Silly Season 2012/2013

[Red Schneider]

McLaren better think long and hard about playing hardball with Hamilton, given the state of Button's game. If they don't watch it they could easily slit their throats for the next few seasons.

[raymondu999]

Apparently Sutil are talking to Williams and Sauber, to replace Kobayashi or Senna

[scuderiafan]

Apparently Sutil are talking to Williams and Sauber, to replace Kobayashi or Senna

Other than cash, I can't see why Sauber or Williams would ditch Kobash or Senna, respectively.

[ESPImperium]

Apparently Sutil are talking to Williams and Sauber, to replace Kobayashi or Senna

Other than cash, I can't see why Sauber or Williams would ditch Kobash or Senna, respectively.

Been Talking, but Senna is in a deal that guarantees him 15 races and to get the remaining 5 he must have scored a certain number of points in percent in the teams constructor total. At present he is doing a full season. Kimui will probably stay at Sauber till such times he is surplus or isn't taken by a larger team. Sutil and Heidfeld are touting at the moment in the F1 paddock for a seat, and if i were a betting man, theres more of a probability for them taking Nairns seat at HRT.

Sutil and Heidfeld are gone from F1 these days, id forget them in F1 now, look forward to seeing them in WEC/LMP1.

[SchumiSutil]

Apparently Sutil are talking to Williams and Sauber, to replace Kobayashi or Senna

He already should been in place of one of this two.
I was sad to see Williams choose the money of Senna rather than the talent of Sutil. If he was there, I'm sure he would have already won a race in Barcelona and do more podiums (Malaysia, Valencia at least). Senna is slow, Maldonado is too much inconsistent this year. He's doing two mistakes out of 3 GPs.
And he's much better than Kobayashi, who's just outclassed by Perez. Sutil would have shined as well with Sauber. Perez is quick but still a bit young and he has done some mistakes.

[raymondu999]

I wonder why they didn't take Sutil instead of Senna actually. Doesn't Sutil come with Medion money?

[ESPImperium]

I wonder why they didn't take Sutil instead of Senna actually. Doesn't Sutil come with Medion money?

Medion were taken over by Lenovo in late 2010, Lenovo honored his contract for Force India last year, however that was his last year with Medion as Medion products are being branded Lenovo from 2013, Medion is a phantom brand thuis year, they exist, but they dont if you catch my drift. Lenovo in 2008 left Williams on bad terms as they paid Williams a €35m severence contract in order to go to McLaren in 2009. The Lenovo deal was worth €15m to Williams at the time. Sutils deal with Medion was worth €8m a season to Force India.

Sutil dosnt have the Medion money any longer, and if he did, Lenovo wouldnt go back to Williams.

The only money that Sutil has is the €1.5m from Coca Cola Germany for the advertising of Capri Sun and that is a personal deal.

Sennas €8m from Embratel and P&G (Gillette & Head & Shoulders) and the €1.5m that he brings from Santander as a personal sponsor is a better deal than Sutil. Also Williams are getting €2m from Finish companies for letting Bottas take Sennas seat for a minimum of 15 FP1 sessions this year. Williams were looking for €12m for that second seat, and with Bottas and Senna that covers the cost of it.

[Slife]

I wonder why they didn't take Sutil instead of Senna actually. Doesn't Sutil come with Medion money?

I assume that Sutil has a criminal record due to his conviction for assault, so is it safe to assume his days as a driver are over?

[mx_tifoso]

F1T- Red Bull confims Webber for 2013

[raymondu999]

I wonder if this is a strategic move for Red Bull, to cut off Mark from signing with another team for 2013, and bringing secrets across. The 2014 cars prompt just about a clean sheet rethink, and it could be that Red Bull want to keep Mark until at least the current set of regs end at the end of next year.

[tathan]

Or it could be they've looked across the paddock and thought "Who is going to be better than Webber?" and found a dearth of options.

Hamilton will probably stay where he is (ignoring all potential problems he'd bring) so what are the options? Is there anyone else available that would have won two races and be 2nd in standings at this point? STR drivers??!!!

They seem quite happy with Webber, they have two drivers scoring heavily... he might not be Alonso but he's solid, quick and reliable and doing a much better job of winning them the constructors than Button or Massa are doing for their teams.

[Mysticf1]

As much as it pains me to say being a Webber fan, he is the perfect no2 to Vettel. Redbull would be taking a risk with anyone else, its as simple as that.

[bhall]

Red Bull won't bring Webber future talks forward despite British GP victory

Webber will stay with Red Bull Racing for the 2013 Formula 1 season

Ferrari in no rush with driver decision

Massa will stay with Ferrari for the 2013 season

[Trailer23]

Well, that pretty much ends the debate of anyone replacing Webber at RBR. S. Buemi was never gonna get that seat to begin with & it appears that C. Horner has offerered Buemi the same Reserve Driver role for '13

Finally, the big question remains which of the STR Drivers will be retained if not replaced by some new Rookie(s) in '13.

[ESPImperium]

Makes sence and keeps continuity in the team.

Buemi as the RB and STR Reserve is also a good idea, however i can see him being included in some tests next year as there is rumored to be testing restrictions on the race drivers where they can only do 5 of the 12 days avalable to them pre season and only one of the Mugello days giving the reserve time in the car.

Id expect Riccardo and Vergne to stay at STR next year.

Its looking that the probable winner of WSR3.5 will test at Red Bull in Abu Dhabi and STR will have Felix Antonio De Costa and one other at STR.

Id think that Ferrari will look at keeping Massa or a replacement with Perez or Sutil, Perez wants one more year at Sauber before moving so id recon Sutil or Massa.

Id recon that Hamilton will now stay at McLaren as i doubt he will move to Mercedes as Schumacher will probably stay on for one more year at least.

Im thinking that 2013 will be pretty much a status quo of drivers now, with Bottas and maybes Razia, Valsecchi, Bird and Bianchi coming in at the middle and lower end of the grid at HRT, Williams and posibly Caterham. However thats 5 into 2 or 3 seats at tops.

This is a silly season that may not be exactly silly now. Once the main drives start to get shored up the rest of the grid usually follows.