Alguersuari confirmed at Toro Rosso

[Dave B]

As per the following:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81027

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/toro-rosso-goes-for-alguersuari/

[maximilian]

Too bad :D I guess that finally leaves Fisichella without a race seat next year, and Heidfeld's last chance is pretty much with Renault...

[Robinho]

personally i think thats great news - say what you like about the guy, its not his fault he's been given an opportunity arguably too early, and i think he deserves a chance to prove he belongs. if he's a bust after this year then maybe he moves on, but half a season straight out of F3 is not enough to assess the young lad

[Sonic]

Well it would've been fairly pointless to push SeaBass out to give the wippersnapper a half season to not benefit from his experience the following season.

[maximilian]

Well it would've been fairly pointless to push SeaBass out to give the wippersnapper a half season to not benefit from his experience the following season.
I still think it was pointless to drop the Frenchie mid-season, and opt for a big fat ZERO points instead. I'm thinking Bourdais could at least have scored a couple points, he may not have set anything on fire, but it's not beyond him to beat ZERO. :p

[truefan72]

I still think it was pointless to drop the Frenchie mid-season, and opt for a big fat ZERO points instead. I'm thinking Bourdais could at least have scored a couple points, he may not have set anything on fire, but it's not beyond him to beat ZERO. :p

agreed

[CNR]

W-T-F do they do this sh*t with one driver each year ?

[VkmSpouge]

I hope Jaime Alguersuari has a good season, he will continue his steep learning curve.

[christophulus]

Bit short on options really. There's no point throwing another inexperienced driver into the race seat because it's unlikely to get results. Good choice to have a bit of consistency into next year.

[maximilian]

Bit short on options really. There's no point throwing another inexperienced driver into the race seat because it's unlikely to get results. Good choice to have a bit of consistency into next year.
Well, they could have hired a driver WITH experience, for a change! :rolleyes: Or at least a real promising talent, but who's really in the RedBull pipeline these days who HAS some REAL promising talent, other than Daniel Ricciardo? :confused:

Well, they could have hired a driver WITH experience, for a change! :rolleyes: Or at least a real promising talent, but who's really in the RedBull pipeline these days who HAS some REAL promising talent, other than Daniel Ricciardo? :confused:

Toro Rosso is basically a platform for Red Bull to try out young 'talents', putting an experienced driver in there defeats that purpose.

[maximilian]

Toro Rosso is basically a platform for Red Bull to try out young 'talents', putting an experienced driver in there defeats that purpose.
Like Gerhard Berger said, they need to get some serious drivers if they wanna be successful. In the long run, no team can afford to just putz around at the end of the field and have nothing to show for the huge investment. The business model only works if you put young TALENTED drivers into these seats (thus, Ricciardo would have been a good choice, as was Buemi).

I don't really understand what factors make RedBull choose the drivers they sponsor often times - if you're gonna sponsor drivers, why not sponsor ones that are proven talents, versus apparently pulling names out of a hat...

[jens]

Be ready for seeing this Jaime-guy getting sacked mid-season and being replaced by Ricciardo. So far the practice has indicated that signing with STR late hasn't been a good omen. Speed signed for 2007 and Bourdais for 2009 not long before the season began, neither lasted the whole season.

[maximilian]

Be ready for seeing this Jaime-guy getting sacked mid-season and being replaced by Ricciardo. So far the practice has indicated that signing with STR late hasn't been a good omen. Speed signed for 2007 and Bourdais for 2009 not long before the season began, neither lasted the whole season.
And both arguably had more potential than Algae boy :p :

[woody2goody]

This is good news, because IMO he did very well in tricky circumstances last year, and I guess beating Buemi will be the next target.

Plus, I doubt STR will have time to sack any drivers this year, as they finally have to make their own car. They haven't made one since '05 so who knows how fast it will be. Could be points-worthy or very back of the grid.

Because of the new regs they can't even roll out last year's car if this one turns out to be s**t.

[christophulus]

Watch out for the livery of the Toro Rosso car when it launches – sources have suggested that Alguresuari may have brought some significant sponsor income to the team.

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2010/01/thoughts-on-rossi-massa-trulli-alguersuari-and-lopez/

Ah, so Alguersuari's found some sponsorship - might explain the delay in announcing him as the second driver.