[jraj]

Originally Posted by Hatari

Bruno completes the line up.Rumours that he brought in USD $17million in sponsorship! Mega
Feel sorry for Ruebens.

How can Williams drop the guy who missed out on 5 WDC only because his team mate was the blue eyed boy of the team

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by jraj

How can Williams drop the guy who missed out on 5 WDC only because his team mate was the blue eyed boy of the team

Can give you 17 million reasons! Although he was rumoured to have raised approx USD $5 million too.

[polopm]

Originally Posted by jraj

How can Williams drop the guy who missed out on 5 WDC only because his team mate was the blue eyed boy of the team

Ahhhhhh...Rubinho the eternal optimist...too bad. But that is the order of the day in F1.

He should have graciously exit and had a swan song at Interlagos last year. It would have been a nice occasion and a fitting tribute to someone whose career spanned almost 2 decades.

Am not sure how much Bruno is going to make a difference with Pastor Maldanado ( or shall I say Stare dal nado - after the stare at Lewis after their getting together last year !!) for Williams.

Unless Bruno sets the track on fire, it is going to be really difficult for him.
My 2 cents.

[mnemonic]

Whoa! This is great news. The great Ayrton offered to drive the Williams Renault for free the year before he made the switch, guess his nephew can live the dream in the new Williams Renault.

[mgh]

That ends 2012 and most probably formula one for Sutil. The fracas with Renault's Eric Lux seems to have done him in.

[asr245]

Sad to see Barrichello go. He deserved better in his final season. Not sad to see Sutil go. Only woke up when his seat was under threat. Not sure how good Senna would be but he brings in a lot of dough with him so that's good. Williams need to build a respectable car first - driver comes later.

[aditya116]

Heres some news which may spring a surprise on few frontrunners- pitpass - Reactive suspension, 2012's big thing?.
Just like mass dampners which helped renault to a large extent in 2005 till it was outlawed,can lotus produce a fast car provided kimi gets to speed, challenge the likes of vettel?

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by asr245

Not sure how good Senna would be but he brings in a lot of dough with him so that's good. Williams need to build a respectable car first - driver comes later.

Agree. They lost their title sponsor AT&T ($7 million) and given their 2011 season not too many would be knocking on their door.

Pastor's $12-15m + Bruno's $17m will more than make up for it.
They have got their technical side in order, or atleast taken steps in that direction. With some financial stability, results should follow.

[polopm]

Originally Posted by Hatari

Agree. They lost their title sponsor AT&T ($7 million) and given their 2011 season not too many would be knocking on their door.

Pastor's $12-15m + Bruno's $17m will more than make up for it.
They have got their technical side in order, or atleast taken steps in that direction. With some financial stability, results should follow.

Yes. They are now run like a professional company and they are listed as well in the markets. So there might be multiple people asking questions if things dont go well..

Sutil - good he is gone, there will be no one moaning his loss in F1. But Force India might not get the same amount of points this year, The Hulk is still not tested in better cars. Let's see !

[Sandegov]

Originally Posted by aditya116

Heres some news which may spring a surprise on few frontrunners- pitpass - Reactive suspension, 2012's big thing?.
Just like mass dampners which helped renault to a large extent in 2005 till it was outlawed,can lotus produce a fast car provided kimi gets to speed, challenge the likes of vettel?

Heres the latest on this - FIA has now banned it!

BBC Sport - FIA ban new technical innovation developed by Lotus and Ferrari

[volkman10]

Kimi makes official return to F1 with Lotus!

"After signing on with the Lotus team (previously known as Renault, and before that as Benneton and Toleman), Raikkonen has had his first chance to get behind the wheel of a modern F1 car since leaving the Scuderia at the end of 2009. The test took place over the course of two days at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, Spain. But since driving the current car with current tires would constitute an unfair advantage under the present regulations, Kimi was stuck driving the 2010 Renault R30 on demonstration tires (probably from the GP2 series) with a fresh coat of paint (and a new helmet design)."

Kimi Raikkonen marks official return to F1 with Lotus test run [w/video]

[Fullrevs]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Kimi makes official return to F1 with Lotus!

"After signing on with the Lotus team (previously known as Renault, and before that as Benneton and Toleman), Raikkonen has had his first chance to get behind the wheel of a modern F1 car since leaving the Scuderia at the end of 2009. The test took place over the course of two days at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, Spain. But since driving the current car with current tires would constitute an unfair advantage under the present regulations, Kimi was stuck driving the 2010 Renault R30 on demonstration tires (probably from the GP2 series) with a fresh coat of paint (and a new helmet design)."

Kimi Raikkonen marks official return to F1 with Lotus test run [w/video]

I hear he was able to get up to speed quite quickly. He drove two whole race distances over the two days with lots of qualifying style and heavy fuel loads.

The team were quite happy with the way he communicated and responded to the set-up changes.

I would really like to see Lotus and Kimi get back on the podium.

[vb-saan]

For me, Kimi's return is the biggest plus for the upcoming season. Hope the other drivers give some challenge to Vettel's monotonous run!

[deetjohn]

The 2012 cars have started to come out. Caterham have become the first team to unveil their 2012 car, the Caterham's CT01.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97174

OTHER TEAM LAUNCH DATES
McLaren - 1 Feb
Ferrari - 3 Feb
Force India - 3 Feb
Lotus - 5 Feb
Sauber - 6 Feb
Red Bull - 6 Feb
Mercedes - 21 Feb
Toro Rosso - TBA
Williams - TBA
Marussia - TBA
HRT - TBA

[sajands]

Originally Posted by asr245

Sad to see Barrichello go. He deserved better in his final season. Not sad to see Sutil go. Only woke up when his seat was under threat. Not sure how good Senna would be but he brings in a lot of dough with him so that's good. Williams need to build a respectable car first - driver comes later.

The update on Rubens Barrichello is, he is going to test for indycar this year.

Rubens Barrichello will test for IndyCar next week for KV Racing. It’s not clear if the test will bring the Brazilian Formula One driver to IndyCar for 2012.

Source: IndyCar: F1 veteran Rubens Barrichello to test for KV Racing, Kanaan says - Autoweek

Barrichello to test for Indycar | Firstpost

-Sajan