[Hatari]

Hot off the press guys..
F1 : Ricciardo to replace Karthikeyan at HRT

He has been well off the pace for 8 races.

Though I dont see the logic. They knew he would be much slower given his sabattical from F1.
And they are the slowest team in F1 and will depend on DNFs from other teams to move up the grid.. they cant challenge Virgin/Lotus
So not much in terms of results.

His contract should have ensured he gets atleast a full season with all the $$ he's bringing in.

[MaserQ]

There goes his dream of driving in the inaugural Indian GP. To be honest, Narain has looked ordinary all season. His being away from F1 for so long has not helped his case. Was it not a sponsor-backed (Tata) pay drive arrangement with HRT? Are they expected to pull out now that Narain has been replaced? Anyhow, guess its back to Nascar for Narain.

[pranavt]

Shocking. I always assumed Tata had paid enough rent to last till the final race of the championship. I guess Ricciardo's godparents paid a little more for a few races.

[Hatari]

Confirmed. Ricciardo to drive at Silverstone
No news beyond that.

Red Bull and HRT have a collaboration on.

[pranavt]

Confirmed. Ricciardo to drive till the end of the Championship. Karthikeyan's contract had a clause for a drive at the Indian GP, which will probably be his final F1 race. All the races before/after the Indian GP will be contested by Ricciardo.

Red Bull and HRT don't have a collaboration LOL. Helmut Marko is representing Ricciardo and has got him a drive for HRT because of sponsorship money.

[mgh]

Pl note part in bold (mine) reproduced from formula1.com

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo will make his Formula One race debut with the HRT team at next weekend’s 2011 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix. Red Bull protege Ricciardo is expected to take the place of Narain Karthikeyan.

The move is part of collaboration deal signed on Thursday whereby HRT will support Red Bull Racing in Ricciardo’s “formation and development,” ahead of a potential race drive for the 21 year-old with one of Red Bull’s own teams next season.

Ricciardo has made Friday practice appearances in each of this season’s eight Grands Prix as Toro Rosso’s third driver and his impressive performances have prompted speculation that he could replace either Sebastien Buemi or Jaime Alguersuari at the Red Bull-owned team.

“It’s a dream come true for me - for the first time on an F1 starting grid!” said Ricciardo of his HRT drive. “I had to pinch myself a couple of times to be sure that it’s real. I’m excited and can hardly wait to drive at Silverstone. It’s a new challenge, a new experience, a new team, but I’m ready and will give of my best in any event."

The Perth-born youngster joins Karthikeyan and team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi in HRT’s official driver line-up. Liuzzi is a known quantity to Red Bull, having raced for both their teams in the past, and will thus provide a useful benchmark with which to compare Ricciardo.

“This agreement is a reward for all the hard work Hispania Racing has shown since we started in Formula One last year,” commented HRT Chairman Jose Ramon Carabante. “We’re proud that the Formula One world champion team has trusted us in their effort of developing their drivers. Let’s hope that this is just the start of a fruitful relationship.”

HRT team principal Colin Kolles added: “I’m happy to welcome Daniel to the team; I’m glad the team managed to conclude this deal together with Dr Helmut Marko who deserves my personal respect."

Ricciardo won the highly competitive British Formula Three championship in 2009 and was runner-up in the 2010 Formula Renault 3.5 series. He was named Toro Rosso’s 2011 reserve after a successful outing with Red Bull in the Abu Dhabi young drivers’ test and this season is again competing in Formula Renault 3.5.

[good.car-ma]

Cant say I'm shocked. A pity nonetheless. But atleast he;ll get to drive in India and create history

[GTO]

I can't say that I'm surprised or even unhappy! This was a sponsored seat and driver stability is always sketchy in such cases. It wasn't like Karthi shone on the track, or that he was even beating his team mate. What are people upset about? Liuzzi has consistently outperformed Narain (7 - 0 tally), his average qualifying lap was 0.6x seconds quicker & has finished ahead of him in a 4:1 ratio. If you were the team boss, which of the two drivers would you drop?

Obviously, Red Bull has a huge hand in bringing Ricciardo onboard. Rumour mills insist that this is his warm-up season for a drive at Torro Rosso soon. Or even Red Bull if he truly impresses.

[Hatari]

No doubt Narain was far too slow.
Given that TATA is the largest sponsor on HRT, I would have thought it would have given him more clout.

Minardi did a lot of this back in the day
For eg. Alonso was placed in Minardi for a year by Renault to give him racing experience.

For Narain, bringing sponsorship was the only reason for getting a drive,
unlike the others - Perez, Maldonado, Petrov who have some natural talent & speed.

This does show India and HRT in poor light, 2 Indian pay drivers have been sacked in as many seasons in F1 by the same team.

[pranavt]

To compare HRT with Minardi is blasphemy. Minardi was equally loved by all the other teams in the pitlane. There's that incident of other teams handing over their champagne when Minardi got a great result and didn't have any champagne ready. And to think that FIA chose perhaps two of the worst entrants out of all the entries they had received. Just hope HRT is bought out by a team like Audi/VW next season and a proper team is established in its place.

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by pranavt

To compare HRT with Minardi is blasphemy.

Though they have pay drivers, driver collaborations, trouble with the 107% rule and are backmarkers?

You are forgetting Minardi had it much easier.. times when teams could survive on a $30 million budget. Impossible now.

