I have said before that F1 is a fickle beast and the case of Scott Speed shows just how true this is. Only a week has passed since his tiff with Toro Rosso bosses and subsequent departure were making headlines yet now it is as though he had never been.
Scott Speed in Bahrain
The last I heard was Scott's manager, Glen Hinshaw, assuring us that an announcement regarding the team and driver ongoing relationship would be made after the Hungarian GP. Did you hear anything about Speed after the race? I certainly didn't, although STR were chortling over the signing of Vettel for 2008 and the expected addition of Bourdais to the team at some time in the future.
Scott's team mate, Tonio Liuzzi, had a few words to say about his own dubious future but gave no indication as to whether he knew what was happening with Speed. He did, however, hint that Scott's version of events was true and that the team had already decided to replace their contracted drivers before the beginning of the season. Am I the only one to have noticed that this makes Franz Tost's pre-race assertion that Speed was replaced because of a lack of performance a blatant lie?
Those who have bothered to study Scott's record this season knew that anyway and SpeedTV's comparison of Liuzzi's stats with Scott's showed that he has outperformed his team mate too.
But it is water under the bridge now and we can do little more than watch as the STR saga unfolds. I have no doubt that I will be able to say "I told you so" when Vettel fails to do any more with the STR than did Speed but my greater concern is what happens to Scott now. It would be nice to know whether Red Bull have managed to find him something or he is investigating other possibilities.
I have done my utmost to find some hint of what is going on but there is just one enormous silence out there. It may be that this indicates some quiet negotiations, too delicate to release to the media, are taking place but I really don't know. Presumably we will be told in due course in some unobtrusive article somewhere.
But I can guarantee you this: as soon as I hear something on the matter, I will be writing about it. F1 may suffer from collective amnesia but I do not.
Scott Speed in Bahrain
The last I heard was Scott's manager, Glen Hinshaw, assuring us that an announcement regarding the team and driver ongoing relationship would be made after the Hungarian GP. Did you hear anything about Speed after the race? I certainly didn't, although STR were chortling over the signing of Vettel for 2008 and the expected addition of Bourdais to the team at some time in the future.
Scott's team mate, Tonio Liuzzi, had a few words to say about his own dubious future but gave no indication as to whether he knew what was happening with Speed. He did, however, hint that Scott's version of events was true and that the team had already decided to replace their contracted drivers before the beginning of the season. Am I the only one to have noticed that this makes Franz Tost's pre-race assertion that Speed was replaced because of a lack of performance a blatant lie?
Those who have bothered to study Scott's record this season knew that anyway and SpeedTV's comparison of Liuzzi's stats with Scott's showed that he has outperformed his team mate too.
But it is water under the bridge now and we can do little more than watch as the STR saga unfolds. I have no doubt that I will be able to say "I told you so" when Vettel fails to do any more with the STR than did Speed but my greater concern is what happens to Scott now. It would be nice to know whether Red Bull have managed to find him something or he is investigating other possibilities.
I have done my utmost to find some hint of what is going on but there is just one enormous silence out there. It may be that this indicates some quiet negotiations, too delicate to release to the media, are taking place but I really don't know. Presumably we will be told in due course in some unobtrusive article somewhere.
But I can guarantee you this: as soon as I hear something on the matter, I will be writing about it. F1 may suffer from collective amnesia but I do not.