Former Virgin Racing Team driver Lucas di Grassi claims lack of money cost him his seat for 2011
Virgin Racing Team’s former driver Lucas di Grassi recently revealed that he lost his full season seat with the team mainly because of the fact that he did not have any major sponsors or financial support by his side.
It is believed that his replacement for the 2011 Formula 1 season Jerome d’Ambrosio, brought a major sponsor with him for the team because of which the team chose him over Lucas di Grassi. Jerome is a rookie driver and since Lucas is more experienced, it
is believed that the team should have kept Lucas for another season at least.
“I had a contract with Virgin but I needed a new sponsorship. I could not get one, and the Belgian did. Now I'm in a phase of restructuring to get back next season,” he told the media.
Team Williams chose Pastor Maldonado over Nico Hulkenberg despite the fact that Nico gave an outstanding performance in his debut season with the team in 2010. He even scored a pole position during the Brazilian Grand Prix in dry conditions and on top of
that, his fastest lap time was almost a second faster than the rest of the drivers.
Nevertheless, one has to admit that teams like Virgin Racing Team, Hispania Racing Team and Lotus need a lot of sponsors as this is just their second season in the sport and after an extremely disappointing performance in 2010, they need to make some improvements
and at least score some points this time. In order to do that, money is required.
“I have spoken with friends who are still there. Even when you're driving, it's hard to know what to think based upon the tests. But I think Red Bull are still very strong as are Ferrari. McLaren are either hiding something or will not be so good for the
start of the season,” Lucas said while talking about the upcoming season.
The 2011 Formula 1 season is going to be more entertaining and dramatic as compared to the 2010 Formula 1 season especially since the Kinetic Energy Recovery System and movable rear wings have been reintroduced in the sport.
It is believed that the team which has the most well-balanced package is going to have an advantage over its rivals but it seems that we will have to wait until March 27, 2011 to find out what each team has in store for the upcoming season.
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