I do have great respect for Stoddard and not a lot for Carabante

But I would not term a comparison blasphemous

[pranavt]

Originally Posted by Hatari

Though they have pay drivers, driver collaborations, trouble with the 107% rule and are backmarkers?

You are forgetting Minardi had it much easier.. times when teams could survive on a $30 million budget. Impossible now.

I do have great respect for Stoddard and not a lot for Carabante

But I would not term a comparison blasphemous

Minardi tried to resist pay-drivers as much as they could. Which is why it has alumni that any team would be proud to have, even today, few of whom drive for world championship winning teams. That is a little different from HRT who rely on drivers' money to get to each race, and a better offer from another driver means one of the current drivers will mysteriously get an upset stomach or some other health complaint which will make him unfit to race.

If, by driver collaborations, you mean 4-5 drivers driving every season depending on who's got the highest bid on that seat for that particular race, then by all means yes. HRT is letting Ricciardo drive because of sponsorship money, and because refusing a team like Red Bull would be like slapping the current Pope.

There have been many permanent backmarkers before HRT, and will be in times to come. Few teams have shown the kind of greed that HRT have. I wouldn't be surprised if Colin Kolles and Carabante take home fat paycheques every race. The development on the car is restricted to whatever's necessary to keep the car legal for the particular year and a new paintjob.

You are not going to make sponsors happy by kicking off one of their drivers mid-season, let alone a sponsor who has probably ensured that HRT's cars are on the grid for the whole season. This whole affair since last year reeks of politics. While Virgin might not be scoring any points either, they are actually making some big moves to try and progress. HRT is F1's hand-to-mouth labourer.

As for budgets, I'm going to laugh on that claim. The F1 budgets are exponentially smaller today than what they were during Minardi's times. Less engines, gearboxes to buy per season, less fuel, less equipment to lug around, lesser number of staff to pay, etc.

[Hatari]

Let me first address your point on team budgets as it is the basis of our discussion here.

HRT budget in 2010 was $65 million.
HRT boss admits financial problems | HRT F1 | Formula 1 news, live F1 | ESPN F1

Minardi's budget in 2004 was $30 million.
Minardi to have '04 budget of $30 million - GPUpdate.net

Still laughing on that claim?

Do read my replies in bold

Originally Posted by pranavt

Minardi tried to resist pay-drivers as much as they could. Which is why it has alumni that any team would be proud to have, even today, few of whom drive for world championship winning teams. That is a little different from HRT who rely on drivers' money to get to each race, and a better offer from another driver means one of the current drivers will mysteriously get an upset stomach or some other health complaint which will make him unfit to race.

Karun was a pay driver. He was let go due to non payment by his sponsors. That lead to Klien and Yamamoto. What else is a team to do. Here I need to mention that teams like Renault and Williams also rely on drivers money.

If, by driver collaborations, you mean 4-5 drivers driving every season depending on who's got the highest bid on that seat for that particular race, then by all means yes. HRT is letting Ricciardo drive because of sponsorship money, and because refusing a team like Red Bull would be like slapping the current Pope.

Red Bull is not a constructor company who are supplying engines to HRT, so no question of "slapping the Pope". HRT must have included a non performance clause in Narain's contract to be able to run another driver in his place.

There have been many permanent backmarkers before HRT, and will be in times to come. Few teams have shown the kind of greed that HRT have. I wouldn't be surprised if Colin Kolles and Carabante take home fat paycheques every race. The development on the car is restricted to whatever's necessary to keep the car legal for the particular year and a new paintjob.

Greed? It is a flawed business strategy. Thats all. (You, me and a lot of people also think it is not the right way to go about things).
Dont get so emotional about it.

You are not going to make sponsors happy by kicking off one of their drivers mid-season, let alone a sponsor who has probably ensured that HRT's cars are on the grid for the whole season. This whole affair since last year reeks of politics. While Virgin might not be scoring any points either, they are actually making some big moves to try and progress. HRT is F1's hand-to-mouth labourer.

As for budgets, I'm going to laugh on that claim. The F1 budgets are exponentially smaller today than what they were during Minardi's times. Less engines, gearboxes to buy per season, less fuel, less equipment to lug around, lesser number of staff to pay, etc.

Exponentially less?.
In 1992 Williams employed 190 people, in 2008 it was 540, in 1992 they won the world championship, in 2008 they finished 8th.
The limited use of engines/gearboxes was an attempt to keep spiraling costs under control.
In 2008 Toyota ($445 million) McLaren, Ferrari, Honda, Renault budgets were all around the $400 million mark.
My guess is that this figure has probably reduced by $50 million.

Lotus's (one of the backmarkers) budget for 2010 was $88 million. Almost 3 times Minardi's budget.
http://www.auto123.com/en/racing-new...0?artid=113968

[Hatari]

Sponsor issues could well be the cause of Narain's replacement :

F1 : Sponsor problems led to Karthikeyan exit - report

[rajchetan]

What Ever.

I care a dam if he is driving or not for HRT. Sorry he is .6sec slower than his already slow team-mate.

Its better of he is away from F1 then driving a F1 Car watching his mirrors.

As an Indian i was proud of him when he made his first appearance with Jordan 2005 he was able to match his team-mates pace Tiago Monteiro & also beat him on several tracks.

But coming back like this was a not the right option.