Romain Grosjean Becomes 200th Different Driver On The Podium

Romain Grosjean made Formula 1 history in Bahrain, becoming the 200th different driver to step onto the podium since the sports inaugural season in 1950. With Grosjean joining his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel on the podium, it was all change once again on the top step of the F1 rostrum.

For Grosjean, it was his first step on an F1 podium in only his 11th start. The Frenchman began his career in 2009 with Renault, however he was replaced by Vitaly Petrov for the 2010 season. Grosjean then returned to the GP2 Series and in 2011 won both the GP2 and GP2 Asia Series’.

In 2012, Grosjean has returned to the top tier of motorsport along with his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, and the two have already shown high amounts of competitiveness in only the first four races of the season. Although Grosjean failed to complete more than seven laps in the first two races due to two DNF’s, he seems to have made up for his errors with two points finishes in China and Bahrain.

The last Frenchman to step onto the podium was 14 years ago, when Jean Alesi did so in unforgettable circumstances at the crazy 1998 Belgian Grand Prix for Sauber. The French veteran was joined by the Jordan duo of Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher, who had memorably achieved Jordan’s first F1 victory with a 1-2 finish in the rain at Spa.

Romain Grosjean has ended this drought for France and has returned the French flag to the podium once again, becoming the 21st Frenchman on the podium. He now joins the likes of Jean Alesi, Rene Arnoux, Alain Prost, Didier Pironi and Olivier Panis as French drivers’ who have reached the podium in their career. 

With Grosjean only several races into 2012, his aim now will naturally be to become the first French winner since 1996, when Olivier Panis won the Monaco Grand Prix for Ligier in a race which amazingly saw only three cars eventually cross the finish line at the end of the race, the least amount in F1 history.

Lotus showed promising pace in pre-season testing at both Jerez and Barcelona, with Raikkonen and Grosjean both setting the fastest times throughout the testing period. It now seems that Lotus are beginning to show that pace once again, when it all counts during the race on Sunday. Both Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean know how to win races, and they will undoubtedly be striving to do so in 2012.

Picture Copyright © AFP 

Brazilian IndyCar Drivers’ Predict Race Winning Year For Barrichello

Brazilian IndyCar drivers’ Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves have predicted that Rubens Barrichello can fight for race wins and even the IZOD IndyCar Championship in 2012. Barrichello was confirmed at KV Racing Technology yesterday, joining Kanaan and Viso in an all-South American driver line-up.

“If Rubens didn’t believe that he could win, he wouldn’t have come to the team,” said Barrichello’s new team-mate, and good friend Tony Kanaan. “We’ve got to be realistic about the experience that he’s going to have on the ovals, but I have to say, I don’t expect any less than for Rubens to be right on top of the game right away. With his experience and his talent, and the way the series is competitive, giving equal chassis and this year with different engines, I believe he has very good chances to be fighting for race wins and championships this year.”

Although Rubens Barrichello has never raced in the IndyCar Series before, he will not be classified as a rookie. However, the Brazilian will have the opportunity to battle for rookie of the year honors at the Indianapolis 500. Barrichello will join fellow ex-F1 drivers Justin Wilson, Sebastien Bourdais, Takuma Sato and Jean Alesi in competing in the 96th Indianapolis 500.

Previous Indy 500 winner, Helio Castroneves, also believes Rubens Barrichello has what it takes to be not only competitive, but successful in IndyCar racing: “The entire series will get a boost with Rubinho’s presence. It’s another great name added to our grid. He will be fighting for the title, and the championship will only gain from that.”

The first race of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series takes place on the streets of St. Petersburg, on March 25th. Rubens Barrichello will be hoping for a successful debut, as the IndyCar Series visits four tough street and road courses before heading to the first oval of the year, the Indianapolis 500.

Picture Copyright © AP/Andre Penner 

Jules Bianchi Looks To Play Important Role In 2012

Current Ferrari test and reserve driver, Jules Bianchi, has announced that he is looking forward to playing an important role for Ferrari in 2012, with the hope he’ll be in the running the replace Felipe Massa at the team come the end of the season. 

Jules Bianchi has also been linked to joining Force India to fill their currently vacant reserve driver role, as well as looking forward to another strong year in the GP2 Series supporting the majority of the Formula 1 races throughout 2012. Last season Bianchi won one race in GP2 at the British Grand Prix Feature Race in a season which saw him end up third in the series standings, a feat he also managed to achieve the season before that.

With Felipe Massa’s contract at Ferrari ending after this season, many drivers’ on the grid are currently striving to prove themselves to Ferrari as potential replacements, including Robert Kubica, Adrian Sutil and Sergio Perez. With such competition surrounding the second Ferrari seat for 2013, Bianchi is going to have his work cut out to be in with a chance.

