©Craig Styles www.thomascraigphotography.com
With the recent announcements that Luis Razia and Giedo van der Garde would be filling the remaining seats at Marussia and Caterham respectively, I got to thinking about the last remaining 2013 F1 race drive: Force India.
Winter testing is now underway, and all but one of the teams have revealed their 2013 cars. I think it's safe to say we're now in the season, not the off-season. But we've yet to hear who will be partnering Paul di Resta in the VJM06, despite months of rumours linking everyone from Adrian Sutil to Bruno Senna with the drive.
Given that this has all taken place against the backdrop of a less than ideal financial situation for Force India team owners Vijay Mallya and Subrata Roy Sahara - both of whom have been embroiled in political and legal struggles over their non-F1 businesses - I got to thinking...
Bernie Ecclestone has done the white knight bit for teams in the past, offering the odd bit of financial assistance to keep a full and healthy grid. And sometimes, that assistance has been rumoured to come with a string or two attached.
So while it's entirely possible that I've put two and two together and come up with purple, I've got a theory about what might be delaying the Force India driver announcement.
The past couple of months have seen the F1 rumour mill muttering about a possible Force India return for Colin Kolles, facilitated by Bernie. If the rumours are true, Kolles will probably want to be team principal, a role currently held by Mallya, and often performed by deputy team principal Bob Fernley. So there are a few toes being stepped on, if that is indeed what's going on.
But I'm also wondering about Narain Karthikeyan. We all know the rhetoric about having an Indian driver in an Indian team to broaden the sport's appeal in India, and Bernie certainly wants to make the Indian Grand Prix a resounding success. So might Bernie be pushing for the second seat to go to Narain?
Think about it - last year, Narain brought personal sponsorship to HRT via India's Tata Tea. Also last year, Bernie did a massive FOM telecommunications deal with Tata Communications.
From a business point of view, it would make a lot of sense for a major Indian brand like Tata - which already has ties to F1 - to be seen to promote their brand through an Indian driver racing for an Indian team. And Bernie likes it when business makes sense.
All this could be little more than the deluded ramblings of a journalist so on the ball she books her flights for the wrong month, but I might be right. Stranger things have happened...
Winter testing is now underway, and all but one of the teams have revealed their 2013 cars. I think it's safe to say we're now in the season, not the off-season. But we've yet to hear who will be partnering Paul di Resta in the VJM06, despite months of rumours linking everyone from Adrian Sutil to Bruno Senna with the drive.
Given that this has all taken place against the backdrop of a less than ideal financial situation for Force India team owners Vijay Mallya and Subrata Roy Sahara - both of whom have been embroiled in political and legal struggles over their non-F1 businesses - I got to thinking...
Bernie Ecclestone has done the white knight bit for teams in the past, offering the odd bit of financial assistance to keep a full and healthy grid. And sometimes, that assistance has been rumoured to come with a string or two attached.
So while it's entirely possible that I've put two and two together and come up with purple, I've got a theory about what might be delaying the Force India driver announcement.
The past couple of months have seen the F1 rumour mill muttering about a possible Force India return for Colin Kolles, facilitated by Bernie. If the rumours are true, Kolles will probably want to be team principal, a role currently held by Mallya, and often performed by deputy team principal Bob Fernley. So there are a few toes being stepped on, if that is indeed what's going on.
But I'm also wondering about Narain Karthikeyan. We all know the rhetoric about having an Indian driver in an Indian team to broaden the sport's appeal in India, and Bernie certainly wants to make the Indian Grand Prix a resounding success. So might Bernie be pushing for the second seat to go to Narain?
Think about it - last year, Narain brought personal sponsorship to HRT via India's Tata Tea. Also last year, Bernie did a massive FOM telecommunications deal with Tata Communications.
From a business point of view, it would make a lot of sense for a major Indian brand like Tata - which already has ties to F1 - to be seen to promote their brand through an Indian driver racing for an Indian team. And Bernie likes it when business makes sense.
All this could be little more than the deluded ramblings of a journalist so on the ball she books her flights for the wrong month, but I might be right. Stranger things have happened...
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