I wish him well Mifune but as you say, Senna 'B' did not - and is very unlikely to - set the world alight. Being 0.3 seconds adrift of Button's time is no mean feat, especially if the time was set under near identical conditions. But of course even if that was the case, lap time is not the whole story (I have no idea whether it was incidentally, so perhaps you could advise me?). An F1 test involves giving feedback to engineers, which is assessed for accuracy / clarity / usefulness / direction etc. From what I've heard, Senna was not stunningly impressive in this department. Button on the other hand, is probably the best in the business, being at least on a par with Alonso and better than Vettel who still lacks a bit of experience. (Hamilton is a complete oddity here; a bit like a modern day Jim Clark: his technical feedback is very personalised and sometimes ambiguous, due to his ability to drive around 'problems'. Incidentally, this is one area where he and the team are definitely benefiting from Button's excellent technical ability). Back to Senna, you mention that he "has not had a proper chance yet…" but I base my assessment not on the car he was driving but the way he drove it. He made lots of mistakes and was not consistent with his lap times or even the positioning of the car from lap to lap, by which I mean he did not look especially expert at setting up his car from corner to corner (from a purely driving point of view). In F1, this should be a 'given' but Senna 'B' sometimes looked like an enthusiastic semi-pro, i.e. rather 'scruffy'. I honestly believe that the only reason his career resulted in a Grand Prix drive was because of his name. As far as I am aware, throughout his career he has been given the very best opportunity from helpful and hopeful sponsors; and on paper at least, this is a significant advantage over his rivals. P.S. I'm not a fan (or critic) of any driver in particular, although I hope I appreciate some of the differences between them. But ultimately I still have an opinion which can of course be as wrong as anyone's! Good luck to Bruno - along with the others I've perhaps been rather dismissive of recently: Grosjean; Karthikeyan; Hulkenberg; Rosberg maybe? Oh, and some other German…
Well in Brunos defense setting consistant laptimes would be hard while getting lapped every 20 seconds and do remember that despite his age he is not an experienced driver. That is the big downside to being Ayrton Senna's nephew. Brunos career lost crucial time after his death. A lack of setup expertise you mentioned would have to be expected under those conditions. I think this sums up the name situation well.
Thanks Cosi, I think it is all too easy to attribute a far larger difference between the top and the bottom than is realistic. The cars actually do most of the flattering. As you say, Karthikayen is still an extremely talented driver when considered against us normo's, he's just not as talented as the top dogs. To be up to date with current affairs - I'd liken Karthikayen to Andy Murray. He is at the top of the game, an exceptional player. However when compared against Nadal/Federer or even Djokovic, he is missing something. (now i've said this, I have hopes he will go on to win Wimbledon). Maybe that's harsh on Murray, he might be more of a Massa....
I remember reading this article a few years ago about Bruno Senna which I think is good and pretty much sum him and his situation up.
I waited a long time to comment on this thread, Not because I could be asked, but because I was shocked. Ricciardo should stay at Toro Rosso and just get FPs. HRT is a **** car and he is going to really ruin his rep if he can't beat Luizzi.
<stops clock> http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/13984557.stm Not606: 12:50 BBC: 20:46 so not606 forumers got the news 7 hours 56 mins before
I think it's the best case so far for Daniel, he's getting more F1 experience rather than just being a test driver now, he will also do a whole weekend rather than 1 hour on a Friday. I'm sure he's not fussed it's a HRT, yes it's very likely that he won't be able to show much, but that's not the point he needs the experience for next season to replace whoever effectively.
Well it will be interesting to see how this move works our for Ricciardo, and who knows if it does benefit him then maybe HRT and Virgin can almost turn themselves into sort of feeder teams that provide seats for drivers to get experience before going into a bigger team.
I hope he does well. He's a promising talent, and it would be a shame if he couldn't realise his potential.
I'm not sure if I actually said this but I totally agree that it is much better to take any opportunity when it comes. Waiting for a 'better day' is a mistake. Opportunity usually only comes along once so grab it by the horns with both hands and don't look back. Besides, the 'better day' is just as likely to be a better day for others too…
hmm, I always thought it was a silent 'i' and just pronounced 'riccardo'. Well, that's what the f3 commentator called him anyway....
If you didn't say it then it would be an apostrophe so the F3 commentator not pronouncing the 'i' is him simply pronouncing Ricciardo's name wrong, right?
They've already got Willis, who used to work for red bull. May not be as ridiculous as it sounds, Webber going there. If geoff can sort out next years car, they could easily move up the grid, no matter what their budget may be. Look at Brawn, no budget but the car was great. If they improve sufficiently, they could attract a developement driver, such as webber.
Not picking on your words cowboy, but HRT's situation for money is a lot different from what Brawn had. When Brawn bought Honda, Honda have invested had money in the car, reports of £90 million, and paid for the team up till march. HRT on the other hand, have hardly any investors, and have logos on the side of the car looking like sponsorship, but really says This could be you or This is a cool spot.
