Silly Season 2011/2012

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

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.

Sorry I meant 2012 year end leading into 2013...but that would mean different thread
Webber is "Fo Sho" at Red Bull for 2012.

[Trailer23]

To me it is so diifficult to judge drivers by the teams they drive for.

Is it fair to judge Di Resta's pace with those of the current STR drivers? I mean the Force India is a fast car. Questions is, how Di Resta would be if he were a STR driver?

The same goes for Maldonado. He's had the bad luck of coming into the WilliamsF1 when they've had a really bad car throughout the season. Last season, Barrichello had scored 47 Championship points & this year he's had only 4 points. One has to raise the question, how well Maldonado would've been if he had been with WilliamsF1 last year OR how good Perez could have been had he off signed with Williams this year instaed of SauberF1? These are questions we should ask.

As for Daniel Ricciardo, the guy is semi-cursed for driving possibly the worst car on the grid, but then again, he should consider himself lucky that he even got a drive 'cause earlier in the year he was just meant for Free Practice drives.

Now as for comparing Buemi with Alguersuari, it is clear who is proving to be worth retaining in 2012. They both drive for the same team, hence its fair to compare. Buemi in my opinion should not be in the equation for 2012, so its pointless to talk about him for 2013. Only a miracle can keep him in F1 & that is if any of the lower teams may consider giving him a drive for next year.

Note: I Do Not rate Di Resta higher than Alguersuari by a long-shot.

[marcush.]

I think it is punching above weight which is what we are looking for.You might well be able to beat your teammate ,but that does only tell how you fare in this team with the people involved and it says possibly nothing about your potential in other environments.
Fair enough Jaime has raised his game since last year and Buemi is clearly unable to put him back behind him consistantly.To me that should lead to having him removed from TR.But on the other hand Ricciardo has not really showed much with HRT ..but it could be it is just not visible to the public why he struggles to leave Liuzzi behind .
In TR clearly both pilots had difficulty to guide the team towards the correct development direction and only now they seem to find the speed the car may have...maybe it is a top three car in reality but the two morons just don´t have it?
Perez matched Kobayashi surprisingly well as di Resta has matched Sutil..
To me all this is telling that all those are of course very capable drivers who can score good points given the right circumstances .But Champion material they are not.

[ESPImperium]

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".

Thanks. I try to look at things from a couple of diffrent angles and then make a decision on my stance.

The drivers market is one area i like to look at as well as the sponsorship side of things as i really like the "Business of Sport" with lack of a better phrase. It really intreques me how much wheeler-deeler deaings get done.

As for the quali thing, i think it would really make things intresting, as you could have a hour long session where Q1 is 45 minuite long and thats where the drivers get cut off after that, then the grid is decided with the fastest drivers of each team being given a single lap to get their quali posistion in a 10 minuite long Q2. Lets face it, who wouldnt want to see 36 cars on a track at once trying to qualify. And the strategy of Quali would also come in, as dsrivers would have to try and judge when is the best time to get a lap in when the track evolution is at its best and also when there isnt too many cars out on track. The only track id have concerns with would be Monaco, but im sure it wouldnt be too bad.

One thing we will know for Thursday is what each team will be called next year as there are 3 chassis name changes on the table, Team Lottus to something containing Caterham, Renault to Lotus and Virgin to Marussia.
Theese are all being discussed in the FIA Sennate for the World Motorsport Council.

[cbbcisace]

Anything on HRT'S name change, is this being discussed at the meeting?

[ESPImperium]

HRT arnt changing their name for 2012 AFIK. A name change costs quite a bit, arround €350,000 and on Hispanias budget of €55m, thats money that could be better spent on performance of the car. Team Lotus have the budget and Marussia are footing this bill for the team.

[Jeffsvilleusa]

If we can get Raikkonen back, all we need is Montoya and Hakkinen and the dream grid will be realized!!

[raymondu999]

I do miss Montoya; and while I also miss Hakkinen; I remember that several years back he did a test and was very much off the pace;

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Mika would never come back I'm sure we all agree. Although it would be fantastic to see the man wring the neck out of an f1 car again.

[xpensive]

Unfortunately, it seems that the champions returning with much success are few and far between?

[Trailer23]

I do miss Montoya.

Who doesn't?

The man was like the Dennis Rodman of Formula1.

[MIKEY_!]

Mika left in 2001. Coming back from that is totally unreasonable. But we can dream.

[Richard]

Sir Jackie Stewart can still put in a mean laptime.

[MIKEY_!]

LOL I'd like to see him in an F1 car again.

[Tufty]

Doesn't Jackie still drive at Goodwood and the like?