2014 Silly Season

[zako85]

I am seeing many signs in the press that Sauber is in a big financial trouble. Who could have thought? This may affect their driver decisions. They will probably need to hire someone will solid financial backing.

[Robinho]

It seems that Ricciardo to Red Bull is a done deal (despite the latest that Kimi is still in the hunt), and the Kimi to Ferrari rumours won't go away, which is beginning to make me think they may be real. That puts Massa out of the seat, and probably out of the sport.

Torro Rosso will likely have 1, possibly 2 seats to fill, depending on what they want to do with Vergne, so someone like Da Costa or Sainz may make the step up.

Replacing Kimi probably saves Grosjean, who I think has done enough to retain the seat, for me Hulkenburg would be a good fit at Lotus and would free up a seat for Sirotkin and all his Russian cash at Sauber. I would also like t see maybe Alguesari given a chance at Lotus, I think he still has something to offer.

McLaren, Force India, Mercedes stay unchanged, the guys at the back could do anything, dpending on how much money they need

[Koz]

So, apparently now Alonso is trying to get Santander to move to Lotus...

Kimi doesn't care about money, all he wants is Renault?

[airshifter]

So, apparently now Alonso is trying to get Santander to move to Lotus...

Kimi doesn't care about money, all he wants is Renault?

I hadn't heard about the Santander thing... interesting.

And to quote something I posted earlier:

Just food for thought... from Kimi's Facebook page after the race today....

#Raikkonen: Lotus Ferrari Mclaren Red Bull wants me

I'm not sure if Kimi still has options and is weighing them, or if the money/contract issues aren't working. At some point we will find out I guess.

[Parabolica]

The Santander/Alonso/Lotus speculation can be filed under "2 + 2 = 73"

[jens]

Silly season has been pretty strange recently. In fact I have got tired of it and don't take it really seriously. Alonso to Red Bull? Räikkönen to anywhere? Yeah, whatever. Will get a headache if you try to think too much about it. Just let's wait and see what happens.

Thinking logically... I don't think Alonso moves anywhere. Kimi is a bit tricky. I didn't think Ferrari would make sense for him, but he can be a mysterious driver on the grid, so who knows.

Also wondering whether di Resta or Hülkenberg could possibly get a graduation to Lotus or Ferrari team.

[jens]

It will be interesting to see how close to Vettel Daniel can be. In my opinion he is a better driver than Webber (no disrespect aimed at Mark, it is simply a big tick for Ricciardo's talent)

A very optimistic view on Ricciardo it has to be said. To be frank, in my view Ricciardo is yet to prove himself on the kind of level Webber proved. Like Ricciardo, Webber also had very impressive qualifying sessions early in his career, particularly in Jaguar. And in 2003 Webber had a very impressive season on the whole, collecting many 6th and 7th place finishes. I am yet to see Ricciardo possessing that kind of consistency.

[Parabolica]

To be frank, nothing I have seen gives the impression that Ricciardo can cut it amongst the big boys.

A couple of good qualifying sessions are not enough.

[zako85]

To be frank, nothing I have seen gives the impression that Ricciardo can cut it amongst the big boys.

A couple of good qualifying sessions are not enough.

You may be right. When a seat opens at a top team, I often think about how Ayrton Senna got into McLaren seat in 1988. He spent a year racing at Toleman and then three at Lotus, won numerous podiums (including three at Toleman) and races and only then he got a seat in McLaren. Schumacher also put out some phenomenally good performance at Benetton before moving to Ferrari.

Now, what did Ricciardo do? Raikkonen is a far more deserving of RBR's seat. One can argue that STR cars are not fast, but whatever Ricciardo did at STR still does not stand out a lot. How about at least one podium or a front row start position? To me, a more logical progression would be to see Raikkonen move to RBR, and Ricciardo to Lotus. Despite a few nice races, today's Lotus cars are about on the same level as the original Team Lotus in the mid-80s. They're a great proving ground for up and coming pilots.

[DexDexter]

You may be right. When a seat opens at a top team, I often think about how Ayrton Senna got into McLaren seat in 1988. He spent a year racing at Toleman and then three at Lotus, won numerous podiums (including three at Toleman) and races and only then he got a seat in McLaren. Schumacher also put out some phenomenally good performance at Benetton before moving to Ferrari.

Now, what did Ricciardo do? Raikkonen is a far more deserving of RBR's seat. One can argue that STR cars are not fast, but whatever Ricciardo did at STR still does not stand out a lot. How about at least one podium or a front row start position? To me, a more logical progression would be to see Raikkonen move to RBR, and Ricciardo to Lotus. Despite a few nice races, today's Lotus cars are about on the same level as the original Team Lotus in the mid-80s. They're a great proving ground for up and coming pilots.

To me it's hard to judge a driver based on his performances at STR, they (the team) seem to be the most inconsistent team out there. Usually they have a few races where they are extremely competitive and then they suddenly fall off. The drivers are never comfortable in the team because there is always the potential axe hanging over them, so to me the team is a total failure.