Speed sacked from STR. Vettel replaces him!

Is anyone rushing(or at least showing some interest) to offer Speed some kind of a ride? Wouldn't that indicate that there is indeed some potential with this guy?

 

Excellent post, right on the money. Not to mention the bickering between Helmut Marko at RB and Franz Tost at STR.

 

I for one really hope to see Speed get a drive at somewhere like Toyota or Honda. If Ralf keeps going down hill I think Scott could fill his seat (and what a bargain he would be). It really looked like he was improving over the last few races if only he had the car under him to get the job done. STR kinda screwed the pooch on this one.

 

Well I can tell you that Rubens is staying at Honda. He has signed to stay for the 2008 season.

So here are some predictions -

Scott has a shot at Toyota for an extremely reduced price compared to Ralf.
Maybe even still a shot at Honda. Posibilty - JB gets canned or retires.
Or he should take Vettel' Test position @ BMW.

Since these 3 teams claim the U.S. as their largest market, let's see if they jump into this as an opportunity.
We know darn well that Ferrari isn't going to pick him up.

 

"...Speed certainly picked up his game considerably in recent months."

Too little too late. I think his attitude that he's the best thing to happen to F1 helped him on his way. At least Tonio seems to know when to keep his mouth shut. I doubt BMW will waste time or money on this guy, they are looking for young talent on a fast track. Toyota might take a run at him, but what can he bring to them? No, I expect that he will flounder his way into a Champ Car seat, perhaps Red Bull backed, and that we've seen the last of one S. Speed as an F1 pilot.

Cheers

 

I see them sticking Nakajima, Sato or Sutil in that seat before Scott. They also have Montagney, who is considered a great test driver, so Scott will barely test the car if he did have the job next to Frank.

Jenson has committed to the 2008 season along with Rubens. Honda will never fire him, he's way too popular a driver. Also, he did manage to score Honda's only point of the season.

Somehow I can't picture Theissen wanting STR'S leftovers, as sad as that might sound.

 

Oh I agree with you on SS attitude, a very objectionable personality full of his own importance, point is, he was getting the job done as a driver as competently as anyone else likely to see their bum in a STR. Problem with that team is that from the top down they all think they are the best thing thats happened in F1 and its everyone else to blame, drivers, engine supplier, designer.
And I wouldn't mind voicing my opinion that the friction/animosity/competition/ between RBR and STR has also been counter productive. Newey hasn't exactly been backward in criticising Liuzzi and Speed either. Whats it got to do with Newey you might ask ? Theres the problem in a nutshell, unlike all the other teams these two are supposedly separate but in reality joined at the hip and pre-occupied with destabilising the other. Webber thinks he's God's gift as well and hasn't woken up to the fact that at the last race he struggled home to his podium just in front of a car which is usually fighting to be top 10. If he was a realist he'd being saying " Lets not get too excited, after all, we only just beat Wurz to the line"

 

Well, if there's all that much friction between RBR and STR, maybe Speed might wind up "on deck" to take DC's seat if Coulthard gets ticked off by one more media comment about his age.

 

I am sure a formula 1 team needs Scott Speed.... someone has to carry the luggage and drive the transporter

 

Reportedly Vettel will get paid $165,000

 

and 400k for next season as well

 

Whether or not they need Speed is a different discussion - the way that the team handled the whole affair was deplorable. Can you picture Ron Dennis or Luca pushing or getting physical with one of their drivers? Absolutely ridiculous.

 

To put it bluntly: Speed has not enough talent for F1 but way too much attitude for even the prima donnas in F1. The paddock hates him and he will never find another seat again. He is done for.

 

well, we have Sakon Yamamoto on the other line

 

I believe the broken suspension at Nurburgring was caused as he was flying through the air backwards past the safety car, and as the car landed.
Not an equipment failure but one of another nature.

 

Unfortunately this is true.

 

Piquet Jr. gave him a hard time!

 

I heard he'd been hit up the rear earlier in the lap. But I suppose you could fairly say the guy should have been thinking " Umm I've been hit up the ar*e, its pi**ing, I can't see a thing, SC boards are out, maybe I'll just slow down to a crawl until this sorts itself out"

 

Well if you're going to hit something, hit it hard!

 

I guess the question remains, does F1 need an American in the field? Most all the manufacturers/sponsors believe unanimously missing the US market is a calamity for 2008, so it's an easy premise to surmise that having a driver in a series who's nationality coincides with your largest market would only serve to heighten interest further. The problem is, none of the majors will pony up for an 'unknown' (re: has not competed in a Junior European Formula). I give credit to TR for at least giving Speed a ride in the first place. It's difficult to see exceptional ability when you're behind the wheel of a sled that took Pierlugi Martini to stardom (Alonso excepted). Speed was competent, however he didn't outqualify Liuzzi and that combined with a bottom 6 car made him invisible. Brought along properly and given a top half team, things might have gone differently, but my belief is that a Rahal/Andretti/Braun/Long (no snickering now) is needed before Vegas rolls around, to boost F1 as an entity in the States. F/M/T/H/B, have a little faith ...

 

Autoweek-After Speed slid off course in the Euro GP seems team STR manager Franz Tost hit Speed in the back with his closed fist, grabbed him by the neck ripping his fire suit. Speed then tells Berger if he ever touched me again I'm going to knock him out. Speed goes on to say you couldn't pay me enough money to race for those two again.

I guess that's the kind of thing you don't usually patch up.

 

I'm back from two weeks in Europe where I got a chance to read a ton of F1 magazines. And I didn't find a single article that had a single good word about Scott Speed.

ABSOLUTELY EVERYBODY hates Scott Speed and EVERYBODY is happy he is gone from F1. There is ZERO chance anybody will ever give him a F1 seat again. Also everybody is looking forward to get Liuzzi out of the STR seat.

Speed came off as odd in the interviews we saw on US TV, but that must be peanuts to what he must have been saying behind the scenes. I have rarely seen so much hatred for a driver.

 

thats bad. what did he do to be hated so much?

 

From what I read he showed immense arrogance while completely untalented.

It is one thing to say FU to your team boss if you're leading the championship but entirely another when you just threw the car into the wall.

Point in case was the Nuerburgring incident: He just threw the STR into the litter and came back to the pits. Instead of an apologetic word, he immediately jumps onto his team manager beraving the bad pit stop the crew gave him. That just doesn't fly.

 

Andreas, I think the European press also has it in for American Drivers who come into F1, they treated Michael Andretti pretty harshly as well. I agree that Speed came off as a dork in the Interviews, but at the sametime, a guy like Ralf Schumacher has the same kind of arrogance.