Toronto Native Gets His Turn in an F1 Car
11-04-2011 | 05:50 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Rennlist Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 1,434
Likes: 0
From: Half an hour from Mosport
Toronto Native Gets His Turn in an F1 Car
From Autosport:
Robert Wickens gets Virgin run in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix practice
By Matt Beer Friday, November 4th 2011, 18:16 GMT
Formula Renault 3.5 champion Robert Wickens will drive for Virgin Racing in Friday morning practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next weekend.
Wickens has been the team's reserve driver and is backed by its title sponsor Marussia. He narrowly beat Carlin team-mate and Toro Rosso third driver Jean-Eric Vergne to the FR3.5 title after a season-long battle, and made his debut for Virgin in an aero test at Vairano recently.
"I'm thrilled to be given the opportunity to test with the team in a race weekend context and at a track like Abu Dhabi," said Wickens. "This year just keeps getting better and better and I can't thank Marussia enough for their continued support.
"The Vairano test was a good grounding for me but the opportunity to kick things up a gear in a free practice session is obviously the next big step in my career and I hope my feedback will have a positive benefit on the team's performance there."
Jerome D'Ambrosio will stand aside for the session in favour of Wickens.
Team boss John Booth said Wickens' practice run underlined Virgin's commitment to nurturing young drivers.
"Robert has had a fantastic season in Formula Renault 3.5 and was the deserving victor of a hard-fought championship," said Booth.
"One of the founding principles of our young driver programme was that we would reward success with important seat time to aid the progression of our rising stars through the ranks.
"Abu Dhabi is a track at which Jerome has good experience as he ran there in the same Friday morning practice session a year ago and then in the young driver test the following week. The Yas Marina circuit therefore presents a better opportunity to provide this reward to Robert as there will be less impact on our engineering programme."
Wickens is also set to run for Renault in the young driver tests as his prize for claiming the FR3.5 title.
Robert Wickens gets Virgin run in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix practice
By Matt Beer Friday, November 4th 2011, 18:16 GMT
Formula Renault 3.5 champion Robert Wickens will drive for Virgin Racing in Friday morning practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next weekend.
Wickens has been the team's reserve driver and is backed by its title sponsor Marussia. He narrowly beat Carlin team-mate and Toro Rosso third driver Jean-Eric Vergne to the FR3.5 title after a season-long battle, and made his debut for Virgin in an aero test at Vairano recently.
"I'm thrilled to be given the opportunity to test with the team in a race weekend context and at a track like Abu Dhabi," said Wickens. "This year just keeps getting better and better and I can't thank Marussia enough for their continued support.
"The Vairano test was a good grounding for me but the opportunity to kick things up a gear in a free practice session is obviously the next big step in my career and I hope my feedback will have a positive benefit on the team's performance there."
Jerome D'Ambrosio will stand aside for the session in favour of Wickens.
Team boss John Booth said Wickens' practice run underlined Virgin's commitment to nurturing young drivers.
"Robert has had a fantastic season in Formula Renault 3.5 and was the deserving victor of a hard-fought championship," said Booth.
"One of the founding principles of our young driver programme was that we would reward success with important seat time to aid the progression of our rising stars through the ranks.
"Abu Dhabi is a track at which Jerome has good experience as he ran there in the same Friday morning practice session a year ago and then in the young driver test the following week. The Yas Marina circuit therefore presents a better opportunity to provide this reward to Robert as there will be less impact on our engineering programme."
Wickens is also set to run for Renault in the young driver tests as his prize for claiming the FR3.5 title.
11-08-2011 | 06:41 PM
#2
Drifting
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 3,372
Likes: 59
From: West of Mosport!
See Rob live on Friday morning!
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11
4:00A-5:30 SPEED.com
Formula 1 PRACTICE #1, Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE, L
8:00A-9:30 SPEED TV
Formula 1 PRACTICE #2, Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE, HD, L
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11
4:00A-5:30 SPEED.com
Formula 1 PRACTICE #1, Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE, L
8:00A-9:30 SPEED TV
Formula 1 PRACTICE #2, Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE, HD, L
11-13-2011 | 11:51 PM
#3
Banned
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 3,665
Likes: 0
From: 6feet under snow of CANADA
I just watched the race twice today. I was wondering if anyone had heard how Robert Wickens did in practice. Does anyone know him or have a connection to find out. It would be really great to have another canadian in the seat of F1 someday.
