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Button feeling lucky 13:00

Bianchi hopeful of a Ferrari seat 08:00

Dealing with the Russians… in their time 08:00

Not one bus, not two buses but three! 08:00

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Button feeling lucky (Autosport)

Autosport reports McLaren’s Jenson Button is feeling confident about Spa saying, “Seventh doesn’t look exciting, last race we were fighting for a fifth, but I still think we’ve made a step forward, because the Mercedes looked quicker compared to the opposition,” Button said of his Hungarian Grand Prix result.

“I think we’ve done a good job, and I think we’ll really show that at Spa. It’s a different type of circuit, and a circuit that should suit what we put on the car for this race”.

Will we have two Mercedes teams chasing down the Red Bulls from Spa onwards?

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Bianchi hopeful of a Ferrari seat

When Luca di Montezemolo made comments about Felipe Massa’s future earlier this week it was inevitable that other drivers will start looking at his seat. Since Massa’s accident and his lackluster performances his seat has been under threat. The challenge Ferrari has though is that they need a willing number 2 driver… if Alonso stays.

In an interview with French newspaper Nice-Matin, Bianchi, a driver part of the Ferrari Development Programme, asked if he will be racing in the red cars next year replied, “Frankly, it’s too early to talk about it.
“We will analyse the possibilities after the season,“.

He continues, “I do not forget that with Marussia I was given the chance to make my Grand Prix debut. If I stay in this team next year, it will be in good faith — that’s all I can say.“. Loyal to Marussia?

Ferrari tends to lean towards getting experienced drivers into their cars and if Bianchi has the required experience remains to be seen as there are other drivers with more experience. And, as we’ve seen, it is sometimes easier to excel in a team where there is no pressure to perform…

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Dealing with the Russians… in their time

Three weeks ago, when Sauber announced their deal with Russian investors, TJ13 said that it seemed the announcement was made in a hurry and there were many obstacles to this deal actually going through, similar to the Lotus/Infinity Racing deal. TJ did say at the time that it was done to keep creditors away from the doors and it seemed to have worked… until now.

It now appears that there is still no formal agreement for the Russian ‘investment’ and timescales of when money will become available are not clear either. In an interview with Welt Kaltenborn said the deal is being delayed because of, “bureaucratic obstacles and complex questions of detail“.

The deal hinges on the signature of Mr Putin and as he is flying around Moscow in his private jet has important business to tend to has not been able to sign. According to German publication Bild-Zeitung Sauber and Kaltenborn are spending their summer break in Russia to “sign contracts with potential sponsors“. Money they need because Ferrari has yet to be paid for their engines and their ultimatum runs out at the end of August.

As Sauber is finding out the hard way, when you do business with the Russians you do it on their terms. Good thing Kaltenborn born said their survival was never in question despite their debts…

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Not one bus, not two buses but three!

On Monday TJ13 reported that Vitaly Petrov is working on backing to get back into Formula 1. Together with the much anticipated arrival of Sergey Sirotkin, having Petrov, who was managed by Oksana Kosachenko, on board would have given us two drivers on the grid.

It now appears there are more names linked to F1. TJ13 reported yesterday that there was partnership between Williams F1 and Russian Time GP2 team. Artem Markelov, another 18 year old Russian whose father has links to the Russian Time team, has now been linked to a possible Williams drive by Italiaracing.

With so many years of no Russian involvement in Formula 1, why are they so interested in getting a driver on the grid, especially an unproven one…

Anyway, we bump into Kosachenko again. She has reportedly started working with a new Russian hopeful, Nikolay Martsenko, who currently competes in the World Series by Renault. When asked about this by Russian newspaper Championat she played down his chances of an Formula 1 drive saying, “We are discussing Nikolay seriously, but I met with his father just recently and we have a clear conviction that he needs a third season in the Renault world series,“.

… so that is four buses Russians now.

Looking at their racing careers thus far:
Vitaly Petrov

Sergey Sirotkin

Artem Markelov

Nikolay Martsenko

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