Silly Season 2011/2012

[Giblet]

This thread is for speculating the positions of drivers within teams for next season, it is not another excuse to attempt to rate drivers. This must stop to keep the thread from needing moderation after this point.

Thank you.

[Enrage]

With the possibility of a Trulli retirement, would Sutil moving to Caterham make sense? It would seem to make more sense than the D'Ambrosio rumors.

[ESPImperium]

Id pin more on either someone like Senna or Riccardo being in a Caterham than a D'Ambrosio with the Renault or Red Bull technology link. D'Ambrosio is a quality driver, but i feel that free tech and a driver with experience of a better car will outweigh D''Ambrosio on his own.

The one curveball im looking at for next year is Sutil becoming the Test & Reserve driver at Mercedes. But there has been a long running rumor that teams will have to put a TD in a car in FP1 (in a fixed ammount of events) either next year or the year after so that if a Perez incedent at Canada happens, he can jump in and race at a minuites notice. The sweetener for this will be more Pirelli tyres for that driver, so he can be out for most of FP1.

One thing is for surem id like to see a rule that every team has to confirm their driver line up for December 1st.

[scuderiafan]

It seems like the current Team Lotus wants to oust Trulli. In that case, I believe that Senna would get a seat with them, and Grosjean would race alongside Petrov, at least until Kubica comes back (if he ever does).

http://planetf1.com/driver/18227/732064 ... me-drivers

This is an interesting article. Who would fill the spots in 2013? Webber? Kovalainen?

[ESPImperium]

I think they will keep Petrov for one more year before ditching him. Grosjean will be kept till he is no longer needed, i recon that Trullis seat at Caterham will be between Riccardo and Senna next year. I also think Kubica is gone, i think he is on the sideboard now, simply because he may not be strong enough now for F1.

I am thinking that Webber will be a target in 2013 for Renault and Ferrari.

Heikki will stay at Caterham as he seems to enjoy it there, and is making that team focus on him, Glock may be the driver for Renault, but i feel that 2/3 years at Virgin/Marussia will mean his star for a top team has shone out.

I think next year at Renault we will see them rebuild, and as for drivers, it could see the next breed of big names come to the fore.

[MIKEY_!]

I do recall Webber being told this year sometime that there was a spot open to him at Renault if he didn't want to continue at RBR. Webber and Kubica wouldn't be a bad pairing.

I think RBR will want to move Riccardo up to TR, not cut another HRT like deal to have him drive for Lotus. They'll need him ready for when Webber goes.

[cbbcisace]

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate ... Itemid%3D2

De la Rosa: If HRT make me an offer, I would be interested!

[MIKEY_!]

He's Spanish isn't he?

[cbbcisace]

Yes. According to an article I read HRT are asking for 5million euros for a seat.

Dani Clos should be able to raise that.

Don't expect Ricciardo or Karthikeyan to be with the team next year.

[ESPImperium]

I heard that Hispania were looking at €12m for the first seat and €8m for the second.

Dani Clos can get his hands on the €8m for this season from his personal sponsors. However the €12m seat may be harder to fill.

Im kind of expecting Rubens as he has been in Brazil since Abu Dhabi to try and get sponsorship from the sponsors he had on the BGP001 for the magical 20th season.

I recon that Rubens and Dani will be there for 2012.

[raymondu999]

I remember a while back Buemi was also very highly rated by Renault

[Tyler]

I heard that Hispania were looking at €12m for the first seat and €8m for the second.

Dani Clos can get his hands on the €8m for this season from his personal sponsors. However the €12m seat may be harder to fill.

Im kind of expecting Rubens as he has been in Brazil since Abu Dhabi to try and get sponsorship from the sponsors he had on the BGP001 for the magical 20th season.

I recon that Rubens and Dani will be there for 2012.

Pedro de la Rosa has been confirmed in the one seat.
Now we just have to wait and see who the other one will go to.
Perhaps we'll have de la Rosa and Barichello together at HRT in 2012 - at least they'll have a lot of experience between their 2 drivers.

[raymondu999]

Two of the best development drivers too

[Tyler]

That'll be a hell of a lot better lineup than they had at the beginning of 2011, that's for sure!
I was just thinking about Hulkenburg's situation.
It seems as if he's really banking on Force India putting him in one of their racing seats for next year.
He doesn't seem to have been looking around at other teams, at least not that I've heard anyway.
If he isn't chosen to replace Sutil, or less likely, di Resta, he may be out of the real action for another year, very sad for a youngster who won the GP2 championship!
I wonder why he hasn't (as far as we know) approached Renault too.
It looks like they're giving a seat to Grosjean, who's less experienced.
Hulkenburg just seems to be putting all his eggs in one basket, which doesn't seem sensible based on Sutil's recent form - then again, maybe he knows something that we don't already?

[dice782]

So its Pedro De La Rosa to HRT I guess that means Tonio is out? So what can Pedro bring to HRT, inside knowledge of Mclaren ??