Silly Season 2011/2012

[Donuts]

Anyone else excited about Hulkenberg vs. Di Resta? It'll be a baptism in fire for these young guns. We'll get see if either one really is a champion in the making!

[aleks_ader]

Anyone else excited about Hulkenberg vs. Di Resta? It'll be a baptism in fire for these young guns. We'll get see if either one really is a champion in the making!

Jep i also cannot wait and see what results during whole season will provide these young gentlements? And on other side i m sad for dumped Sutil whitc is proved that is very good and consistend driver...

[raymondu999]

I'm not convinced on Di Resta sadly, and I think Hulkenberg will have him. But it won't be much I think. Relatively speaking, something like the points difference between JB and LH this year. Again, relatively speaking. But I think it's going to be a great battle of teammates

[Richard]

So, one Williams left to fill, I'd rank the available drivers in order ...

Adrian Sutil, Rubens Barrichello, Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna

There's also the HRT seat, I'd expect them to go for cash (Petrov or Senna) with Senna getting the seat for the Latin America connection (to capitalise on the team's Latin theme) and the famous name. Unless some russian oligarch steps in to load Petrov with more dollars than Senna can muster.

[Donuts]

So, one Williams left to fill, I'd rank the available drivers in order ...

Adrian Sutil, Rubens Barrichello, Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna

There's also the HRT seat, I'd expect them to go for cash (Petrov or Senna) with Senna getting the seat for the Latin America connection (to capitalise on the team's Latin theme) and the famous name. Unless some russian oligarch steps in to load Petrov with more dollars than Senna can muster.

I am saying it again, don't forget Valtteri Bottas in Williams.

[Tyler]

I just hope that we haven't seen the last of Alguersuari.
I'm really disappointed he was dropped by STR - I thought he had some fantastic performances and frankly he couldn't have been expected to do any better in the machinery he had at his disposal.
He's still young and while people have been while a guy like Hulkenburg is lauded for having loads of potential despite having a poor first season, Alguersuari finds himself without a drive after completely a really good season.
He's only 21, it would be a real shame for his F1 career to come to an end so prematurely!
HRT would be making a clever move to give him a ride next year, would be nice to see him in a position to show what he can do against an experienced driver.

[ringo]

Jaime is young he can go else where and get his stripes and come back to F1 as a big man who knows his racing. F1 is a bit sheltered, especially for such a young guy.
A year away would actually strengthen him.

I think Buemi is the better driver however. I think he may go to redbull as third driver. Buemi has shown stronger more consistent form, not flashes in the pan like alguashari.

[Shrieker]

Some guys over here are saying that Bruno Senna was seen at the Williams factory on 15 December and then again the following friday. Don't know anything about the credibility of the site in question though. They also claim that Bruno has managed to muster some 27 million US$ through multiple backers. If it is true, that's quite a bit ! Probably more than any other driver can offer.

[Fil]

Senna, Williams, Renault?

Hmm, that didn't work so well last time..



I get the feeling Williams know that Rubens is their safest/best option, but stubbornly they keep searching for a reason not to go with the obvious.. and thusfar they still haven't found one.


(reading between the lines of that, they're searching for more money)

[scuderiafan]

Some guys over here are saying that Bruno Senna was seen at the Williams factory on 15 December and then again the following friday. Don't know anything about the credibility of the site in question though. They also claim that Bruno has managed to muster some 27 million US$ through multiple backers. If it is true, that's quite a bit ! Probably more than any other driver can offer.

If that's true, he has money, marketability, but not much in the way of experience. Normally, Williams choosing Senna would be surprising (Williams seem to like more experienced drivers), but with their recent financial troubles, they could very well sign him. Provided he actually DOES have the money from sponsors.

[ESPImperium]

€27m in sponsorship Senna reportedly has??? Lets trty and break that down;

€9m from Embratel
€4m trom Gillette

That would mean he would have to find €14m more, whitch if he was to take the money Luiz Razia was saying that he could get from Petrobas whitch was a 7 figure sum, id recon that he could get somewhere between €6m and another €9m from them. that would leave another €8m to €5m for him to find, and id recon that he could have found that from the beer sponsor that was on the Brawn BGP001 rear wing at Brazil in 2009.

However €27m is a bit too much i feel, id recon that what Pastor Maldanado is paying for his seat is closer to the market value for Williams, whhitch is arround the €21.5m mark for a seat there.

The good thing is that if he were to get the seat, he would then decorate that Williams a bit more with sponsors, as that car with the Virgin and Hispanias need a bit more decoration on them.

As for Ferri and Sutil, its just rumors and talk to try and get a team lower intereted from what ive read this morning. Basically talk is cheap.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

21 million? That's just incredible.

I don't think it's true when you see headline teams sponsors like vodafone and petronas adding 25 million per annum. So 1 pay driver can match this? Not in my book.

I reckon the figure is around 6-8 million max.

[fritticaldi]

Sutil would probably sign 1 year with Williams and then take Massa's seat at Ferrari for 2013. However, Bruno Senna at Williams makes more sense because it is suspected the Brazilian brings more financial backing( Embratel, Gillette) as compared to Sutil (Medion). Sutil could become Ferrari's third driver.

[ringo]

Makes sense.

I dont put is past Bruno to get the money. Can't really put an imaginary limit on how much a driver can bring in. Especially if he's netting a whole lot of sponsors.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

So 25 million gets you a race seat and 50million gets you a race team(HRT, Virgin)?
Why not just buy the team and get some other rich kid to pay? And you get to keep the FIA prize money.

25 million is crazy cash if it truly is being paid, of which I have serious doubts.