With in-season testing currently at a bare minimum, Jules Bianchi’s only hope of proving himself in 2012 relies on a strong GP2 campaign, which should hopefully include more wins this season than he’s ever achieved and potentially ending the season as GP2 Champion. If this is the case at seasons end, then Bianchi could well be on the F1 grid for 2013. Whether he’ll be the first French Ferrari driver since Jean Alesi in 1995, we’ll have to wait and see.

Charles Pic Already Signed Up For Marussia?

French website, L’Equipe, have today reported that French GP2 star, Charles Pic, has signed for Marussia (Virgin Racing) for next season and will replace this seasons Belgian rookie Jerome D’Ambrosio. 

If this announcement is true, then it means Charles Pic will be the first Frenchman in F1 since Romain Grosjean raced for Renault in 2009. The last Frenchman to win a race in Formula 1 was that of Olivier Panis when he won the crazy 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, and before him Jean Alesi won the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix.

Charles Pic isn’t the only driver striving to get his place on the F1 grid next year with Marussia as World Series by Renault Champion, Robert Wickens, will be driving for the team in this weekends Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Practice Session as well as the Young Drivers’ Test.

Charles Pic has raced in GP2 for the last two years and has won three races in total, finishing fourth in this seasons standings. He has also taken part in GP2 Asia for the last two seasons, winning one race at Bahrain in 2010. Before GP2, Pic also took part in the World Series By Renault for another two seasons, winning 18 races and finishing sixth and third in respective seasons. He has never won a GP2 or World Series by Renault Championship, but he has most definitely shown he is capable of doing so, whereas Robert Wickens has shown his capabilities of winning championships by winning this years World Series by Renault Championship.

Whether Marussia will take this into account, or whether the driver with the largest checkbook will get in, or whether Charles Pic really has signed for Marussia, we’ll naturally find out soon enough.

Jean Alesi To Race In 2012 Indy 500

It has been confirmed today that French ex-Formula 1 driver, Jean Alesi, will take part in next years 96th running of the Indianapolis 500 with Group Lotus. Lotus currently partner the KV Racing Technology team in the IndyCar Series which run cars for ex-F1 driver Takuma Sato, E.J. Viso and Tony Kanaan, and feature their ever famous gold/yellow and green colors, reminiscent of the colors Jim Clark raced in when he won the 1965 Indianapolis 500 for Lotus.

Jean Alesi started his long F1 career back in 1989 for Tyrrell, and in his first ever race, the 1989 French Grand Prix finished a very impressive 4th and repeated that again 7 races later when he finished 4th yet again in the 1989 Spanish Grand Prix. In 1990 he remained with Tyrrell and started his first full season in Formula 1, and finished 2nd twice in the American and Monaco Grands Prix. In 1991 he hit the big-time and moved to Ferrari, a team he would stay with for 5 years and win his one and only race, the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix, with.

In 1996 he and team-mate Gerhard Berger did a straight swap with Michael Schumacher at Benetton and ended up with the team until 1997, and however many times he finished on the podium and in the points, failed to win another race. In 1998 he moved down to the Sauber outfit and joined Johnny Herbert as the teams No.1 driver and achieved what would be his final ever F1 podium at the crazy Belgian Grand Prix finishing 3rd behind the two Jordan’s of Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher who achieved Jordan’s first ever win. In 1999 he opted to stay with Sauber and had his worst ever season in F1 since the early 1990s when he only finished in the points twice with 6th at the San Marino Grand Prix and Japanese Grand Prix, and in 2000 joined Alain Prost’s team as the No.1 driver alongside rookie Nick Heidfeld. For the first time in his entire career, Alesi failed to score a single point in what turned out to be a highly frustrating season with the Prost team, however things looked up in 2001 when he finished in the points back to back in the Monaco and Canadian Grands Prix and also in the German Grand Prix before moving to Jordan mid-season and being replaced by Heinz-Harold Frentzen at Prost. He eventually scored his final ever points in Formula 1 by finishing 6th at the 2001 Belgian Grand Prix with Jordan before finishing his career with a scary accident with Kimi Raikkonen at the Japanese Grand Prix. Luckily both drivers were unscathed, and for Alesi, he had fittingly ended his open-wheel career with Jordan, who he had driven for in Formula 3000 when he was World Champion in 1989.

Jean Alesi has since raced in DTM between 2002-06, the Speedcar Series between 2008-09 and the Le Mans Series in 2010 and will next year add the IndyCar Series to that list of post-F1 activities. Jean Alesi has undoubtedly been one of the most consistent points scorers in his long career in F1, and will hopefully continue that consistency in the Indianapolis 500 next year against the likes of Scott Dixon, Will Power and the oval king Dario Franchitti!