Former F1 and Indy champion Jacques Villeneuve is playing down reports that he was offered a ride with the new Lotus Renault GP team for next season. The French Canadian driver recently threw in the towel on any potential return to grand prix racing after repeated attempts to get back on the grid, determined to break into NASCAR instead and getting his fix racing Skodas on ice in the interim. According to reports, Lotus offered him a drive on its IndyCar team for this past season that would have led to an F1 seat with the automaker's newly acquired squad for 2011. The reports were spurred by Villeneuve's reported visit to Lotus to meet with Gino Rosato, one of the many former Ferrari employees who've since defected to Lotus – a visit which Villeneuve said was purely social and not professional. Rosato, like Villeneuve, hails from the Canadian province of Quebec. Jacques confirms that an offer for an IndyCar drive was made (if he could bring sponsors' cash along with him), but not for an F1 drive, pointing out that Lotus' decision to get into F1 was only made more recently. Besides, insists Villeneuve, he had no interest in going back into IndyCar racing since he already mastered that series in his earlier days. Well, he already won the F1 championship too, but that didn't seem to stop him from taking another stab at it. And then another. And then a few more.
He already tried it. According to nascar.com (here) he started a total of 5 races in 3 years (2008-10).
Yep and that was in the Nationwide series not Sprint Cup... Love it when I hear these guys talk like when their washed up in F1 or something and to old that they think they'll just waltz over to NASCAR and kick butt. While they were good drivers, racing a big heavy low downforce car on the ovals is a totally different skill set. Ask Juan Pablo; he's been there awhile now and has of yet to win on an oval and actually had an almost washed up Jeremy MayField come on the team this year and win races with the same equipment.... lol
Apparently the Lotus part of Lotus Renault are already planning for the end of their Renault engine deal. Lotus target self-made engine (eurosport.yahoo.com)
Great post on some of the rule changes......... The Amazing Illustrated Guide To F1's New Technical Regulations
There are some surprises in there. I didn't even know about Ferrari's aero wheels...pretty ugly stuff IMO.
The tighter they try to make the rules, the more they either stifle invention, or increase the possiblity of creative cheating. I'd like to see a different approach to the rules - ban all wings, set the cc displacement limit and/or the fuel allowed per race, and let them have at it! Trying to legislate the minutia like this is so counterproductive - to me. They're rapidly headed for a spec series - and all supposedly in the name of cost cutting. How does it cut costs when you change the engine formula completely every 3 - 5 years? How does it cut costs when one year it's OK to have an F duct and the next it isn't? They need to set the rules loosely enough to allow innovation - like the 6 wheel Tyrell and the tiny front wheel UOP Shadows and so on - then let the teams figure out how to make a car that first and foremost is competetive - then let them race it. If they want to control costs, cap the spending - not the creativity! They're trying to be relevant to current street car technology, yet they mandate 13" wheels - does anything besides a lawn tractor still use 13" wheels? And 19K RPM? Do you really think pneumatic valve actuation will ever hit street cars? Yes, I know they changed the RPM limit down to 12K, but still....ultra high RPM's like this are not conducive to great fuel economy. If they want to get relevant, then let the teams design around a fuel usage requirement.
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has taken another swipe at small teams, saying he would rather have three cars per team than see the rookies struggle at the back of the grid. Di Montezemolo has been vocal in his support for three cars for top teams in recent years, but F1's powers that be are not very keen on the idea. "The small teams? Honestly, I feel it would be better to have the opportunity of running a third car rather than seeing cars that would struggle even in GP2," said di Montezemolo. "It's an idea we will put forward again strongly for the future," he said. Di Montezemolo also called on the rule makers to relax the rules that ban in-season testing. "Then we must unblock this absurd limitation on testing," he said. "Formula 1 is the only sport in which there is no chance to train. It is like asking Real Madrid, Milan or Inter to play with smooth-soled boots in the rain or not to warm-up before a Champions League game."
And here are some of the rules changes that were NOT adopted.......... The Rejected 2011 F1 Rule Changes
This looks like something outside the rules changes we've seen published so far...I think... ‘Major changes’ set for 2013 Formula 1 cars (gpupdate.net)
In other words, scrap everything we've been doing and start over - there, THAT'LL save some money.......riiiiigghhhhttttt....
I wonder where the impetus came from for this. My first guess was it's a FOTA idea rather than a request from the FIA, but I can't imagine all the teams agreeing to this without significant pressure from the FIA.
Unfortunately it might just be the case of "the haves" making dang sure that "the have nots " remain that way.... ....and you can be sure that Bernie will "have more" in the process.