Teixeira to drive for Lotus in Barcelona

2011 F1 testing

Posted on

| Written by

Ricrdo Teixeira, 2009

Lotus will run Riccardo Teixeira in testing at the Circuit de Catalunya this afternoon.

Teixeira will take over from Heikki Kovalainen in the T128. He previously drove the car at the team’s filming day in Valencia.

The Angolan driver raced in Formula Two last year, finishing 16th in the championship.

2011 F1 testing

    Browse all 2011 F1 testing articles

    Image © Glenn Dunbar / GP2 Series Media Service

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    34 comments on “Teixeira to drive for Lotus in Barcelona”

    1. I dont know much about this guy, but 16th? Anything to do with national funding from Angola? Or good commercial backing?

    2. What happened with the Chandhok test? Is it still going to happen or have Lotus given up? Apparently, according to twitter, Karun is welsh, so for me theres an added incentive for him to get the drive.

      On the subject of Teixiera, he has Sonagol, who also sponsor Superleague Formula, backing his career. Thats the huge cash injection, this is obviously fueled by money and not pace, his junior career to date proves that.

      1. Ermm, Karun is Indian :)

        1. Do you think i’m stupid, I know he is, but its like a running joke that he sounds welsh. (or something)

          1. Well Obama is Irish……….

          2. No need to be rude.

        2. Welsh and native Indian is a slightly obscure combination…

          But in the modern day it’s nothing unusual I guess.

          1. D’oh!!!!!!! I thought you were serious =(

      2. Karun had a run in an F3 car in the mean while, apparently to get himself into shape for the F1 test.

        1. In Pembrey!!! (thats in Wales in case you didnt know)

    3. I find it a little strange. Teixeria isn’t really naybody; except for a crash in Marrakesh during a Formula 2 race, I couldn’t name a thing he’s done. And then there’s Team Lotus asking for $60 million from Proton for the rights to the Lotus name. They might have stood to lose payouts from FOM, byt only in the ballpark of $35 million. They claim they’ve lost sponsors who were only there because of the Lotus name, but they’ve actually gained AirAisa and EQ8. The Tune Group might have gone, but that was a holding company owned by Tony Fernandes, and LR8 was a product developed by the team itself.

      1. AirAsia is another Fernandes company so I don’t see much in the way of additional sponsorship revenue there.

        1. Actually, it’s Fernandes’ way of keeping the team afloat. His companies represent the major sponsors for the team, and the money to fund it has to come from somewhere.

          1. And the EQ8 is just another Fernandez startup engery drink (the one announced as LR8 last year) not even on the market yet.

            The 60 million are rapported only by GL. Fernandez states it was less. Still it should cover FOM money and money payed for the Team Lotus rights at a minimum. Not to say any possible cost made to re-brand the team and promotion materials.

    4. What’s the point?

      1. It appeases potential sponsors for one. Teixeria comes with backing from Sonangol, one of Africa’s biggest oil producers. Team Lotus don’t have a technical partnership with an oil company as yet. After all, Ferrari have an arrangement with Royal Dutch Shell, McLaren work with Mobil, Mercedes are sponsored by Petronas, Williams has an alliance with PDVSA and both Lotus Renault and Red Bull work in conjunction with Total. But as is stands Team Lotus don’t currently have a partnership with any oil companies. They use Total, largely because Total developed fuel specifically for the Renault RS27 engine. But they don’t carry the red Total decals the way Red Bull and Lotus Renault do. Sonangol might be from Angola, one of the least-developed countries in southern Africa, but they do have prominent branding on both Teixeria’s Formula 2 car last year and they sponsor the Superleague Football (also known as Stupid Football Thing) series. I’d say Team Lotus is courting a new sponsor in Teixeria, trying to land a technical partnership with an up-and-coming petrochemical consortium.

        1. That would be a pretty good reason to run him.
          Still sounds like a better prospect than HRT announcing this guy Giorgio Mondini, who was last seen hanging around at Midland when Narain last raced!.

