Ferrari paid Hulkenberg's salary to prevent him racing with Lotus

Hulkenberg got a call from his bank...

This is the revelation, or perhaps, the allegation made by Italy's BlogF1 about the reason why Nico Hulkenberg will not race for Lotus in Austin and Interlagos.

The article goes on to  describe how, up to very recently, Hulkenberg had not been paid by Sauber  invalidating his contract with the Swiss team, a situation which allowed him to not only talk with Lotus but got to Enstone for a session in that team's simulator.

Right in the middle of that simulator session, BlogF1 continues, his bank account balance was replenished.  Where did Sauber find the money?   Ferrari supposedly came to an arrangement with Monisha Kaltenborn's team.

Why would Maranello do that?  Of all drivers available to fill Kimi's vacant seat at Lotus, Hulkenberg is without a doubt the strongest and Ferrari is in a fight with Mercedes and Lotus for the second spot in the constructor championship and the additional revenues it would bring.

True, not true, certainly a strategic move if it was.  There is much strategy in F1.

2013 Lotus F1 Team E21

Kimi Raikkonen and Romain's Grosjean's ride for the 2013 Formula 1 season.
Pictures and a very cool, almost Red Bull style press kit after the break.

A good couple of days for Romain Grosjean

Romain "Linguini"Grosjean

I once heard a WRC team boss being asked about young drivers who crashed a lot, "You can teach slow" he answered "but you cannot teach speed". Meaning, if you have someone who can go 11/10ths but makes mistakes, the possibility exists you can get through to him to dial back to 10/10ths, a 9/10th driver will...be a good enduro racer.

I don't think anyone is really surprised Lotus confirmed Romain Grosjean for 2013, no doubt he has the speed, he was robbed of a GP win in 2012 in Valencia and has been a quick qualifier. I'm sure Lotus got a great deal on him considering the "annus horribilis" he had in 2012.

The official announcement cane right after Grosjean won the Race of Champions in Bangkok this past week end, defeating Tom Kristensen in the final.

The annual event was shown on YouTube via the Drive channel.
It was....rough.   Despite incessant twitter updates from @Drive, it was not shown live so results were known nine hours before the "broadcast". When time came to watch the festivities, many people just got a big fat "please stand by" sign on YouTube.
I tried for about a half hour and just gave up. You can see segments of the race now on Drive today though I'm not sure why they chose not just stream the live commentary from the Radio Lemans crew.

Maybe next year.



Earlier in the competition, ironically it was Vettel who crashed out...

Lotus F1 500 Race Special Edition Prints

Lotus F1 produced this cool limited edition print portfolio to celebrate the teams's 500th Grand Prix. Very cool that along with world champions Senna, Schumacher, Alonso and Raikkonen they chose to include Robert Kubica.

Have a look at our flickr if you'd like these on your garage wall!