Charles Pic has been announced as one of Caterham F1 Team’s race drivers for the 2013 season and beyond. The talented French driver joins the Anglo/Malaysian team on a multi-year contract after impressing in his first season in the Formula 1 World Championship.
“We are thrilled that Charles has decided to join us for his second season in F1 and beyond,” said Cyril Abiteboul, the Caterham Team Principal. “We are all looking forward to working with a young driver who has clearly shown in his first season in F1 that he has the pace, racecraft and demeanour to help us achieve our goals. Throughout the 2012 season we have been monitoring the progress that Charles has made, challenging us on several occasions in qualifying, and it is clear that he is a special talent. As the year has progressed he has performed extremely well against a very experienced teammate and we are looking forward to seeing him develop further within the environment we will provide in 2013 and beyond. We will continue growing together, and the energy and image he will bring to our team and his partners will be a very positive influence on the seasons that lie ahead. Being able to make this announcement before the end of the current season gives us the chance now to allow Charles and the team to prepare fully for the 2013 season and quickly learn how to maximise the performance benefits of the Renault Sport F1 and Red Bull Technology powertrain that will be new to him.”
I see Charles mentioned the teams collaboration with Total in the press release – have you hear rumblings whether this will be the current technical partnership or an enhanced presence as per Lotus.
Odd? Seems like a sideways move to me.
Unless of course he was going to get dumped anyway
So who gets the other seat at Caterham? Has anyone been confirmed for that yet?
If not I can imagine there’s going to be quite a list of contenders.
So who is getting the boot, Heikki or Vitaly?
both, I think.
Joe. What do you think, who will be the other driver? I really hope Heikki, but his changes are not too good?
I guess this is no big surprise. The deal will be agreed upon some time ago.
In all honesty this might prove a step backwards for Pic. I read Caterham will go on with the same chassis next year (which makes sense given the rule change ahead in 2014) and whilst Marussia will get KERS I think Marussia will pass Caterham speedwise in 2013. If Marussia will rank 10th in the constructors championship in 2013 (and do the same this year) I dont think he will be better off at Caterham.
He obviously does not agree with you.
Depends on when the deal was agreed upon… The rumours about this deal where going on for quite a while.
So, Joe, who do you reckon will partner Pic at Caterham next year?
Let’s us wait and see. They are thinking about it. And it is a buyer’s market.
I think Caterham management will try to extract as much money as it can from Brazil and the Senna family. It may be good business, but it’s a sad state of affairs for this Ayrton Senna fan. If the Senna family has to outbid Giedo van der Garde’s father-in-law for a seat at F1′s table, then it is time for Bruno to move to another series.
Tony is hiring and firing today…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20386628
Enjoy the weekend, Joe!
Yeah, Tony needs Pic’s money to pay off Mark Hughes…..
Who is leaving Caterham to make way for him?
We will have to wait and see.
In other words, Pic brought along enough (French) money? What a standard bullsh*t statement. All you need to do is fill in another team name, sponsor name and driver name and you´re all done.
On topic, I don´t rate Pic that highly, but hopefully he has the ability to surprise us. A pity he signed for a back marker again. It looks a bit like Nico H. switching from one mid field team to the next, without any real improvement possibilities.
Pic has done a good job.
Why do Caterham not have KERS? Surely this is a major reason why the 3 new teams are still the 3 slowest teams on the grid? If Marussia are getting KERS, then they should step up a level nad be more competitve, and Caterham will have no chance of being in the top 10 next season? If this is true, what is the point of even being on the grid?
Caterham does have KERS
How much lap time does having KERS save? I recall first time around there was a lot of debate as to whether it helped at all as the weight of the various components probably added as much lap time as the extra power saved, the justification there being that it was more to do with that extra power bringing benefits at specific places.
Presumably batteries have got lighter and the motor more efficient, but I’ve never seen a comparison of with / without. There has been talk of how much a driver loses when KERS fails but that is different as he still has to carry the weight and also potentially ends up with braking issues.
I think KERS gives about half a second or so also new rules for the 2011 F1 season raised the minimum weight limit of the car and driver by 20 kg to 640 kg so Marussia and HRT have to carry ballast instead of a KERS system.
However they get to place the ballast where they want normally low down in the car where it has less effect on handling.
There is a minimum weight to the cars and, as far as I know, they are all at that weight. The only issue might be c.g., although the front/rear weight balance is specified in the regulations but c.g. height might be affected. The KERS unit is mounted low, though, so doubt it. Having KERS can only be a positive.
Only looks like it doesn’t
Pic only came along with the Renault deal and Caterham cars, he refered to it in the interview. The question is will that be enough cash to keep Hiekki in a seat. The backing for Petrov has been pulled so he looks like leaving, do Caterham want two new drivers or pay to keep the man who has been there from the start. As Joe says time will tell, but the new CEO has no ties with Heikki. I think Heikki has worked hard to improve his driving over the past couple of years so it would be a shame to see him leave F1.
I think Caterham are quite capable of doing deals with Renault without Charles Pic.
With Pic going to Caterham where does this leave Bruno Senna? I was expecting him to end up at Caterham but with Pic’s arrival and the expected arrival of Van der Garde it seems Bruno’s options are limited. Surely a team would want the sponsorship he brings with him too?
Perhaps he will also end up at Caterham
Think Caterham have to consider the money that Senna brings compared to what they PAY Kovalainen to drive for them.
Yesterday, Petrov also seemed to be referring to the team as WE when talking about next season too.
No I think Petrov brings a lot too
I think Caterham are totally switched on here with the new alliance with Renault, they might not need Charles Pic to do deals, but they get a driver with some potential they also get the alliances that go with this even the better that they are French.
I can see Bruno being here next year, really he would be a asset maybe not his Uncle but he brings money and he has now got some decent experience in Williams.
Joe,
Do you think that part of the problem F1 has in attracting a younger audience to the sport is because they cannot dream of becoming an F1 racer? I mean, kids today are able to play soccer, ice hockey, cricket, baseball, basketball etc and dream to become a pro one day. With the plethora of pay drivers on the grid today, wouldn’t a kid say….looks like that’s off the table? Part of the allure of any sport when you are young and naive is thinking you can actually make it. In F1, its like, if you’re not born with a silver-spoon in your mouth, or know a billionaire or two, its like why bother with it for the younger audience.
Any “kid” old enough to contemplate the reality of the pay-driver situation is too old to start on the path to F1.
The bigger issue is the cost of karting throughout childhood and racing in the lower feeder series.
Playing under-11 football probably costs around £300 a season in kit (2 pairs of £100 boots, £100 on sports clothes?) and requires no special transport arrangements or storage space. Karting is considerably more expensive befroe we’ve even considered the need for a garage (not available to some city kids) and a trailer/van for travelling around the place.
I very much doubt I ever had the potential to be an F1 racer, but I am entirely certain that my parents would never have been able to afford to even find out.