Trulli: Pay drivers are less committed

Scott Webber · Dec 28, 2011

What do you guys think?

it's a pretty serious thing to say when you think of it.... so is it true or not what Trulli says?

Jarno Trulli has voiced his unhappiness with the growing number of "pay drivers" on the F1 grid, saying they are "less committed".

Although the Italian still has one year remaining on his Caterham contract, rumours are doing the rounds that the team could replace him with Vitaly Petrov as the Russian will bring sponsorship money with him.

The veteran, though, is not happy that so many drivers with big bucks are getting drives and took a swipe at Renault for employing a Petrov-Bruno Senna line-up during the latter stages of 2011 instead of sticking with Nick Heidfeld.

"Some teams are small and to survive they need to count the beans and so are forced to put the seat up for rent," he told La Repubblica.

"These are economic decision. In my opinion it's not worth it.

"Just look what happened to Renault. [Robert] Kubica is a great driver who can get the best out of the car, they were considered the outsiders. Because of that they were a dark horse. When Robert was out, that was the end. Petrov was not in a position to lead the team, and Senna showed that he was not good enough

"With his experience, Nick scored almost as many points as Petrov even though he drove only half the season."
He added: "There is no rule, but it is true that those who pay are less accustomed to suffering. They are less committed.

source

William Levesque · Dec 28, 2011

lol... What he doesn't say though is that yes Petrov didn't score much points in the later half of the season, but that it was because the car was crap !

Bram Hengeveld · Dec 28, 2011

and Senna showed that he was not good enough

Lol says the man that won an amazing total of one GP victories in the 246 years he has been in Formula 1.

Chris Jenkins · Dec 28, 2011

Trulli sounds desperate!

Ross Balfour · Dec 28, 2011

Maybe he's being replaced by Petrov because he's faster... or maybe that would be a stupid thing to think...

Fredrik Arbegard · Dec 28, 2011

Everyone seems to have gotten the Eccelstone Flu these days spewing out a bunch of non-sense in the press...

Darren Bentley · Dec 29, 2011

Cough cough Trulli Train Cough cough, and anyway rich of him to say how bad Petrov and Senna were when he got his arse handed to him by Heikki on a silver platter nearly all season

Hampus Andersson · Dec 29, 2011

Darren Bentley said:
Cough cough Trulli Train Cough cough, and anyway rich of him to say how bad Petrov and Senna were when he got his arse handed to him by Heikki on a silver platter nearly all season

Trulli actually did the best job in the races. And the reason for his qualifying is down to the problems with the power steering, something that is backed up by telemetry and by the team keeping him for next year.

Most probably don´t know this but Trulli is one of the best qualifiers on the grid. He´s exceptional and showed that many times in the Toyota where he would put it in 2nd or 3rd when it had no place being that high.

Erwin Greven · Dec 29, 2011

William Levesque said:
lol... What he doesn't say though is that yes Petrov didn't score much points in the later half of the season, but that it was because the car was crap !

Sorry, but this does not make sense. Nick also drove that particular car.

William Levesque · Dec 29, 2011

Wow... Nick got sack just as the car really became awful, about halfway+ through...

Danny Asbury · Dec 29, 2011

Erwin Greven said:
Sorry, but this does not make sense. Nick also drove that particular car.

He's talking about Renault not being able (willing) to improve their technology and upgrade. In essence, Nick had a different car for the first half of the season because Renault were way more competitive then. Though I think it's obvious Heidfeld is better than Senna, but there is a point to be made about the cars losing their ability to keep up.

David Jundt · Dec 30, 2011

William Levesque said:
Wow... Nick got sack just as the car really became awful, about halfway+ through...

Well, both were able to squeeze out a 3rd place, but as the season went on, Nick had the upper hand in the races(Note: Not qualies) and had 2 points more for quite some time. Petrov was able to score again later on, but Nick might have scored just as much in his shoes...

Trulli really sounds desperate. Maybe the pressure on his seat has gotten to him. Feeling that some pay-driver could steal his seat made a screw loose and Jarno has to make that statement. Although true to some extend, it only makes him look dumb as he says it when he's under pressure of losing his seat.

Hampus Andersson · Dec 30, 2011

His seat is not under any pressure just so you know. He has a contract for next year.
A contract that was signed before he made those comments.

Chris Jenkins · Dec 31, 2011

He's got a contract to remain with the team in 2012. That doesn't guarantee him one of the two racing seats though.

Hampus Andersson · Dec 31, 2011

There´s no garantuee the sun will go up tomorrow either but we are pretty sure it will continue for a few million years.

Having a contract is as good as it gets to having a seat locked down. Thus he sits safe seeing as they probably don´t have the money to do what Ferrari did.

David Jundt · Dec 31, 2011

Hampus Andersson said:
His seat is not under any pressure just so you know. He has a contract for next year.
A contract that was signed before he made those comments.

Other drivers could have said that aswell. And were sacked. So what? Trulli's past his time.

Hampus Andersson · Dec 31, 2011

I think he´s still a very valuable source for such a new team.

David Jundt · Jan 1, 2012

I think Kovalainen covers that base very well. In tims like these, I'd give it to a younger driver(Buemi and Algy could try it).

Hampus Andersson · Jan 1, 2012

I guess they kept him for fun..

David Jundt · Jan 1, 2012

I don't think they'd have to pay as much as Ferrari if they wanted to sack Massa.

Apart from that: Trulli wasn't happy with the car before they had a new power steering. After it, he still wasn't as fast as Kovalainen. He was sometimes way off his teammate in the race. Now he fires at pay-drivers because he might think that one of them is going to steal his seat, not very wise. A bit Petrovesque.

Question: Why would you keep him?