Silly Season 2013/14

[marcush.]

I have to admit I´m at a loss to understand why Sauber signed Sutil maybe he has some proper funding in place? Gutierrez showed signs of speed at times and almost matched Hulk when the car started to perform .Ok he could not sustain the speed and turn it to results in most races but he might be able to raise his game on the considerable credit given by the team with rehiring him .
Very unfortunate Sauber did not grab Kobayashi though .I think he really is the ideal fit for Sauber.

[Jonnycraig]

Kobayashi returning with Caterham would confirm Hulkenberg was right to turn down the short term Lotus seat.

In Austin, Kovalainen told Sky he would be racing for Caterham in 2014. Two anonymous races later and he's back in the wilderness.

Was interesting to hear in Sky's Caterham season review both VDG. & Kovalainen say that the sum of Kovalainens experienced input from his FPs this season was that the car needed more downforce..

[Manoah2u]

erm, if that's VDG and KOV's 'professional' input.....anybody could see the caterham lacked downforce. It's funny people were so negative towards the 2013 marussia design, yet the car proved to be a very solid car. And since the 2013 cat was a 'evolution' of the 2012 cat, which lacked downforce aswell and probably only ended up in front of maruss thanks to pure luck when maruss had bad luck in the final race[s] - then what did kova bring anyway?

Kova dug his own grave with Lotus, all by himself. He never shined, and he just wiped himself out. I think he did caterham a favor in his bad results, imagine caterham signing him for 2014 and he performed like he did with the lotus in a pink helmet.
Nah, he's out. I don't expect koba to be @ caterham to be honest. He deserves way better. I don't expect him in the F1 grid anymore, unfortunately.

So anyway what do we know?

1. Vettel
2. Ricciardo
3. Hamilton
4. Rosberg
5. Alonso
6. Raikkonen
7. Grosjean
8. Maldonado
9. Button
10 Magnussen
11 Hulkenberg
12 Perez
14 Sutil
15 Guitterez
16 Vergne
17 Kvyat
18 Massa
19 Bottas
20 Bianchi
21 ????????
22 ????????
23 ????????

So we already have 9 seat changes for 2014, what's up for the last 3?

[Gridlock]

And speaking of Nasr don't forget we haven't got anything finalised until Q1 Melbourne

Surprised but glad to hear KK is in the frame, VDG grew on me but I don't think I could 'pick pic' out of a lineup.

ETA if Alonso thinks he's a Samurai he'd be wise to learn from Kimi, who is pretty much the ultimate F1 Ronin. RoGro was saying he had "zero human relationship" with him and was shocked when he said "well done on your kid" at Spa.

[slimfitcasual]

So Sauber is the big loser in the midfield, they will struggle horribly to score some points, they have the worst driver line-up of the midfield teams.

Now, now, let's wait and see. I like Esteban, talented kid. His results should improve with experience. Not at all convinced the C33 will be a such a dog next year.

[iotar__]

I have to admit I´m at a loss to understand why Sauber signed Sutil maybe he has some proper funding in place? Gutierrez showed signs of speed at times and almost matched Hulk when the car started to perform .Ok he could not sustain the speed and turn it to results in most races but he might be able to raise his game on the considerable credit given by the team with rehiring him .
Very unfortunate Sauber did not grab Kobayashi though .I think he really is the ideal fit for Sauber.

What do you mean "maybe"? He brings sponsorship since forever, it's interesting how he escaped pay-driver label. There are better choices but he he is experienced and they needed that.

Gutierrez matching NH's speed? Once or twice (?) and even that was questionable, he wasn't far off when he got it right, overall rather disappointing rookie season, might get better in the second (like Petrov). It's subjective but he doesn't look like he's determined enough, kind of like Kovalainen.

Pity about Di Resta, he had a fine season and is simply better than Perez. Force India should stop pretending that they don't choose drivers for money or other reasons. They got away with that with Sutil (continuity, well known by the team etc.) but can't now.

Kobayashi and all other candidates - this "interest", means little. They (F1 teams) like to play this game for publicity, we're interested, drivers are in the frame, cost nothing and creates some headlines, you can add every driver available, like Massa to Lotus. You never know, Caterham's approach is chaotic, from unnecessarily overpaying (Trulli/Kova) to drivers with money.

edit: typos

[Jonnycraig]

Amus believe Caterham are also talking to Alguersuari , and Di Resta

[Morteza]

Amus believe Caterham are also talking to Alguersuari , and Di Resta

I'd rather see di Resta in a DTM or Indy car rather than going to Caterham. I know he is snobbish to a certain degree, but he is no inferior to Sutil and Perez if not better than them...

[marcush.]

I have to admit I´m at a loss to understand why Sauber signed Sutil maybe he has some proper funding in place? Gutierrez showed signs of speed at times and almost matched Hulk when the car started to perform .Ok he could not sustain the speed and turn it to results in most races but he might be able to raise his game on the considerable credit given by the team with rehiring him .
Very unfortunate Sauber did not grab Kobayashi though .I think he really is the ideal fit for Sauber.

