Adrian Sutil has secured a deal with Sauber to ensure himself a race seat for 2014. He will effectively make the inverse move of Nico Hulkenberg who joined Force India following his departure at Sauber.
Not saying Kimi won't go to RBR - but there is reason. Leverage. It means they can say to other drivers, "hey, look - you're not our only option here, so you better go cheaper or we'd just rather go with Raikkonen"CHT wrote:For RBR, there is no reason to openly talk about Kimi if their intention is to sign someone else.
He has already been with the rally car, so they seem like a perfect match. They play badminton with Vettel, right? Red Bull can certainly cover Kimi's financial demands, whereas Lotus are still in the dark, despite the recent stake deal.CHT wrote: Infact, Kimi will be the perfect brand ambassador for Red Bull energy drink.
I dont think RBR need to bring themselves so low to negotiate for a driver contract. For Redbull it is the value of the driver that counts, not how cheap it cost them.raymondu999 wrote:Not saying Kimi won't go to RBR - but there is reason. Leverage. It means they can say to other drivers, "hey, look - you're not our only option here, so you better go cheaper or we'd just rather go with Raikkonen"CHT wrote:For RBR, there is no reason to openly talk about Kimi if their intention is to sign someone else.
Redbull is a party brand, so it is a perfect match. Yes, Lotus future doesnt look promising, and with the super high cost renault engine for 2014, it will make things even tougher.Kiril Varbanov wrote:He has already been with the rally car, so they seem like a perfect match. They play badminton with Vettel, right? Red Bull can certainly cover Kimi's financial demands, whereas Lotus are still in the dark, despite the recent stake deal.CHT wrote: Infact, Kimi will be the perfect brand ambassador for Red Bull energy drink.
Let's see.
CHT wrote:I dont think RBR need to bring themselves so low to negotiate for a driver contract. For Redbull it is the value of the driver that counts, not how cheap it cost them.raymondu999 wrote:Not saying Kimi won't go to RBR - but there is reason. Leverage. It means they can say to other drivers, "hey, look - you're not our only option here, so you better go cheaper or we'd just rather go with Raikkonen"CHT wrote:For RBR, there is no reason to openly talk about Kimi if their intention is to sign someone else.
In fact, I would say that any driver on the grid who doesnt have a contract for 2014 will sign up with RBR even if its driving for free.
This is wrong on almost all levels. F1 is a business; it's only a sport for the fans. Championship caliber teams are quite seldom at the moment, but so are drivers that don't need the perfect car to win them. And with a champion already in one seat, no high caliber driver would go to RBR for free, actually the opposite is quite true. The contract would have to be very lucrative with guarantees for equal handling/equipment, and even then (as Mark has seen) equal isn't always equal. Hell, even I wouldn't do it for free 
And that doesn't guarantee that next years car will be competitive.
+1 Ironically I'd say that some of his popularity has come from the fact that he doesn't communicate well.SatchelCharge wrote:Re Kimi as a PR piece - No he isn't a communicator, but still he's extremely popular among the fan base.
Of course, he has never beaten JEV in a wet quali/race, IIRCdjos wrote:Dan showed pure guts and class in atrocious conditions in P1 doing more laps than anyone else and setting the fastest time - he'd make a great RBR driver IMO.
Lol,Bob Brown wrote:Red Bull's going to go get Grosjean. Pay him dirt cheap and just have him crash into all of Vettel's competitors. Won't really be team orders because Grosjean does it on a regular basis already.
I agree, Dan would be a better choice because he'd be prepared to continue his learning curve so to speak and then would be ready to be number 1 when Vettel replaces Alonso at Ferrari in 2 years.MOWOG wrote:In my heart, I do not believe Red Bull wants two equal drivers. They want a solid second driver who will rake in the WCC points, but not another Prost/Senna situation.
There is no way that Kimi is taking a back seat to anyone......
