Silly Season 2011 Thread

[andrew]

Whether intended as an ironic hyperbole or simple sarcastic embelishment, I see no error in cresting a hill of what's esentially a blind corner at race speed and happening upon accident debris you've had little time to react to. Perhaps you should've found a mistake of his own doing. Fuji '07 maybe?

I said it at the time and am still of the opinion that Alonso's crash in Brazil was largely his own fault. Other drivers managed to slow down and avoid the debris in time yet he clearly didn't.

[bgroovers]

If massa leaves Ferrari because he doesnt want to become, sorry stay Alonsos lap dog then where can he go?
Williams to replace the Hulk andso we can have two "barichellos" in a williams.
Swap with Kubica at renault. Why would Robert go to Nandos team?
Replace the Russian at renault? Why would massa go to Roberts team?
Go to Force India? Why go to the team who staff are all leaving for Lotus?
Toro Rosso maybe. swap with Buemi...mmmmm sounds good! Buemi number 2 at Ferrari.
Maybe Rob and his "baby" could head up the Virgin CGI team?

Maybe Schumi will let Massa have his seat in f1 again.

Mercedes it is then!

[wesley123]

he could go to virgin, HRT(lol), Lotus, Renault, Williams or even force india. Anyway, where ever he could go it would be way better for his career.

[ESPImperium]

Something totally silly, a posible return to F1 from Honda: http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... -SearchBox

Posible silliness for drivers:
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... -SearchBox

Panasonic to sponsor Sauber for remainder of season and next as well???
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... -SearchBox
https://www.f1sa.com/index.php?option=c ... Itemid=157

[andrew]

Panasonic here too:

http://motorsport.nextgen-auto.com/Rumo ... auber.html

Honda's return just seems to be a vague rumour at the moment. The source seems to be a post on Twitter by SpeedTV journalist (Will Buxton). The content of said post is "Hearing a rumour that a certain Japanese engine maker wants to return if turbos come back in 2013. Starts with 'H', ends in 'onda'". No mention of a source though and I have only found this on one website that is not particularly great. Possibly one to watch though.

[ESPImperium]

I think it would be wise for Panasonic to return to F1 next year with Sauber for the reason that they have the craziest driver in F1 and the hottest yound prospect for the future, and will then have access to supplying Telmex with equiptment via sharing the same "Brand Centre" in McLaren speak as each other at GPs thus leading to posible spin-off deals.

if they gave Sauber a $20M cheque each year they had Kimui for a title sponsor, this would then make not only financial sence to Sauber, but also give Kimui a potential given for other teams to try and attain his services for a pay cheque and a good driver.

If Panasonic are intrested, im sure that they could also bring along more Japaneese money for Sauber as well.

[andrew]

Not really sily but almost confirmed. It looks like Hulkenberg is not being kept on by Williams for 2011 which is a huge shame. Instead it looks like they have signed 2010 GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado to partner Rubens Barrichello.

Williams are possibly loosing RBS, Philips, AirAsia and McGregor as sponsors so need Pastor Maldonado's big bag cash (15 million euro's) from his sponsor PDVSA.

[ESPImperium]

Its a shame if the do move Hulkenberg aside, as i think he is a really solid racer on the same career path as Vettel, but would have to go to another team to become WDC i think.

Im thinking that if i were Hulkenberg, the seat id be going for is the team Lotus seat beside Kovvy if he does get pushed aside. Go for a rising team, so that if you out perform Maldanado, you will make Williams look silly.

And its looking like Williams will probably test Bottas on day 1 of their young driver days at Abu Dhabi and the second will be split between the winner of the F2 championship and Scottish DTM driver Suzie Stodart as Toto Wolf is a 10% owner of Williams, and is Suzies partner.

Im thinking that Williams are a team that need investment and have missed out on certain things recently that would have only seen them go up the feild faster, but pride has clouded their judgement.

[PlatinumZealot]

The proper thing to do is to wait till he develops but when I really think about it, I don't think Hulkenburg is who Frank Williams is looking for. Hulkenburg doesn't come across as a natural F1 talent in my eyes. A true talent would have shown us something special over these sixteen races; Hulkenburg has not done ANYTHING except out qualify Barichello once or twice in weird situations. Do no get me wrong Barichello is very fast, but speed didn't stop Hamilton from outqualifying Alonso on a usual basis now did it?

I could explain some more but I am feeling sleepy. I am just going to end by saying that Hulkenburg just was not created for F1 like the "chosen ones."

[WhiteBlue]

ROFLMAO! Nice theories until official decisions are published.

[andrew]

ROFLMAO! Nice theories until official decisions are published.

Why you got to be like that? Not very polite and adds nothing don't you think?

Back on topic re Williams...

Hulkenberg has done pretty well at times but at other times he has made some absolute howlers. Given another year it is likely that he would settle in and start moving forward, unfortunately potential sponsor problems are the over-riding factor for Williams at the moment, which is understanding. Hulkenberg has been involved with Williams for a while now and it would be surprising if they were dropping him for any other reason than cash flow.

[raymondu999]

I thought actually Hulkenberg has done enough to warrant a sponsorless drive

[andrew]

Narain Karthikeyan a possible for Force India next year:
http://motorsport.nextgen-auto.com/Kart ... -seat.html

[nacho]

More pay drivers...

[vall]

More pay drivers...

truth is that the small struggling teams desperately need cash to run the team. So, often they cannot afford hiring drivers on merit and go for pay-drivers. But actually, many times those pay-drivers are good enough, did well and the lower categories and deserve their chance in F1. In fact, sometime you can only filter the good drivers by putting them in an F1 car. If you look at recent examples, LH did exceptionally well, while other drivers that did well in GP2 failed in F1. Look at NPJ or the Hulk who cannot match the 38 years old Bubens, or the silly mistakes Petrov did... Another good example is Kobayashi who immediately shined in Toyota and I wish he soon last a drive in a top team.