Where is Piquet going in 2007?

[Rennen]

Originally Posted by Alienman_69

The contracts teams make with young drivers is usually bad for the driver. Thats why many end up asking to be released of the contract like Adam Carrol recently did with Honda. Honda young driver program is a clear example of how to get young drivers giving nothing in return. Thats why they sign 3 or 4 and most of them tested a F1 car once or twice in the last year.

Disagree completely! They were given the chance to drive an F1 car, surely every drivers ambition. Most young drivers, never even get a chance to drive one.

It's only "bad" for a young driver if they sign a long testing contract which can prevent a driver being free to take up other options, which may came along. I'm sure you can think of an example that comes to my mind.

[Rennen]

Originally Posted by Bononi

That's true for most of them, but there is always the talented that makes to become a F1 driver.

Ah! The view that all F1 drivers on the grid must be the most talented drivers! Sorry to dissillusion you romantic types, but it's all down to deals, and meetings (unless you are an established 'star' of course) and what you can bring to the table as the saying goes!

Fact is all drivers that reach the F1 doorstep are all talented. Off course the Piquets as all managers do are holding talks with every team they can arrange a meeting with. A famous name helps, as does being very wealthy too.
Teams especially the smaller ones always welcome a driver with money. Now if you were Aguri, would you take a rookie who needs a few crashes to find his way, or an experienced driver with no money to bring in, and whom needs a modest wage, but whom has vast technical knowledge of most of the parts you use?...May the best 'talented driver' win!

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Rennen

Ah! The view that all F1 drivers on the grid must be the most talented drivers! Sorry to dissillusion you romantic types, but it's all down to deals, and meetings (unless you are an established 'star' of course) and what you can bring to the table as the saying goes!

Totally agree there, Rennen ! I was saying more that even against the odds the very talented always are seen and become a F1 driver.

[VilleneuveTracy]

I agree, chunterer. My problem is that they are being rushed. They should be given more time to develop. We saw what happened with Klien and Rosberg and Kubica may wind up with similar fates.

However, i must first stand up for drivers in "division 2", which includes a list of quite talented drivers, most notably Mark Webber, Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Juan Pablo.

I am one of the few people who is not convinced that there are only three "division 1" drivers in F1. That is why I always put "division 2" in quotation marks. I am not convinced that Webber and Heidfeld are not WDC caliber drivers. I would like to see what they could do in a winning car. Webber's demolition of Rosberg is more of a reflection of his skill than Rosberg's inexperience IMO.

Rosberg will improve but I don't think he will ever become a WDC caliber driver. At best he will be another Ferrari #2 type driver.

Fact is all drivers that reach the F1 doorstep are all talented. Off course the Piquets as all managers do are holding talks with every team they can arrange a meeting with. A famous name helps, as does being very wealthy too.
Teams especially the smaller ones always welcome a driver with money.

Good points. Nationality is also a big factor among some teams. Look at Super Aguri and BMW's German-Polish-German regional lineup (contrast that to Mercedes, you know, the German luxury carmaker with a quick team ). To have Yammato and Ide racing in F1 this year instead of Davidson is a joke.

[chunterer]

And the other thing really is this 'divisions' of drivers.

Surely we're only pigeon holeing them into divisions based on their F1 record, but if you put them all in the same car would we still only have 3 division 1 calibre drivers?!

I much prefer to look at it by comparing their career records, in which case there will still be a handful of drivers above everyone else but a damn sight more than 3!

In fact i'd put money on there being drivers not currently driving F1 that are of comparable ability to Schumacher, Alonso and Kimi (assuming this is the 3 div one guys in question?).

What's to say that Gordon and Stewart or Castroneves or Piquet could be at that level given the chance?

It was much easier to tell the difference in talent when there were more drives available and F1 was a little more open generally speaking and there was less, as has been mentioned a lot on here, big budget manufacturer emphasis on who drives what.

Still, I guess we can only compare who is in front of us trackside or on the screens in the same category.

But does the perfromances of Kubica and Vettel recently suggest that the old guard are going 'off' or that newer younger drivers are more hungry or even better suited to the current F1 cars??

[Bononi]

The younger the driver more chances he has to win in the long run. For a driver with more than 25 years, would be virtually impossible to set a successful career in F1 in less than 10 years. So the top teams would rather choose a young driver with full 10 to 12 years in F1 to try and win, than a bet in an old driver to start winning right from the start.
And from a critic point of view, TGF has set a high standard for a driver's career, which only make the teams look for younger drivers.

[freud]

Originally Posted by Alienman_69

Yes, most F1 sites are saying Piquet is going to Renault. Like ive been saying in this thread for a while, it makes perfect sense to assume that, considering Renault needs a 3rd driver, Piquet Snr. ended his career in Benetton managed at the time by Briatore, and last but not least the Piquet family is very well connected with Ecclestone and we all know he has a lot of influence so if you put that all together it looks quite obvious. Although Ive reard also, that Honda is still in the play, one has to think if you could chose between Renault and Honda, most people would chose Renault!

Dude, Flavio doesnt know anything about the web! I doubt if he even knows internet exists He likes Monaco, supergirls and the money...

One thing that I tremendously like about Flavio is his passion for racing and winning. He introduced Michael S. to F1. He introduced F. Alonso to F1. I doubt if he will ever buy a weak horse (I really dont know if the son of Piquet can run like his Dad)..

[VilleneuveTracy]

I agree. I think some drivers in F1, such as Webber and Heidfeld, could compete for the WDC if given a competitive car.

In my view, today's performance by Vettel raises questions about Kubica and BMW. It suggests it was the BMW program, not Kubica's skill, that made him look so good on Fridays (he was 17th when running a normal program...). It also suggests BMW prefers Friday glory over setting up for the race. While other teams have their 3rd drivers run light, BMW seems to be taking it to a new level in order to showboat. Does it cost them on Sunday? Will it cost them 5th in the WCC?

[Alienman_69]

Vettel made a impression yesterday because he had more revs in his engine, more tyres and was running light, while the others were working for the race. But if he had to race that would be a different story, because then he would need to setup the car for a race trim, chose tyres, adapt how he drives so that the tyres last, setup lots of different things, make compromises, and no 20 year old can get in a F1 and do that, it takes time, doesnt matter how good or talented he is, he needs to learn to do all that. Seting up a F1 car is somethig very complex, you just need to count how many engineers there are to know that, thats why being a test driver and learning how to is very important this days and when drivers rush to a race seat without that experience they pay the price. They can shine some times but to be consistent, thats other thing.
If you look at thigs how they are, if you have to chose drivers from GP2, Piquet will always be in the top 3, so dont see why people keep saying he hasnt showed much, who showed more?? If you talk about GP2 2006, you have to talk about Hamilton and Piquet, if Hamilton is taken, whats the surprise Piquet is wanted in different teams?

[Mekola]

Piquet Jr. and Zonta likely to be Renault testers next year.

[Bononi]

Yeah, almost a deal done...

[Alienman_69]

I read its official:

Renault will have;
Fisi and Kovalainen racing drivers.
Zonta and Piquet Jr. test drivers.
And Briatore for 2 more years.

[Suze]

Yes correct he will be a test driver.

[Marbot]

So now we know.

[Bononi]

Where's official ?

[Mystery]

Originally Posted by Bononi

Where's official ?

http://www.renaultf1.com/en/media_ce...ws=tcm:3-50662