11-15-2011 | 10:04 PM
#5
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 2,156
Likes: 4
From: Ontario or SC
11-17-2011 | 01:33 AM
#6
Banned
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 3,665
Likes: 0
From: 6feet under snow of CANADA
Gary Paffett is one of the top drivers in DTM, he really is a fast driver and he knows what he is doing, to beat his times just blows my mind. This guy must be really fast 22 year old who really has a chance. To be one of the best in the world at anything these days is remarkable. Making a spot on any F1 team is some feat. (not saying he had clinched the spot, just stating that he is doing well and to be a candidate is something remarkable)
J. Bianchi, Max. Chilton and Sam. Bird are some of, if not the top of gp2 drivers, they are killing it latley and to be amungst those guys is really pushing it for a chance that canada could finally having a f1 driver again somday, that's amazing to say the least. There are only 26 drivers in the world driving in f1, thats some accomplishment.
Sounds good for canada and for Wikens, being able to post a 01:42.217 and now having 77 laps under his belt. incredible
J. Bianchi, Max. Chilton and Sam. Bird are some of, if not the top of gp2 drivers, they are killing it latley and to be amungst those guys is really pushing it for a chance that canada could finally having a f1 driver again somday, that's amazing to say the least. There are only 26 drivers in the world driving in f1, thats some accomplishment.
Sounds good for canada and for Wikens, being able to post a 01:42.217 and now having 77 laps under his belt. incredible
11-30-2011 | 12:54 PM
#7
Banned
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 3,665
Likes: 0
From: 6feet under snow of CANADA
Robert Wickens was the quickest driver for no less than two teams at the Abu Dhabi Young Driver test, making the most of his track time after becoming World Series by Renault Champion. The 22-year-old Canadian chats exclusively with GPUpdate.net.
Wickens hails from TorontoHow did the Young Driver test go for you?
Everything went very well, in my opinion. I had goals for myself to kind of tick off: I wanted to be in the top three with Renault, and I did that, and I also wanted to be the quickest driver on each of the teams and I did that as well. So, all in all, I think I should be proud of what I achieved.
Could you feel a clear difference between the LRGP and Virgin cars?
Every car is different, but there are definitely some subtle and smaller differences between them. To be honest it was what I expected it to be, in terms of differences in performance.
You have some incredible statistics to your name: third in Formula BMW USA in 2005 and Champion in 2006, third in the Champ Car Atlantic series in 2007, runner-up in Formula 2 in 2009 and runner-up in GP3 in 2010. How much of a difference has it made to clinch another title, in Formula Renault 3.5 this year?
I think your latest championship is always the most important one. But something I didn’t really realise until mid-season this year is that the World Series by Renault is the first championship that I have actually returned to for a second season, albeit two or three years later; it was the first time since Formula BMW that I’ve done a second full season in the same series. For all we know, maybe I could have been Champion a lot more if I’d had the opportunity to stick in the same championship for multiple years, like you see some of these drivers do. But the World Series is a very important achievement and, hopefully, I can come off the wake of that and try and get something good for next year.
You have recently been able to enjoy some added publicity, such as contributing to the BBC Radio 5 live commentary team during free practice sessions. Have you enjoyed that?
I’ve had a blast! It’s something I’ve always wanted to try and, from what I’ve heard, I’m not making a fool of myself! I have had a lot of great opportunities along the way. For sure, my career path hasn’t been ideal, but I’ve been lucky to be racing in every season so far in my car career from 2005 onwards – there are some drivers who can’t say the same. I think, if budget was never an option or if I have stayed on with Red Bull (backing, which was terminated at the end of 2009), my career path would have been different. But at the end of the day I’m still on the doorstep to Formula 1 and I think that is all that matters.
Whether backed by Red Bull or Marussia, your career has generally been very impressive thus far. So how do you now go about planning 2012?
To be brutally honest, my goal is to get a race seat in any Formula 1 team. I feel like I’m ready, I’m 22 and there are now a lot of drivers on the grid who I have actually competed against. So I see no reason why I shouldn’t be able to join them there. Some things have to come into place to make that a reality, but I’m also working on some other things to make sure that I will be doing something in 2012.
On the last day of the Young Driver test, it very much looked as though you were thrown out of the morning session because Marussia preferred to run Charles Pic. Is that how it felt to you?
I guess the brutal facts are: yes, that’s the case (laughs). I guess they had their own contracts to oblige to and, whatever the reason was, Charles ended up getting my morning, because I was meant to have the full day on Thursday. It kind of just made me work even harder with the running that I had in the afternoon. I think I only did 33 or 34 laps in the afternoon so, considering I didn’t really get out of the car that often – I think I only got out for about ten minutes, once or twice – it was a busy afternoon and I was stuck doing a lot of the Pirelli tyre testing, so we couldn’t really change the car or do that much to it. So the car wasn’t ideally to my liking, in terms of balance, but once in a situation like that all you can do is adapt and try to do the best job you can.
Charles Pic joins Marussia for the 2012 seasonCharles Pic has now been confirmed with Marussia Virgin for 2012, which forces yourself and other drivers to look around at other teams now…
I just focus on my own thing, there’s no productivity on worrying about others. If you just do a better job yourself, you stand a better job of getting something, so I’m just keeping my head down and doing everything I can to try and secure a Formula 1 seat.
