Bertrand Baguette

[bzcam]

I read up on Bertrand Baguette and he seems to be an interesting character. He won the 2009 Formula Renault 3.5 series. He is a 2010 F1 near miss – tested with both Renault and BMW Sauber and was sure he had the second seat with Sauber until they gave it to Pedro de la Rosa (who’s really been tearing up the track so far this season… :s ...). According to him, he was offered the third F1 seat by more than one team for 2010. So, in the immortal words of Cal Naughton, Jr., “the boy can drive.” He wound up in IndyCar with Conquest alongside Mario Romanicini and now gets to look forward to racing at Indy along with the rest of the full season schedule – good for him.

One thing I noted in his interviews was that he sees Indycar as a stepping stone to F1 and not the end of the line for his professional career. He cited Seabass as an example (gulp) of how that progression might work (even though Seabass technically never raced in the IRL). Also, it's my guess that he came with his own (sponsorship) money so someone else must think he can drive too. It would be interesting to see what he could do with better equipment than Conquest will provide him with, but as long as he races hard with what he has and doesn’t turn into the next Marty Roth I’ll be ok with it.

BZ

BTW - I don't have an opinion as to whether he's cuter than Marco or how his personality compares to Viso, and I don't want to marry him.

[Scotty G.]

1. ...now gets to look forward to racing at Indy along with the rest of the full season schedule – good for him.

2. One thing I noted in his interviews was that he sees Indycar as a stepping stone to F1 and not the end of the line for his professional career.


1. If he qualfies. And that will be a BIG challenge for him and this team this year.

2. Yippee! :rolleyes:


Its obviously very early, but this guy has shown absolutely nothing yet. On a road and street course, where he should be most comfortable. Even a Richard Antinucci, who was with a dog crap team, showed some things last year on the roads and streets.

Only reason he's here, is because of the check he brought. Period.

[bzcam]

Only reason he's here, is because of the check he brought. Period.

Hmm, more...

"Conquest Racing announced today that it will enter a second car in the IZOD IndyCar Series for Belgian driver Bertrand Baguette, beginning with the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on April 11th through the remainder of the season.

The car will carry the colors of the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium’s National Team. The RACB is the Belgian motorsports governing body."

Conquest is owned by Eric Bachelart, a Belgian. Baguette is Belgian. The car is sponsored by the Royal Auto Club of Belgium. Wonder if there is any connection between these things?

Reading more, it truly does appear as though the boy can drive - he was seriously close to having an F1 seat for this season. He just showed up late, has had little time to learn the car and got a crappy car to boot. Let's see what happens.

BZ

[Nikki Katz]

He would have been completely out of his depth in F1 this year and I'm glad that he didn't get the seat. I think he's really talented but he's too inexperienced - he's still being outperformed by his teammate in IndyCar, and he's a nobody.

Having said that, Sauber's lineup this year is pretty shocking, and if the rumours of replacing de la Rosa with Filippi are true then that'll make things a lot worse. I hope that they're bringing the team a lot of money, otherwise it was a really stupid decision to drop Heidfeld.

[Chamoo]

I hope that they're bringing the team a lot of money, otherwise it was a really stupid decision to drop Heidfeld.

$10 Million apparently.

[beachgirl]

$10 Million apparently.

Less than peanuts in F1.

[Scotty G.]

Reading more, it truly does appear as though the boy can drive - he was seriously close to having an F1 seat for this season. He just showed up late, has had little time to learn the car and got a crappy car to boot. Let's see what happens.

BZ


The last few teams in F1 are mostly filled with hacks, who are bringing serious money. So just "having a F1 seat" does not mean a driver has talent. Like Indy Car, those teams are looking for ride-buyers too.

For the top 2/3 of the grid? Yes those drivers are there for their driving ability. For those last few teams? Nope. Just $$$. And those are the type of drivers Indy Car seems to be drawing. Guys who don't have enough coin to buy their way into F1 and aren't nearly good enough to ever get hired into F1.

Sato seems to be another one, at least so far.

[Chamoo]

Sato seems to be another one, at least so far.

Sato has disappointed me so far this season, however, I'm not so sure if it is him or his team, as all three drivers have struggled until recently.

As for Bertrand, he does have a track record of success in Europe, and seeing him driving for Conquest gives him an out for bad races as his car is sub-par. Hopefully having two full time cars will help this team get a little bit more out of the cars for the upcoming races. Don't forget, this team was 1-2 at Richmond for a number of laps two years ago until both cars DNF'ed, so they can be decent on the shorter ovals, just isn't very likely.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Bertrand to me is just wasting everyone's time, and if he is a f1 prospect, then maybe the IRL is better for talent than people think. This guy shouldn't be at the back, I don't care WHAT team he is with. With his talent, there should have been some point in the two races he entered where you saw some glimmer of speed. Back of the field in qualifying..and not moving up during the races. It is a race car...and he knows how to race on a road course, so where is he not picking this up at some point?

