Toro Rosso Driver Announcement

[barnettracing]

Now, I didn't see that coming! Personally I think it's a good decision. Both Buemi and Alguersuari aren't going to be the next Vettel (the aim of the young driver scheme) and JEV is definitely a talent to watch.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/96745

What's going to happen to Buemi and Jaime now though? Are they off the Red Bull scheme completely?

[Mr V]

I won't pretend that i know alot about the junior formula's, i'll leave that to Bella, but from what i can make out, this puts massive pressure on Ricciardo. I assumed that he'd slot in somewhere, learn his craft a bit more and if he lost out to his more experienced team mate, then he had something to hide behind, but from what i can gather, JEV seems a bit special.

If he (JEV) starts beating DR in the races, dispite his lack of F1 race experience, it could make for an uncomfortable time for the Australian??

[bella]

yeah, i think the onus is on ricciardo too. not least because i'm a vergne fangirl. but mostly cause he has been a season ahead of jev throughout his career. that was in theory going to be pegged back in 2010 since both of them took part in pre-season testing but vergne's team at the time ceased to exist before the start of 2010 and he just did his f3 campaign. by the time red bull had decided they didn't want brendon hartley any more jev had won the bf3 title and they could bring him in as a replacement.

in theory again you'd expect ricciardo to be slightly ahead of vergne at the start of the season because he has more experience in f1 but in practice i think vergne will be on it straight away.

[ghinzani]

Red Bull need their heads checked, Helmut Markos madness continues.. Algeusuaris a quality item, hope HRT picks him up.

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Pressure? It'll be war between them, and it will be a joy to see. First time STR will have two serious young chargers. I said that this is what they should have done, but I still can't quite believe they did it. Pressure is on both, and I think this will be far more beneficial to both of their careers than doing anything else.

[barnettracing]

I think, despite Ricciardo's experience from the HRT outings at the back end of this season, JEV is going to be the faster of the two.

Although both are British F3 champions, Ricciardo took 5 wins on his way to the title (same as Alguersuari) whilst JEV took 13 wins. In FR3.5 Ricciardo has stats of 30:5:14 (Starts:Wins:Podiums) compared to JEV's 23:6:13. A 26% win rate versus 16% so I'd say that JEV is by far the more accomplished in the junior formula.

As I said though, I think both deserve the drive more than Sebastien and Jaime. The Toro Rosso team is meant to give a chance to the top Red Bull juniors and Buemi and Jaime aren't going to be world champions (F1) anytime soon.

It does seem a shame if Jaime gets spat out the system completely though as I personally think he has good 'potential' and a fair amount of talent.

[bella]

Originally Posted by barnettracing

Although both are British F3 champions, Ricciardo took 5 wins on his way to the title (same as Alguersuari) whilst JEV took 13 wins. In FR3.5 Ricciardo has stats of 30:5:14 (Starts:Wins:Podiums) compared to JEV's 23:6:13. A 26% win rate versus 16% so I'd say that JEV is by far the more accomplished in the junior formula.

i don't think the stats are relevant unless you compare ricciardo's fr3.5 2010 season to vergne's 2011 season. and even then it's awkward because i think vergne had a far harder battle on his hands from wickens than ricciardo did from aleshin, plus vergne had 3 or 4 rounds of 2010 under his belt too. ricciardo had some good wins in 2011 - the monza battle with vergne that he ultimately lost in the court of appeal was an epic - but i think it was pretty clear pretty quick soon on that he was going to be making up the numbers in the top 10 rather than fighting for the title.

i do agree with you and ghinzani about alguersuari though. i hope he manages to muster some backing, and a car of far greater quality than the hrt will be for the 2013 season though.

must be mixed feelings for the rpm guys at wsr and fr3.5 though - a literal son of the series losing out to a couple of the best drivers to come out of fr3.5 in recent history.

[strider]

Originally Posted by ghinzani

Red Bull need their heads checked, Helmut Marko's madness continues.. Alguersuari's a quality item, hope HRT picks him up.

Then there's talk of a vacancy at Caterham, which would be a better bet as I've pretty much written off HRT.

The writing was the wall after this interview that Marko had with Adam Cooper a couple of weeks ago: http://adamcooperf1.com/2011/11/28/h...top-f1-driver/

[Félix]

But Wickens beat them both this year!?!!! (I know he's not a Red Bull driver anymore...)

[Flavio Galtieri]

I must say that I approve of this revolving door policy.

Bring them through the ranks and if they're good enough give them a chance at F1. If the don't perform lower down like Hartley get someone else in the scheme and move on.

I much prefer this to hanging on to drivers in the often vain hope they'll improve, there's more talent out there than ever before so good on Red Bull and Torro Rosso for spicing things up.

It might be ruthless but just think of the money spent getting these drivers to that stage. Find another Vettel and it's all paid for. Hang on to a steady top ten driver and it costs a fortune.

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

Originally Posted by barnettracing

Although both are British F3 champions, Ricciardo took 5 wins on his way to the title (same as Alguersuari) whilst JEV took 13 wins. In FR3.5 Ricciardo has stats of 30:5:14 (Starts:Wins:Podiums) compared to JEV's 23:6:13. A 26% win rate versus 16% so I'd say that JEV is by far the more accomplished in the junior formula.

Let's not forget that JEV was at Carlin this year, and they were clearly the class of the field.

Ricciardo missed a few races this year due to F1 testing. Probably his double program did hurt his focus on F3.5, especially since he knew straight away that the title was almost unachievable because of that. However, in fairness JEV missed a few F3.5 practice sessions due to simulator duties, and coped rather well with that.

