planetf1.com

It is very sincere that Dr. Helmut Marko that the technical aspect and perfomance morals are so important to be an F1 driver. It is all about the culture of racing in the US and abroad since Danica has a little or no interest into competing in F1.

But it seems why F1 teams have no interest not only in Danica, but also for every US driver in the IRL such as Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal, or Ryan Hunter-Reay.

And these are a few drivers who I can predict whom they should have competed in the GP2 series.

Josef Newgarden was runner-up in the British Formula Ford series in the UK, spent his 2010 season in GP3. But financial backing forced him into returning in the US to race in the Indy Lights series and in the end, he won the Series title in 2011.

JR Hildebrand won the 2009 Indy Lights title. And through a contact wound up in the young driver program testing a Force India car but only to have Paul Di Resta out-clocking him and becoming their 2010 test driver. And also in 2009, former Red Bull alum John Edwards won the Formula Atlantic series title with Jonathan Summerton as runner-up before the series ceased operations and were also overlooked.

I can understand about Danica not being in the big series. But there are those times that they have to see positive results.

And is very tough.

http://www.flagworld.com/news/2013/02/2 ... -f1-marko/

And Marko is very good for F1, not!

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F1 fan since 1989

Marko simply calls them as he sees them. Nothing wrong with that...

I agree with Marko on this one.

On the one hand, he is right about her results on the road courses when she was in IndyCar (she was much better on them in NASCAR Nationwide cars, though). On the other hand, NNS cars and F1 cars have power steering. IndyCars don't, and IMO it's one of the big reasons why she has done better on road courses since she started driving in NNS. That said, it still wouldn't be enough. The only real way into F1 is to race in Europe, which she did at first (finishing 2nd at the Formula Ford Festival, best result for an American), so when she decided to go back to the US and race in Toyota Atlantics, she kissed F1 goodbye for good then and there (regardless if she had a chance to make it to F1 or not).

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I guess one of the main problems for Danica is that F1 doesn't race on ovals, as for American drivers in general the impression i get is that American companies would rather sponsor them to race in America than abroad.

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Anyone not Sebastian isn't good for F1 in his opinion...

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Warning: The above post may contain sarcasm.

Anyone can think about Helmut Marko's personality anything, but he was very good for his own team, he is a part of the success, part of three titles in row.

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The end is near

Well said. Marko must be doing a good job in that top team. Too many F1 perceptions are based on personality like/dislike.

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http://grandprixratings.blogspot.com

So do I, at least what's quoted. What did he actually say? That her road race results are not good enough, and he wants to fill seats based on performance not quotas.

So how can anyone argue with that? It's fair and right.

The only reason she would be put in F1 is just because she's a woman. That might be good for marketing, but is it fair to the people who've worked hard enough to earn the seat by performance? What team wants a slower driver? and does anyone want a woman to show up in F1 and then prove she's not competitive with the men?

I'm absolutely sure that a woman will be very welcome in F1 -- when there's one good enough for the job.


If she were to be brought in just to increase the audience, then it would have to be with Toro Rosso - the only team where results don't matter. They can afford a slow driver just to get more sponsors and increase the TV dollars for everyone, and say they're benefiting the sport.


P.S. IMO the title of this thread is a little warped & provocative. It should read "not good enough".

What does he actually do though? "Motorsports advisor" sounds like he does bugger all but open his trap every other day.

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"I aim to misbehave"

So Kamui has a contract for Ferrari in WEC? Kinda makes this bit a tad pointless..

Honestly all of them would do a worse job than Yuji Ide in F1

We do have Talent from North American on the way though with

Alexander Rossi
Robert Wickens
and Connor Daly

He's running the RB junior team and the driver development program. He's not there for his good looks!

There's only room for one Princess Stampyfeet in the Red Bull team.

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Me Like - Button, Hamilton, Webber, Rosberg
Over rated, over paid - Räikkönen, Alonso, Vettel. Schumacher
Disappointing - Massa, Kobayashi
I may be wrong about - Alonso

what an old fart

For expressing his view? Do you know the context of his comments?

I'm sorry, but while Marko has had many bad moments with his comments, he has also some fine remarks. This one is one of them I find. If nothing else it is his opinion, whether you like it or not

Bring on the hotties in F1!!!!!!

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KIMI: Yeah,Winning feels good.But I am not the type of guy to jump up and down and rub it in everyone's face.

Oh dear.