What do you mean "maybe"? He brings sponsorship since forever, it's interesting how he escaped pay-driver label. There are better choices but he he is experienced and they needed that.

Gutierrez matching NH's speed? Once or twice (?) and even that was questionable, he wasn't far off when he got it right, overall rather disappointing rookie season, might get better in the second (like Petrov). It's subjective but he doesn't look like he's determined enough, kind of like Kovalainen.

Pity about Di Resta, he had a fine season and is simply better than Perez. Force India should stop pretending that they don't choose drivers for money or other reasons. They got away with that with Sutil (continuity, well known by the team etc.) but can't now.

Kobayashi and all other candidates - this "interest", means little. They (F1 teams) like to play this game for publicity, we're interested, drivers are in the frame, cost nothing and creates some headlines, you can add every driver available, like Massa to Lotus. You never know, Caterham's approach is chaotic, from unnecessarily overpaying (Trulli/Kova) to drivers with money.

edit: typos

i have to admit i don´t know how much Medion and capri sonne could ever spend to keep sutils career alive...but wait...Medion is today controlled by Lenovo (87,55of the shares) and has a turnover of 1,4bill€ and around 30mill€ ebit so yes they can spend a little bit of their earnings to support Sutil ..
If Medion is not staying with FI -we do not know yet .

Interestingly enough company Beverage company Wild who markets Capri Sonne has a similar turnover of 1.4Bill€ ...but is not yet represented at the stock exchange for the time beeing .

[Pierce89]

I have to admit I´m at a loss to understand why Sauber signed Sutil maybe he has some proper funding in place? Gutierrez showed signs of speed at times and almost matched Hulk when the car started to perform .Ok he could not sustain the speed and turn it to results in most races but he might be able to raise his game on the considerable credit given by the team with rehiring him .
Very unfortunate Sauber did not grab Kobayashi though .I think he really is the ideal fit for Sauber.

What do you mean "maybe"? He brings sponsorship since forever, it's interesting how he escaped pay-driver label. There are better choices but he he is experienced and they needed that.

Gutierrez matching NH's speed? Once or twice (?) and even that was questionable, he wasn't far off when he got it right, overall rather disappointing rookie season, might get better in the second (like Petrov). It's subjective but he doesn't look like he's determined enough, kind of like Kovalainen.

Pity about Di Resta, he had a fine season and is simply better than Perez. Force India should stop pretending that they don't choose drivers for money or other reasons. They got away with that with Sutil (continuity, well known by the team etc.) but can't now.

Kobayashi and all other candidates - this "interest", means little. They (F1 teams) like to play this game for publicity, we're interested, drivers are in the frame, cost nothing and creates some headlines, you can add every driver available, like Massa to Lotus. You never know, Caterham's approach is chaotic, from unnecessarily overpaying (Trulli/Kova) to drivers with money.

edit: typos

I read in f1 racing that Sutil has medion and one other sponsor that together bring less than a million a year. That's not close to getting an f1 seat strictly on finacial considerations. Sutil is considered a safe pair of hands with a decent turn of speed.

[Jonnycraig]

Just as an aside, despite the claims of Chilton finishing every race, when Vettel crossed the line in Brazil, Chilton still had another 28 laps to complete to make a season...

[SectorOne]

Just as an aside, despite the claims of Chilton finishing every race, when Vettel crossed the line in Brazil, Chilton still had another 28 laps to complete to make a season...

He still finished every race. Doing every single lap is an entirely different matter.

[iotar__]

About Sutil/Medion. I can't comment on exact figures, if it's let's say couple of millions than they get smaller exposure and he's a cheap pay-driver . Of course those companies get something in return (in every case not only Sutil's), which you can deduct from pay for seat/driver with sponsorship stigma. On merit alone Sauber IMO should have hired Di Resta but Sutil is decent.

About Caterham/Koba/Ericsson I didn't know that but Amus is speculating they both bring some money, so it doesn't have to be a change in policy.

Edit: All this for 1 or 2 million?
http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/medi ... rce_india/
Medion Mobile's logos will appear on the cars of Sutil and Scotsman Paul Di Resta, as well as on team kit. Force India will also use a 'wide range' of Medion products throughout the year.

[hollus]

Off the top of my head, Sutil's Medion sponsorship used to be worth 4 million dollars a year.

[Jonnycraig]

Ericssons manager denies Caterham rumours:

"In all honesty, neither Marcus or I have got a clue of what’s going on at Caterham."

Regarding talk of a mega sponsor, who would buy Marcus a seat, Elgh said: "I want to firmly deny that. We haven’t got any heavy-hitter sponsors generally."

And more: "All I know is that somebody said to BBC Marcus is a candidate for Caterham and somebody has also been mentioning it in a Finnish newspaper. Lots of speculation has then been built on that.

If Caterham has got something developing that we don’t know of, then it would be a very nice Xmas present. But that’s not something we dare to believe in."

"We are discussing sports cars or WSR and something’s come up in the US too."