Bernoldi replacing PDLR??????

[steve nielsen]

Enrique Bernoldi tested for Arrows today, he was'nt impressive at all(2 secs of pace), but is rumoured(especialy by the Brazillian press) to replace Pedro de la Rosa at Arrows, because Pedro has problems with his Repsol sponsorship, Jos Verstappen seems to be safe, but there are stil these options:

A- Bernoldi wil be Arrows testdriver

B- Bernoldi wil replace PDLR (because of Repsol

C- He wil disapear into thin air (like Pizzonia)

Jos has already said his sponsors( Lost Boys, McM and Enorm) wil stay at the team, he's done the majority of this months testing, and he wil also do next weeks shakedown of the A22.

[Dino IV]

Your missing the most feasible option, Steve:

D- Enrique will replace Jos

Maybe a tough option to face for a Verstappen-fan but it's most likely. Repsol is not jumping ship anymore and Walkinshaw wants to keep his major sponsor and fluids supplier for this season. Or do you think he fancies shopping at the local petrolstation before every training?

It would make sense if Jos had outpaced Pedro last season, but on the contrary the Spaniard was calling the shots at Arrows last season.

Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz is totally focussed on landing Bernoldi a seat for this season. Don't ask me why but he's really determined. And determined sponsors with loads of money are at the right place in F1 if they want something. He jumped ship at Sauber because they choose Raikonnen; he jumped ship at Minardi close to a deal coz they opted for the wrong engine. So now he's knocking on Tom's door, promising huge amounts of $$$ in return for a driver's seat for his protege.

And what's Jos' position? He brings sponsoring from a small internetcompany and ... a power drink.
Worth how much? Little over $ 2 million.
So you actually believe that Red Bull will sponsor Arrows to be placed next to another power drink? A bit unrealistic don't you think?
On top of that Jos' contract demands from Tom to pay Jos - compared to the $ 110.000 in 2000 - a triple salary in 2001.

So I'd say option D. Jos out, Enrique in.

[steve nielsen]

Jos' total sponsorship was about 10 million $ , Lost Boys is named as one of the major sponsors, and BTW: Repsol is'nt the fuel suplier, last years fuel was suplied by ELF (remember Barcelona), the supertec was developed for ELF fuel, this year they'll probably run Total.

And Jos is'nt doing so much testing for nothing, and he is planned to do the shakedown of the A22 next week(Pedro's words).

Anyway: Pedro did outpace Jos in qualifying, but in most races he was past him at the first corner.
Jos 5 points, Pedro 2 - Jos finished 7 times ,Pedro 6 times - in all 3 races where both Arrows finished Jos was ahead of Pedro , Jos crashed 3 times , Pedro 6(!) times.

SO: he never outraced Jos, whenever he was in front (A1 ring and Hockenheim), it was because Jos had bad luck, in Austria Jos was ahead of Pedro at the first corner, but Mika Salo braked in front of him, so he had to go in for a front wing change, he set the fastes lap twice after that.
In Hockenheim qualifying Jos' mechanics fastend a bolt to thyght, and the starter would'nt fit, when Jos finaly came on track the track was already a lot wetter.

[steve nielsen]

interesting, from http://www.autosport.com :

Slowest of the day was the Arrows-AMT of surprise peddlar Enrique Bernoldi. The former Sauber test driver is tipped to be in line for a drive with the flagging Minardi squad, but with no real prospects of moving off the back of the grid for the Italian team, Bernoldi may opt for a test deal with Arrows.

Barcelona test, day six – unofficial times
Pos Driver Car Laps
1 Marc Gene*, Williams-BMW, 1m21.20s, 63 laps
2 Nick Heidfeld, Sauber-Petronas (2001 car) 1m21.23s, 12 laps
3 Jarno Trulli, Jordan-Honda (2001 car), 1m21.31s, 69 laps
4 Kimi Raikkonen, Sauber-Petronas (2001 car) 1m21.94s, 63 laps
5 Darren Manning*, BAR-Honda (2001 car), 1m22.34s, 85 laps
6 Enrique Bernoldi*, Arrows-AMT, 1m23.58s, 14 laps
*denotes test driver
______________________

So, just testdriver, nothing to worry about for Pedro (certainly with this time)

[bella]

he'd damn well better not replace pedro. or i'll set my great aunties on him.

seriously, it'd be a terrible shame for a talent like pedros to go down the plughole. he's great. faster than *shock horror* jos, anyway. and isn't he supposed to be a reincarnation of jesus

[steve nielsen]

Well Bella, like I said above Pedro is faster in qualifying, but Jos is faster in the races, this season Jos is going to be better in qualifying, the A22 is better suited to his drivingstyle, and he's worked with almost the same team for a year.

[steve nielsen]

Jos is at the Arrows factory in Leafield today, for a seat fitting for the A22 (www.verstappen.nl , sorry so far only in dutch)

[Dino IV]

When you look at verstappen.nl, steve, don't mistake dutch guilders for us dollars.

There's been some friction last year about the fluid supply, especially by the French who didn't fancy the Repsol stickers on their products ofcourse. But Repsol supplied the fuel mostly and Elf took care of the oils. Same construction will be seen next year with Total coz they know the oil the ol' Pug A20 needs. That's where the Repsol fuss is all about, but that seems to be settled now.

If he's gonna be a testdriver I don't see the need for a multi-million dollar sponsordeal, do you?

And maybe you could review Pedro in the same way as you did Jos. Replace the names and give it a try. Pedro would probably look like a future WDC then.

[steve nielsen]

according to dutch f1 site formule1.nl Bernoldi is testing the Arrows to do enough miles to get his licence, because the Minardi team is'nt testing, so he will probably drive for Minardi........

[R]

Alonso and Bernoldi is the most probable line-up at Minardi, and I hope both Jos and Pedro stay at Arrows. They are both hard chargers, and can push each other - in much the same way that I expect Ralf and JPM to do at Williams this year.

[Martin de Miguel]

It would be a real shame that one of two talented drivers like Pedro or Jos would lose his place because of a sponsor issue. They have already proof their value and in my personal opinion none of them should be even paying to be in F1. Anyway if Bernoldi gets in, that means great news for other teams like Maclaren or Jaguar cause that way they can get rid of untalented people like Irvine or Coulthard and hire whoever of the two becomes available.

PD:My opinion about the drivers is purely subjective to feeling and driving skills not people skills (David looks like a nica guy and Eddie I am sure is a lot of fun, but for me this is about racing not social life)