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Warning: The above post may contain sarcasm.

Isn't that Verbal Dysdecorum Syndrome?

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Klaus Kinski: making me question my heroes since January 2013

Understand that but, if it wasn't for Vettel doing what he has done, how successful has Marko been in that job. He supposedly is spotting & giving the next Vettel a chance to race in F1 &, personnally, I think he lucked into it with Vettel because Sebastian is a one of a kind like Michael Schumacher before him. STR, which, let's face it, is Red Bulls feeder team haven't exactly shone since Sebastian left them to join Red Bull. I am especially pissed off with the way they treated Bourdais. Not only was he a multiple Indy Champ but, having seen the way he has adapted to a V8 Supercar in the last couple of years to help Jamie Whincup win the Gold Coast round of races, shows me just how talented he is & how badly he was treated at STR. Going from open wheelers to tin tops is not easy, especially for one weekend, & bigger names than Bourdais have failed to do that.

This....

Marko is entitled to his opinion, and what he said was that she is not good enough for F1. I would not argue that.

However, the thread title does not really say that. Danica would be great for F1 in the same way that she is for NASCAR and was for IRL. And perhaps with some more road racing experience, even surprise a few people. Either way, she would bring a lot of money into F1.

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Forza Ferrari
WCCs = 16
WDCs = 15

Blake, this is where you & I differ greatly. I understand why Danica has done what she has done publicity wise to help her get where she has &, quite frankly, I think that says a lot more about where motorsport in America still is in this day & age than what it does about Danica but, as a female, the only way I want to see a female driver in F1 is because she deserves to be there because she is that good & not because she's so hot looking that she brings in more money &/or more male F1 fans because they are drooling over her .

I don't know how successful he is. If they still keep him he must have done something right.

Plus, looking for the next Vettel, Hamilton, MS or Senna is not easy. They don't grow on trees exactly, how often do we come across drivers like that?

Her road racing results were quite abysmal and this against drivers not at the same level as F1 drivers, all of her outstanding results were on ovals and you could argue that one reason for turning her back on Indycars was with the series moving away from perdominately racing on ovals, NASCAR is of course predominated by ovals,

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I think there is something to be said for getting a female driver into F1 to demonstrate to young girls that this is an option for them. All male dominated areas have required that sort of thing to start the ball rolling when it comes to other women pursuing the idea. I don't believe that there will ever be as many women involved in and interested in motorsport as there are men, but I still think there is a long way to go before the percentage of women interested in and aspiring to a career in plateaus out.

However I definitely don't agree with the idea of a token woman for promotional reasons. She would have to be good enough to at least not be the worst driver on the grid. Indeed, if she was the worst driver on the grid then that would actually act contrary to encouraging women into motorsport and make it even harder for women in the future.

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Formerly kai_

I think in the interest of fairness she needs to get into a few practice sessions. Okay Tom, Dick and Harry might believe she's just 'less than average' but then so are some of the drivers getting drives at the lower end of the grid...

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Warning: The above post may contain sarcasm.

These drivers at the lower end of the grid have actually won races in GP2, Danica needed to win races or at least get podiums in Indycar road/street races to show she might even of have a chance of doing well in F1

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why?

It's been shown before that being good in one does not automatically equal being good in the other nor does being bad in one mean being bad in the other.

They may be single seaters but thats where the comparisons end. The two formulas are worlds apart. Some drivers will perform better in one style than others. Just like some F1 drivers have performed better in some rule Eras than other. It's not a one boot fits all scenario.

The only way any one will ever know will be if she gets into a [cough]Liana[/cough] F1 car and sets some times.

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

There would be nothing wrong in Danica being invited to a young drivers test, was she not invited to a test once but turned it down?

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I agree with him. Patrick simply hasn't shown much to suggest she'd be capable of fighting near the front. Let's not get drawn into the "F1 drivers are better than all American drivers" nonsense, but for a moment assume that both series are about equal. She's never shown anything in America to suggest she's anything special and I can only assume she'd do just about the same in Europe.

Danica Patrick doing poorly in F1 wouldn't just be bad for women in motorsport right now. It'd have long-lasting effects. We're only now really starting to bring females into a male-dominated sport. If she came in and went gung-ho, crashing into others and being dismally off the pace it'd damage the reputation of female racers immensely. How many more years until teams would be willing to introduce another female into the ranks? Too long, i fear.

