With Luiz Razia now confirming that he has a deal to race for Marussia F1 in 2013, and an announcement expected this afternoon, and a Giedo Van der Garde press conference in Amsterdam within the next hour, it is safe to say that the Dutchman has a deal with Caterham F1. This means that the only gap in the F1 driver line-up is the second Force India and the only logical explanation for this is that the team is waiting to find out what is on offer from the Ferrari to get them to agree to put test driver Jules Bianchi in the second Force India. Bianchi is a Ferrari development driver and the Italian team wants him to be trained up by another team and if a deal can be struck with Force India over engines for 2014 (for example), the drive should land in Bianchi’s lap.
There has been some twittering about Bruno Senna, but the fact that the launch came and went without an announcement makes it very clear that there is no deal in place.
You failed to answer my question with regards to HRT/Rocket F1 Project. It would also appear that you haven’t heard that SENNA will be driving for Force India in 2013.
I do not have time to answer every question from every know-it-all in the world. I am not a public service.
I have heard rumours about Senna for months, but so what? Will Bruno’s sponsors really want to be involved with Force India?
If it is all decided then why was it not announced today?
The other project is a waste of time and energy. The team is dead. It has nothing of value. The entry is closed. There is no money for new teams.
“You failed to answer my question”. Joe doesn’t owe you anything. This is a blog, certainly not a public service. Re Senna, if you happen to know what others don’t or can’t be bothered to publish because it’s of no real interest, why don’t you start your own blog and let’s see how you react when people attack you for not answering questions as if you were at their disposal
Apparently on twitter Di Resta sent a tweet welcoming bruno senna to force india but deleted it minutes later. Although knowing the ‘internets’ it could also just be a bit of photoshopping. Is there any truth to these reports? Hope to see you in melbourne!
Would the Force India deal procrastination have anything to do with Ferrari needing to ensure that its engine customers are going to be around in 2014?
What about the Paul di Resta tweet from last night welcoming Bruno Senna to the team, which was hastily deleted?
I think you have answered your own question.
Wouldn’t that indicate Senna is close to a deal though? Perhaps they’re just fighting over the last couple of million?
It might, but it might not. With these things you only know when the music stops and the seats are all taken. Bruno and Bianchi have the same kind of funding, last I heard.
Cool, thanks for the insight Joe. Although I think Bianchi is extremely over-rated I’d rather see him in the car than Senna who has now had three cracks at Formula 1, two with decent teams, and has never shown himself to be anything other than completely average. Give some new blood a go.
He beat allcomers the other day in the karting in Brazil. He is no slouch.
So that means that the two weakest teams plus Sauber will have completely new and very inexperienced line ups. It will be interesting to see how they fare with car setup and race craft and if this makes the gap to the bigger teams wider or not.
While it is nice to have new blood in and Van Der Garde has been trying for so long he probably deserves it for sheer perseverance, it does seem that drivers´ ability to find finance is more and more important than their on track achievements.
IMHO these are some of the weakest line ups since HRT ran Senna and Chandhok in 2010 and I remember Kolles being quite (hypo)critical of how liitle thosedrivers were able to contribute in technical feedback.
If it has to be like this for these teams to survive then so be it, I just hope there are no safety issues with so many rookies and existing hot heads mixing it together.
Can’t see why you’ve included Sauber in that statement. Look at Williams; Passthepeanut and the Hulk have similar seasonal experience.
Razia’s website no longer states that he has signed for Marussia and is the 2nd Brazilian in F1…. But it did for a while.
So he guess he doesn’t think Senna’s signed, anyway.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:hckH6og_iF8J:www.luizrazia.com/+luiz+razia&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=safari
Sad isn’t it
The pinnacle of our sport and half the teams sitting on the pavement with their hands out.