The F1 2012 season is one full of controversial changes;, driver’s have been roped in to replace those who have not performed to the team’s standards. They could even be brought in for the additional finances given to the team, which has coined the term “pay drivers”.
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| (c) Octane Photographic |
In this article, the first of my F1 2012 season preview, I will be going over the driver changes for the 2012 season, who is out and who is in.
One of the most talked about changes to the F1 2012 driver line up was from the Toro Rosso team. The Italian based squad, Junior to Red Bull, decided to scrap both drivers from their 2011 line up, making way for some youngsters from Red Bull’s driver development academy. The team said that Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastian Buemi did not perform to the high standards the team had set, ebn after the 3 years they both spent with the team respectively. Alguersuari had his best season yet, scoring 26 points and a bets result of 7th in the Italian and Korean Grand Prix’s. Buemi, in contrast, scored only 15 points and was outperformed by his Spanish team mate on a number of occasions. His best result of 8th at the Australian and Hungarian Grand Prix’s was not enough to convince the team they were worth keeping. Sebastian Buemi went on to be confirmed as the Red Bull reserve driver, while Alguersuari will take to commentating for the BBC 5Live F1 team, partnering James Allen. He said "It will be interesting to look at the action from a different angle and bring that excitement and insight to listeners.”
It was in with the new for Toro Rosso, as they confirmed Daniel Ricciardo, a quick Aussie racer with 11 GP’s of experience under his belt thanks to a 2011 stint with HRT, and Jean-Eric Vergne who took over from Ricciardo as the teams 2011 reserve driver and completed a number of practice sessions at Grand Prix weekends. Vergne will be 1 of 3 rookies in 2012, and the Frenchman said "I must thank Red Bull for all their support so far and for believing I am ready to take on the ultimate challenge of racing in Formula One.” For me, I was immensely impressed with Alguersuari so was quite shocked to hear the news. Buemi has been in a downward spiral since 2010 and I cannot see him being a future champion or race winner. Ricciardo will do well; I think he has a good amount of talent. As for Vergne, I will have to watch his progress to determine what I think about him.
Another team to cause debate were the Williams squad. The Grove based team, who are the 3rd most successful team in F1, replaced veteran F1 racer Rubens Barrichello with the nephew of the great Ayrton Senna, Bruno. This move had been a talking point for a long time, with drivers such as Kimi Raikkonen (who I will come to later) and Adrian Sutil (likewise) being linked to the open seat. They had already confirmed early on that Pastor Maldonado, one of 2011’s rookies, would be retained but left it late to fill the other role. Williams seem to have been on a downward spiral, with 2011 being one of their worst campaigns. They scored 5 points thanks to 10th place for Maldonado at the legendary Spa Francorchamps circuit, while the other 4 came thanks to Rubens Barrichello in
So they drafted in Bruno Senna, nephew to the late Ayrton, for the 2012 season. Senna raced for the Lotus Renault GP team from Belgium
Another shock was the letting go of Adrian Sutil at Force India. Adrian has been there from the start of the venture and has scored the majority of its points. He has a very good talent which I feel, has been lost. Whether it was to do with his China GP Club brawl with Eric Lux, I do not know, but he is a good talent. I am not sure what he will be doing in 2012, but 2011 was a very strong year. He finished the season 9th overall in the standings, the first time he has broken the top 10, with 39 points. He has honed in his erratic and uncontrollable side which we saw in 2007 and 2008 and created a more consistent and reliable side.
He was replaced by William’s 2010 driver Nico Hulkenberg. The “Hulk” had a year out of a racing seat in 2011. After scoring Williams first pole position at the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix he was left without a seat for 2011. He seaked refuge at Force India as their Test Driver with the hope of moving up to a race seat for 2012, and guess what? He has. There is no doubt the German has the pace and speed, but will he match up to Paul Di Resta? We will have to see. I still feel Sutil was a good talent, but Hulkenberg is just as good.
Lotus Renault GP has caused one of the most talked about moves of the season. Kimi Raikkonen is an immensely popular and talented driver, and after ditching F1 in 2009 for the World Rally Championship he has come back around to the sound of Formula 1. His 2009 campaign still yielded a win, but it was disappointing to say the least. He left for a new challenge and has spent the next 2 years in WRC and NASCAR. The ice cream loving Finn is renowned for being one of the best F1 drivers in the world, and he was first linked to a 2012 drive at Williams. However when confirmed as the Lotus team’s driver, he said they had offered a better offer. Lotus also replaced Vitaly Petrov, who scored his first podium in 2011. The Russian driver was replaced by French F1 2009 outcast Romain Grosjean. Romain raced for the team, then Renault, in 2009 but failed to perform. He was dropped and spent the next few years in GP2 where he was crowned the 2011 GP2 champion. He has been given another chance in F1 after his performances during his time away.
Who they replaced? Bruno Senna, as mentioned earlier, moved to Williams while Vitaly Petrov was a late winter season change at Caterham. He replaced Jarno Trulli, the F1 veteran with 1 race victory, to partner Heikki Kovalainen at the Hingham based team. Petrov had a strong start to the 2011 season at Lotus Renault GP but it trailed off. He was dropped and replaced by Kimi Raikkonen, but replaced Trulli between the 1st and 2nd winter test sessions as the last driver to be confirmed.
On the last few paragraphs, I feel the choices that have been made are mainly positive. Raikkonen will really bring the Lotus F1 team closer to the front and he is always a fan favourite. Petrov has a lot of pace but also experience which will be valuable for Caterham in pushing forward. As much as I used to like Trulli, he does not have the ability he used to. After being dubbed the 1 lap master he is now the holder of the phrase “Trulli Train”.
There were moves at the back of F1 for Jerome D’Ambrosio and Vitantonio Liuzzi, who had to look for a drive elsewhere. Jerome moved to the Lotus team as their reserve driver, after outperforming his Virgin team mate Timo Glock in 2012. He left the now Marussia team to join a higher profile team as their reserve and 3rd driver. Liuzzi was replaced at HRT by veteran F1 test driver Pedro De La Rosa who last raced in 2011 at 1 round in Canada. De La Rosa is one of the oldest drivers on the grid and has experience in racing and testing. Liuzzi has taken up the role as the teams test driver, losing his race seat. I do not really know how fast De La Rosa is but he fits the bill, the HRT team need experience and ability to push forward and improve which I think he does do. D’Ambrosio will not benefit from a year out, but he would not really go any further at Marussia after their unprepared start.
There you go guys, a look over at who is in, and who is out of F1 this year. Many driver changes have occurred, comment your views on what you think about them.
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