2011 Formula 1 Season - Official Discussion Thread

[phil1993]

Romain Grosjean has joined Gravity Management which means in effect he's back in the Renault F1 family.

[sdutt]

bahrain being the season opener is not good, wonder why they are doing it

[swca92]

Romain Grosjean has joined Gravity Management which means in effect he's back in the Renault F1 family.

Gravity management??? Who are they??? Optimistic name as well to name yourself gravity, setting yourself up for a fall.

[saif]

The calendar is quite good. A few races switched (Turkey moved earlier to R5, Spain and Monaco therefore shift a bit later). Glad its ending in Brazil, but starting in Bahrain isn't great. Also note that the Italian GP is 10 years on since 11/9/2001 so there's a slim chance it might move a week earlier.

Races:
Asia - 9
Europe - 8
N. America - 1
S. America - 1
Australia - 1

are you counting Turkey as Asia?

[phil1993]

Romain Grosjean has joined Gravity Management which means in effect he's back in the Renault F1 family.

Gravity management??? Who are they??? Optimistic name as well to name yourself gravity, setting yourself up for a fall.

Gravity are the company who are somehow related to Gerard Lopez, who owns 75% of the Renault team through Genii Capital. Not quite sure how Gravity operate but they are close to Renault F1.

And yes, Istanbul Park is in Asia

[saif]

The track is in Asia, but I think people count the Turkish Gp as Europe. I think we can say Asia and Europe both have 8.5races

[phil1993]

The track is in Asia, but I think people count the Turkish Gp as Europe. I think we can say Asia and Europe both have 8.5races

I say Asia, but it isn't what you'd call an Asian race, I know what you mean

[phil1993]

More and more suspicion is that Petrov and Kovalainen will swap seats for 2011 with Lotus getting Renault engines for free as part of the deal.

[iceman1]

More and more suspicion is that Petrov and Kovalainen will swap seats for 2011 with Lotus getting Renault engines for free as part of the deal.

According to Heikki, he made his choice for 2011 but can't reveal the name of the team (Lotus or renault) atm.

[phil1993]

My view is that if he can't reveal the name yet, then what has he got to keep secret? If he was staying at Lotus surely he would be able to say?

[iceman1]

My view is that if he can't reveal the name yet, then what has he got to keep secret? If he was staying at Lotus surely he would be able to say?

Maybe he wants to wait for the official announcement ?

According to information Turun Sanomat has, Heikki Kovalainen's and Jarno Trulli's contracts with Lotus and the change of the engine supplier Cosworth to Renault will be confirmed in Singapore Grand Prix after two weeks.

Team manager Tony Fernandes didn't want to go ahead of matters and stated on Friday to TS that he wishes Kovalainen and Trulli will continue in Lotus.

At Monza paddock it is strongly believed that Vitali Petrov will continue in Renault.

Turun Sanomat, Monza

HEIKKI KULTA

[phil1993]

Rome has signed a deal to hold a street race there for 5 years from 2012/2013. Monza remains on the calendar as well.

[phil1993]

Virgin Racing are set to retain both Glock & di Grassi despite rumours linking Jerome d'Ambrosio to the team. John Booth denied that d'Ambrosio would replace di Grassi but said that the Belgian had been helping them out as he had a superlicense

[saif]

Kimi Raikkonen is making a fresh bid to return to Formula 1 next year after approaching the Renault team for a drive in 2011.

It is true that the summer has passed and we have had more and more requests - and the guy you mentioned [Raikkonen] is on the radar now. He is on the radar because he contacted us.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/86688

[f1freak]

Also, all these c**p tracks like India, Texas etc, no one wants to see them, all F1 is at these ''purpose built tracks'' is a procession of cars, eg. Bahrain, Valencia, Singapore.
F1 really has taken a huge downturn in terms of tracks over the past 10 years. Bring back San Marino for a start!

I agree with you. San Marino should be back. A few years back there was some renovation going on. I don't know whats the latest update on that. Even Paul Ricard can be a good option with a facility to have so many formats.