Bruno Senna to Toro Rosso?

Forget about Michael for a minute, Ralf won six Grand Prix. True he never got his act together to sustain a championship challenge, but you can't say he wasn't good enough for F1. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there is only one German driver who won more than Ralf and ironically that just happens to be Michael.

To be fair, Germany have few drivers of note, stretching all the way back to Wolfgang von Trips, in F1 at all until Michael came along

I agree completely though. On his day, Ralf was unbeatable. He just didn't have them very often. I thought when he came into F1 that he was going to be excellent - not quite Michael excellent, but certainly a driver worthy of a championship. He never carried it through though.

Ralf did have a few good races I am not saying that he was bad and should not have been in f1, but he had far to many accidents and silly mistakes and you always got the feeling he just did not try 100% all the time. Alot of his accidents were with team mates.

I feel after his crash in Italy testing he was not the same driver and should have walked away then.

All i mean is people expected him to be like his brother, and that is what I think could happen to senna.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2008 10:16PM by marcl.

He was really only accident prone in his first year and his latter years at Williams. His days between and at Toyota were much more restrained. Like Sato though, it's probably what most will remember him for. If you're comparing him to his brother, he was always going to fail, before he even set foot in a formula car.

It won't happen to Senna. He's been anything but level-headed in a car, but outside of it he should be more than capable of not letting the media hype get to him. He's 24... he's not a kid. If he does fall for the media and lets his name get in his way now then he's a weaker specimen of a man than any of us could think.

The media can do what they like. Perception is one thing, but it ought not change him. It will be interesting is to see how he deals with it, externally, when he makes the jump though. It will bring it's own pressure. It's fair to say that so far in his career he's had very little comparison outside of the likes of us talking about how his hair is the same...

I hope he rises above it and his career isn't curtailed by us because he doesn't set the world on fire in the opening races. He needs to be the opposite of Piquet. Piquet tried to be a hero early on, and look where it's got him. If Senna can ride out the temptation and just be anonymous in the first half of his debut year (Glock and Nakajima style), he can build his own career. If he does a Piquet, he'll just be classed as reckless and trying to emulate his uncle to the media.

just about Lucas since there was some comments before


IMO Lucas is doing great, he doesn't have a famous name and that could have helped in terms of development, at same time he didn't suffer a huge media pressure thus is more tranquil to concentrate in himself, also had to build his own way without help and that could have lead him to a better maturity in terms, his great ace is that he is consistent (maybe result of the path he went by, and subsequently from his maturity), and nowadays this is impressively important in f1.

just to you guys understand some may not noticed yet how the consistency is playing this year, but had a driver finished in 3rd position only (without needing to win any race)all the races till now, it would be leading the championship with 66 points if not mt, and this still considering the current wdc standings as it is atm without descounting points to noone.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2008 01:17AM by Rodrigo007.

Lucas Di Grassi may be a race winner, but not a title challenger. His driving style isnt entertaining either. He had never impressed me, really. Come on, he was beaten by Timo Glock and the toyota driver isnt a WDC material either!

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I think the problem with Piquet and Glock was due to Lewis tbh.

Some people now expect people to come into F1 and be on the pace straight away etc. Now piquet has calmed down a bit he seems to be getting on much better and has probably done enough now to keep his job. He drove well in France was doing better than alonso at Silverstone, got a good result in Germany and in Hungry did well did not let his head drop despite his 1st lap error.

I have to be honest I keep forgetting Senna is 24.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2008 02:36PM by marcl.

looks like there might be Bruno Senna- Takuma Sato combo at Torro Rosso next year

[en.f1-live.com]




Re: Bruno Senna to Toro Rosso?
Date: August 09, 2008 05:47PM
Posted by: marcl (IP Logged)



I have to be honest I keep forgetting Senna is 24.



That's not bad. Mature head in f1 is essential

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2008 01:46PM by red 5.

Senna admitted that he and his management team are in discussions with nine of F1's teams about possible future roles.

[www.autosport.com]

nine teams? I this is true he is in for sure, one of those nine should materialised, and my bet is BMW. Replacing heidfeld or Kubica if Kimi retires and Kubica replaces him over at Ferrari

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Date: August 05, 2007 08:59AM
Posted by: Locke Cole (IP Logged)

I post what I want, where I want. Whether or not anybody else posts there is irrelevant.

nine teams? what's the bet the other two are ferrari and mclaren.

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X (@ed24f1)

SchueyFan Wrote:
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> nine teams? what's the bet the other two are
> ferrari and mclaren.

You think Super Aguri are still in with a shot then?

He may be discussing roles with half the world, but there'll only be 3 teams willing to take him on as a race driver at the moment in my opinion. The rest will be testing in case he can't get a race seat.

Toro Rosso look like 2 from Bordais, Sato and Buemi at the moment.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2008 07:36PM by gav.

We have 11 teams?

Anyway only team they arent talking with is Ferrari. And my guess is that with 7 of those 9 teams they are only talking about weather.

Kimi, so, Massa Fernando Sebastian is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?

If I were a rookie trying to make my race break into F1, then I'd probably take both Ferrari and McLaren with a large dose of salt.

With exception of Hamilton neither tend to take on rookies, and neither seem keen on promoting their test drivers to a racing role.

Whilst Badoer is at Ferrari and de la Rosa is at Mclaren, a rookie test driver is going to get next to zero mileage there.

But then in today's restricted test environment, rookies don't get to do much mileage at all at any team.

Nine teams? lol must be a lie!

