Silly season 2010

[Conceptual]

I don't tend to get involved in driver discussions, but a lot of you have kept Kimi at Ferrari, I am sure he won't be there (or in F1) next year, expect Alonso to take his place.

Craig,

Your comments carry alot of respect from the forum members here. Can you elaborate as to why you are sure Kimi won't be at Ferrari next year? I find it very interesting coming from you personally, and I would like to understand what has made you of this opinion.

Thanks!

[WhiteBlue]

He will tell you that he regards the source as reliable.

[scarbs]

He will tell you that he regards the source as reliable.

LOL, of course its reliable, I wouldn’t stick my neck and post this if I wasn’t totally sure. My source is from Kimi’s side and not the team or Alonso. So I’m afraid you’ll just have to trust me on this one.

His contract was extended last year but does have some conditions that will allow him to leave. I believe he doesn’t have the motivation to last the season, but I am told he will finish the year at Ferrari.

Notwithstanding my info, simply looking at Kimi this year its clear that he’s not at home in Ferrari or F1 any more. He’s like a different man walking around the paddock.

[RH1300S]

I tend to think that Kimi shows no sign of wanting to be in F1 right now. In fact I would suggest that his slightly horizontal attitude has contributed to Ferrari losing that edge. To my mind a team and it's drivers should be pushing each other equally hard to hit the peaks that F1 requires.

Can't see why Ferrari would want him any more.

Rather than place Alonso at Ferrari as many people seem to think - surely he would be sniffing around at Brawn & Red Bull?? Why wouldn't you want an Alonso driving for you?

It's hard to imagine that Piquet will stay in F1 next year, unless with a new team (although he won't be bringing much to the table).

Same with Heikki - which I think is a shame, I think he's a very good driver (taking a wider than F1 view), but somehow he's failed to gel in F1.

Buemi will surely get a good drive - and admittedly Red Bull makes sense, but Mark Webber is a pretty good pedaller, why would they lose him?

Sutil has done a good job - Trulli is a very good driver, but perhaps Toyota would benefit from a driver with an edge - maybe a home for Webber?

[gridwalker]

I've had a soft spot for Heikki ever since his stunning performance in the 2004 Race of Champions, however he seemed to be out of his depth when trying to develop the 2007 Renault and has never seemed to get on top of pushing an F1 car to the limit.

If he's going to be in F1 next season, I can see him being farmed out to Force India due to their technical partnership with McLaren and the experience Heikki gained whilst in the team.

[andartop]

I've had a soft spot for Heikki ever since his stunning performance in the 2004 Race of Champions, however he seemed to be out of his depth when trying to develop the 2007 Renault and has never seemed to get on top of pushing an F1 car to the limit.

If he's going to be in F1 next season, I can see him being farmed out to Force India due to their technical partnership with McLaren and the experience Heikki gained whilst in the team.

I think no matter how bad he performed thus far in his F1 career, that ROC victory is enough!!! (at least it would be for me..) I 'd like to see him in a Red Bull..

As far as Kimi's replacement is concerned, any chance of Vettel or Kubica? I think either of them (or Alonso of course) might do miracles, especially Vettel..

[gibells]

About 95% speculation Hows:

Brawn GP-Mercedes, Jenson Button, Bruno Senna

Red Bull-Mercedes, Mark Webber, Sebastian Buemi

Toyota, Timo Glock, Kazuki Nakajima

McLaren-Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg

Renault, Robert Kubica, Jarno Trulli

BMW Sauber, Nick Heidfeld, Adrian Sutil

Ferrari, Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa

Williams-Cosworth, Nico Hulkenberg, Rubens Barrichello

Alfa Romeo [-o< (STR)-Sebastian Vettel , Valentino Rossi

Force India-Mercedes, Heikki Kovalainen, Paul Di Resta

USGPE-Cosworth, , Jacque Villeneuve, Marco Andretti

Prodrive-Aston/Cosworth - Gary Paffett, Antony Davidson

[Giblet]

Sorry but why do you have the Red Bull teams all running Mercedes engines now?

A concession was made just so Brawn could use them.

Red Bull have said they are happy with the Renault engine, and the support from the team. Same with STR and Ferrari.

And Flav does not like Trulli. I doubt Flav would take back a driver he fired before the season was even complete. I doubt Jarno would give him the time of day.

[djos]

Sorry but why do you have the Red Bull teams all running Mercedes engines now?

A concession was made just so Brawn could use them.

Red Bull have said they are happy with the Renault engine, and the support from the team. Same with STR and Ferrari.

Apparently RBR have implied they will shop around for for engines for the 2010 season - this is prolly for any of 4 reasons:

1/ Renault may pull out as the company is relying on french Government loans atm like GM to survive (not quite as bad shape tho).

2/ Gives DM a nice bargaining tool when negotiating the next contract as current deal expires at the end of this year.

