Tom Coronel as no 3 for Minardi (merged)

[Adam43]

Is it a big deal because Boots mentioned it or because everyone else is going on about it?

I'm sure Boots just meant it as an interesting aside. The same as saying something like 'isn't he the first driver from Sweden since...', or 'first driver with red hair...', or 'first driver who is called James since...' (you get the idea!).

Maybe we are being a bit too PC here. I feel it is best if it is just dropped now, because I fear it would be impossible to have any resonable discussion anyway.

FIRE, good effort with trying to post something that is relevant to the thread...

[Adam43]

Originally posted by FIRE
According to Minardi Tom Coronel will be NOT Minardi's 3rd driver. Coronel will only drive the car a few times on request of Wilux. Source: http://www.f1news.nl/index.php?id=2296

Interesting. So has it been confirmed? Well there is nothing on the Minardi website either way. The original link says that he should be the reserve driver, but that it wasn't finalised.

[mountainstar]

I've always been a big fan of coronel and always thought he was one of those guys like Tom Kristensen that got shafted by F1 just because they did not have the cash. I hope he gets the drive.

[DENIS G]

Originally posted by FIRE
Glock will be 3rd driver of Jordan.

Coronel will be 3rd driver of Minardi, but Stoddart is still negotiating with Chinese sponsors and if they get an agreement Coronol will be not 3rd driver.

It's a weird year for Dutch F1 racing.

Many drivers on Minardi for 3rd seat,this winter !
Wilson
Firman
Bobbi
Kovalainen
Lopez
Del Monte
Siedler
Karthikeyan
Sidi Said
Gommendy
Davison and Power
now Coronel
and what about Zlobin ???

[JohnMiller]

Wilson and Firman can't due to the experience rule

[ASCII Man]

I wouldn't recommend Slowbin to any F1 team owner...
Never heard of the majority on that list too.

[BootsOntheSide]

Adam's got it right - I only mentioned it as a curio. If people are offended by the very use of someone's ethnicity, naitonality or religion then I'd say political correctness has gone too far. Whatever next, a group of short guys suing NBA clubs for not hiring them?

Seems like the question's academic anyway. Minardi will probably continue with their plan to sell the third seat to local drivers at each race.

[Bononi]

Originally posted by EERO
Heck. I didn't know Rosset was Jewish!!!!

Neither I ! I know this is some kind of trivia, but how did you know about that Boots ???

[BootsOntheSide]

How did I know about it?

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...ghlight=Jewish

[Mekola]

Originally posted by steve nielsen
Tom Coronel did beat Firman in the Formule Nippon chapionship, he won the championship in 99 in his 2nd year, Firman won the championship in his 5th year.

Well, Firman wasn't a serious title contender in his G-Force, what wasn't as good as the Reynards... The only serious contender against Coronel in 1999 F.Nippon season was Satoshi Motoyama.

[Super Tourer]

Coronel went well in sports cars IIRC - particularly the Lister Storm.

[demarco]

Anyone who witnessed Tom Coronel at Monza in ETCC last year, knows how good he is. And, he is a big hero in Holland which would make him ideal for the 3rd driver seat seen in the view of the big Dutch interest in F1 at the moment, from businesses that is.

[FIRE]

Originally posted by demarco
Anyone who witnessed Tom Coronel at Monza in ETCC last year, knows how good he is. And, he is a big hero in Holland which would make him ideal for the 3rd driver seat seen in the view of the big Dutch interest in F1 at the moment, from businesses that is.

:confused:

[demarco]

Haha, okey, to MOST people in Holland he is a big hero!

I have been to some sponsor events in NL, where Tom was supposed to be a person supporting others, but very soon found himself turned into the main act because of who he is.

And, he is a very charming and fun person who also happens to be a very good driver, so from a Minardi+Dutch companies point of view, he would be the ideal choice. IMHO, of course.

[steve nielsen]

Most people??

I would say: very few........

[Dutch chap]

Most people??

I would say: very few........

Ah, i’d say: very few among die hard Verstappen fans, because Tom was considered a threat to Jos a couple of years ago (the Arrows seat).

It seems very insecure what this deal with Minardi, or Willux, means. Now it seems Tom is not the no 3 driver (yet?) We’ll have to wait how this develops. Meanwhile I have my doubts if Tom is physically ready for F1 at this moment. He’ll have to do some work out I think.

And, let’s not forget, he took his F3 and Nippon titles, but both of them took him 2 years. It’s not a veni vidi vici thing, although not as bad as Firman who needed 5(!) years to get the Nippon Championship.

[demarco]

Dont mean to be offensive, but winning two champions in the second year of each championship sounds very "usual", doesnt it? First year a learning year and second year go for the title. Of you ask any young driver, that is exactly their plan. Right?

Anyway, I also agree that poor old Uncle Tom would need to do some heavy workout, but still, from a promotional point of view, he would be ideal, if only for some promotional drives.

[FIRE]

Didn't he do already 1 season F3 in Germany?

I think he's a very good touring and sports car driver, but for F1 he's not good enough. The words come out his mouth at a speed like driving top speed thru Eau Rouge!

[Dutch chap]

Yes, Tom did German F3 in 1995 and ended 7th in the standings. In 1996 he moved to Japan. Did F3 there end came 3d in the championship. The next year, 1997, (his 3d in F3), he became Japanese Champion, came second at Macau and won the Zandvoort Masters. Great Year! In 1998 he competed in the Nippon Championship and the Japanese GT championship, some races won, but no titles. In 1999 he did the same and grabbed the Nippon title. Since then he competed in Touring cars and GT’s.

Believe me, unlike some other Dutch people, I like Tom a lot and I appreciate him for being a very good, fast and reliable driver. But let’s face it, from the time he went to international racing he never came to a new formula and won it from there, it always took at least one extra year (he did win in his full season in clubracing and in his first year in Dutch touringcars though).
Still, the man hasn’t been around a formula car since his Nippon championship in 1999. that’s 4 years not competing in formula racing. He must have lost momentum and he’ll have to do a lot of practising to get back to the level he was at by the end of 1999. Shame he didn’t get a drive in 2000, I think if he would have got a TWO YEAR contract in 2000 he could have been an established F1 driver by now.

[demarco]

Dont forget he drove an F1 car in Formula BOSS Series at Zandvoort in 2002!

[Dutch chap]

Dont forget he drove an F1 car in Formula BOSS Series at Zandvoort in 2002!

So he drove a Boss F1. Nice. We're talking about being competitive in GP's, not about enjoying yourself with wealthy amateurs.

[steve nielsen]

and he did'nt beat those amateurs either:

1 Earl GODDARD Benetton-Ford 1m26.074s
2 Phil ANDREWS Ascari-Judd + 1.825s
3 Tom CORONEL Ascari - Judd + 2.379s


Earl Goddard??, Phil Andrews??

[Dutch chap]

In his defence, if you'd call it defence, I seem to remember he stalled on the start line or something like that and came back to finish, indeed, as third. Great drive, but as you mentioned, who the h*** was he competing against?

[steve nielsen]

I don't remember that at all, even though I was sitting right in front of the grid.

[Dutch chap]

I was looking at the grid from the back side. It seemed a lot safer from there.