Ferrari - No way
McLaren - No way
BMW - Possible considering the Robert link to Ferrari and Heidfeld poor performances
Renault - No way, they wouldnt align two rookies on the grid
Williams - Rosberg is secured for 2009, Kazuki is a big question mark
Red Bull - No way
Toyota - No way
Toro Rosso - The most likely scenario for him
Honda - Possible replacing JB's teammate? I highly doubt that it will happen. No way
Force India - No way, confirmed Fisico and Sutil

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a possible future can mean testdriver to eh bruno, so then it would be possible yeh.

Iceman-Kimi Wrote:
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> a possible future can mean testdriver to eh bruno,
> so then it would be possible yeh.

He said that he doesnt want a test driver seat, because nowadays F1 test drivers dont get enough mileage to be ready for a race seat. His 1st choice is a race seat, if not then he would consider a test seat but he does not want it. I am assuming that if there is no seat for him in F1 2009 then he will look for another GP2 season. He needs as much as racing as possible to decrease the gap that was created by 10 years without any racing.

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Bruninho Wrote:
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> Nine teams? lol must be a lie!
>

Do you think the teams stick their heads in the sand and ignore up and coming drivers from the junior formulas?

Listen, it doesn't matter how much continuity a team has on it's driving line up or how supposedly happy, or how long the contracts last for. The teams are always scouting the sport for drivers for future potential, and no current driver is ever that safe from being ousted from their drive.

Ferrari might be fairly quiet on this front, but it should not be forgotten that both Raikkonen and Massa owe a lot to Ferrari for their debuts in F1. Back when they made their respective debuts, Sauber were effectively the Ferrari junior team. When Sauber got fed up with Massa's erraticness, Ferrari took him on as a test driver, which eventually saw him to return to Sauber for it's last year as a Ferrari team, before being promoted to the Scuderia. Massa has pretty much always been a junior Ferrari driver.

McLaren, as I have pointed out don't often take on a rookie and the testing is dealt with by an experienced hand also. However it should not be forgotten that a lot of young British drivers have their first F1 laps in a McLaren, thanks to McLaren Autosport young British driver of the year award. And the team have been known to support young drivers up through the ladder via Mercedes, examples being Heidfeld, Hamilton, Paffet, Green (the laters graduating to DTM).

BMW Sauber have an active driver development programme, of today's F1 grid they played larger parts of bringing Rosberg, Kubica and Vettel into F1, where as Asmer could be their next young focus (if he stops disappointing in GP2)

Toyota support young Japanese drivers, with Kazuki owing his drive with Willimas largely to Toyota, there are other Japanese drivers being supported by Toyota, Hirate, Kobayashi etc.

Red Bull have a huge driver development programme, there are actually too many drivers in RBR livered cars and crash helmets in the junior formulas to keep track off. STR was initially set up because they didn't have enough seats in F1 to try out all their young talent. Drivers to be supported into F1 by Red Bull include Klien, Luizzi, Speed, Vettel, where as Sebasiten Buemi appears to their next favourite.

In Renault's case, they support drivers through World Series by Renault and GP2. It should not be forgotten from today's F1 drivers Kovalainen and Piquet graduated to F1 via GP2 and Renault F1 test roles. Lucas di Grassi and Romain Grosjean are the next in line.

In addition to that, perhaps not entirely Renault related, but linked Flavio Britore manages several drivers. He's played pivotal roles in the F1 careers of Fisichella, Webber and Alonso.

Honda also have a driver development programme. Although this one is slightly lower profile since less of them actually make it through to race in F1. In the past drivers such as Nakajima (sr) and Nakano raced in F1 thanks to Honda whilst recent drivers to have been supported by Honda include Sato and Davidson. Today they play roles in the development of Mike Conway and Luca Filippi.

As for Williams, whilst they do not seem to have a structured driver development programme, they are not adverse to supporting drivers into F1. Damon Hill and David Coulthard graduated to serious F1 drivers thanks to their test roles with the team. Montoya was supported by the team through F3000, and had a years testing with them before being carted (excuse the pun) to America for a couple of years.

Meanwhile you can not deny the notion that Williams seems to enjoy evaluating names with a legacy in the sport. Hill and Villeneuve being the obvious examples, more modern examples include Rosberg and Nakajima, whilst Nelson Piquet had his first test in F1 for the team. I'd say it's almost inevitable that Bruno will at least get a test with Williams.

But I guess what I'm saying is that it is ridiculous to say that it a lie that Senna has been talking with at least 9 of those teams.

Bruninho Wrote:
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> if there is no seat for him in F1
> 2009 then he will look for another GP2 season. He
> needs as much as racing as possible to decrease
> the gap that was created by 10 years without any
> racing.


I disagree. I think he'd prefer leave GP2 at the end of this season, even if he doesn't manage to overturn Pantano's lead in the championship which he probably won't. He's been the only driver consistently in the hunt to keep Pantano honest and I think he'd stand to lose more than he could gain.

He's built his reputation up quite well this year, so to have a poor 3rd year in the series would risk damaging it.

Yes I know di Grassi returned after Monaco and has done extremely well, but he was extremely reluctant to take that opportunity and only did so because he was pushed by Renault, who could not give him many test miles in the F1 car.

gav Wrote:
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> SchueyFan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > nine teams? what's the bet the other two are
> > ferrari and mclaren.
>
> You think Super Aguri are still in with a shot
> then?

yeah, why not

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X (@ed24f1)

I dont think there is any race seat for Senna next year, a years testing with Mclaren and then maybe a drive in 2010.

But next year would be a good year to join F1 for anyone, new cars etc so everyone will be learning from scratch.

I still say Senna is not ready for F1 anyway and another year in GP2 will be the wrong way to go.