The driver market is and has been saturated for a long time this year. Is it best to be in the F1 environment, such as with a reserve drive, or to continue racing in another series?
To be honest, that’s what I’m not sure about right now (laughs). It’s one of those things. I think, if you can get a Formula 1 reserve driver deal with a (race) option on 2013, that is a very good-looking option. To take a year out of racing and being a reserve driver…at the end of the day, I’ve been racing since I was seven years old in karting. I’m pretty sure that, if I have to take a year off racing a car to just driving cars and going on the simulator and stuff, I wouldn’t lose my racecraft.
But, definitely, the more seat time you can get, the better - and you don’t get more seat time than when you are racing. It is definitely a tricky one but there are some options on the table for me, so we have to evaluate some and try to see what the best deal is for 2012.
Wickens celebrated his Formula Renault 3.5 titleIf it is any consolation, most of the others who took part in the Young Driver test find themselves in a similar situation: trying to squeeze onto a tightly-packed F1 grid.
Yeah, for sure. From what I’ve heard from other people, it’s definitely not the best market to be getting into F1 right now! But I guess that, if it’s an easy fight, it’s not really a fight worth fighting for (laughs)!
The season is now over – do we have a case of train, train, train up to 2012?
Absolutely. I was pleasantly surprised that my fitness was good enough with the Young Driver test, but at the same time I’m not an idiot; I understand that the Yas Marina circuit is probably one of the easiest, as physical fitness goes. But I was pleased that my neck was not a problem anywhere because there are some fairly heavy braking zones – the back of my neck was good under braking during the whole time with Renault and also with Virgin, it was very good.
I was very encouraged by all of my hard work over the winter and this whole summer, getting ready for the opportunity of an F1 test if I won the Formula Renault 3.5 title. I think it went well but on the same token I think I know that my training is working, so I am just going to keep going in that direction and work as hard as possible.
Wickens hails from TorontoHow did the Young Driver test go for you?
Everything went very well, in my opinion. I had goals for myself to kind of tick off: I wanted to be in the top three with Renault, and I did that, and I also wanted to be the quickest driver on each of the teams and I did that as well. So, all in all, I think I should be proud of what I achieved.
Could you feel a clear difference between the LRGP and Virgin cars?
Every car is different, but there are definitely some subtle and smaller differences between them. To be honest it was what I expected it to be, in terms of differences in performance.
You have some incredible statistics to your name: third in Formula BMW USA in 2005 and Champion in 2006, third in the Champ Car Atlantic series in 2007, runner-up in Formula 2 in 2009 and runner-up in GP3 in 2010. How much of a difference has it made to clinch another title, in Formula Renault 3.5 this year?
I think your latest championship is always the most important one. But something I didn’t really realise until mid-season this year is that the World Series by Renault is the first championship that I have actually returned to for a second season, albeit two or three years later; it was the first time since Formula BMW that I’ve done a second full season in the same series. For all we know, maybe I could have been Champion a lot more if I’d had the opportunity to stick in the same championship for multiple years, like you see some of these drivers do. But the World Series is a very important achievement and, hopefully, I can come off the wake of that and try and get something good for next year.
You have recently been able to enjoy some added publicity, such as contributing to the BBC Radio 5 live commentary team during free practice sessions. Have you enjoyed that?
I’ve had a blast! It’s something I’ve always wanted to try and, from what I’ve heard, I’m not making a fool of myself! I have had a lot of great opportunities along the way. For sure, my career path hasn’t been ideal, but I’ve been lucky to be racing in every season so far in my car career from 2005 onwards – there are some drivers who can’t say the same. I think, if budget was never an option or if I have stayed on with Red Bull (backing, which was terminated at the end of 2009), my career path would have been different. But at the end of the day I’m still on the doorstep to Formula 1 and I think that is all that matters.
Whether backed by Red Bull or Marussia, your career has generally been very impressive thus far. So how do you now go about planning 2012?
To be brutally honest, my goal is to get a race seat in any Formula 1 team. I feel like I’m ready, I’m 22 and there are now a lot of drivers on the grid who I have actually competed against. So I see no reason why I shouldn’t be able to join them there. Some things have to come into place to make that a reality, but I’m also working on some other things to make sure that I will be doing something in 2012.
On the last day of the Young Driver test, it very much looked as though you were thrown out of the morning session because Marussia preferred to run Charles Pic. Is that how it felt to you?
I guess the brutal facts are: yes, that’s the case (laughs). I guess they had their own contracts to oblige to and, whatever the reason was, Charles ended up getting my morning, because I was meant to have the full day on Thursday. It kind of just made me work even harder with the running that I had in the afternoon. I think I only did 33 or 34 laps in the afternoon so, considering I didn’t really get out of the car that often – I think I only got out for about ten minutes, once or twice – it was a busy afternoon and I was stuck doing a lot of the Pirelli tyre testing, so we couldn’t really change the car or do that much to it. So the car wasn’t ideally to my liking, in terms of balance, but once in a situation like that all you can do is adapt and try to do the best job you can.
