Last week Jarno Trulli took a swipe at those drivers who didn’t take part in the GPDA, saying that they were not interested in safety concerns, and Mark Webber has criticised Hamilton in the past. Speaking to Reuters, the Toyota driver had this to say:

Every driver should be a member because we are talking about our safety. You want to contribute. Everyone should have his own opinion, we are listening to everybody and trying to follow the best for all of us, not for one of us. [...]

If you don’t want to be part of the GPDA, it just means that you don’t want to be part of the safety improvement. [...]

I don’t want to oblige anybody but everyone who is driving an F1 car should be responsible enough to understand what is happening and why GPDA was born and what it is doing.

And apparently, there are some who don’t really care and this is what is upsetting me because they are ignoring the situation. They get in the car and benefit from the work of everybody else and from the money that everybody else has put in. Jarno Trulli.

Felipe Massa’s decision to leave the group was put down to the way it was run. Massa told Italian sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, that he did agree with the work they do, just not the way everything was organised.

I agree with the good things the GPDA does and I was part of it, but I left because I didn’t always like the way it was run. Felipe Massa.

Ultimately, I feel it is up to the drivers if they want to be involved or not. Some drivers, like perhaps Raikkonen, simply couldn’t care about what the GPDA are doing. I’m not suggesting that is actually what he thinks, but given that he often says he won’t be around in the sport for too long, I get the distinct impression Kimi just wants to get on with his driving. Opposing this though are drivers like David Coulthard and Mark Webber, who fervently believe the safety aspect of the sport should be continuously improved. Both sides are right. Therefore, I think it should be up to the drivers. And it is. So perhaps Trulli should focus on his driving and the actual aspect of raising matters of safety rather than whining about other drivers?

Original article by BlogF1.

Massa Joins Raikkonen, Hamilton & Sutil By Leaving GPDA

The driver’s market is still up in the air at the moment, and even Jarno Trulli’s contract is apparently not set in stone yet as the Japanese team are awaiting Fernando Alonso’s decision. Everything, it seems, is resting on the Spaniard’s shoulders. However, it is unlikely that Alonso will drive for Toyota, not impossible, but unlikely. And after everything Timo and Toyota have been through with the CRB, the GP2 champion is also likely to be officially signed. It is thought an announcement could be made at a motorsport event in Tokyo next week where the motor manufacturing company will be present.

Timo has previously raced in Formula One, completing four races for the Jordan team in 2004. The German driver started well, finishing in seventh in his first race at Circuit Gilles Vileneuve in Canada. However, when he returned later in the year, Timo could only manage three 15th place finishes in the final trio of races. To be fair, 15th was about all the Jordan could manage at the time. Those two points earned in Canada though were important, and they probably helped Glock to remain in the back of many a team owner’s mind.

Unfortunately though, a contract wasn’t gifted to the driver in 2005 and he went to America to compete in Champ Car. Collecting 202 points and finishing 8th in the overall standings, Glock did well, but the itch to race in Europe continued and in 2006 he returned to compete in GP2. Two wins and a flurry of points set him up good for 2007 where the absence of the dominating-Hamilton meant Glock could serenely cruise to the title with iSport. Timo did suffer a few retirements (and I’m sure it wasn’t as easy as he made it out to be), but the wins in between assured him of the title.

Original article by BlogF1.

Timo Glock To Partner Jarno Trulli At Toyota?