[glauistean]

I read up on Bertrand Baguette and he seems to be an interesting character. He won the 2009 Formula Renault 3.5 series. He is a 2010 F1 near miss – tested with both Renault and BMW Sauber and was sure he had the second seat with Sauber until they gave it to Pedro de la Rosa (who’s really been tearing up the track so far this season… :s ...). According to him, he was offered the third F1 seat by more than one team for 2010. So, in the immortal words of Cal Naughton, Jr., “the boy can drive.” He wound up in IndyCar with Conquest alongside Mario Romanicini and now gets to look forward to racing at Indy along with the rest of the full season schedule – good for him.

One thing I noted in his interviews was that he sees Indycar as a stepping stone to F1 and not the end of the line for his professional career. He cited Seabass as an example (gulp) of how that progression might work (even though Seabass technically never raced in the IRL). Also, it's my guess that he came with his own (sponsorship) money so someone else must think he can drive too. It would be interesting to see what he could do with better equipment than Conquest will provide him with, but as long as he races hard with what he has and doesn’t turn into the next Marty Roth I’ll be ok with it.

BZ

BTW - I don't have an opinion as to whether he's cuter than Marco or how his personality compares to Viso, and I don't want to marry him.

Good research BZ. By the way, isn't a near miss a hit?? Just asking,lol

[bzcam]

Good research BZ. By the way, isn't a near miss a hit?? Just asking,lol

A near miss is an unplanned event that did not result in injury, illness, or damage - but had the potential to do so. Only a fortunate break in the chain of events prevented an injury, fatality or damage. Although human error is commonly an initiating event, a faulty process or system invariably permits or compounds the harm, and should be the focus of improvement.

Other familiar terms for these events is a "close call", or in the case of moving objects, "near collision" (kinda like Marco and Moraes). The often misunderstood phrase is so-called to stress that not only had things gone remotely off course towards danger, but they had actually only "barely missed" catastrophe (kinda like letting Milka run more than 10 laps at Long Beach).

For instance, commercial airliners are considered dangerously close if they are one mile apart (kind of like Danica and Marco). If they pass at a quarter mile apart or less, this is a "near miss" because they were extraordinarily near each other when they missed collision (doesn't say anything about the hissy fits afterward).

It interesting to remember that Bertrand got the 2nd Conquest car - that's kind of like getting the 2nd Roth Racing car. Makes you wonder what Conquest's duct tape budget is for the season.

BZ

[beachbum]

Good research BZ. By the way, isn't a near miss a hit?? Just asking,lolIt was "near" but it "missed", hence "near miss". A hit would be "nearly missed" but didn't.

[bzcam]

Bertrand to me is just wasting everyone's time, and if he is a f1 prospect, then maybe the IRL is better for talent than people think. This guy shouldn't be at the back, I don't care WHAT team he is with. With his talent, there should have been some point in the two races he entered where you saw some glimmer of speed. Back of the field in qualifying..and not moving up during the races. It is a race car...and he knows how to race on a road course, so where is he not picking this up at some point?

Long Beach:

"It was a difficult race starting from the back," said Baguette. "I was following Mario (Romancini) closely at the beginning of the race but I struggled a bit on the red tires and we pitted early for the Firestone black tires. The blacks helped me increase the pace but I was blocked behind (Alex) Lloyd which slowed my progress toward the front and that's when we encountered the problem with the front suspension ending our race."

Birmingham:

"This was not the qualification I expected. We are still struggling with the car and we are running out of time to develop it more. We made a lot of changes last night and the car was a bit better today, but we still need to find another second. We will continue to work hard tonight to be prepared for tomorrows race."

So, he gets here two races into the season and struggles with a car that he's unfamiliar with and that's clearly not performing well. He is highly regarded in Europe and clearly is a talented driver otherwise. I say let's give the dude a chance (unless he starts speaking French, then all bets are off..)

BZ

[Wim_Impreza]

Bertrand to me is just wasting everyone's time, and if he is a f1 prospect, then maybe the IRL is better for talent than people think. This guy shouldn't be at the back, I don't care WHAT team he is with. With his talent, there should have been some point in the two races he entered where you saw some glimmer of speed. Back of the field in qualifying..and not moving up during the races. It is a race car...and he knows how to race on a road course, so where is he not picking this up at some point?

Agree. His team isn't the best of course, but I expected already a bit more. Maybe he will improve in the next rounds.

I hope he can qualify for the Indy 500, but it will for sure not be easy.

[bzcam]

I hope he can qualify for the Indy 500, but it will for sure not be easy.

