GPL Drivers
Here they are then, "supposedly" the twenty-four finest drivers in the world. And to paraphrase the great Murray Walker, I use the word advisedly. Although the current financial pain in the industrialized world means that even the ostentatious and profligate bubble of Formula 1 is feeling the pinch, drivers participating simply for the backing they can bring is nothing new; 'twas ever thus...
Amongst the major players there are no changes with the drivers who finished 2010 in the top ten places all retaining their seats, injured Kubica aside. There are four new faces on the grid, of varying eminence; the most promising being Pastor Maldonado in the second Williams and Paul di Resta in the second Force India. In the year of the inaugural Grand Prix of India (fingers crossed the circuit gets completed) former Jordan pilot Narain Karthikeyan returns, this time with Hispania.
"Nigel Mansell - the man of the race - the man of the day - the man from the Isle of Man"
As I point out each season, the drivers shown above are unlikely to be the twenty-four who compete at the final race in November. As ever, it is further down the grid that the drivers are most at risk of being unceremoniously replaced. The drivers at Hispania especially will need to perform straight away as their team continually eye better commercial opportunties.
In my spreadsheet and other forms you'll see me refer to Drivers by three-letter contractions, hopefully the same as in the official timing screens. They are as follows:
ALO: Alonso, HAM: Hamilton, VET: Vettel
BUT: Button, ROS: Rosberg, WEB: Webber
HEI: Heidfeld, MAS: Massa, SCH: Schumacher
BAR: Barrichello, PET: Petrov, SUT: Sutil
ALG: Alguersuari, KOB: Kobayashi, MAL, Maldonado,
BUE: Buemi, DIR: di Resta, PER, Perez
GLO: Glock, KOV: Kovalainen, TRU: Trulli
DAM: d'Ambrosio, KAR: Karthikeyan, LIU: Liuzzi
Please note, should any Driver be replaced I will continue to refer to their vacated seat by the original contraction. Any changes during the season will be published below.
UPDATED - Temporary stand-ins and longer term replacements:
12/06/11 (Rd6 only) DE LA ROSA stand-in for injured PEREZ
10/07/11 (Rd9 onwards) RICCARDO replaces KARTHIKEYAN
24/07/11 (Rd10 only) CHANDHOK stand-in for TRULLI
28/08/11 (Rd12 onwards) SENNA replaces HEIDFELD
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