Anyway, in the end I agree that JEV looks to be slightly superior material at this point, and that the pressure is on Ricciardo's shoulders. I kinda like the guy also, although this might change once he gets presented as the next superstar by the local media

[henners88]

This is a bolt from the blue. Hope Jaime picks up a seat as I think we've seen flashes of his talent.

[MJones94]

Well i didn't expect that! So suddenly we have 3 French drivers on the grid too. Ricciardo and Vergne seem pretty well matched, possibly the best matched teammates on the grid.

[Marbot]

If anyone ever doubted STR's 'raison d'etre', then they need not now.

[Born Racer]

Well, if the raison d'être was to bring a potential Red Bull driver through, I still think Alguersuari could have been one, if not a superstar. He was just beginning to find good form and let's not forget he's only done 2 and a half seasons. Maybe one of these two will do better, but it's still a little curious a decision in that respect.

[OZ_HCR32]

Originally Posted by ghinzani

Red Bull need their heads checked, Helmut Markos madness continues.. Algeusuaris a quality item, hope HRT picks him up.

I am tipping he will be at Caterham. It makes more sense for Caterham who are a serious team on the development road to the mid field to want a capable punter with connections rather then blood a rookie for another team/driver programme.

So the talk of Dan at HRT never made sense as RBR managment were never going to get as good a look at him when he was at another team.

I think Alguersuari has been the better of the two STR pilots and RBR rear ends etc and a sweetener of a few dollars will see Alguersuari at Caterham where he will push/test Heikki nicely. It will soon turn into a paid drive for Alguersuari and RBR will have for the first time establish one of their young driver graduates in an F1 seat/team outside their direct control

[NewYankee01]

well vergne has pretty much won everything or been very close to in the past couple of years and has always been an f1 hopeful but wasnt this algersuari before he came to f1. im sure vergne will divebomb.

it was predictable both were going to get shunned for red bull "academy" drivers.
the pure fact that toro rosso has been stagnant team for the last few years kept the same lowly drivers who promised a bit but not too much so early on.this is probably the most interesting thing the team could have done, its very much a forgotten team in my view, even the exploits of marussia get mentioned on tv more, for all of the retirements!,

nobody really gives a damn about the team except for a few italians absolutely no one, truthfully anyway . this had to happen as its the most boring and dull team, , that is just there. i i wish minardi were still around instead of these guys, the drivers have done naff all, even the backmarkers seem to be making more progress. so hopefully this move will help them get "somewhere" at least.

[OZ_HCR32]

Originally Posted by NewYankee01

well vergne has pretty much won everything or been very close to in the past couple of years and has always been an f1 hopeful but wasnt this algersuari before he came to f1. im sure vergne will divebomb.

Thats my feeling

You get to a low-middle field team and all of a sudden its hit the restart button on the career. REALLY looking forward to this battle for 2012. Thanks Red Bull, as other then the Mac duo over the past two years the RBR team mates have generally been the most interesting battles in the past.

[NewYankee01]

Originally Posted by Félix

But Wickens beat them both this year!?!!! (I know he's not a Red Bull driver anymore...)

Originally Posted by Félix

But Wickens beat them both this year!?!!! (I know he's not a Red Bull driver anymore...)

if people think jev is special rob wickens is something else, i dont think jev will ever get a look in with vettel still in f1 but wickens is by far better than vergne by a long way, if he makes it to f1 i think he'll undoubtably be the next canadian f1 champion, you heard it from me first!

[gttouring]

the curious decision is Algeusuari he was solid, not vettel fast, but solid and showed a good race craft and form- hmmm

[bella]

Originally Posted by NewYankee01

if people think jev is special rob wickens is something else, i dont think jev will ever get a look in with vettel still in f1 but wickens is by far better than vergne by a long way, if he makes it to f1 i think he'll undoubtably be the next canadian f1 champion, you heard it from me first!

terribly sorry old boy but i think you're talking out of your trousers there! wickens *barely* took the title this season, and has considerably more big car and circuit racing experience than vergne. it's nowhere near that clear cut.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by bella

terribly sorry old boy but i think you're talking out of your trousers there! wickens *barely* took the title this season, and has considerably more big car and circuit racing experience than vergne. it's nowhere near that clear cut.

Bella, where do you get your keyboards? you know, the ones without the shift key, or caps lock, that's puzzled me for years

[bella]

Originally Posted by Mr V

Bella, where do you get your keyboards? you know, the ones without the shift key, or caps lock, that's puzzled me for years

not using capitals allows me to concentrate fully on maintaining the quality of the drivel i insist on spouting at any given opportunity

[barnettracing]

Originally Posted by bella

terribly sorry old boy but i think you're talking out of your trousers there! wickens *barely* took the title this season, and has considerably more big car and circuit racing experience than vergne. it's nowhere near that clear cut.

+1 to this. Wickens has never excited me. As Bella has quite rightly pointed out, the Canadian has had far more big car experience than JEV - his first FR3.5 race was back in 2007! After a promising start to his 2009 F2 campaign (double win) he fell out of the limelight quite badly I thought.

I'd love to see a Canadian back in an F1 car (I was a big fan of both Villeneuves) but I don't think Wickens will be their next champion - personally I don't think he'd win unless in the best car/fortunate situation, but that is IMHO.

[Thaw Daggerslash]

Hoped this would happen. With respect to Buemi and Alguersuari, I think JEV and Ricciardo will help really improve the team. They're two great talents who deserve the chance, and Alguersuari and Buemi in particular haven't really shown any performance that shows to me they would be worthy of a Red Bull drive in future.