Possibilities for some late-season driver changes?

It is quite common for teams to make some driver changes towards the end of a season. Sometimes they may part company early with a driver who was set to leave at the end of the year. Or it may be time to give a new driver a try-out with a view to making them a full-time driver for the following season.

I've had some ideas of some moves that could well happen later this year.

Karthikeyan's Tata sponsorship should see him back in the driving seat at
Hispania for the Indian Grand Prix. Photo: Morio

Daniel Ricciardo makes his racing debut this weekend in place of Narain Karthikeyan, but the Indian is still listed as an 'official driver' of the team. With his long-term sponsors Tata having got him into the seat into the first place, the chances are they will want him racing at his home race on 30 October.

Could Ricciardo race a Toro Rosso this year? Photo: Morio

With Ricciardo out of his seat for that race, Red Bull could well take the opportunity to place him at Toro Rosso for a one-off race, to compare him to their existing drivers. Though they didn't want to drop either Sebastien Buemi or Jaime Alguersuari permanantly to allow Ricciardo to race there, I'm sure they could do it for just the one race.

While we're on the subject of the Indian Grand Prix, there's a lot of talk that Karun Chandhok, another Indian, could also get a chance for his home race. He's a reserve driver at Lotus, whose Malaysian team boss Tony Fernandes could be keen to give an Asian driver a ride.

Chandhok enjoyed his Goodwood outing with Lotus,
but would no doubt enjoy racing at home even more. Photo: Supermac

What's more, it seems that the team's current race driver Jarno Trulli could retire at the end of the year, and even if he doesn't it's not certain that Lotus will retain him, as he's been constantly beaten by Heikki Kovalainen.

So my idea is to let Trulli go with three races remaining. Chandhok would then race in India, and perhaps in the final two rounds at Brazil and Abu Dhabi. However, these final two races could also be an opportunity for another of the drivers on the team's roster - Davide Valsecchi. The Italian is currently in contention for the GP2 title with the sister AirAsia squad, and this would provide a good opportunity for even stronger links between the two. Valsecchi tested for Hispania at the end of last year, impressing, and also has personal sponsorship, so could be a strong option for the team for 2012.

Dropping Trulli would give an opportunity to his compatriot Valsecchi. Photo: Morio

Valsecchi is fighting for the GP2 title against Romain Grosjean, amongst others. Remember him? He replaced Nelson Piquet at Renault in 2009 but was cast away at the end of the season. While many were disappointed by his performance, a few others (including myself) felt that he hadn't been given enough of a chance.

With Renault team boss Eric Boullier wanting a French driver in his team he signed Grosjean to his Gravity management firm as well as to Renault's reserve lineup. Boullier is also believed to be a little disappointed at Nick Heidfeld as Robert Kubica's replacement. (You can probably tell where I'm going with this...) If Grosjean wins his GP2 title, he could replace Heidfeld from Singapore onwards, when the GP2 season has finished.

Could Grosjean get another chance at Renault? Photo: Morio

However, a further little complication is caused by Bruno Senna. He was also signed as a reserve at Renault at the beginning of the year, and Boullier told that Senna was 'first in line' of the team's large roster of test drivers, due to his recent experience in F1. However, when Kubica was injured Senna was ignored in favour of Heidfeld, despite likely pressures from the marketing folks at Group Lotus, keen to reignite the Senna-Lotus-Renault combination. For this reason, if Heidfeld is going to be dropped, Senna has to be given his chance to shine at Interlagos, with Grosjean then taking over for Abu Dhabi if not before.

Senna. Lotus. Renault. Black. Gold. Interlagos. Marketing man's dream. Photo: Morio