If you owned a team, who...

would you hire to drive for you ?

Here's the kicker:
You CANNOT pick a past champion from ANY 'major' series, nor can you pick someone that won more than 2 F1 GP events, nor can you pick anyone that has won at LeMans, the Indy 500 or the Daytona 500.

This ought to require some thinking caps to be turned on...
And you can pick the series you are an owner in from F1, Endurance, stock cars, or indy cars (irl or champp car).

 

Easy:

Heikki Kovalainen and Nico Rosberg. That is unless you're counting their series win's as "major".

 

If I was an F1 team owner (pulling on Nomex) I'd hire Sarah Fisher AND Danica Patrick. Why? Because I won't have the budgets to run with the big dogs and the novelty of an all female team would really get me in front of the cameras for sponsors, merchandising et al. My team would be the absolute focus for at least the first two years as the Team Peace Frog circus rolls into town. Tell me there wouldn't be a major sponsor on the planet that wouldn't jump on board that line-up?

 

Bruno Senna and Lewis Hamilton.

 

Danica Patrick and Valentino Rossi

 

Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti

 

I would expand to a four car team:

A:
Rosberg/Patrick

B:
Andretti/Rahal

Skill and the ability to attract sponsorship. I like Kovalainen, but sponsors won't because his name has one too many syllables and will be hard for the CEO's of the corporate world to pronounce. :}

 

Nico Rosberg
Danica patrick

 

nico rosberg

grahm rahal

 

When will she start winning? If she doesn't win, her star may fade.

 

I guess I should have stated 'It doesn't HAVE to be a current F1 driver'.

That said, here are F1 drivers with 2 or less wins:

2 Bill Vukovich
2 Elio de Angelis
2 Jean-Pierre Jabouille
2 Jo Siffert
2 Jose Froilan Gonzalez
2 Maurice Trintignant
2 Patrick Depailler
2 Patrick Tambay
2 Pedro Rodriguez
2 Peter Revson
2 Wolfgang von Trips
1 Alessandro Nannini
1 Bob Sweikert
1 Carlos Pace
1 Francois Cevert
1 Giancarlo Baghetti
1 Gunnar Nilsson
1 Innes Ireland
1 Jarno Trulli
1 Jean Alesi
1 Jean-Pierre Beltoise
1 Jim Rathmann
1 Jimmy Bryan
1 Jo Bonnier
1 Jochen Mass
1 Johnnie Parsons
1 Lee Wallard
1 Lorenzo Bandini
1 Ludovico Scarfiotti
1 Luigi ***ioli
1 Luigi Musso
1 Olivier Panis
1 Pat Flaherty
1 Peter Gethin
1 Piero Taruffi
1 Richie Ginther
1 Rodger Ward
1 Sam Hanks
1 Troy Ruttman
1 Vittorio Brambilla


There are a handful of guys listed above that I thought had more than 2 wins, like Bandini, Von Trips, Jabouille, DePailler, Scarfiotti, Pace and Pedro Rodriguez. Not to mention all the folks with no wins.

Mind you, the guys I listed above: I thought they had a few more than 1 or 2 wins, I thought some had 4 or 5.

 

Franco, great research!

 

Right on brother. Saying that, if I was Flavio, I would fire Fischella immediately and either put Heikki in the car or go buy out JPM's contract from Ganassi. I mean what is the deal with Fishy Fella, he either has one good race and than 3 bad ones, why did Renault hire him again?

I also would pick Lewis Hamilton as the Test Driver to see how he does.

 

I think it is a sign in what disarray Renault is falling into. Signing Fiasco Fisico was a panic knee jerk reaction. I'm starting to have doubts over Alonso's 2nd title the way his team operates right now.

Whisky, didn't realize we could pick drivers from the past. But in all honesty, why would you? If the guy has less than 2 wins, well, ahem he either died prematurely or was crap to begin with. Anyway, here my two candidates:

Jo Siffert
Francois Cevert

Both probably had a title in their realm of possibilities had they lived long enough.

 

Myself There would be no other way for me to drive in a sanctioned F1 race. I wouldn't be good initially, but I'd have lots of practice time off the track. It's my money.

 

1. Jarno Trulli
2. Jenson Button

 

Actually that answer came to my mind as well. If nothing else I'd be participating in at least a couple of GPs. Imagine!

 

You have to keep in mind that Whisky wants to "hire" guys that have VERY little proven success. No one in F1 will "hire" a guy like that. The driver must bring a sponsor or fork up his own cash. I wouldn't pay a cent for a driver that fits the description Whisky wants unless they prove to me they're good in a test drive paid all by themself.

Edit: By Whisky's requirements, I'm talking about a driver who hasn't won in GP2 either...

 

Andreas,

I don't think the Renault is in such a disarray as Michelin has slowed the progress on the tireside of the equation. Bridgestone is ratcheting up and Ferrari has done a superb job with the current car (thanks to guys like Nicholas Tombazikas). Renault also made a bad choice of rubber in France. Well at least the rest of the season should be exciting.

 

Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg!!

They are the only F1 drivers who haven't won a GP yet and are promising talents.

Frank Williams is not a fool..., he has only to give them competitive cars.

 

I know i would try to get

Michael Shumacher
Dancia Patrick


I think those two on the same team would be unstopable.

 

they dont fit the criteria though

 

Pantera could pick the third of the Schumacher brothers. He is into racing and hasn't won anything of importance so far.

 

Then why did you bother to even post if you wouldn't hire anyone that fit the criteria ???????????????

My point with this forum was, kinda, I looked at history, and for all the times I have read about 'the great:' Von Trips, Bandini, and a few others, I would have thought they had more than 1 or 2 wins.
How many times have we discussed someone's 'greatness - if they could just get into a winning car' ?????
The fact that you wouldn't pay for anyone's test drive is off the point, too. Think back to the days when drivers were hired on merit - Nigel Mansell comes to mind, like him or not.

 

Marco Andretti

Nico Rosberg