow and get away with it in modern F1. I would imagine Gene will get the drive at Monza myself but we will see.

fjackdaw wrote:I think Badoer's performance in Valencia is forgivable, but he has promised to improve for Spa. If he doesn't, he should be replaced. I'm a big Badoer fan, and I hate the sneery remarks from the commentators and suchlike. If he's going to trog around at the back for every race, we all need to be saved the humiliation.

But his replacement shouldn't be a new guy, it should be someone who's raced within the last year or two.

I agree with you in every respect.

Practice doesn't look to good for Badoer so far, although he was closer to the pace than he was in Valencia, but it's not going to be quick enough unfortunately to keep the seat, so he's going to have to find something for qualifying and the race if he wants to continue.

As for possible replacements, they were saying on Five Live today, that there is no point in putting someone from another formula in the car, so it would have to be an experienced driver, but who could Ferrari pick? Gené perhaps, but I don't see him performing that much better.

Irisado wrote:As for possible replacements, they were saying on Five Live today, that there is no point in putting someone from another formula in the car, so it would have to be an experienced driver, but who could Ferrari pick? Gené perhaps, but I don't see him performing that much better.

Gene is not going to be much faster than Badoer, I think, and I doubt they'd let Piquet or Bourdais in the car, though I might be wrong about that. If they get rid of Badoer, then there's not really much harm to be done putting someone like Bortolotti in the car; after all, he can't be much worse than Badoer was at Valencia, now, can he?

muttley wrote:

CarlosFerreira wrote:Badoer is not comfortable, and won't become comfortable. His dismal performance in Valencia has made him the laughing stock of the whole F1 Circus. Not only was he dog slow, he was inconsistent and committed a series of rather unfortunate and childish mistakes: the 4 pit lane speeding tickets, the drive-through caused by stepping the white line, the being passed by Grosjean while leaving the pit lane, rear-ending Sutil in parc fermè...

Remember the concept of ROTR is not just someone that's slow, but someone who is rubbish? That fails in style? That's Badoer in Valencia.

It's always darkest before the dawn.

That's the time when most crashes happen.

Replying to all the rumours, Ferrari has now published a (near complete) alphabet of names linked to Massa's seat
http://www.ferrari.com/English/News/Pages/090827_F1_Waiting_list.aspx

"A as in Fernando Alonso
B as in Jules Bianchi, Mirko Bortolotti and Sebastien Bourdais
C as in David Coulthard
D as in Anthony Davidson
F as in Giancarlo Fisichella and Luca Filippi
G as in Marc Gené
H as in Nico Hulkenberg
K as in Robert Kubica
L as in André Lotterer and Vitantonio Liuzzi
P as in Nelson Piquet (Jr.) and Giorgio Pantano
R as in Valentino Rossi and Davide Rigon
S as in Takuma Sato and Bruno Senna
T as in Jarno Trulli
V as in Jos Verstappen"

Very disappointing that there are not many rejects on that list, in particular HWNSNBM...

Who the hell in the media has suggested that Jos Verstappen should drive the thing? I thought the BBC website's notion of putting David Coulthard in the car was absurd enough...

Paul Hayes wrote:Who the hell in the media has suggested that Jos Verstappen should drive the thing? I thought the BBC website's notion of putting David Coulthard in the car was absurd enough...

Probably the Dutch media, if they get behind their drivers to the extent the British and Spanish media does. Though I would love to see Jos the Boss in a Ferrari.