Silly Season 2011/2012

[fritticaldi]

The French media is reporting that Romain Grosjean will be the partner of Kimi Raikkonen at LRGP. An official announcement is imminent. The reigning GP2 champion is apparently bringing a personal sponsor. Vitaly Petrov and his Russian sponsors will most likely head to Marussia to unseat Timo Glock. Bruno Senna will be retained as third driver.

[scuderiafan]

The French media is reporting that Romain Grosjean will be the partner of Kimi Raikkonen at LRGP. An official announcement is imminent. The reigning GP2 champion is apparently bringing a personal sponsor. Vitaly Petrov and his Russian sponsors will most likely head to Marussia to unseat Timo Glock. Bruno Senna will be retained as third driver.

Interesting move if Petrov really does replace Glock. Bruno Senna will be retained as third driver for Team Lotus (LRGP)?

[Morteza]

So what will happen to Glock in that case? He's going to be Heidfeld's roommate for next season watching the races together from home? It's just a rumor, but who knows what's gonna happen next?

[Tyler]

The French media is reporting that Romain Grosjean will be the partner of Kimi Raikkonen at LRGP. An official announcement is imminent. The reigning GP2 champion is apparently bringing a personal sponsor. Vitaly Petrov and his Russian sponsors will most likely head to Marussia to unseat Timo Glock. Bruno Senna will be retained as third driver.

I'm also convinced Grosjean is unseating Petrov at Lotus (Renault) to be partnering Kimi next year and it seems logical for Petrov to get a Marussia seat because of the Russian connection.

However, why would he be replacing Glock?
I thought Glock already had a contract for 2012?
Surely Marussia don't have money to blow on paying out Glocks contract while someone else sits in his seat? Unless whichever driver it is brings enough money to cover the money paid to Glock as well as his own seat.

Why did the team sign up Pic in such a hurry?
Is he bringing a big sponsor and/or a lot of money with him?
It would have been better to replace d'Ambrosio with Petrov but I suppose they didn't know that Petrov could be leaving Renault at that stage.

If Petrov brings money/sponsorship with him and Glock is being paid for his services then maybe it makes sense to them to stick Petrov in the race seat and perhaps keep Glock as a test driver.
Then again why not replace Pic with Petrov, although it would seem stupid to sign someone up, only to immediately buy him out of his contract and maybe he brings too much money with him.

In this case maybe it makes sense to replace Glock - I don't see him being able to extract much more performance out of what will surely be another dog of a car than Petrov should be able to.

The one seat I'm still very unsure of for next year is the second HRT seat.
Judging by HRT's moeny situation it seems logical that it would go to the highest bidder.
de La Rosa in the first seat was a HUGE surprise! - I don't think many were expecting that!
I wonder if he's managed to get the backing of a Spanish sponsor, which helped him seal the deal?
He'll be 41 in February already and although his experience will be very useful in bringing along HRT's development for the next couple of years, I don't really see him as the future of the team and staying on any further past his 2 year contract.

The 2nd seat could go to Ricciardo again or maybe even Vergne as the rumour is that Ricciardo will go to Caterham.
Perhaps Vergne will get the same ''opportunity'' as Ricciardo in 2011 and will be racing alongside Pedro next season.
The question is whether Red Bull will be able to pay them enough for the seat?

Not many seats left now, this is how I see it in 2012:

Red Bull
1.Vettel
2.Webber

McLaren
1.Hamilton
2.Button

Ferrari
1.Alonso
2.Massa

Mercedes AMG
1.Schumacher
2.Rosberg

Lotus
1.Raikkonen
2.Grosjean

Force India
1.di Resta
2.Hulkenburg

Sauber
1.Kobayashi
2.Perez

Toro Rosso
1.Buemi
2.Alguersuari

Williams
1.Sutil
2.Maldonado

Caterham
1.Kovaleinen
2.Ricciardo

HRT
1.de la Rosa
2.Vergne

Marussia
1.Petrov
2.Pic

[ESPImperium]

Im gonna say that Lotus Renault will try and get Petrov to go to Williams alongside Sutil to see if he (Sutil) can step up to Lotus in 2013 if Groisjean dosnt work out.

[Tyler]

Im gonna say that Lotus Renault will try and get Petrov to go to Williams alongside Sutil to see if he (Sutil) can step up to Lotus in 2013 if Groisjean dosnt work out.

Maldonado has already signed a contract for 2012 with Williams so there's only the 1 seat left.
I think the remaining seat is likely to go to Sutil.
If he is released from Force India he'll be the best driver on the market.
I think Renault already know how good Sutil is (Mallaya seems to be the only guy who doesn't)- maybe they just don't want him because he stabbed their CEO in the neck with a broken glass.
It's a pretty good reason when you think about it.

[ESPImperium]

I thimk theres problems in Venuzueala with Maldanados money, and i think theres a strong posibility that Maldanado wont be in F1 next year, and Petrov could end up there with Sutil.

Im seeing a posibility for the grid to be like this:

01/02} Red Bull-Renault = Vettel/Webber
03/04] McLaren-Mercedes = Button/Hamilton
05/06] Scuderia Ferrari = Alonso/Massa
07/08] Mercedes AMG = Schumacher/Rosberg
09/10] Lotus Renault GP = Raikkonen/Grosjean
11/12] Force India-Mercedes = Di resta/Hulkenberg
14/15] Sauber-Ferrari = KoniyashaiPerez
16/17] Toro Rosso-Ferrari = Alguersauri/Buemi
18/19] Williams-Renault = Sutil/Petrov
20/21] Caterham-Renault = Kovalinenn/Riccardo
22/23] Hispania-Cosworth = D'Ambrosio/De La Rosa
24/25] Marussia-Cosworth = Glock/Pic

[sriraj1031]

http://www.lotusrenaultgp.com/8108-Roma ... gside.html

Romain grosjean will race with kimi in LRGP next season and means its petrov to find an another seat probably Williams or Marussia

[Mr Alcatraz]

http://www.lotusrenaultgp.com/8108-Roma ... gside.html

Romain grosjean will race with kimi in LRGP next season and means its petrov to find an another seat probably Williams or Marussia

Perfect!

[WhiteBlue]

viewtopic.php?p=291961#p291961

as expected!

[Tyler]

So in the end, Petrov's backtracking and sucking up to the team couldn't help him.
I suspect that he really ruined his chances by badmouthing the team a few weeks back.

[nacho]

Weird thing is that two of the drivers I most wanted to see in F1 for 2011 are now team-mates at a team I have least liked this year.

[Donuts]

Romain "I sure know how to pick my team mates in F1" Grosjean:

- But maybe I can teach him something about the Pirelli tyres that he never drove, except for the rally cars one. The F1 ones are a little bit different, and it will be a good deal for next year. I am sure we will get on well together and I will learn a lot from him, so let's see. =D>

[fritticaldi]

It's a pity that Vitaly Petrov shot himself in the foot with his declarations about team strategy at Abu Dhabi. These comments did not sit well with Boullier and Lopez. The Russian driver still has an opportunity at Marussia which is now funded by Russian capital. Charles Pic brings money from the Group Lagardere.

[dren]

So is that the real reason for Petrov getting the boot? Grosjean has been in the running for most of the season it sounded like. I don't think the tirade helped Petrov, but I also don't think that made the final decision either. If anyone needed to go, it was Boullier.