Full Throttle

Just who is that man?

It’s in the eyes. Do ya see it?

If not, there is another ever so slight, and I do mean slight, clue to the drivers identity contained in the image.

But let’s leave those eyes staring at ya for a minute and tread deep into speculative waters.

David Richards, a former BAR and Benetton F1 team boss, is set to become the team owner for the 12^th F1 team in 2008 flying the banner of Prodrive.

By way of background; Prodrive is planning to take advantage of controversial rule changes for 2008 which will allow Formula One teams to race cars they have not built themselves, rather than having to own the intellectual property as currently required.

There has been a lot of speculation who Richards will turn to as his vendor of choice to supply Prodrive F1 but he has said it made “little sense buying an engine from one team and a chassis from another.”

Prodrive’s history includes fielding rally cars for Porsche, MG and BMW. The team has also run in various touring car series’ with Alfa Romeo, Honda and Ford and a privately-developed Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello, which competed in the FIA GT series and in American Le Mans Series.

There are several F1 teams on that list that could be a vendor and you can add McLaren as well, a name that has garnered the most speculation thus far.

Getting back to the image above, Richards was quoted in Bahrain as saying, “I hope to be in a position by the summer, probably the British Grand Prix, to be able to make a full announcement, on sponsors and even drivers by then as well,”

Prodrive’s history indicates a certain favoritism at pairing young drivers with those with more experience to act as a mentor/tutor.

Ford Performance Racing, Prodrives V8 Supercar entry, pairs Mark Winterbottom (5 years in V8’s) with Steve Richards (11 years in V8’s).

Their Subaru rally team is composed of veteran Petter Solberg and the much less experienced Brit Chris Atkinson. And finally, their Aston Martin sports car team follow the same pattern.

(As an aside, Prodrive went into space aboard an Atlas V rocket last month)

And that brings me back full circle to those eyes above.

But first, The Tease; The “slight” (and a bit abstract) clue is the small “br” on the helmet visor. The divers mother is named Vivian and his sister Bianca, is currently managing his affairs and sponsorship acquisition.

Give up yet, are you saying “Uncle?” (hmmm, a capital “U”,is that a clue?)

Those piercing eyes belong to Bruno Senna, nephew to the late Ayrton Senna who many consider the greatest F1 driver of all-time.

Bruno competed in the F2 undercard Sunday at Bahrain starting forth and finishing fourth in race one and eighth in race two. Luca Filippi won the pole and was perched on the top step at the end of the day but as everywhere Bruno goes he was the center of attention despite missing the podium.

Now watch as the “speculative waters” overtop my waders as I attempt to connect a few dots.

Senna’s finished fourth in a ride that carried Red Bull livery. F1 Red Bull runs with Ferrari power. Former F1 Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger (87-89, 93-95) has been advising Bruno on career choices and owns 50% of the Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 team.

During the 2005 British F3 season Senna scored 3 podium finishes in the last seven races in a car fielded by R