2010 Driver Lineup

[FB]

JB has always over valued his services, although Honda were stupid enough to pay him. Now he has had some success I presume his opinion of what he is worth will have sky rocketed. Let's see if Brawn start to favour Rubens through the rest of the season, that may give us an indication of how contract negotitaions with Jenson are going.

 

[McZiderRed]

Maybe the driver that's retained to partner Rosberg, will depend on this years driver championship outcome. Assuming this report is true. Who-ever wins the drivers championship retains the seat?

 

[teabagyokel]

So you're saying Rosberg to drive car #2 whatever happens this year...! That's interesting, I feel Barrichello is going either which way is up.

 

[cider_and_toast]

I think Rubens had proven he has another season left in him so with that in mind, how many teams out there would benifit from a number two who can turn in some strong and consistant results and is a decent bloke who won't upset the team apple cart.

Number 2 seat at Mclaren for a season ??

When you think about it, there isn't much wrong with the idea. He would be an ideal back up for Lewis, he's got experience with Mercedes and he's better than Kovi. Mclaren have not won the WCC due to the lack of a decent number 2 and Rubens could be the man for the job.

 

[teabagyokel]

If Lewis wins the WDC next year, Barrichello's on for some sort of record if that one comes off!

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Rubens at McLaren? Interesting thought.
I think a lot of this hinges on the Renault situation now, what happens on the 21st Sep, and what may happen with Alonso. I sense it's still not set in stone that he's going to Ferrari thought still pretty likely. The likely mover then is Raikkonen who I do believe could be an option at McLaren. The other wildcard driver is Sutil who, being German and starting to look quite promising, could find himself at either Brawn or McLaren. I've seen a couple of reports in recent days linking him with McLaren.

 

[Brogan]

The Kimi to McLaren rumours are gaining strength.

Kimi Raikkonen has signed an "outline agreement" to kick off a second tenure with the McLaren team beginning next season, the Mirror newspaper reported on Sunday.

The British newspaper said the 29-year-old Finn, who raced with the Woking based outfit between 2002 and 2006, must first reach an agreement with Ferrari, with whom he is under contract for one more season.

The Mirror cited "paddock sources" in claiming that Raikkonen is prepared to vacate his contracted Ferrari seat in 2010, but only if the famous Italian outfit pays his salary. The newspaper estimated Raikkonen's 2010 Ferrari contract at nearly US $49m.

Raikkonen and McLaren

 

[Brogan]

Luca di Montezemolo once again comes out with a different stance on Kimi.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo says Kimi Raikkonen is not guaranteed to drive for the team next season.

Di Montezemolo said the team would retain Felipe Massa, who is recovering from a fractured skull sustained in a crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

He added: "Otherwise, we are mulling the best choice but we still have time. We will decide in a few weeks."

So now we know "for sure" that Massa is the 1st driver and it's either going to be Kimi or Alonso alongside him.

[bg=#FFFFFF]B|B|C[/bg] Räikkönen Ferrari future in doubt

 

[McZiderRed]

So now we know "for sure" that Massa is the 1st driver and it's either going to be Kimi or Alonso alongside him.

Does that mean Luca has given up on his desire for three cars a team? Wish he'd make up his mind...

 

[Brogan]

What is di Montezemolo playing at?

” I’m happy with the five year deal with Bank Santander. I’m happy to have a Spanish sponsor and I’m pleased with my team with Alonso.”

He was toying with them because he then said, “Next year we will have Massa, Raikkonen and a Spanish sponsor.”

Personally I'd be pleased if he just kept his mouth shut unless it's to announce the actual drivers for next year.

Ferrari driver situation ‘has changed’

 

[teabagyokel]

Personally I'd be pleased if he just kept his mouth shut unless it's to announce the actual drivers for next year.

Personally I'd be pleased if he just kept his mouth shut. Surely Dominicali could announce the Ferrari drivers next year, and he's not tried to lead FOTA to independence!

 

[Brogan]

Alonso is all but confirmed at Ferrari with Kubica moving to Renault.

[bg=#E3001A]Autosport[/bg] Ferrari set to confirm Alonso for 2010

 

[GeoffP]

I can see Kimi and Lewis being a cracking partnership. I admire Felipe and Fernando a lot, but I think that McLaren have the winning TEAM in the bargain...

 

[Brogan]

If it does go ahead then presumably Alonso will be given the No. 1 driver status?
I wonder how Massa will feel about that?

If Kimi does go back to McLaren then it will give McLaren their best chance of securing the WCC for a long time.

 

[FB]

Well, Massa has showen Kimi how it should be done one more than one occasion so I wouldn't under estimate him. He will also still have the support of one M Schumacher behind the scenes which I think is quite a powerful resource to have.

I think the risk for Alonso is that he may become marginalised rather than the other way round especially if he "comes the No1" within the team. It didn't work at McLaren when he flexed his muscles toward Hamilton and I get the feeling there is a lot of strong "family" feeling for Massa in the Ferrari team.

 

[GeoffP]

FB, I think you're right, but I would love to see Kimi back in the McLaren environment to see how mush of the Schui presence and Massa's team popularity have effected his performance on the track.

You have to ask why Kimi's performance has increased so markedly in the last few races, is it because all is not well? If so, is there a snowball's chance in hell that Fernando will be happy there?

Also, I can see Kimi working well with Lewis, which is just what he needs. Let's not forget that the only thing that stopped Kimi stomping all over Schui was that he used to fly off as much as he would fly past in his early days. If they click McLaren could have a formidable driving solution.

 

[Brogan]

If they click McLaren could have a formidable driving solution.

Indeed.
And with Kimi still being relatively young at 30 and Lewis only 24 it could go on for many years.

 

[BlackCountryBob]

I think it is also worth noting that Kimi would have almost certainly won the title in 2005 if it was not for the dumb and dangerous one tyre per weekend rule (but the unreliability of the Mercedes engine of the time did not help either). However, that is just conjecture and can never be proven.

I am unsure if Kimi is really as lazy or uninterested as people say, I think that the Ferrari is just a very difficult car to drive for him, it seems to match Massa's style perfectly but less so him (and Fisi, Badoer). The real key would then seem to be matching 2 drivers who like a twitchy car or 2 drivers who prefer the back to slide etc; Lewis and Kimi are also the same height and pretty close on weight helping with a homogeneous car design (Massa is 3" shorter than Kimi and almost a stone lighter). Maybe Kimis recent resurgence is just due to him finally being able to adapt his style to this car. Him with Lewis though would be a very exciting pairing.

My question, who do you match with Kubica at Renault? Do they keep Grosjean for a full season and hope or get someone else, there appears to be plenty of good talent around, maybe even a return for Heikki.

 

[GeoffP]

I'm really not sure that Renault is going to be at the top of anyone's list in the short term, they may require a consolidation year next year as there are eight new seats requiring drivers coming up and Renault have just started to pay their fine.

I think the may take Grosjean by default unless they can attract Reubens for a season.

 

[Brogan]

Well if hadn't been for Singapore 2008, I would have said Grosjean's seat wasn't safe for 2009 as he has hardly done much worth shouting about.

See here for his head to head data which shows that he has qualified and finished pretty much in the bottom quarter for all 4 races: F1 Head To Head 2009
Slightly worse than Piquet in fact

Now though, as Geoff says, it's more a case of who wants to drive for Renault rather than who they want to drive for them.