SILLY SEASON 2009/10 Driver move news

[Yoda]

I hope your right OT in that Petrov brings some genuine talent with him and the cash is of secondary importance.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Renault own a significant slice of Lada and have a share technology agreement with them.
Adds up.

I wasnt aware of that OT... thanks for that little snippet.
Somewhat ironic then that Petrov 'cut his teeth' in Lada Racing!. With no karting background, he began competing in the Russian Lada Cup in 2001, winning it in 2002 with a maximum pointscore having won every race, and going on to race Formula Renault in 2003.

He then returned to Russia in 2004 to take part in the new Russian Lada Revolution championship, finishing 2nd overall before winning it outright the following year, whilst also doing and winning the Russian FF1600 series.

That took him onto the Euroseries F3000 for 2006 where he finished 3rd overall, which included nine podiums including four wins in eighteen races. That led him into GP2 for half a seson, and he gradually worked his way into better rides.... his results improved.

The Lada Revolution racers....

[Everso Biggyballies]

Petrov: I didn't bring any sponsorship to secure Renault seat

Vitaly Petrov might be a 'pay driver', but he has not brought any sponsorship with him to secure the second Renault seat in F1 2010. This would explain the seeming lack of sponsors on the Renault.

Petrov agrees he is a 'pay driver' in that he will not be receiving a salary this year, but says that the money had come from personal sources rather than Russian sponsorship deals – primarily his father, his manager and his father's friends – no-one else.

Apparently his family and friends contributions do amount to 7% of the teams budget, according to team boss Eric Bouillier, who admitted to having received offers to drive of double the amount from others, and basically saying that it is his belief in Vitaly's talent that is the main reason he got the gig..

Petrov is hoping that as the first Russian in F1 that his involvement, as well as of course his results, will lead to a huge influx of Russian sponsors that will make his future secure and enable him to be generous in return to those who have backed his F1 entry. Certainly his confirmation of a drive has sparked an enormous interest in all things F1 within Russia and no doubt the prospect of a Russian GP will be accelerated as a result.

In a way I guess it is a similar type of deal to the one that Justin Wilson followed when he raised the money to pay his way into F1 by floating himself on the London Stock Exchange as a full company, and people, predominantly initially friends and relatives purchased shares in Justins career on the chance of reaping tasty dividends based on his future earnings. Although he did not last long in F1 (largely due to his 6ft 4inch height) his career has blossomed in the US and he has certainly made enough to repay his investors handsomely.

Hell Bernie borrowed the money to 'buy F1' on the strength and collateral of its future earnings.

Whereas I dont like the idea of pay drivers it is nothing new, and indeed I am not so against people that put themselves in hock to do it rather than a young guy with a host of sponsors.

Of course the self financing approach has been used by some very prominent WDC's, namely Lauda who took out huge personal bank loans using his life insurance as collateral to get his March and BMW drives, payments of which he covered by racing in Sports Cars and Touring Cars for good start and prize money on his non F1 weekends, or Nigel Mansell who funded his career prior to F1 by mortgaging his family home. Schumacher, Senna, and many others also owe their F1 debuts to ride buying.

I do feel sorry for Nick Heidfeld though. Mind you I do believe that of all the rookies such as Lopez, Senna, Alguersuari, in fact I think Petrov has more talent than all of those and other newbies bar Hulkenberg and possibly Di Grassi. People complain of Petrov not having the results to back his rise to the pinnacle, but he is an achiever compared to Bruno Senna and co.

[Oldtony]

IIRC a certain Mr N.Lauda was a pay driver financed by a bank loan guaranteed by his father. Lucky he didn't need the guarntee as his father certainly wasn't aware of, and most certainly didn't approve of the deal.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Petrov: I didn't bring any sponsorship to secure Renault seat

<snip>


Hell Bernie borrowed the money to 'buy F1' on the strength and collateral of its future earnings.

Whereas I dont like the idea of pay drivers it is nothing new, and indeed I am not so against people that put themselves in hock to do it rather than a young guy with a host of sponsors.

Of course the self financing approach has been used by some very prominent WDC's, namely Lauda who took out huge personal bank loans using his life insurance as collateral to get his March and BMW drives, payments of which he covered by racing in Sports Cars and Touring Cars for good start and prize money on his non F1 weekends, or Nigel Mansell who funded his career prior to F1 by mortgaging his family home. Schumacher, Senna, and many others also owe their F1 debuts to ride buying.

IIRC a certain Mr N.Lauda was a pay driver financed by a bank loan guaranteed by his father. Lucky he didn't need the guarntee as his father certainly wasn't aware of, and most certainly didn't approve of the deal.