I'd be happy for her to come in and prove me wrong, but her track record doesn't give much hope. Women will race in Formula One in the future, but Danica won't. She's 31 this year - when was the last time you saw a rookie come in and be impressive at that age?

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I also have one of these.

She was linked to a team but turned it down I believe because F1 was too political and didn't want involved.

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

Hmmmm whatever that meant?

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Everyone knows that F1 is full of politics and she didn't want involved with it all.

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

So a case is being made for someone who doesn't even want to be in F1 and even turned down a F1 test? Right

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Unfortunately without any team willing to stand up and say they had discussions with her, that story holds about as much water as Alguersuari saying he was assured of a seat in 2013.

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I also have one of these.

It does seem odd that she'd sign up to be 3rd driver then? Why put yourself in the position where you could be called up if you don't want to be part of the politics?

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Warning: The above post may contain sarcasm.

No a case is being made that we don't know if she wouldn't be good enough?


When was she third Driver?

I am thinking about before she went to Indy, she was something to do with Stewarts (management) outfit then I think. I know there was talk of a Honda test that never happened and the USF1 debacle, but who knows what happened there IIRC she's denied all knowledge of that one.

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

I agree 100% with Marko on this (theres a first time for everything), previous drivers who have been sucessful in America then came to F1 haven't been amazing (Michael Andretti/Bourdais for example) so I would hate to see how someone like her would do after being half as sucessful. Women have the ability to compete in F1 but gender shouldn't be a springboard to F1 in itself, and I dont want to see someone as full of herself as Danica filling my computer screen with drivel everytime I go on a F1 news site. And to answer the OP, I'm not suprised that Marko dosn't consider any of those drivers worthy of a seat is because they simply aren't good enough. If drivers who haven't driven any of the circuits or sat in an Indycar before (Rubens/Taku) can almost immediatley compete with them It says a lot about how talented they are. Hunter Reay is alright but he didn't have a great start to the season and jumped the restart in Baltimore and was alowed to keep the result. Rahal and Andretti have never looked above average to me and Newgarden was all over the shop last year.

Oh, here we go again...

How many races have Rubens or Taku won? This crap about drivers in other series not being talent is one of my biggest gripes with F1 forums. It appears that F1 elitism returns.... dismissing drivers in other series as somehow lesser and finding all kinds of "justfification" for their premise. Rahal, Andretti, & Newgarden have yet to truly distinguish themselves as elite in IRL too, so what is your point in bringing them into your rant?

If one were to apply your reasoning, NASCAR could claim that F1 drivers are lesser talents because they have not come to NASCAR and kicked ass. Which, if we are to apply frequent F1 forum claims that F1 drivers are the best in the world, they should be able to just waltz in and be instant champions. Are you going to go along with that? Of course not, as there are many reasons why success in one discipline does not necessarily translate to success in others.... from the cars to the driver's skill set to the driver's mental make-up. All of which can be valid... in either case.

Lastly, about you not wanting to watch Danica filling your computer screen, tough. If that were the case, then F1 would be benefitting, all F1 teams. IF she were competitive more even more so, but even if only to show a woman can drive the cars at a level of some of the lesser F1 drivers, at least she would be there.

All that said, I don't think that those who feel threatened that Patrick is going to come and steal your F1 headlines need to worry about it. She probably makes more in NASCAR than she would make in F1 and doesn't really need F1 either.

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Forza Ferrari
WCCs = 16
WDCs = 15

The OP brought up Rahal etc not me. The NASCAR argument is flawed, it is a completley different category of motorsport wheras Indycar and F1 are both single seater series and thus simmilar and even more so know there are far fewer ovals on the calendar. And the fact is most F1 drivers are the best single seater drivers in the world because they have had to progress through many competitive series such is the way motorsport in Europe works wheras in America there is Star Mazda, Indy Lights and then you have reached the top. Or in others cases the drivers racing in Indycar have raced in Europe but haven't made F1 because they are in most cases not good enough. Very few single seater drivers aspire by race in Indycar and there is a reason for that. Take the cream of the crop in Indycar who have passed through Europe, Will Power who was runner up last year came 9th in British F3 and then 7th in World Series by Renault. The fact that drivers who have conquered all before them in America in recent years have been at best Average in F1 is not suprising. As for your question, Taku has been in the running for a win twice this year and Rubens has also looked quick despite being 40+. And if Danica can earn more in NASCAR, good for her because we dont need her.