Maria de Villota announced as Marussia 3rd driver

[Born Racer]

Who's better, do you think, her or Channoch Nissany?

[bella]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

Who's better, do you think, her or Channoch Nissany?

careful what you say - iirc channoch nissany's son is currently working his way through single seaters in italy. if anything ever said "unfulfilled dreams" and "living through his son"....

surely you've got to bring yuji ide into the discussion too?

[Flavio Galtieri]

Originally Posted by bella

she did a couple of days with renault at ricard last year in an 09 car - does that count? oh and i'm pretty sure she did some wsr demos too, but that may have just been hallucinating.

to be fair what she's doing is no more blatently wrong than say, van der garde persistently buying test drives, this time at caterham. she's just stayed away from actual racing in her quest to play with f1 cars. which is fine, if you don't actually want to race them against others. if she does, she shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a race.

Yes I believe those days at Ricard might count towards a superlicense, I know there's a stipulation that the driver has to have completed a certain number of Km. driving an F1 car. I am open to correction on that obviously.

Ultimately I think the 107% rule would be her downfall, so I doubt we'll see her on the grid.

What it highlights is the crassness of a "sport" where money can get you not only a seat in an F1 car, albeit just testing, but an ex F1 driver who purports to be a "expert" and management guru spouting absolute rubbish for a fat paycheque. Pathetic.

It's a shame really, all this rubbish on what is mean't to be International Women's Day. I know there are far better female prospects out there and hopefully they will take notice of this PR fiasco.

[barnettracing]

At some point I will reply. I'm still trying to find adequate words...

[Flavio Galtieri]

Originally Posted by barnettracing

At some point I will reply. I'm still trying to find adequate words...

Beer is the answer.

Pubs open in a minute....

[barnettracing]

Originally Posted by Flavio Galtieri

Beer is the answer.

Pubs open in a minute....

That sounds like a plan John!

[bella]

Originally Posted by Flavio Galtieri

What it highlights is the crassness of a "sport" where money can get you not only a seat in an F1 car, albeit just testing, but an ex F1 driver who purports to be a "expert" and management guru spouting absolute rubbish for a fat paycheque. Pathetic.

It's a shame really, all this rubbish on what is mean't to be International Women's Day. I know there are far better female prospects out there and hopefully they will take notice of this PR fiasco.

to be fair to her, so far in what i've seen of her career there's been no "omg i'm a girl i'm amazing" trumpet blowing from her camp. in some respects, vicky piria's announcements have been worse but that's been the work of the series (who are, let's face it, desperate for some, any press) rather than her.

for all we know, her, ummm, contributions to marussia have allowed them to create or fund a job or two and create an opportunity for marketing that they wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. in that respect, it's a good thing. if she's not taking a drive off a non-paying genuinely gifted driver, then it's all good. teams cannot be expected to simply pull a random drive that they're going to have to pay for out of their backsides. that's expensive. the ones that can, fantastic, let's see more of that. but the ones who are clearly stretched for cash... who are we to blame them for creating an opportunity in the face of a nice cheque?

where i have a problem is where the sum total of all those contributions to all the team is a "young drivers" test at abu dhabi that's entirely powered by daddy's chequebook. i don't deny these folks have a right to buy whatever they want, particularly if it in a roundabout way supports our sport and keeps people employed. but if everyone's going to do it for all of their testing slots then the spirit of the event in the first place is lost.

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

Anyway, I fail to understand the move from Maria's point of view. Test drivers barely get any track time these days. And Marussia isn't McLaren or Red Bull really.

Surely buying another ride in a feeder series(or maybe consider a move in tin-tops) would've been money more wisely used?

Or maybe is that just a desperate PR stunt from Marussia, and she got the ride at a very low price? Perhaps this post is just an empty nutshell after all, who knows how much/if she will ever drive for them.

[Flavio Galtieri]

Bella, that's a pretty fair roundup.

The trouble is it's just a rush to the bottom isn't it? (If you'll excuse the expression).

The more financial pressure teams lower down the order are under in these austere times the more likely they are to pick up a paying no hoper like this just to balance the books. I imagine Blundell's business is in pretty much the same position i.e. goodbye credibility, hello positive bank balance.

And it does impinge on talent lower down, because whilst deals like this can be struck what chance has, say, a BF3 winner with perhaps just a little less money have of getting that chance? It just inflates the price surely?

There should really be a minimum level of achievement to drive an F1 car in any team capacity, otherwise it's just a bad joke.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Flavio Galtieri

And it does impinge on talent lower down, because whilst deals like this can be struck what chance has, say, a BF3 winner with perhaps just a little less money have of getting that chance? It just inflates the price surely?

