Lotus Renault GP is pleased to announce that Kimi Räikkönen will race for the team next season. The 2007 World Champion, who left Formula 1 at the end of 2009 to pursue a career in rallying, has decided to make a comeback at the pinnacle of single-seater racing. He has now signed a two-year agreement with Lotus Renault GP.
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jet ,you maybe right but it is still a mistery to me.Would Sauber prefer Perez for the money? After all he is new to Formula 1 but he seems to match Kamui quite well.
JohnsonsEvilTwin wrote:Question here, who will get the 2nd RB seat in 2012? Ricciardo? Buemi? Alguesari? Or do Red Bull go for the blue chip option in Hamilton?
To my knowledge, Mark Webber will retain the seat in 2012 after a contract extention earlier this year.
Buemi's career appears to be over as far Red Bull & Toro Rosso are conerened.
Alguesari & Ricciardo will probably duel it out next season in the STR & see who comes out on top. My money is on Alguesari since he has proven that he finally understands the setup of the car during the Practice Sessions over the weekend & is getting used to Pirelli's - something he struggled with early on.
Lets not forget that in the last 5-6 races Jaime has finished in the points where he's battled with the likes of RenaultGP, Force India & occasionally MercGP, which proves that he has the speed.
I think that Rosberg would do well to stay at Mercedes.It's very clear who's team Ferrari is and Rosberg will always play second fiddle.
Mercedes really seem to be putting things in place that will make them a front-runner within the next few years.By that stage Schumacher will have retired, giving Rosberg the chance to build the team around himself, rather than play second fiddle at Ferrari.
If he's patient he may just find himself top dog at the best team, enjoying a position similar to what Vettel does today.
I get the feeling that already Mercedes is putting more support behind Rosberg than Schumacher, knowing that Schumacher is getting on and that Rosberg represents the future of the team.
What a tough life when your most difficult decision is whether to drive for Mercedes or Ferrari!
Interestingly the rumour mills are saying that Ferrari has hinted they may let Massa go prematurely, which would definitely indicate interest from a top driver ...... Rosberg perhaps?
Could actually be a lot of fun.I imagine him giving Alonso a much harder time than Massa.
I would love to see Alonso dethroned at Ferrari, with Rosberg outperforming Alonso to the extent he outperformed Schumi in 2010.
A little bit off point but I think that if Rosberg stays at Merc, he will finally be overtaken and outmatched by Schumacher, who is finding his form again, definitely has faster race pace and will finally get to grips with qualifying on the Pirelli tires.
I still hope and believe that the task of building Merc into a championship winning team will be achieved by Schumacher and not by Rosberg, Rosberg will simply keep things moving in the right direction when Schumi retires.
As for Red Bull Webber is signed until the end of 2012.
Marko seems to think that Ricciardo will tkae his place although I think it was Horner that said that he's a long way off from becoming a Red Bull driver.Ricciardo has himself been very worried about his future of late which indicates it's very far from being a sure thing.
As for Buemi and Alguersuari, I really can't see either getting a Red Bull seat.One will be dropped, one will remain at Toro Rosso for the time being.
Red Bull are the top team meaning they have the pick of any drivers they choose.Why go for an Alguersuari or a Buemi when there's clearly better talent around.
I can see them perhaps also trying to sign Rosberg or maybe snapping up Di Resta, who has looked the most promising rookie (together with Perez but he'll be going off to Ferrari).
Perhaps Raikkonen will impress enough at Williams in 2012 to secure a Red Bull seat in 2013 - watching Kimi and Seb battling it out for fastest lap on the last few laps of a GP will be fantastic!!!!
Hamilton is another possibility, he may decide he needs a change of scenery and a new challenge to get himself focused again.
It just seems more likely to me that they'll ignore their driver program at the end of the day in favour of securing the best talent available.
nacho wrote:Mark's season has been unbelievable, without Vettel they would've lost the championship.
This makes me wonder
Either:
a)Vettel really is a phenomenal driver and the Red Bull is perhaps not the fastest car or not as fast as we think
or
b)The RB7 is the fastest car and Webber is just not able to come to grips with the car or the tires this year.
For me Webber highlights why Red Bull should not fill Webbers vacant seat at the end of 2012 with a Buemi or a Ricciardo - future seasons could be a lot tighter in the fight for the constructors and fourth and fifth place from your 2nd driver just might not cut it.
I have a train of thought that Alguersauri will take #1 seat at STR next year over Buemi, as he has impressed more in the late season than Buemi. Buemi clearly has pace in both Quali and the Race, but clearly has a half set up car, Alguersauri understands the car much more and gives better feedback to his engineers.
Riccardo will get #2 seat at Red Bull next year with Jean Eric Vergne getting FP1 every event to impress as well as a couple of days in pre season and a day in the Mugello test as well. Id expect Vergne to keep a race seat in FR3.5 as well, but with Red Bull looking at getting him a seat mid season in a simmilar format to Riccardo this year if the situation arises that a Hispania need €10m to see themselvs thru the season or if a Team Lotus need a driver to replace a slow Trulli.
Id recon that in 2012 Alguersauri and Riccardo will be racing cat and dog to get into that Red Bull #2 seat, as i feel that Ferrari are looking at Webber for 2013 and 2014 to replace Massa and also give Perez and Bianchi seat time in the sport before being the more permanent replacement to Massa in the #2 Ferarri seat.