3/ DM may be trying to steal Mercedes backing & engines from Maclaren which would be a huge deal for both, RBR gets even more money and resources for Newey to play with and Mercedes walks away from a bad couple of years at maclaren and manages to end up looking cool and fresh in the process.

4/ Mercs KERS system is the final word in state of the art and Merc's road car division made it, not Maclaren so they'd be able to give it to whomever they wanted.

Btw, anyone who thinks DM will allow either Webbo or BoyWonder slip from his grasp for 2010 is a fool - both are super quick, super committed and the ultimate team players who dont bang egos and actually get along! Heck they even compliment each other + have a sense of humor and aren't afraid to have their personality on show for the public to see!

Every other team owner/principal on the F1 grid would give both arms to have that kind of pairing!

[djos]

Oh and if DM/CH did loose the plot and drop Webbo for 2010, you can bet your ass that Flav would bring him across to Renault (providing they show up next year) to replace Nando (who will prolly end up at Ferrari; no surprise there).

[gibells]

Sorry but why do you have the Red Bull teams all running Mercedes engines now?

A concession was made just so Brawn could use them.

Red Bull have said they are happy with the Renault engine, and the support from the team. Same with STR and Ferrari.

And Flav does not like Trulli. I doubt Flav would take back a driver he fired before the season was even complete. I doubt Jarno would give him the time of day.

Hey man chill, this is after all speculation. Got to have a laugh once in a while. There is a bit of truth in the RBR/Merc deal. Seeing as Renault will prob. pull out.

I had thought about Senna in a Williams but I didn't want to step on the toes of history with that one. Also, wouldn't you fancy a dark red Alfa Romeo running around monza with Italy's boy wonder (Vale) at the wheel? He's really not too old. Or how about Vettel in a silver arrow...

...A man's gotta dream.

[gcdugas]

I would just like to comment on how much Felipe's stock has risen. Just a short while ago everyone said he was unworthy of a seat at Ferrari, Kimi would dust him, he was just filling the seat for a year etc. Well those prophets were a bit wide of the mark, eh? Kimi never had more than raw talent. He always had zero hunger even in his best years. Felipe has applied himself and used every resource available to him. He has openly gleaned from MS whereas Kimi couldn't care less what MS has to contribute. Therein lies the difference.

[ESPImperium]

Brawn GP-Mercedes: Jenson Button & Rubens Barrichello
Red Bull-Renault: Sebastian Vettel & Sebastian Buemi
Toyota: Timo Glock & Kamui Kobayashi
McLaren-Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton & Adrian Sutil
Renault: Mark Webber & Robert Kubica
BMW Sauber: Nico Rosberg & Nick Heidfeld
Ferarri: Felipe Massa & Fernando Alonso
Williams-Cosworth: Sebastian Bourdais & Nico Hulkenberg
STR-Ferarri: Nelshino Piquet & Jarno Trulli
Force India-Mercedes: Paul Di Resta & Vince-Antonio Lizuzzi
USGPE-Cosworth: Danica Patrick & Marco Andretti
iSport-Cosworth: Bruno Senna & Roman Grosjean
LOLA-Cosworth: Lucas Di Grasi & Roldán Rodríguez
Prodrive-Cosworth - Could be corprately renamed Aston Martin: Gary Paffett & Antony Davidson

[gcdugas]

All bets are off if the FOTA teams break away...

Brawn GP-Mercedes: Jenson Button & Lucas Di Grasi
Red Bull-Renault: Sebastian Vettel & Mark Webber
Toyota: Timo Glock & Jarno Trulli
McLaren-Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg
Renault: Bruno Senna (only for PR purposes) & Roman Grosjean (defacto #1 driver)
BMW Sauber: Robert Kubica & Nick Heidfeld
Ferarri: Felipe Massa & Fernando Alonso
Williams-Toyota: Kaz Nakajima & Nico Hulkenberg
STR-Ferarri: Sebastian Buemi & Georgio Pantano (Bourdais out by Monza '09)
Force India-Mercedes: Adrian Sutil & Tonio Lizuzzi
USGPE-Cosworth: ??? & Marco Andretti
iSport-Cosworth: Will they enter... ??? & ???
LOLA-Cosworth: anonymous 2009 GP2 runner & ???
Prodrive-Cosworth: - No 2010 entry
Lightspeed-Cosworth: anonymous 2009 GP2 runner & ???

Retiring... Rubens, Fisi and maybe Nick. Out of F1... Bourdais

[Ted68]

Not going to get into the rest, but USGPE would be better off with Marco Andretti and Scott Speed. Bourdais was a 4-time champ here in essentially the same series Patrick is struggling in. And look how well he has done in F1. Speed is the only American with F1 experience. And being kicked from F1 to the feeder series for NASCAR has matured him quite a bit.