There should really be a minimum level of achievement to drive an F1 car in any team capacity, otherwise it's just a bad joke.

on the first point, i'm not sure it does. without any genuine numbers to analyse, i don't think you can say either way. common sense would say yes, demand goes up and there's less available opportunities, so do prices. on the other hand, since the decision is in the teams hand shouldn't we be looking at the risk for them? they could run a well-backed driver who will cover their costs, or they could lose a bit of money and try someone who might well be a Bit Special. caterham did both last year as lotus - they had the genuine third driver, and a test driver who had brought a bit of cash and got a couple of sessions in the car plus a paddock pass and a team shirt. arguably the presence of the second paid for the presence of the first.

on the second thing i agree wholeheartedly. make it a points scheme, and the number of points for finishing highly in a series varies depending on cars on grid and margin of victory. make 'em work hard for it. then at least you're guranteeing a certain amount of money and a certain number of years from the ones that can afford to buy nothing but the most expensive and best.

Originally Posted by W.A Trichlorostyrene

Anyway, I fail to understand the move from Maria's point of view. Test drivers barely get any track time these days. And Marussia isn't McLaren or Red Bull really.

Or maybe is that just a desperate PR stunt from Marussia, and she got the ride at a very low price? Perhaps this post is just an empty nutshell after all, who knows how much/if she will ever drive for them.

it's just her (or her old man?) wanting to drive a f1 car i suspect. it really isn't a pr stunt from marussia - they'd have made far more of it, particularly through their social media presence, than just a single press release.

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by ensign14

She actually makes her father look fast.

I was only saying the exact same thing, ye northern plageriser! Oh wait you said it first, ok...

[Thundersports]

Emilio was a good driver to be fair not a Jones or Piquet neither a Alberto Colombo but somewhere in the middle.

[adam46]

Hold on was she the one who caused the crash at Brands Hatch in 2010?

I have just been watching videos and I now never hope she gets into a pack of F1 cars.

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

Originally Posted by adam46

Hold on was she the one who caused the crash at Brands Hatch in 2010?

Nope.

[Thundersports]

Originally Posted by adam46

Hold on was she the one who caused the crash at Brands Hatch in 2010?

I have just been watching videos and I now never hope she gets into a pack of F1 cars.

Julien Jousse; it wasn't the first time he had done something like that either.

[bella]

at brands she did, however, drive so badly she prompted craig dolby to call her something naughty on the radio.

[adam46]

Was she the Athletico Madrid car? I have a photo of that car spinning at Druids? (I was there.)

[bella]

yeah, she was. for 2 seasons, i think?

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by Thundersports

Emilio was a good driver to be fair not a Jones or Piquet neither a Alberto Colombo but somewhere in the middle.

Alberto Colombo was a very decent F2 driver, and IMHO a better driver than De Villotta, especially given the equipment Emilio had compared to the junk Alberto generally had to pedal.

Are you thinking perhaps of Ballabio or Lavaggi?

[Eff One]

Originally Posted by adam46

Two words; Publicity Stunt.

My thoughts exactly.

[Flavio Galtieri]

Originally Posted by Eff One

My thoughts exactly.

A Publicity "Stunt" should have the objective of raising the profile in a positive way of at least one of the participants.

How has this helped the team? Gasgoyne looks silly. Blundell looks silly, and Maria has her career examined in microscopic detail. A total PR disaster for all concerned.

Don't believe that "all publicity is good publicity" bs. Ask Gerald Ratner.

[bella]

and if i was to put my paranoid feminist hat on (it doesn't fit AT ALL):

[soapbox]so anything involving a woman is a publicity stunt? would you be saying the same thing if it was a well-backed man? why are we singling her out for pointing and ridicule? is it because she's a woman? [/soapbox]

and so forth. but it really isn't a publicity stunt. it would have been accompanied by some photoshopped glamour shots if it was, an avalanche of interviews and some trite girl power nonsense.

fortunately, it's not. it's just a lady doing what she wants with her family money. much like our favourite rich "i worked very hard for my dad to buy me everything to flatter my absolutely unexceptional abilities in a racing car" boys do.

[Flavio Galtieri]

Originally Posted by bella

it's just a lady doing what she wants with her family money. much like our favourite rich "i worked very hard for my dad to buy me everything to flatter my absolutely unexceptional abilities in a racing car" boys do.

Absolutely spot on

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by bella

fortunately, it's not. it's just a lady doing what she wants with her family money. much like our favourite rich "i worked very hard for my dad to buy me everything to flatter my absolutely unexceptional abilities in a racing car" boys do.

Indeed, like Max Chilton.