2013 Silly Season

[zako85]

It would be sad to see a driver like Sutil driving a dead end car like Marussia. If he can't get a decent seat in F1, he would have been better off to switch to IndyCar, where the playground is usually more level and former F1 driver usually can find a decent seat. This is probably better than driving in the back of grid in Marussia.

[zako85]

Since Caterham is almost certain to lose their lucrative 10th position this year, their finances will take a big hit. In the light of this, I think it's fairly safe to assume that Caterham will want to hire a pay driver with _fat_ sponsor for the next year. Petrov is losing is sponsors, so his seat will be almost certainly vacated next year. I can see Senna taking over his place, or some other pay driver, maybe one of current GP2 drivers.

Anyways.. yawn.. I don't care much. It seems like the primary purpose of HRT, Marussia, and Caterham cars is to create obstacles for other cars to go around at high speed. I just wish these were automatically relegated to the back of grid and Q1 got canceled as it's pretty much pointless to watch Q1 sessions with these guys always reliably taking the six positions in the back for third consecutive year now.

[Garry Walker]

As to Ferrari

I think they will replace Massa for sure

here are the 4 drivers in ranked by likelihood that they will probably replace him with.

1. Schumacher
2. Kobayashi
3. Buemi
4. Valsecchi

You really thought Ferrari might hire Buemi or Valsecchi to replace Massa? Good gracious.

[Ranger]

Starting to think McLaren should have waited a little longer choosing Hamilton's replacement... :/

Perez sure hasn't covered himself in glory in the past 5 races.

[jens]

Starting to think McLaren should have waited a little longer choosing Hamilton's replacement... :/

Perez sure hasn't covered himself in glory in the past 5 races.

Though Pérez is a young driver, who - like many at his age - is most probably going through a bad patch on which he will improve in the future. And from McLaren's point of view he should go through this learning curve now rather than next year. Still - I'd say perhaps Hülkenberg has been the most consistent young driver so far this season. I don't know, how much did McLaren consider him vs Pérez, but currently I'd trust the German a bit more in bringing home consistently good results.

[Bias]

I think it will go like this...

Merc GP - Hamilton/Rosberg - Official
Ferrari - Alonso/Massa - Official
Mclaren - Button/Perez - Official
Red Bull - Vettel/Webber - Official
Lotus - Raikkonen/ (Grojsean - most likely, D'Ambrosio, maybe even Koboyashi... I mean if he is still a free agent with some money. Lotus is in some financial woes.
Sauber - Hulkenburg (Official)/Gutierrez (Most definite), Buemi (Swiss driver with some possible backing), Algersauri, or even Sutil
Toro Rosso - Vergne/Riccardo - Offical
FI - Di Resta (unsure)/Sutil (Been in talks again), Bianchi (3rd driver), Algersauri (Liked FI on Twitter and some sponsorship)
Williams - Maldonado (Has to be resigned, too much money to lose)/Bottas (What personal backing does Bottas has, if any at all?)
Caterham - Kovalinen (Unsure)/Pic (He's unhappy at Marussia), Petrov (IF he has enough money). Honestly, Caterham is an open book.
Marussia - Glock/Chilton (Dad is a rich business man), Hyaranto (Maybe, but I doubt it)
HRT - De La Rosa (Official)/Clos (Honestly IDK), Ming Ha (Doubt it), Karthikeyan (Unless he coughs up more sponsorship)

Open books right now.

[Malbec]

Since Caterham is almost certain to lose their lucrative 10th position this year, their finances will take a big hit. In the light of this, I think it's fairly safe to assume that Caterham will want to hire a pay driver with _fat_ sponsor for the next year. Petrov is losing is sponsors, so his seat will be almost certainly vacated next year. I can see Senna taking over his place, or some other pay driver, maybe one of current GP2 drivers.

Petrov is EXTREMELY well connected. When he went for the Renault second seat his letters of guarantee included Putin as a signatory. While there's talk about money not materialising with a race at Sochi coming up I don't doubt there'll be a cheque written for him just in time.

Kovalainen is the one in trouble at Caterham, drawing a salary without bringing sponsorship. Having lost 10th place Caterham loses 10 million in income at a time Heikki hasn't convinced against his Russian teammate. Senna will look very attractive to Caterham in that light.

Hulkenberg and Raikonnen had their contracts for 2013 made public last week, whats more interesting is what wasn't said. You'd have thought sponsorship concerns would mean Grosjean and Gutierrez are done deals but looks like that isn't the case. I wonder if Kimi has scored enough points over Romain to trigger performance related release clauses for the Frenchman, in which case Lotus might be looking around for suitable replacements as well as thinking about extending Grosjean's contract.

As for Sauber I think they're waiting for two things, seeing if they beat Mercedes earning them $10 million extra for next season and if Kobayashi can find sponsorship money. If he can't then Gutierrez will probably get the second seat there.

[Ranger]

You really thought Ferrari might hire Buemi or Valsecchi to replace Massa? Good gracious.

They would only have to score 40% of Alonso's points haul in a season and they would be doing better.

[prpr]

The outcome of the young driver test in Dubai, starting today, will be interesting. Robert Frijns and Gutierrez will be driving for Sauber. Frijins is a year-one champion in three junior formulae (even if his Formula Renault 3.5 title was achieved in controversial circumstances). If he is considerably faster than Gutierrez, could Sauber do a Raikkonen on him and sign him on a long-term race deal, and hope to sell him on to a bigger team in the future? He doesn't have any money, so it would be a gamble for Sauber.

Frijins is also in action for Red Bull on the final day, so his time in that car may be the real indicator of his potential. Antonio Felix da Costa was a multiple race winner in FR3.5 this year, and finished fourth in the championship after coming in late in the season. He will be driving the Red Bull on the first two days in Dubai, and may also shine as a potential future F1 star.

Could the Dubai test unearth the next Schumacher/Raikkonen/Hamilton/Vettel?

[zako85]

Confirmed, neither Barrichello nor Villeneuve will have a Force India seat.


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