SEPTEMBER 14, 2006

Glock and BMW?

Rumours from Hinwil suggest that we could be seeing a new test driver in the third BMW in the last three races of the season. Sebastian Vettel has done a very impressive job in recent events.

Rumours from Hinwil suggest that we could be seeing a new test driver in the third BMW in the last three races of the season. Sebastian Vettel has done a very impressive job in recent events. The only problem with this is that it makes little sense for BMW to continue to build up the career of the young driver as he has a contract which gives Red Bull first call on his services in 2009. The theory maybe to try to convince Vettel to tell Red Bull that he wants out of the deal.

Red Bull has drivers queued up, waiting to get into F1 cars and recently made the mistake of bringing in Mark Webber, an outsider, at the top of the ladder, which demotivates those who had hoped to climb to the top. David Coulthard will ultimately retire, creating one space in the two Red Bull teams but that will most likely not be until 2008 or 2009.

BMW, on the other hand, is a clear chance for Vettel as Nick Heidfeld has had to up his game to compete with Robert Kubica and that is not a good sign. Heidfeld should have been outperforming Jacques Villeneuve much more than he was earlier this year.

As Vettel's future is uncertain, BMW must cast around so as to have someone in the wings in the years ahead. We hear that BMW has decided that Timo Glock is the man for the job and that he will appear in the third BMW in the remaining races and the year and may be retained as a test driver next year as well. He is a more experienced and toughened individual than Vettel, having come and gone from F1 with Jordan and then having had to spend a year in Champ Car, where he made a good impression. Rather than capitalise on that and make some money in the US, Glock chose to come back to Europe and throw himself into GP2 with BCN Competicion. This was a bad idea but a switch to the iSport team brought his season to life and he finished fourth in the championship.