Silly Season 2013/14

[Manoah2u]

Perez adding fuel to the fire criticising McLaren?

http://www.motorsport.com/#!/f1/news/mc ... ity-perez/

Perhaps Perez daring to criticise McLaren publicly is a sign that he no longer has anything (or any contract) to lose?

Thats what i thought.

+2. He's got the news he is out for 2013, dumped and ditched like a unwanted pet dog. His comments are clear and interesting. Interestingly, I think because he had good words for Martin Whitmarsh, I might think Martin wanted to keep
him atleast another year, but perhaps it was others in the team [Ron Dennis] that thouht otherwise. And with the rest
of the comments about Mcl having their eyes blinded in arrogance for the 2013 car, I think Perez is showing the mess at
MCL is much larger then we suspect. I think Hamilton left for a very good reason. And I think Perez found himself in a situation that he now understands exactly what that reason might have been.
I hope Perez will get anther year at F.I. now, he sure has learned a lot last couple of years and F.I. is keeping in with Merc
engines if i am correct so that's a benefit.

Makes me wonder if Button is now scratching his head not accepting the Ferrari offer i think i've heard or was rumored before [even last year i believe]. Or a disappointing Ricciardo @ RedBull and Alonso pairing Vettel with Button to Ferrari?
Hmmm........can we already kick the 2014/2015 silly season this early?

somebody sign some people already, the anticipation is killing me!

[iotar__]

Perez adding fuel to the fire criticising McLaren?

http://www.motorsport.com/#!/f1/news/mc ... ity-perez/

What's the big deal? At least he's saying it publicly under his name and not through anonymous senior sources press leaks. Why McLaren are delaying announcement, because of half-Mexican GP?

Perez has two choices 1. colour his hair blonde and get blue lenses but it's too late for that. 2. Strike a deal with Force India. He scores no points or goes on early vacation = FI beats McLaren in exchange for the seat next season.

Told you about Hulkenberg, for many reasons (no it doesn't mean he's staying).

What does blond hair and blue eyes have to do with anything??

But i do agree that they could just as well anounce what the drivers are. If its not Perez then he has a chance of securing another seat somewhere else.

Nothing, McLaren type . Those options aren't exactly realistic but who could blame him if he tried, he should take care of himself, right?

Except for Villeneuve I'm not fond of of over-privileged kids of former drivers, after getting everything on a silver plate they tend to be a bit lukewarm - like Rosberg. Magnussen is as ready for F1 as Vergne was, he may be talented/fast but that's reality and it doesn't matter how many times they repeat he's ready or ignore Perez's good drives. This dishonesty part is a bigger problem for me.

If he does well - great, I like new drivers in F1. He might be the real deal in terms of speed seeing how hard McLaren are betting on him, with a hint of unknown and second option. If they hire Alonso in 2015 (BIG IF) who leaves him or JB?

[timbo]

So if Perez is dropped where does he go then? He should have backing and still not worse than many other drivers without seat in the market.

[Manoah2u]

force india it seems

[Jonnycraig]

So if Perez is dropped where does he go then? He should have backing and still not worse than many other drivers without seat in the market.

As said on the previous page, you now have 7 drivers with backing for 6 available seats, plus Hulkenberg, plus Sirotkin who may or may not have a Sauber seat already, plus those lower down the grid with money looking to move up.

A couple of current drivers are going to be left in the cold when the music stops.

[Steven]

Force India is being quoted in each and every contract discussion. Perez is believed to be talking to them, Maldonado as well. Massa confirmed he was in talks with them as well.

The team said a few races back they were pretty happy with Sutil and prefer him over another driver because they know him so well, so that leaves us with the rumours that Di Resta may find himself without a seat while 2 years ago he was making it very clear he was targeting a drive with a top team (backed by rumours he was talking to McLaren). I would understand though, as Di Resta has been very vocal when something went wrong within the team, and perhaps he isn't of any more commercial value than Perez or any other youngster. And let's be honest, FI are not swimming in the money either.

[SectorOne]

FI at the end of the day seems to care about points though and Di Resta despite his slump, has done a better job then Sutil.
Based on performance Sutil is the one that should be in the hot seat, for a team like FI.

Should also be mentioned that during Di Resta´s little off, Sutil managed to grab a whopping 3 points.

[Hail22]

We'll see, if Checo is on the nose at Mclaren I think we may see Lotus make a move for him especially with his extremely close and lucrative ties with the Slim family.

Time will tell.

[Jonnycraig]

FI at the end of the day seems to care about points though and Di Resta despite his slump, has done a better job then Sutil.
Based on performance Sutil is the one that should be in the hot seat, for a team like FI.

Should also be mentioned that during Di Resta´s little off, Sutil managed to grab a whopping 3 points.

They've been about as equally matched as any pairing on the grid IMO. Considering Sutils year out that's pretty impressive in my eyes. If you've got two equally matched drivers, one with more funding than the other, it's an obvious decision.

[Jonnycraig]

New rumour: Felipe Nasr has a race seat with Petrobras backing, presumably Sauber.

44 GP2 races in top teams, 0 wins, 0 Poles. Shame if true that a driver with such a decent CV has bought rather than earnt an F1 seat.

[Blackout]

Nasr ?
In 2012 he was a rookie and had many more experienced gp2 drivers around him.
In 2013 he still had many more experienced gp2 drivers against him + an average car/team but he fought for the title despite that...

[Jonnycraig]

Nasr ?
In 2012 he was a rookie and had many more experienced gp2 drivers around him.
In 2013 he still had many more experienced gp2 drivers against him + an average car/team but he fought for the title despite that...

Carlin an average team? They tied for the Teams Champinship

Palmer in the same Carlin got a pole and 2 feature wins to Nasr's 0 & 0.

[Blackout]

Nasr ?
In 2012 he was a rookie and had many more experienced gp2 drivers around him.
In 2013 he still had many more experienced gp2 drivers against him + an average car/team but he fought for the title despite that...

Carlin an average team? They tied for the Teams Champinship
Palmer in the same Carlin got a pole and 2 feature wins to Nasr's 0 & 0

Thanks to Nasr and Palmer*
*Palmer who, AFAIK, did 24 more races in GP2 than Nasr**.
And yes, Carlin is far from being the best team... Both its cars got many technical problems and its crew did some mistakes.
Nasr is still a very promising driver : )

**and didnt he end 7th in the champ while Nasr, the less expreienced driver, finished 4th and fought for the title ? I dont think Palmer got more tech problems or bad luck than Nasr.

[SectorOne]

Palmer in the same Carlin got a pole and 2 feature wins to Nasr's 0 & 0.

But had 35 points less at the end of the day.
-
On another note, Kovalainen seems to be the guy for Lotus.

[raymondu999]

About the Hulk turning down Lotus I have to say I hoped for it but I expected him to turn down any such offers. Remember he has prior, when they called on him to substitute for Massa. He knew that jumping in a new car and having to get to grips from the off was unlikely, and likely reputation-damaging, especially one that didn't handle too well like the 09 Ferrari.