Giorgio Pantano in 2005 ?

[karimbo]

What are the whereabouts of Giorgio Pantano this year ? Last year as a rookie he was competitive while racing his then teammate Heidfeld.

This year year Heidfeld is racing a Williams an Giorgio is out of the picture.

Any chance he will replace Villeneuve at Sauber before the end of the season ?

[Dixie Flatline]

I have to say, a quick search of Google doesn't reveal promising news. It appears he is managed by Team Brask Management, but their profile page on their website says only for 2005 that it is "TBA". Given we're now in March 2005, things don't look promising for him.

According to grandprix.com, he missed out on a seat with Coloni in GP2 (along side Bruni, IIRC) to Mathias Lauda, son of Niki.

[Dixie Flatline]

I should say, according to grandprix.com, Lauda was only named at the start of March.

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by karimbo

What are the whereabouts of Giorgio Pantano this year ?


Any chance he will replace Villeneuve at Sauber before the end of the season ?

No.

I believe if Villeneuve was replaced, Pantano would not be near first choice.

[Super Tourer]

Originally Posted by Dixie Flatline

I have to say, a quick search of Google doesn't reveal promising news. It appears he is managed by Team Brask Management, but their profile page on their website says only for 2005 that it is "TBA". Given we're now in March 2005, things don't look promising for him.

According to grandprix.com, he missed out on a seat with Coloni in GP2 (along side Bruni, IIRC) to Mathias Lauda, son of Niki.

Pantano split from Brask Management last year and is now managed by Didier Debae (ex Williams).

He split with Jordan before the seasons end allegedly over the usual financial matters, he was (I believe) funded by his family who intended to sell space on the car to recoup as much as they could - (IIRC they appointed a sponsor agent to achieve this). I don't think much was raised in outside sponsorship and Pantano's father cried enough before it drank all the family resources.

For this reason I don't think we will see GP back in F1 unless it's a free drive (which is unlikely). He has been looking at GP2 and CART from what I read, but I haven't seen that anything is signed anywhere.

[Formula1Fanatic]

Pantano was pretty awful last year. He was in a bad car but it was just

[twig]

I'd be more interested to see where Glock was going to

[Dixie Flatline]

Originally Posted by Super Tourer

Pantano split from Brask Management last year and is now managed by Didier Debae (ex Williams).

He split with Jordan before the seasons end allegedly over the usual financial matters, he was (I believe) funded by his family who intended to sell space on the car to recoup as much as they could - (IIRC they appointed a sponsor agent to achieve this). I don't think much was raised in outside sponsorship and Pantano's father cried enough before it drank all the family resources.

For this reason I don't think we will see GP back in F1 unless it's a free drive (which is unlikely). He has been looking at GP2 and CART from what I read, but I haven't seen that anything is signed anywhere.

Just goes to show you can't always believe what you read on the 'Net, as his profile page is still on the Team Brask Management website.

[N I Tram]

Brask would be doing pretty well to spin anything positive out of this. They wasted time looking for a 2003 drive by falling for the BC Motorsports scam, their disputes caused him to miss what would've been a likely points finish in Canada last eyar, tehy underminded his position at Jordan which increasingly caused the team to get fed up with him and give him less testing and ultimately the chop, and couldn't get him (a F3000 title contender in a previously midfield team) a GP2 drive ahead of a guy with the right surname. In short, they're pretty useless, and its mainly their fault he's on the rocks.

[Mosport67]

I thought he might end up in ChampCars this year.

[DEADDUCK]

He is with SuperNova at the GP2 test this week.

[Dixie Flatline]

Originally Posted by twig

I'd be more interested to see where Glock was going to

Timo tested for Rocketsports in Champ Cars back in February, but doesn't seem to have a drive for them.

I don't understand German, but his official website contains a reference to DTM. Perhaps he is going there?

[BootsOntheSide]

Originally Posted by karimbo

Last year as a rookie he was competitive while racing his then teammate Heidfeld.

Was he? None of the statistics bear that claim out. There were extenuating circusmtances for Pantano (a difficult car, a lack of testing and the clash between Brask and Jordan) but he still failed to shine, especially compared to Glock.

[perfectly_frank]

On what statistics have you compared Pantano vs. Glock, Boots?
I'm sure it's neither championship points, nor Friday lap times. That wouldn't be indicative. Glock's point was a gift of attrition at Canada.

[BootsOntheSide]

Glock finished all his races, Pantano finished half of them (spinning out of several), and I don't think he ever beat Heidfeld home.

[sonic]

Im a reasonable fan of Giorgio and his performance last year, for whatever reason, was dire by any measure.

[karimbo]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

Was he? None of the statistics bear that claim out. There were extenuating circusmtances for Pantano (a difficult car, a lack of testing and the clash between Brask and Jordan) but he still failed to shine, especially compared to Glock.

Yes in Montreal especially. Glock finished in front of Heidfeld as well. I wonder why Williams signed Nick instead of Timo... (I am being ironic just a little).

Pantano is the best karter of his generation and won the German F3 championship in his first year. That is something that Timo will never do.
I read today that Giorgio will try a Supernova GP2. If he gets the drive, it's going to be interesting to see what he will do...

[perfectly_frank]

IIRC, Nick attempted to leave the pitbox with the fuel man still attached to the car.
The delay allowed Timo to get by.

[JohnSSC]

Rumor has it here that Timo will be announced this Friday as the third driver with Rocketsports in OWRS (The Series Formerly Known as CART).

[Knowlesy]

That's great news. Timo should have been in F1 this year, he showed well last year.

Better than Pantano anyways, who seemed to have an affinity with the scenery.

[perfectly_frank]

Glock finished all his races, Pantano finished half of them (spinning out of several), and I don't think he ever beat Heidfeld home.

Right, that's a fair measure. I believe that Giorgio is better than his statistics suggest. Some of those DNFs weren't his fault (US GP & Spa).

I'd like to see him get a ride and do well this year but that may take more luck that he seems to have, though.

[ralf fan]

Id probably prefer if Glock got another chance.... Giorgio was just average last year...

[Knowlesy]

If that ralfy.....

I was eternally unimpressed with him, I expected so much more from the guy. And then he spun right in front of my eyes at Abbey chicane with the most pathetic driving error you'll ever see.

He's had his chance I'm afraid and he won't get another. Sad indeed.

[BootsOntheSide]

Originally Posted by perfectly_frank

Some of those DNFs weren't his fault (US GP & Spa).

Judging by the onboard replays from Spa, Pantano had every opportunity to avoid contact with Bruni's car, but reacted far too slowly. That was also Martin Brundle's view incidentally.

I know Glock took advantage of Nick's problem in Montreal, but would Giorgio have been clsoe enough to take advantage of the time Nick lost? Was he ever within 30 seconds of Nick at the end of the race?

Fair to say, though, that we didn't see his potential last year, for the reasons mentioned elsewhere. The trouble is, plenty of drivers have done a lot better in their first attempt and not been offered a second attempt.

[perfectly_frank]

Okay,okay, clearly Giorgio's performance last year didn't get the F1 team principals to fight over his services for 2005.

Surely his career isn't over, but for the 3rd or 4th year straight he's scrambling for the last seat in GP2 (F3000) or OWRS. What's with that? In the unlikely event of landing the SuperNova seat, he's already missed 3 days of practice that almost all of the other drivers have to their advantage. This last-minute signing and then playing catch-up with the rest of the field can't be a good thing.

Is his current mangement on the case, have his sponsors dropped him, or is there some other impediment?