Sutil in, Montiero out at Spyker

[apex]

The Spyker people have turfed Montiero and it looks like he has few if any options to stay in F1. Since it is reported that Montiero has some major sponsorship dollars backing him, it would not surprise me to see him in Champcar next year.

Possibly FCR since Gerry apparently wants only a bought ride for a second car effort.

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=240345

[Audi_A4]

that sucks, Montiero is a good driver and a champcar grad.

[NismoZ]

Isn't Doornbos in and Speed (likely) out as well? Will Red Bull offer Speed the same deal Klien turned down (and Doornbos said he'd accept)? I hear another factor favoring Tiago might be CC looking at Estoril as it's 2nd Euro venue. Whatever works. Looks like a lot of people want that FCR ride. Pagenaud has at least 2 mil. which will certainly stay in CC. How much will those other 2 bring... OR The Boss? Enough cars? Not much time to build up all the rest!:eek:

[cameraman]

I... OR The Boss?


Geoff!!!

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/content/photos/2003/Driver/20030101DM_2000.jpg


:p

[NismoZ]

Pretty sure he was "The Geoff.":)

[Spicoli]

If Speed was gonna be around, don't you think they'd be pimpin him by now?

[Tim]

It sounds like it's Liuzzi/Speed unless someone comes forward with a check. Then it's Liuzzi/$$$. If another guy comes along it's $$$/$$$.

[apex]

Food for thought:


DECEMBER 21, 2006
Doornbos and Scuderia Toro Rosso
Back in October we reported that in an effort to raise sponsorship for 2007 Scuderia Toro Rosso would most likely replace Scott Speed with Robert Doornbos. The team is a joint venture between Red Bull and Gerhard Berger and as part of the agreement Berger has to find half the budget each year. This is not easy for a team with poor results - even for a man with Berger's connections. A multimillionaire thanks to his trucking business, his F1 career and other investments, Berger is not a man who will dip into his own pocket to pay and so he is looking for a way to raise the budget he needs. Doornbos is understood to have a decent sum of money - estimates vary between $5m and $10m - available from Har Muermans, a Dutch real estate developer, and Berger is interested in using that money. Fortunately Doornbos has been associated with Red Bull for some time, even though he is not one of the drivers who has been nurtured deliberately by the Austrian drinks company. The problem with picking him is that if that happens Red Bull's F1 teams will feature three non-Red Bull drivers and just one who is a part of the driver promotion scheme.

Red Bull has made a considerable mess of trying to build a staircase for talent and although many young drivers will jump at the chance of money early in their careers, the handling of the careers of Christian Klien, Scott Speed, Tonio Liuzzi, Neel Jani and others will make youngsters very wary of signing anything long-term because of the way the programme has developed in recent years. The US-based Red Bull young driver scheme, which aimed to put an American in F1, is all but dead with only Speed now left. Dumping him would finish the programme in Europe, although Red Bull would almost certainly take Scott off to Champ Car. That would not be fair as Speed did a decent job in his first season of F1.

The other option is to dump Tonio Liuzzi - a move which makes no sense at all. The Italian had a stellar career before arriving in F1 but for the last two seasons, Red Bull has done little to help him, forcing him to share a car last year, pushing him into Toro Rosso this year and then hiring Mark Webber rather than promoting him to RBR as many inside the team wanted to see. If Liuzzi decided to walk out of his contract he would have a decent argument in court that Red Bull has had a detrimental effect on his career. That would not help him much because what he needs more than anything is a decent car to show what he can do before people start to forget to include him in lists of rising stars.

Courtesy GP.com

[NismoZ]

Stoddart has said Meurmans will be "involved" in his CC venture in some way. I believe he said he wouldn't do the team buy unless Meurmans WAS involved. Doornbos is Meurmans "guy" and if he's not coming, where will Dutch Trust money be put to work? (I figured if Doornbos got the F-1 ride the Stoddart to CC move would be out the window) Yes, Jos Verstappen has said several times he'd like to try CC, has already exited A1 and even voiced a desire to race for Forsythe. I think he was told only 2-3 teams were worth racing for and CTE/HVM wasn't one of 'em. Can he be talked ($) into trying the "new" team? Does FCR want Pagenaud and 2 million bucks ahead of a crazy ass (but fast) Dutchman? Does CC need another American driver more than it needs an infusion of Euro bucks and talent? (given the European races) I think it's all very interesting and believe these factors are what delayed the Stoddart announcement. Hope it works out to CC's benefit. I think that would be Scott Speed to Forsythe with Red Bull money and the Atlantic prize making for a 3 car team and Verstappen or some other Dutch talent running with Speedy and Philippe at Minardi.:) Are they working 24/7 down at Panoz!?

[trauma1]

is TRUST still backing JOS or did they part ways

[NismoZ]

Rumors I read say "...IF there is a lot of Trust money... Jos could be moving in at Forsythe alongside Tracy." My guess is Jos and Trust havent parted ways but a lot of the cash from the '02 exclusive contract has been (poorly?) spent. (?) Also another sponsor "in conjunction with Trust" was mentioned as helping Jos get a ChampCar ride well over a year ago, CO2....who's that?

[trauma1]

but for some reason he didn't have the money last year for a CC ride, so who;s backing him is the 99 cent question