The Belgian donut lives! Not only did he qualify, but he qualified on day one with a time almost that of the revered and worshiped DP. Not bad for a french speaking rookie, eh? With some good pit strategy, a little luck and the intervention of alien spacecraft he just might win this thing! Go Bertrand!

BertrandFan (aka BZ)

[EagleEye]

The Belgian donut lives! Not only did he qualify, but he qualified on day one with a time almost that of the revered and worshiped DP. Not bad for a french speaking rookie, eh? With some good pit strategy, a little luck and the intervention of alien spacecraft he just might win this thing! Go Bertrand!

BertrandFan (aka BZ)

Todd Malloy is is engineer and will call his race. Malloy won the Indy 500 in 2002, with Paul Tracy ( ;) ) and the 2003 CART championship. He has worked with Justin Wilson (Rusport) and was at NH with Wilson, Rahal, Doorbos and Servia.

He is very talented, and I was not surprised they were able to get both cars in the race.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Bertrand proved he can pedal it fast. Good for him. I hope he proves me wrong.....

[glauistean]

I read up on Bertrand Baguette and he seems to be an interesting character. He won the 2009 Formula Renault 3.5 series. He is a 2010 F1 near miss – tested with both Renault and BMW Sauber and was sure he had the second seat with Sauber until they gave it to Pedro de la Rosa (who’s really been tearing up the track so far this season… :s ...). According to him, he was offered the third F1 seat by more than one team for 2010. So, in the immortal words of Cal Naughton, Jr., “the boy can drive.” He wound up in IndyCar with Conquest alongside Mario Romanicini and now gets to look forward to racing at Indy along with the rest of the full season schedule – good for him.

One thing I noted in his interviews was that he sees Indycar as a stepping stone to F1 and not the end of the line for his professional career. He cited Seabass as an example (gulp) of how that progression might work (even though Seabass technically never raced in the IRL). Also, it's my guess that he came with his own (sponsorship) money so someone else must think he can drive too. It would be interesting to see what he could do with better equipment than Conquest will provide him with, but as long as he races hard with what he has and doesn’t turn into the next Marty Roth I’ll be ok with it.

BZ

BTW - I don't have an opinion as to whether he's cuter than Marco or how his personality compares to Viso, and I don't want to marry him.

Isn't a near miss a hit? :)

[glauistean]

Bertrand proved he can pedal it fast. Good for him. I hope he proves me wrong.....
Do you think those sidepods and those of Mutoh will be filled by raceday?

[Mark in Oshawa]

Do you think those sidepods and those of Mutoh will be filled by raceday?

Likely. No one shows up at Indy and makes the race and still has bare side pods if they have any kind of PR people working for the team. There is always some sponsors looking for some face time on TV....just how much money will it cost? lately, betting on that being a lot is a mug's game...

I know this much, Geico is now on all the KV cars that made the race...but somehow I think Geico would be much happier if Sato or one of the other crash brothers got out of the car and let PT have a go at it...

[glauistean]

A near miss is an unplanned event that did not result in injury, illness, or damage - but had the potential to do so. Only a fortunate break in the chain of events prevented an injury, fatality or damage. Although human error is commonly an initiating event, a faulty process or system invariably permits or compounds the harm, and should be the focus of improvement.

Other familiar terms for these events is a "close call", or in the case of moving objects, "near collision" (kinda like Marco and Moraes). The often misunderstood phrase is so-called to stress that not only had things gone remotely off course towards danger, but they had actually only "barely missed" catastrophe (kinda like letting Milka run more than 10 laps at Long Beach).

For instance, commercial airliners are considered dangerously close if they are one mile apart (kind of like Danica and Marco). If they pass at a quarter mile apart or less, this is a "near miss" because they were extraordinarily near each other when they missed collision (doesn't say anything about the hissy fits afterward).

It interesting to remember that Bertrand got the 2nd Conquest car - that's kind of like getting the 2nd Roth Racing car. Makes you wonder what Conquest's duct tape budget is for the season.

BZ

That is an honorable attempt at explaining a contradiction. If one nearly misses (don't talk about injuries or anything other than the statement), then they have actually hit. " I nearly missed hitting a car today" would mean you actually hit it. "Close call" is more descriptive.

Anyway, after the race I was wondering was the sponsor on one of the Conquest cars the same one that was on Jay Howard's?

[NaBUru38]

English isn't my first tougue (I've never been to an English-speaking country either), but I can tell that "near miss" means "they missed, but were near" and "nearly miss" means "they almost miss, but they hit".

[bzcam]

English isn't my first tougue (I've never been to an English-speaking country either), but I can tell that "near miss" means "they missed, but were near" and "nearly miss" means "they almost miss, but they hit".

You speak english better than most americans I know - especially the ones from texas.

BZ

[NaBUru38]

I talk much worse than I write, because I have less time to think what to say.

[glauistean]

You don't talk when you write...you speak :)