OT I think we are talking the same language hear, but a bit more detail, his story tells it as if his Dad was unknowing he was funding anything, and was very ante his racing. Especially when he found out Niki forged his school exams to get a free car his Dad promised. Sold / swapped it the following week, and borrowed some money from his Gran with which he bought an old competition Cooper S which he used to drive to and from Hillclimb events before moving on to open wheelers. he used to drive to Hillclimbs in. Lauda had a very nice life insurance his family paid for and it was the value of that which he used as collateral. He then had the next bank ( The Austrian Raiffeisen Bank) sponsor him (ie no interest loan I wear your logo on my helmet.... thats the X logo Lauda always carried on his helmet, throughout his career I think. Hence the March deal. BRM offered Niki a very low retainer contract, which didnt cover the loan he took to buy the drive, Enzo saw him on TV at Monaco and offered him a big cheque and paid off BRM.

I guess what we are saying is Petrov isnt the first to literally fork out the cash. Of course Frank Williams F1 was born out of money from wealthy (school friend I think)drivers like Piers (Daddy/Family owned a Brewery) Courage, and Frank gave him a turn up and drive deal using previous years works Marches, Brabhams or anythink. Even others like Peter Revson, son and heir to the Revlon empire. Of course Bernie struck up quite a friendship with Ricky Von Opel, the heir to the Opel (more recently GM Germany) Family fortune and a list of others, and whose function in the team was pay the lucrative contract Piquet Snr wanted in his WDC period, as were others. The list goes on.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Petrov Deal may yet fall apart....

Just as we thought the Silly Season had fallen into place pretty well, the news comes out that Petrov deal to drive with Renault currently hangs by a thread....

As has been explained above the drive has been 'purchased but not in the normal form of sponsorship but by a financial transaction involving primarily Petrov's father. Today his father admitted that the loan he had personally secured to pay the first instalment of his son’s €15 million deal to race for the Renault F1 team in 2010, had been put on hold.

Petrov senior agreed to pay the first instalment of €7.5 million to Renault (securing the money against his own property), after the team agreed to hand Petrov his F1 debut on the proviso that half the seat’s €15 million value be paid at the beginning of March 2010, with the remaining €7.5 million to be paid in July 2010.

“Vitaly’s manager Oksana Kosachenko, who has taken care of my son for the past nine years and through whom we came to Formula 1, immediately began to look for sponsors,” he told sovsport.ru. “The leadership of Renault met us, and allowed us to pay the money in two instalments, delaying payment of the first until March and the second until July.

“Oksana visited 500 large Russian companies, but was refused everywhere! When I told Vitaly we could not find the money and that he would be better to forget about Formula 1, he started to cry… as a child he never cried, but with this shock he could not help himself.

“Thank God, at the last moment my friend – the Chairman of the Board of Directors of one of the St. Petersburg banks – did not refuse to issue a credit for €7.5 million. To do this, I had to lay the property.”

Alexander however has admitted that, as of yet, he has still not received the loan and that if the money fails to arrive before March 1, his son may lose his Formula 1 drive.

“The first seven and a half million, we still have not received. The bank extended the consideration of an application for a loan – the money is huge. If, before the first of March we do not make the first payment, Vitaly can be changed to another pilot.”

“We have one hope: the chairman of the Government Vladimir Putin. President of Federation of motorsport Russia Victor Kiryanov and Sports Committee Chairman of the State Duma Anton Sikharulidze Vladimir Vladimirovich wrote letters asking for help.”

So, whilst not out of the question, it is certainly in doubt.... I guess the hope is that the personal loan comes through and this is backed by support from Russian Government and sponsors, otherwise Petrov will be out on his ear. Given the apparent hype in Russia ovwer F1 I have the idea that something will happen to pull the deal through.

I guess Nick might still be a chance, although I suspect that Petrov will be at Renault at least until the July deadline for the second half of the deal is due.... at which point maybe Renuault will draft in one of the Genii Juniors.

[Yoda]

I find it hard to believe that they approached over 500 companies and came away with nothing???

There are some big companies and plenty of money in Russia, i can't believe a company like Gazprom would not be interested in a sponsorship deal as f1 is a great international promotional tool.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Maybe it is a deal that Total / Elf might have opposed as it is the official oil/fuel supplier for Renault and have a no competition clause. (I think Gazprom are in oil?) Dunno really just a thought. It does seem to be like a lot of asks for no positive replies, especially given the media interest in Russia over his original appointment.

[Matt]

Oh please, Russia have been pretenders for over a decade now. 10 years ago we were told the Russians are coming. Mika and DC toured Russia promoting F1, there was going to be a Moscow GP or a St Petersburg GP or whatever and nope, nothing.

Anyone remember Midland? Once again the Russians are coming to take over the sport with their billions and what a blip on the radar that ended up being.

