Albers 3rd reserve driver at HRT?

[N.A-D.R]

http://www.motorsport.com/news/artic...D=372134&FS=F1

Rumours flying around everywhere that Albers is about to become HRT's 3rd reserve driver.

The new Spanish outfit has already appointed Sakon Yamamoto and Christian Klien to attend grand prix and occasionally drive during Friday morning practice.
According to the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, the third test driver could be Christijan Albers.
Dutchman Albers, 31, raced for Minardi and Midland in 2005 and 2006, and lost his Spyker drive due to sponsorship issues mid-way through 2007.
But he has retained his links to former Midland and Spyker boss Colin Kolles, including driving for his Le Mans and DTM teams. Kolles is now the boss of HRT.


"Also last year there was a possibility (of being in F1), but there was no chance of driving, so that was useless," said Albers.
"Colin knows how strong I am, especially technically. With all the teams for which I've driven, we have made progress.


"I am keeping trying and it might succeed with the help of my loyal sponsors. I have a partner that just might give that final push.
"But before I do something I like to be very well prepared," he added


He would definitely be a help to HRT, money and technical feedback. Plus he is a handy driver.

[ECW Dan Selby]

Yeh, he's really not bad.

I just don't see what he could bring over Klien (apart from cash..). Yamamoto is literally just an ATM machine.

Selby

[GolddustMini]

wasnt it albers who began the trend of dragging pit equipment around the circuit with you, a practice that was soon to be perfected by ferrari?

[Ralf's Girl]

Is there no limit on how many reserve drivers a team can have? It's getting a bit ludicrous if they're signing up another one at every race.

[Nicholosophy]

Considering the testing ban, an the fact that they probably couldn't afford to test anyway if there was no testing ban, this is all getting out of hand.

There is no point having a test driver anymore. Sure, a designated third driver that comes along on race weekends in case they are needed is required. Then again, what use will they be since they can't drive the bloody car unless someone is injured? They are likely to be far off the pace no matter who they are.

[strider]

Originally Posted by NickoGP

Considering the testing ban, an the fact that they probably couldn't afford to test anyway if there was no testing ban, this is all getting out of hand.

There is no point having a test driver anymore. Sure, a designated third driver that comes along on race weekends in case they are needed is required. Then again, what use will they be since they can't drive the bloody car unless someone is injured? They are likely to be far off the pace no matter who they are.

Exactly, this is getting ridiculous.

It's interesting that Chandhok is already talking about wanting a drive with Force India and I don't expect Senna would hang around if a better offer came along.

[Armco Bender]

May as well be the reserve driver on the Titanic as HRT,same career path anyways.

[strider]

This suggests that there may be more in the Albers story than first thought.

It would be a great shame if Karun were to have to drop out.

[ASCII Man]

Would be a shame, Karun seems like a really likeable chap, unlike that Albers guy, and relatively handy behind the wheel too.

[Armco Bender]

Give Pastor Maldonado a shot he'd be exciting to watch.

[GTRMagic]

It would be really cool if HRT could sign 3rd reserve engineers or something, you know, to change/improve the spec of the car so it can actually go a bit faster, so maybe it can finish an event without a driver feeling like he spent 2 hours inside a washing machine....

[N.A-D.R]

albers currently running well in lemans in 6th for the kolles team, hes the fastest driver in the 15 with a 3.27, pretty good

I wouldn't mind if Karun got dropped and hopefully went to FI or something for Albers to jump in. Karun has been really good so i hopefully next year hes at FI anyway.