Danica's coming to F1, boys & girls!
 

Oh happy day! A driver with one lifetime professional motor racing victory is going to test an F1 car (is the Honda slug technically an F1 car?) later this year. Paris Hilton will be the test engineer.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/100620...k-f1-test.html

My prediction is that her times will either not be posted, or they'll be spoken of in very vague terms. I think Honda should put both Micro Andretti and Girl Power Patrick in their F1 cars next season. Between Marco hitting everything but the safety car, and Danica throwing those foot-stomping temper tantrums whenever the Ferraris and McLarens (and BMW's and Toyotas and Williams and Renaults and Red Bulls and Force Indias and STR's) don't let her win, 2009 would be the funniest season in Formula One history.

Test her on Vallelunga in Italy, the same track as Legge did her stint. Followed by an A1-GP test with Team USA in Dubai Autodrome.

Hey, when your F1 cars stink as badly as Honda's do, you've got to do something to get some attention. May as well stick Patrick in the car. Worst she can do is destroy it on a wall somewhere, which is a fitting fate for those dumbo-eared monstrocities Honda call F1 cars.

C'mon guys - this test is all about the "optics"! Nobody expects her to do well, but anytime anyone as attractive and talented (okay, attractive) as her gets a shot at an F1 ride, of course it is going to generate a huge press. That's all it is - publicity for the sport.

Can't anyone see how this will be a disaster?
If Danica fails to meet expectations the entire test will be a joke!

I'm not sure there's much of a benefit from having Danica out there in an F1 car. Seems to me as if Honda is trying really hard for those last 2 grid spots.

Honda's desperation is amazingly pathetic.

What expectations? Unless she misses the plane or can't find the track, all she has to do is show up and putt around for a few laps. If she's painfully slow or stuffs the car, Honda will gloss over that by saying, "she greatly improved from lap X to lap Y... and she's welcome to do a followup test at any time." Then they'll take loads of pictures, buy ads in Teen Beat and Cosmopolitan, have her talk about how great the new Civic is... and that ladies & gents will be a success.

http://www.motorsportforums.com/imag...es/roflmao.gif the US drivers are now just taken another step back in trying to get into the sport.

without TC and driver aids, she won't even put a lap down

she'll spin it and blame it was the gearbox http://www.motorsportforums.com/imag...ies/tongue.gif

Like Jenson Button, Jarno Trulli, Jean Alesi,...

but what if she runs a time faster than Button!
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[quote]but what if she runs a time faster than Button!
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By Jonathan NobleTuesday, June 10th 2008, 08:38 GMT

Honda Racing have rubbished suggestions that IndyCar race winner Danica Patrick will test for them later this year.
Reports at the weekend suggested that Patrick had been lined up for a run in a Honda Racing car in either November or December.
But Honda Racing CEO Nick Fry says that there is no arrangement in place - even though the team are interested in evaluating her.
"There has been no contact between us," he told autosport.com. "But if Danica did want to test one of our cars, we would be more than happy to speak to her about it." http://www.autosport.com/news/grapevine.php/id/68180

I've nothing against women drivers, and Danica Patrick is the best around at the moment. Legge was really average in Champ Car, at least Patrick is competitive and has won a race.

However, she does not warrant an F1 test - there are drivers in Indycar that a far better who would be far better in F1 - and that just proves that this is for publicity, if it happens.

What desperation?

yes, I had read that somewhere else - she is NOT testing a Honda F1 car anytime soon, so there is no story here...

I agree with you. Dixon would be better IMo.
About Legge, she was average in CCWS and she is the same in the DTM.

Nick Fry says that there is no arrangement in place - even though the team are interested in evaluating her.
"There has been no contact between us," he told autosport.com. "But if Danica did want to test one of our cars, we would be more than happy to speak to her about it." If only to say no freaking way! But really, how much worse can they tarnish there reputation in F1 at this point?

It is quite potentially a clever marketing move by Honda(and Toyota) to continue to keep F1 in the minds of the US motorsports fanbase.

Think of what they're saying here... "If you do well in IRL for Honda or NASCAR for Toyota, you get rewarded with a test... just a test in one of our F1 cars".

Of course, it also has the potential to make F1 even more elitist ......

DTM I wouldnt call a fair yardstick. I split it into two tiers personally:

1. Those with up-to-the-minute cars
2. The rest with year old + machinery

Yeah, she is an old car and in CCWS the team wasn't good, but still she is not very impressive. This may change of course, but she is yet not close to Danica's achievements.