McLaren are pretty tight, Button is safe till 2015 with an option for 2016. Hamilton has a seat till 2014 with a option of 2 more years. McLaren also have 2 good Tedt/Reserve drivers as well as Oliver Turvey on their radar as well if they need a good Brittish young guy, but i also hear that they have 2 other GP2/GP3 drivers also on their radar as well if they need a quality young replacement.
Mercedes have a safe driver line up as well, Schumasher has 2013 with a option for 2014 and Rosberg is there till 2013 with an option of 2014 as well, but is looking for a long term deal till 2016 from what the rumor mill says. Schumacher wilol be replaced in 2013 or 2014 by either Paul Di Resta or Nico Hulkenberg id recon.
Renault is pretty mush open to all comers, but dependant on Kubica and what Petrov is able to extract in 2012. If he fails to do anything, id recon that he is toast. Renault need to pick up a good young driver with potential to develop the team arround, and Di Resta or Hulkenberg could be ones for this situation, Sutil id say no because of his relationship with people in the team at airports.
Force India i think will be Di Resta and Hulkenberg for 2012, tough one to control from a management point of view, but i think it could be done. From 2013 onward, its hazy for this team.
Sauber have Kimui and Perez for 2012 and Guiteriez as TD, Id expect to see him get plenty of FP1 sessions next year where he can as he will be in GP2 next year id recon. From 2013 onward, id recon that Kimui or Perez will be dropped, probably the worst performing next year, as Guiteriez seemingly has a Sauber seat option for 2013. This is to keep a Mexican in the sport till the potential 2015 Mexican GP and to keep Carlos Slim happy.
Williams, Maldanado is in for the long run here as Williams need the €21m from PDVSA, Sutil, Buemi and Raikkonenn are all open to the #1 seat with Senna, Grosjean and Karthekeyn (Who is getting a substancial budget behind him for 2012) as well. When Force India and Renault announce for 2012, id recon Williams will fall quite quickly after those two teams.
Team Lotus have Heikki and Jarno for 2012, however there are forces trying to force Jarno out before 2012, most notibly Charles Pic and Bruno Senna, both have money behind them. Id kind of expect to see Alex Rossi teake up TD duties here next year as id expect Rossi in a seat in this team for 2013 for both US and American GPs. Id also expect him to follow a Rioccardo/Vergne style FP1 seat/FR3.5 route for 2012. Also rumor has it that Luiz Razia will take Trullis seat for Brazil if he can bring €2m for that one race. If he can, id expect to see him do 2 days at Abu Dhabi to get him used to the car.
As for Virgin, Tmo Glock is cofirmed till 2013, anxpect to see him with either Robert Wickens or Charles Pic beside him for 2012. However this could be an escape route for the probably soon to be sidelined Sutil as well, however he cannot give the €20m that Pic has behind him or the rumored €12m that Wickens has to spend if he can secure a F2 seat in 2012.
As for Hispania, they will go with an experienced driver and a pay driver. They are looking at a Spannish driver. Many say Javier Villa, but id say if they can get Clos, they would have the best Spanish driver that isnt Alonso or Alguersauri. They have also been rumored to be looking at a woman driver, but i think pie in the sky. HRT will bring a experienced pay driver with a budget of arround €8m if they can and a good young driver with €20m to spend. This will give them their budget for 2012, whitch will need to be arround $75m to survive.
One thing there is, is too many good enough drivers, not enough seats. Whitch is where i came up with a hairbrained idea of every team has 3 cars, they all qualify, but the 2 best times are the ones that go and race from that team. Even if over the weekend, the 2 best driver times form a team up to the end of FP3 were taken thru to Quali, i think you could have alot more drivers in the sport and alot more drivers pushing it in Free Practice. Also more cars on track. Also do away with the unbuilt T-Car and say to drivers, if you crash it and write it off, you are done for for the weekend.
ESPImperium, you are about the only person I bother to read when the post is that long. Good thoughts as always. I like your qualy idea. If each team has 3 drivers trying for 2 race spots then that really makes the fight intense. It would actually be "qualifying" again instead of the current "grid positioning".
nacho wrote:Mark's season has been unbelievable, without Vettel they would've lost the championship.
Nope. Mark would still be champion.
A lot changes when you are #1. Mark would get the best strategies and most attention in finding out how to make the tyres work for him.
He'd be champion i think. The car is more than enough to make any driver champion.
nacho wrote:Mark's season has been unbelievable, without Vettel they would've lost the championship.
Nope. Mark would still be champion.
A lot changes when you are #1. Mark would get the best strategies and most attention in finding out how to make the tyres work for him.
He'd be champion i think. The car is more than enough to make any driver champion.
Having a car built around you and having the team working for you as a priority makes a big difference. Maybe not champion as it's difficult for me to say just how good vettel is but certainly much better than he has been doing.
I don't buy that the car doesn't suit Mark as such. Ok; sure; maybe the car is designed with more of Seb's feedback in mind. But in the almost-3 years that they've been teammates; the two have often shared setups. As a last resort; if 1 cannot find the right setup; the other will almost invariably take the setup of the other; so they must have similar wants and needs from a car.
Is Ricciardo doing enough to impress Red Bull?
I didn't really pay much attention to him in India but notice that he was beaten by Karthikeyan, whom everyone has been saying drove very well.
Is he not performing to expectations if someone like Narain is beating him, or was he just unlucky in the race?
To me he hasn't really done anything special that suggests he's better than Buemi or Alguersuari.
If he continues perhaps one day he can race against his son in F1.
