With Toyota out of the picture it's becoming a buyer's market. Kimi needs McLaren more than they need him, and as such they are well placed to pick up a bargain.
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With Toyota out of the picture it's becoming a buyer's market. Kimi needs McLaren more than they need him, and as such they are well placed to pick up a bargain.
Things are different these days. We've had several young drivers break into F1 and do well, like Lewis Hamilton and Fettel, and Sutil is not that bad either. The point is, these young guys are not only good drivers, they start with small salaries. I think GP2 has done budding drivers a world of good. Now Frank has hired Hulkingberg, (or similar), and who knows, Lewis might do even better if he didn't have Kimi as a partner. I'm sure there are many others who would just love a chance at McLaren and might accept a pittance (relatively) to drive there. As some have already pointed out, Kimi's manager may just have priced Kimi out of a seat next year.
So you would rather have Sutil than Kimi in your car if you were McLaren? :crazy:
get ready for more bone-headed moves and first lap crashes then.
You never know...going to McLaren might be the making of Sutil, sometimes a driver and team/car just click. Happened to Frentzen at Jordan and I never thought he was a particualrly outstanding driver, just made the most of what he had at the time.
Maybe Lewis would :p :Quote:
Originally Posted by Storm
Then, there's always Jr :D
kim makes 50 m doing nothing or 20m from ferrari plus whaever else he gets driving for someone else is the rumor....why should he drive for less than 30m from some team???? Because he is a racer, u say???
Well, something seems to happen to drivers once they start making big dollars....they would rather get 25M like JV and run at the back of the pack, then make 10M in a winning race car
lose 30M by driving? Not if you are in it for the money
"Kimi needs McLaren more than they need him"
Not if he gets $50mm from Ferrari if he does not drive but only $20mm if he does. If he really will get $50mm not to drive, he is goig to be sitting out next year.
If I were him, I'd pocket the $50mm and go rallying. He had a nice F1 career. But I seriously doubt that Ferrari was retarded enough to pay him $50mm. It would have made far more sense to farm out Massa for a year to another team and pair kimi with Fred than to pay Kimi $50mm for nothing just so Massa could drive next to Fred next year.
If KR would be willing to substantially reduce his asking price, he's the clear choice. If he's making 25,000,000 euros from Ferrari to leave ($37,000,000), I don't see why he can't settle for 5 million euros from Macca--then he'd be quite close to his 2009 salary of $45,000,000.
If not, he can take a hike merely on principle of the matter. Of course it's a gamble, but I'd be willing to take Sutil for the following reasons:
1) Since Adrian and Lewis are pals, that pairing is more likely to foster a healthy team spirit.
2) Adrian costs less--WAY less.
3) Adrian is clearly motivated. According to the reports, he wasn't on retainer (but was probably paid by personal sponsors), and this would be his ONLY opportunity to prove that he belongs in F1 and to be able to earn serious F1 dollars.
4) Based on his Monza performance (as well as his Monaco performance two years ago), Adrian has suggested he can handle the pressure of running up front.
5) Adrian knows what it is like to struggle constantly to get more pace out of the car, whereas Kimi has been given good cars throughout his career.
6) Although I'm a Fisi fan, I have to admit Adrian seemed slightly quicker (yes, I know Fisi had more points and that the qualifying tally was 6-6), and if he can hang with a 3-time GP winner, he can be an asset at McLaren.
Actually Flavio takes the accolades for that one. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Valve Bounce