Lotus F1 Team 2013

[Manoah2u]

When Maldonado comes the team will have a net budget increase of the PDVSA money PLUS the salary that they wont be paying Kimi. That's like 30 million pounds a year. That's enough to buy Six Nico Hulkengburgs and I'm sure Nico is not six times better than Maldo. I deffinitely think Maldo is coming for 2014.

I think the same, however, the quantum deal supposedly would be through [though i haven't read nothing official] and that's a 270 million $$ value over 5 years iirc, with Quantum 'wanting' the Hulk - don't know what to think about the latter, because this report came from AutoMotorUndSport, a german magazine, and well - guess who's German - i doubt the validity of that part, probably there's some truth to the numbers and figures though.
BUT, if they really DO want hulkster, then they don't need the maldo money, and 270 mil $$ is almost ten times that which Pastor can provide with his PDVSA money [if that's actually ever going to happen with the Venezuelan government money investigation] - and the same applies, they don't have to worry 'bout paying kimi-salary "win-win". I doubt pastor is so good he'll equal 10 times the money with his PDVSA bucks vs the Quantum money [should they back out if hulk doesn't get the drive].

then again - a sleeky businessman would take that Quantum Money and convince them to ditch the hulk idea and opt for Maldonado with his PDVSA money instead - that's +30mil in the bank.

but then, i believe i read some tweet Maldo supposedly would be going to Sauber..........so........who knows, really

[turbof1]

Official: Raikkonen missing out on the last 2 races due back surgery:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/111218

[Manoah2u]

If Hulkenberg really would be joining LotusF1 in '14, they'd do best actually to put Hulk in that seat [like Salo said haha],
and Sauber could use it to put Sirotkin into the last 2 races for experience.

I can't see Valsecchi doing much good with that Lotus [due to his inexperience as a F1 racing driver], Hulk has plenty
of experience in various teams and has proven to bee a strong competitor in a not-so-strong car.

this could be interesting what a plot twist! =D>

[CBeck113]

Now this is interesting:
http://www.f1technical.net/news/18939

Looks like the silly season is now rolling...so who will replace Kimi for the last two races?

[SectorOne]

Back surgery and out for the rest of the season... interesting.
He´s going to lose third place in the championship as well (potentially) but i guess if you don´t win it, where you end up is quite irrelevant.

[raymondu999]

Call me a cynic but it smells a bit like Montoya's dodgy shoulder in 06. Perhaps Valsecchi is in pole position for the drive, but we have also seen in the past that Lotus isn't shy of calling on a different driver who isn't their reserve (2011 Heidfeld, considering other drivers for 2012 Monza, etc)

Perhaps Red Bull could "loan" Vettel to Lotus for a couple of races?

[Manoah2u]

hulk in the kimi seat, sirotkin in the hulk seat. done. valsecchi has zero f1 race experience. then again, lotus can't gain nor lose their constructor's position, so whatever happens, it doesn't matter anyway. if Hulk would come to lotus anyway [instead of pastor], hulk would atleast make some sense to get there. probably be valsecchi though, he was ready last race, too. lotus probably feels like they should have put valsecchi in last race perhaps.

would be interesting both to see either valsecchi performing in the lotus, as a rookie, or hulk as a 'pro' getting in that seat, i think hulk could give Romain a run for his money. Then again, valsecchi wasn't that bad a performer in the other GP classes, so it would be interesting to see what position Valsecchi would lock that lotus at the grid.

* edit: wait, this is silly season thread. let's get silly. put kobayashi in there.

[SectorOne]

Dambrosio or Valsecchi will probably get the seat.

Kimi - race driver
Grosjean - race driver

Dambrosio - reserve driver
Prost - development driver
Valsecchi - third driver

In Formula One, the term third driver is used to designate a test driver. Third drivers do not compete in Grands Prix, but are used by teams to help the race drivers and engineers with car development.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_driver

Probably Dambrosio who has already driven in Monza last year.

[stefan_]

My guess is that Valsecchi will drive, as he had tested with an older car as well as with the current car and has a lot of hours in the simulator.

Plot twist: Perez comes to Lotus in 2014 as Magnussen takes his place at McLaren.

[Aesto]

How has Button been underperforming? He's outscored his teammate by more than 70%, only Hülkenberg, Alonso and Vettel have done better.

On Raikkonen's replacement: Lotus still has an outside chance of getting 2nd or 3rd in the championship, so it can't be some wildcard. D'Ambrosio didn't do that well in Monza last year. Sauber still has a small chance of beating FI if they score big, so they won't release Hülkenberg early (also, Sirotkin doesn't have a Super License). That leaves Valsecchi - who is completely unproven in F1 (plus, Boullier said he doesn't want to deal with rookies anymore).

I'd say there might also be an outside chance for either Kovalainnen or Glock (if he wants to, and is allowed to by BMW) - both are extremely consistent, so Lotus could rely on them to score some points.

All in all, seems very hard to predict since there is no outstanding candidate :/

Edit: Now that I think about it some more: The maximum amounts of points a team can still get is 84. However, given the fact that Red Bull is probably going to do that, the maximum points haul for 2x P3 & P4 would be 54. That would put Lotus at 351. That puts them ahead of Ferrari if Ferrari doesn't score more than 27 points (for which two fifth places and one sixth place is enough). Mercedes is another 11 points ahead of Ferrari, so beating them is even less likely.

Tldr: Lotus might as well forget about P2/P3 in the WCC and give Valsecchi a chance.

[marcush.]

hulk is a free agent ,so he could join ?
If anything it would be THE chance to show just how good he really is.Coming in with a bang and winning the austin Grand Prix beating Vettel....
I´d guess there is not a better opportunity to come ever .Of course it could all go wrong butthen who cares -it´s a top drive he is looking for so he needs to deliver anyways.
If i were Nico I´d take that gamble and try to win one of these two GPs or both .If it worked he ´d be a legend ...but as we know if is F1 spelled backwards according to Bernie..

Does Hulk have hairy arms and legs?

[Mui]

The only problem would be seat size, Hulk as his name suggests is one of the bigger drivers if not the biggest.

[i70q7m7ghw]

Now this is interesting:
http://www.f1technical.net/news/18939

Looks like the silly season is now rolling...so who will replace Kimi for the last two races?

Fairly clever from Kimi really, now he doesn't have to do the final two races unpaid, but he won't be in breach of contract because he has a valid reason for not racing.

Lotus really should have paid up. A contract is a contract, if they weren't able to pay him his salary from the start, they should never have signed a contract committing themselves to do so. It's not like Kimi has been under performing this year.

[marcush.]

excuse me ...Romain grosjean is 180cm tall and 68kg Hulk cannot be much bigger at 184 and 74 kg....so around the size of Gerhard Berger or Webbo.
I don´t think it would be impossible.

[SectorOne]

Fairly clever from Kimi really, now he doesn't have to do the final two races unpaid, but he won't be in breach of contract because he has a valid reason for not racing.

He´s getting surgery. I doubt this was a mastermind move to not race while still getting paid.
Seeing as he´s raced what 80% of the season already without pay.