BBC F1 - FP1 - The Toro Rosso situation
- Ted Kravitz: I'm down at Toro Rosso and I was going to tell you some technical stuff, but actually just while I think of it, the driver moves - we haven't spoken about that have we, and we all believe that they are going to boot out Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi and to put Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo in interestingly. Well that seems to be the logic, but then two things; first of all, is there anywhere else that Red Bull could place those two young guys, and it seems not with all the doors closing on the other teams so it seems they have to put them in Toro Rosso, and secondly, isn't that a bit of a shame for Alguersuari and Buemi who, you know, have had dodgy bits and bobs, and the team will know how good they are, really, and comparing them to, you know, Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo who they've had in the car, but its a bit of a shame to invest all that time and money and effort with three years it is for Buemi and two, or is it three also for Alguersuari, then boot them out into what? Some other drives, but as we say, they are all closing somewhere else.
- Crofty: I interviewed Helmut Marko, who's a man that obviously keeps his eye on all the Red Bull young development drivers in Abu Dhabi and he said that it actually is conceivable that at Toro Rosso, there will be no change for next season, and Alguersuari and Buemi, who've both done a very good job and actually they could keep both drivers there. Now obviously we've all thought that there's going to be major movement at Toro Rosso for quite some time now, but then you could also throw into the equation that if HRT become a Spanish national team, I wonder if Alguersuari could go and drive alongside Pedro De La Rosa down there to free up maybe Daniel Ricciardo to go to Toro Rosso or Jean-Eric Vergne to go to Toro Rosso. Latest rumor in the paddock this morning is that Team Lotus who have Jarno Trulli secured for next year, but possibly not on a racing contract, might be welcoming Daniel Ricciardo to that team, but then Alexander Rossi has been linked with them as well as have quite a few other drivers, so there's a lot of merry go round and musical chairs, but Helmut Marko says Toro Rosso might actually stay the same.
- Ted Kravitz: Well they might, anything is conceivable, but knowing Helmut Marko as I do, if he's telling you that, he probably means the opposite, you know. It's conceivable that they'll stay but I would suggest highly unlikely and in that case maybe Alguersuari will go to HRT, but HRT need some money from somewhere.
- Crofty: Well Red Bull have got money.
- Ted Kravitz: Yeah they could. I suppose they paid for Riccardos drive at HRT haven't they, so they could continue on that relationship, but Ricciardo to lotus, well it's possible. I think you're right about Jarno Trulli, but I don't think we should take that one as a done deal, I mean Trulli is looking decidedly dippy potentially for 2012. Well as with all these things, we need to intervene with these driver moves. Talk of fun and we'll keep everyone updated with the latest rumors.
- Crofty: And I also heard the name Dani Clos to go into the HRT pot as well, and Karun Chandok is still looking for a drive...
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