I still didn't see any "news" there. The headline of "...dead set" is a quote taken horribly out of context. That same story quotes Danica as saying, “First I want to contend for the IndyCar championship, though, and then we'll see what opportunities arise.” The story about the "green light" says that Ross Brawn would give Danica a test. I don't think it's a newsworthy that Honda would give Danica a test when she asks for it.
After reading all the stories what you get is, Danica hasn't asked for a F1 test but, when she does, Honda will let her.
Seriously....... who wouldn't want to drive a faster car than the one they've got? I drive a chevy truck..... would I like to hop in a NASCAR Truck? You bet. If you drive in IPS you want a test in ICS. If you drive in ANYTHING you want to get in a F1 car. Hell I would love to get in a 5 year old F1 car.
Do we really need ANOTHER danica blah blah blah blah thread?
I'll never forget the hype around Franchitti's F1 test, which turned out to be an attempt by Honda to appease him as they had promised Dario a shot at F1 if he would switch to the IRL along with Team Green. It was apparent then, as it is apparent now, the IRL with their current car and schedule structure, is not a platform F1 teams are remotely interested in, especially the 100% throttle racing aspect. Just like what President Bush has done with the United States, not sure Americans truly comprehend how the IRL has eroded any respect for AOW over in Europe, and rightfully so as the IRL doesn't even hold a candle to GP2 in terms of a platform from which a driver can demonstrate their overall talent.
Granted, F1 does have their backmarker ridebuyers, and even Bernie E who has said women belong in the kitchen, probably sees big time marketing potential in having a woman in their ranks, except for the growing number of middle eastern races. China will love having a woman who has no children, probably make her a role model for the country. But I would be interested to see what type of reaction comes from the muslim populus in Malayasia, Bahrain, even Singapore and Turkey, at having a woman competing at the same level as men. Could create a legit security threat. Also, Honda has some serious issues facing them with their F1 effort, and either they take serious steps to improve, which would involve top-notch drivers, or they just use F1 as a very, very expensive marketing platform, which then improves Danica's chances to get into F1 as talent would be secondary.
Ultimately be it Dario, Marco, even TK, Danica joins the annual joke known as IRL drivers looking at F1. At least Graham is being realistic and sees GP2 as the next step if he wants a shot at F1. Not sure Danica's inflated ego would allow her to actually go such a route.
Whenever this story comes up everyone jumps on the 'RACE' word.
Nobody is saying shes going to get an F1 Race seat, the talk is that Honda could be willing to give her a 'TEST' in an F1 car just as they have done with a few other IRL drivers in the past. Kannan & Marco are the 2 most recent examples.
So far it seems that Danica has been asked if she would like to test an F1 car & she responded that she would like to do a test (As most race drivers would), then a similar question has been asked of some people within F1 & they have basically responded that they would give her a test.
Its not really a story worth several articles/post's & its just stating the obvious.
Tony Kanaan isn't F1 material either, yet Honda gave him a test drive in September 2005 as his reward for winning the 2004 IRL championship and if Danica gets her test, it'll be their reward to her for winning a race, especially at Honda's home track.
Really, who cares about if an IndyCar driver gets a 'test drive' for an F-1 team. Like Robin Miller said a week or so ago, these 'tests' are basicly a bonus from Honda. More like a reward. There isnt anything that is going to happen from these tests. So for these 'F-1' threads, they are basicly not newsworthy.
