Thanks and Goodbye?

[steveaki13]

Just thought I would say thanks and goodbye to Michael Schumacher after a gritty drive for his last ever F1 race, he has been a great driver and I will miss his influence in F1.

Also I would like to say goodbye to HRT, if the rumours are true and we have seen the last of this team. I know some dont like the, but they have been an F1 team and now face the same fate as so many others. Goodbye HRT.

[jens]

Thanks and goodbye to Schumacher and HRT indeed. In addition - probably to Kobayashi, Kovalainen (?), Senna, de la Rosa, Karthikeyan, Petrov (??) as well.

A pity about Kobayashi. He put in a fighting drive in his usual attacking self. And this may have been the last time we saw him in action like that.

[i_max2k2]

It will be sad to see so may names going away, I hope Koby can come back in a competitive package. I will dearly miss Schumi, but this is his time to go, so glad to have seem his career for this long, truly a great!

[steveaki13]

I think we have seen the last of De La Rosa, Karthikeyan & Petrov for sure, but you never know about the others they may re appear at some point even just for the odd race

[The Black Knight]

It's strange to be saying goodbye to Schumacher again. Six years ago I was devastated when he retired. Now, I think his time has finally come. He is, without doubt, the best driver I have seen in F1 since I began watching the sport back in 88 or so. Some people regard Senna as the best of all time. I regard Senna as the fastest but Schumacher as the most complete driver I have ever seen on any grid. He was sensational and truly worthy of his position in the pantheon of F1's best ever drivers. I truly wish him well in the future and hopefully see him at a few races every now and then.

As for the rest, the only one I'm bothered about saying goodbye to is Senna. I think he deserves an extra year in F1. He has had a rough road to get here and I feel he was improving all the time throughout the year. I sincerely hope he gets another shot.

Sad to see HRT probably go as well. The outlook is bleak, but then again it was this way for Honda in 2008 too and look what happened there

[jens]

As for the rest, the only one I'm bothered about saying goodbye to is Senna. I think he deserves an extra year in F1. He has had a rough road to get here and I feel he was improving all the time throughout the year. I sincerely hope he gets another shot.

Unfortunately I disagree. Aside from Karthikeyan, I'd say he was the worst driver of the season. In a really good car often qualifying around 17th-18th. I know he was unfortunate to lose so many years of racing in his teens, but he is never going to get those years back. And as it is - while Bruno is not embarrasing on F1 level, he is not really fast enough to really cut it there. He reminds me of Kazuki Nakajima.

[driveace]

Whilst a lot of the guys mentioned above have performed badly this year,some of the equipment they have had at their disposal have also been second rate too .What I would like to see is some one like Hamilton or Vettel have a days testing in the Caterhams,and HRTs and then see what sorts of times they can do in the same cars,as what these other guys have been trying to hustle round the tracks this year .

[steveaki13]

You do tend to find its the drivers who have never been at the back that moan most about the backmarkers, as they have no experience of that end of F1.

Others like Button & Alonso just for example should understand more of that as they raced for Benetton & Minardi at the back in 2001.

[MarekP]

Thanks and goodbye to Schumacher and HRT indeed. In addition - probably to Kobayashi, Kovalainen (?), Senna, de la Rosa, Karthikeyan, Petrov (??) as well.

A pity about Kobayashi. He put in a fighting drive in his usual attacking self. And this may have been the last time we saw him in action like that.

I hope Petrov will be next season in better team then Lotus. I hoped he go into Sauber instead of Sergio, but Hulk is good too.

[Roamy]

Great - Get some new blood in here. Perez has really been the only bright spot in years