F1 Fanatic

I was trawling the net for news of Wickens’ plans for his 2012 campaign when I came across this article by a Canadian motorsports journalist: http://thestar.blogs.com/autoracing/ (it’s about halfway down the page, or just search “Wickens”). In the article, this journalist cites rumours that Pic may be having money problems and Wickens will replace him if Pic can’t come up with the money.

It’s an absolute tragedy Wickens isn’t in F1 this year, especially as Vergne is given that Rob was on the Red Bull Driver Development Programme. From a selfish point of view, I hope this rumour proves true!

@georgedaviesf1 Yep, pretty much – the kicker for me is that Wickens has had much more successful campaigns in the junior formulae than Vergne, and Wickens just beat Vergne to the Formula Renault 3.5 Championship in the 2011 season. Part of me feels like Wickens deserves that 2nd Toro Rosso seat a lot more that Vergne does.

@the-hundredth-idiot There were similar rumours of Pic having money problems a week or two ago, and that Vitaly Petrov would replace him but Marrusia rejected the claims: https://twitter.com/#!/Marussia_F1Team/status/169030213265670146

@Pamphlet You might be in the minority, as it seems a lot of people would prefer to have someone else in the car. Personally I would rather see Wickens in there, as I feel he deserves it more, but that’s not the way it works unfortunately.

No disrespect to Pic, but I would like to see Wickens get a shot. Still I can’t help but think with this particular rumour silly season is starting a bit early…

Im with Keith on this, i seriously doubt pic’s parents have money trouble this close to the start of the year. The knew how much it would costs them back last november so they wouldnt have taken on such a financial burden if they couldnt come up trumps with the cash. Why risk getting a seat and then have the world know that you cant afford it.

Im not one for drivers paying for there seat but at a team like Marussia they need the cash espically as they lack any new major sponsors this year which is probably quite needed.

Is there actually any confirmation that wickens has been signed as a test driver yet? Doesnt make much sense when most of the seasons testing is already over.

Slight detour from topic but did anyone else hear that Marussia are the only otehr team to be running without the stepped nose this year?

Is there actually any confirmation that wickens has been signed as a test driver yet? Doesnt make much sense when most of the seasons testing is already over.

They have not confirmed a test driver as yet, but test drivers also fill a reserve role. In the event that a driver cannot race, the reserve driver will usually take his place for the Grand Prix.

Slight detour from topic but did anyone else hear that Marussia are the only otehr team to be running without the stepped nose this year?

Yes, I did. Pat Symonds said as much. Apparently, they couldn’t get it to work – most of the teams had a flat-topped nose last year, but Marussia’s was flat-bottomed; the top plane curved. So their nose profile was lower, like the McLaren, whereas the step worked best for high noses.

I think Marussia is probably the worst team to drive for, they were completely anonymous last year.

They’ve had a complete overhaul for 2012 – they’ve gotten rid of their CFD-only designs, have new staff, more money, and they’ve done a deal with McLaren to use McLaren’s wind tunnel facilities. At the very least, they should be able to leapfrog HRT.

Also, that was off topic. Personally, I think Pic deserves a chance, whether he deserves it more than Wickens? I dunno. But he has been on the general radar of up and comers for a little while now. So it’s not totally unexpected that he make it to F1. That, and in Marussia, it’s more or less a game of follow the Glock. Who will inevitably beat any rookie they put in the team.