    5. It’s apparent F1 is a money carousel nowdays. The team who invest the most amount of money wins… And as expensive as F1 has gotten now, teams are searching for one experienced driver to drive well, and then one driver who can bring in some serious funding (eg Teixeria).

      The grid consists of ½ experienced drivers, and the other ½ of them might not even be good drivers, but at least they come with funding. :(

      No more is F1 the elite of racing. I might even go so far to say that sometimes we can find better drivers in computer simracing than F1.

      We even have a team (HRT) which only is fighting (with their bare nails) to somehow stay in F1 and not to increase their performance on track. They even skip testing to save money. There are more teammembers hunting sponsors than there are engineers working on the cars performance. :( How fun is that for a show?

      It will be interesting to follow how FIA will solve this algebra. Almost more interesting than to follow the F1 races as they look now.

      Bernie was right when he once called F1 a circus. You laugh at it – but you hardly get excited about it. Maybe the true racing is nowdays found elsewhere. Or maybe I’m just confused? :o

      1. And as expensive as F1 has gotten now, teams are searching for one experienced driver to drive well, and then one driver who can bring in some serious funding (eg Teixeria).

        You do realise Teixeria won’t actually be racing … right? He’s a test driver, not a racing driver. Kovalainen and Trulli will still be racing in 2011.

      2. No you are not confused, sadly it is a circus. I have said it before, where is the incentive for some young cart racer to become part of the best-of-best that should be F1?

    6. Yes of course, but looking at other teams and drivers – the tendency is still clear. And it’s sad.

      1. The tendency to train rookie drivers so they can become full-time race drivers in a few years?

        1. Just look at his career, his racing cv is barely better than mine and I’ve never raced a car in my life.

        2. Rookie drivers are trained in lower classes and Teixeria is not yet even rookie-class. It would be more fun for spectators and fans if at least Hulkenberg, Chandhok or Piquet could take that seat.

          All I mean is that F1 should involve the top of the line people no matter how much money they bring in. Money should be of second or maybe even third relevance. We want the closest racing with the best drivers.

    7. only 9.4 seconds off the pace

    8. damn, why they chose this useless driver, Kazim Vasiliauskas would be much better, faster and so on. 16th place in f2 gives a chance in f1? you have to be kidding, he was the backmaker(hopeless) even in f2.

    9. Let’s be honest, Teixeria stank up GP2 when he raced in that, and when he was in F2 he was soundly beaten by a bunch of 12-year-olds every time he took to the track. He can keep a car on the road, for the most part, but that’s as far as it goes.

      He is, however, a money tree waiting to be shaken. No team will ever let him actually RACE an F1 car, but where’s the harm in letting him play around for a bit if his backers are willing to pay for it?

      If Team Lotus figure that a pot of cash and the strategic importance of being tight with Sonangal outweigh giving one of their race drivers some testing time then that’s up to them.

      And some testing evolutions can be done without the car being at full speed anyway, making him ideal. :)

      1. If you watched his airbourne F2 crash in Morocco you wouldnt be saying he can keep a car on the road. That crash was pretty horrific.

        1. I saw it and remember it well. Even with it taken into account, he’s not one of the most crash-prone drivers out there.

          Probably because he goes too slow to be anywhere near the trouble most of the time.

    10. HRT have now continued the trend of random people in an F1 car. Giorgio Mondini is to test for them, apparently he’s an ex MF1 tester. No idea who he is though.

      1. I remember he also tested for Minardi

        1. I mean Renault. Confused him with some other test driver…

          1. It makes the signing of karthikeyan seem completely conventional.
            I guess he’s gots money, but the thing I don’t understand is why these completely mediocre drivers who have acheived nothing get the sponsorship backing, it makes no sense.

      2. This is him, did GP2 for second half of 2005, got a test at Renault for winning Formula Renault Eurocup in 2004. And he was third driver for Midland at some races in 2006, then had a drive in an Audi at LeMans, just like Narain.
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Mondini

    Comments are closed.