Charles Pic joins Marussia for the 2012 seasonCharles Pic has now been confirmed with Marussia Virgin for 2012, which forces yourself and other drivers to look around at other teams now…
I just focus on my own thing, there’s no productivity on worrying about others. If you just do a better job yourself, you stand a better job of getting something, so I’m just keeping my head down and doing everything I can to try and secure a Formula 1 seat.
The driver market is and has been saturated for a long time this year. Is it best to be in the F1 environment, such as with a reserve drive, or to continue racing in another series?
To be honest, that’s what I’m not sure about right now (laughs). It’s one of those things. I think, if you can get a Formula 1 reserve driver deal with a (race) option on 2013, that is a very good-looking option. To take a year out of racing and being a reserve driver…at the end of the day, I’ve been racing since I was seven years old in karting. I’m pretty sure that, if I have to take a year off racing a car to just driving cars and going on the simulator and stuff, I wouldn’t lose my racecraft.
But, definitely, the more seat time you can get, the better - and you don’t get more seat time than when you are racing. It is definitely a tricky one but there are some options on the table for me, so we have to evaluate some and try to see what the best deal is for 2012.
Wickens celebrated his Formula Renault 3.5 titleIf it is any consolation, most of the others who took part in the Young Driver test find themselves in a similar situation: trying to squeeze onto a tightly-packed F1 grid.
Yeah, for sure. From what I’ve heard from other people, it’s definitely not the best market to be getting into F1 right now! But I guess that, if it’s an easy fight, it’s not really a fight worth fighting for (laughs)!
The season is now over – do we have a case of train, train, train up to 2012?
Absolutely. I was pleasantly surprised that my fitness was good enough with the Young Driver test, but at the same time I’m not an idiot; I understand that the Yas Marina circuit is probably one of the easiest, as physical fitness goes. But I was pleased that my neck was not a problem anywhere because there are some fairly heavy braking zones – the back of my neck was good under braking during the whole time with Renault and also with Virgin, it was very good.
I was very encouraged by all of my hard work over the winter and this whole summer, getting ready for the opportunity of an F1 test if I won the Formula Renault 3.5 title. I think it went well but on the same token I think I know that my training is working, so I am just going to keep going in that direction and work as hard as possible.
Trending Topics
11-30-2011 | 02:30 PM
#8
Drifting
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 3,372
Likes: 59
From: West of Mosport!
Money talks.
This guy has never - I repeat NEVER won ANY championship in any series including karting.
http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/charles-pic/
Compare...
http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/robert-wickens/
If we had some Canadian companies step up and give him a few bucks we could have done the same as most of these other nations do for their drivers. There are so many ******* in the bottom end of F1 right now that are simply there because of cash - not skill. F1 is going under the same financial issues that the worlds markets are undergoing right now so they need the extra required cash to keep cars on the grid. It was reported in the Star that Rob was a million away from the ride but just couldn't get that final amount together.
Now he is reported to be looking towards (sigh) the IRL and racing in the crapwagon series. Any boat in a storm mode I guess - but once he goes to the IRL there is no going back to F1. Even if he were to win the Indy series they wouldn't want him in F1 unless he had the money to pay them. There is zero respect in F1 for the IRL (Indycar) - the days of CART era quality are long gone.
I'd rather see him in (hate to say this) NASCAR then the IRL. More money, more exposure and believe it or not - more respect for their series in Europe.
I'd still love to know what occurred between Rob and Red Bull ending their agreement a few years back...
This guy has never - I repeat NEVER won ANY championship in any series including karting. http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/charles-pic/
Compare...
http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/robert-wickens/
If we had some Canadian companies step up and give him a few bucks we could have done the same as most of these other nations do for their drivers. There are so many ******* in the bottom end of F1 right now that are simply there because of cash - not skill. F1 is going under the same financial issues that the worlds markets are undergoing right now so they need the extra required cash to keep cars on the grid. It was reported in the Star that Rob was a million away from the ride but just couldn't get that final amount together.
Now he is reported to be looking towards (sigh) the IRL and racing in the crapwagon series. Any boat in a storm mode I guess - but once he goes to the IRL there is no going back to F1. Even if he were to win the Indy series they wouldn't want him in F1 unless he had the money to pay them. There is zero respect in F1 for the IRL (Indycar) - the days of CART era quality are long gone.
I'd rather see him in (hate to say this) NASCAR then the IRL. More money, more exposure and believe it or not - more respect for their series in Europe.
I'd still love to know what occurred between Rob and Red Bull ending their agreement a few years back...