Russia has no real interest in F1. They've had years to get on board so this comes as no surprise to me.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Oh please, Russia have been pretenders for over a decade now. 10 years ago we were told the Russians are coming. Mika and DC toured Russia promoting F1, there was going to be a Moscow GP or a St Petersburg GP or whatever and nope, nothing.

Anyone remember Midland? Once again the Russians are coming to take over the sport with their billions and what a blip on the radar that ended up being.

Russia has no real interest in F1. They've had years to get on board so this comes as no surprise to me.

A decade? Believe me Matt, the Russian interest in F1 goes back many years (try 50) prior to Midland... They keep trying.

The Khadi-8...... Streamlined Russian "F1" car conceived in Kharkov in the late 1960's. 8-cylinder, 1974cc engine with an output of 340hp. Its wheelbase was 2600mm and it weighed 550 kg. The car was seriously damaged in its development. (Personally I think the people behind it had been damaged in their minds but.....

The Khadi-8(below)


In 1971-'72 it was restored, incorporating large design changes, and renamed Khadi-10. It was built to 3 litre regs by a guy by the name of Vladimir Nikitin (a Land Speed Record chaser). The engine now produced a whopping 250bhp against the average 500bhp of a DFV at that time..... like other things Russian in F1 it faded into obscurity. Fortunately.

Khadi-10.(below)


Then there was the Madi-01 of 1973. Supposedly inspired by the Lotus 72, its 2998cc GAZ-21-14 engine was based on a Volga stock block and produced a mere 125hp, with a top speed of just over 200kph. Oh yes, it also weighed approaching 750kgs.

Madi-01(below)


Mind you, not that Stefanovik (of Stefan F1) is Russian, but he is close, and even he had a crack at F1 a few years ago...... when he planned to revamp the Lola T97/30 which Riccardo Rosset had once tried to qualify. (The car took 2 months from concept to running) Stefanovik, like he has done with Toyota, purchased the project and attempted to relaunch it as a Stefan. Fortunately someone talked some sense into him.

[Yoda]

Lucky for the Russians that this project never got any further than it did. Can you imagine the political interference from the centrally controlled communist party, interfering with every detail.

[Eno the Wonderdog]

Lucky for the Russians that this project never got any further than it did. Can you imagine the political interference from the centrally controlled communist party, interfering with every detail.

It'd be just like trying to make a Toyota go fast..

[Yoda]

Lol, they would have made Toyota look good!

[Everso Biggyballies]

Interestingly the talk of Petrov and his future at Renault have seemingly dissipated, and indeed he was given the opportunity to test at Jerez last week. I guess the payment might have happened.

It would be interesting to see if an inexpensive Heidfeld might get the gig over one of the Genii guys.... or whether perhaps if Campos does not materialise, if Bruno Senna might get a crack at it.

Interestingly the promise that Campos made of 'news on the new investor' would be made last Monday never materialised. Is no news good news? I'm not so sure.

Talking of Heidfeld, and Brazilians, none other than Felipe Massa, one time teamate of Nick's at Sauber, has come out and said publically he cannot understand why Nick has been overlooked for a race seat in a time when there are, or have been more available seats than in a few years.

"Why has no one offered Nick Heidfeld a good cockpit?" Massa said. "If I look at the [2010] field, Nick belongs in Formula One but not as a spare driver."

Nick on the other hand speaks of advanced negotiations at McLaren, Mercedes, Sauber and even Lotus. It seems he may have shot himself in the foot, chasing McLaren and Mercedes and in the process of waiting on word from them, and of course the unexpected move by Button to Macca, along with Schumi's return finally left him in a situation where the smaller teams were all locked away. Perhaps Sauber did not like being considered a second rate team as Nick hung on for 'something better'.

He is prbably better off being at Mercedes as #3 than at Campos or USF1 as #1 in all honesty. At least he can hope he gets a couple of races in place of someone having a relapse with their recovery process. It would only take a bit of an off in practice and a tweaked neck for Michael to have to stand down, particularly in the early season I suspect.

[Everso Biggyballies]

JV close to a deal with Stefan F1.

1997 Champion Jacques Villeneuve freely admits that he is aiming to be back on the Formula 1 grid this year in a field of cars which he believes will better suit his driving style than at the time of his F1 exit in 2006. The French-Canadian targets a slot with the Stefan GP team, which could enter the sport should another team fail to do so.

Stefan confirmed that former Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima is already part of the team. "We are very near to a contract with Jacques Villeneuve, and probably also with another driver as our reserve driver. But the first one which will be with us is Kazuki Nakajima."

IF the JV deal comes off, and IF Stefan get their entry we will have 5 WDC's on the grid for the first time in many years.

World champions on the grid
- Michael Schumacher
- Jacques Villeneuve
- Fernando Alonso
- Jenson Button
and Lewis Hamilton.....