2011 Silly Season

Legard has been twittering away:

Hearing that Adrian Sutil is leading contender to replace Michael Schumacher at season's end if he leaves Mercedes. Sutil now out of contract at Force India.

This could leave a space for Chandhok.
 
With De La Rosa and HRT,

He used to have significant backing from Repsol iirc.

Wonder if they still paying him even if the logo's weren't on the sauber.

Spanish team, Spanish Driver, Backing from a Spanish Oil giant.

Seems like a nice deal for them doesn't it now :whistle:
 
This what Gerrard Lopez had to say.
Much as I posted earlier the Lada /Nissan Renault consortium is a major factor to be considered.
If you type in F1 on Yandex in Russian, Yandex is the top Russian language search engine immediately you will be taken to articles about Petrov.

"Although the sponsorship opportunities that came from signing Vitaly Petrov at the beginning of this year were a key factor in his original appointment, Lopez insists that the Russian's place in the team is not just dependent on money.
"It's not that Vitaly is a paying driver, because he's not, but certainly the sponsors that he brought or that came, which is Lada, have been very good sponsors. But Vitaly was not bringing the kind of money that people were saying.

"And he's a good driver. Vitaly was second in the GP2 championship last year and could easily have won that championship if he hadn't had six failures last year. On top of all that, he is a driver that has 250 million Russian-speaking people that are convinced in him, so we'd be stupid not to assume that there is a business behind that. But we have to build the driver. He is to us a very important element, just as Robert [Kubica] is. "

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/86759
 
Unless someone can talk him out of it, I can see Schuey still hanging around next season as I think he thinks he can still win the title.

I can't see Hamilton going anywhere for some time or at least until some one is prepared to offer him a bucket load of cash to join them.

Kmi to Red Bull seems the most plausible of the silly season rumours as I can't see Mark Webber's stay at that team going on for much longer weather he wins the title or not.

I know Williams have confirmed Rubens for next year and I'm pretty sure given the reports coming out of Williams that they may even option him for 2012 as well. That record of most starts is seriously going to take some beating.

Other than that. I think we're in one of those strange transitional years where most of the big seats are being kept warm buy drivers on long term contracts. I think we'll hve to wait until the end of next season before we start seeing the driver merry go round go crazy again.
 
cider_and_toast said:
Unless someone can talk him out of it, I can see Schuey still hanging around next season as I think he thinks he can still win the title.

Well this years Mercedes was made on the cheap by Brawn who had to focus all their money on winning the title last year, no doubt Schumacher will be back to the front of the field next year with a good car.
 
McLarenSupremo said:
Well this years Mercedes was made on the cheap by Brawn who had to focus all their money on winning the title last year, no doubt Schumacher will be back to the front of the field next year with a good car.
Well first he has to beat his teammate and he hasn't done a great job of that this season.

F1 2010 Head To Head
 
Didn't I hear it on the BBC, that Williams have Rubens for 2011 and are trying to confirm Hulk for 2011 too, and just need to sort out the later before they confirm the 2?
 
ATL11 said:
Didn't I hear it on the BBC, that Williams have Rubens for 2011 and are trying to confirm Hulk for 2011 too, and just need to sort out the later before they confirm the 2?
Yes, that was a quote by Rubens himself, who said;

"My part is done, all that remains is the paperwork for it to be confirmed. It is 100% that I will be at Williams in 2011."
"It was an easier decision with me [than with Hulkenberg]. Williams are waiting. I think they are analysing Nico Hulkenberg's situation and then they will make a joint announcement."


All of which led to speculation in some quarters that the reason for the delay in Hulkenberg re-signing might be that he was in the frame for a Mercedes seat with Schumacher retiring!
 
No great suprise here.In Russia Petrov is known as "The Vyborg Rocket" so its a logical move.

"Renault has announced that Russian company Vyborg Shipyard JSC has become a team partner for the final five races of the 2010 season.

The deal marks the second partnership with a Russian company in 2010 for Renault, following the agreement with Lada.

"Both companies have been attracted to the team by Vitaly Petrov's promising debut season as Russia's first ever F1 driver," said the team in a statement.

Vyborg Shipyard JSC, one of the largest shipbuilding companies in the North-Western region of Russia, will have its logos featured on the chassis of both cars for the remainder of the 2010 season.

Petrov, a native of Vyborg, will also carry the logo on his overalls."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/86854
 
Lots of sillyness to report today.

Firstly, there's a possible move for Massa to Sauber leaving his race seat open for Kubica

http://en.espnf1.com/ferrari/motorsport ... MP=OTC-RSS

This is backed up by Heidfeld saying he is in talks with other teams for 2011

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/ ... et-signed/

Meanwhile at Force India Liuzzi wants to give up his seat to Di Resta after saying the F-Duct does not suit his driving style.

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=387945

And some good news, HWWNBN has said he has no plans to return to F1 as he is happy been a dad.

http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews ... 11276.html
 
sobriety said:
If Kubica goes to Ferrari, what of Alonso, I'm not sure Bobby would play second fiddle to him...

Was just thinking the same thing. Would be a step up in terms of car, but a step back in terms of career for Kubica, if he were to 'do a Rubens' I just can't see him doing that though.
 
sobriety said:
If Kubica goes to Ferrari, what of Alonso, I'm not sure Bobby would play second fiddle to him...

Although, maybe the problem is whether Alonso would play second fiddle to Kubica, if necessary.

Robert. Is. Faster. Than. You. Do you understand the message?
¿Que?
 
All these rumors about Kubica and Ferrari surprise me a little .... no infact a lot.

I can see why Kubica would want join Ferrari, they are better then renault, at this point anyhow and have a history of doing well in Formula 1, especially in the past 10-12 years.

But what i cannot see is why Ferrari would want Kubica. He is a fantastic driver yes without a doubt and is proberly the best Driver outside the top 3 teams, but Ferrari already have two good drivers in Alonso and Massa. A pair of drivers who one has two world titles and another who missed out by a whisker in 08.

I cannot see the benefit of replacing Massa, or Alonso for that matter, with Kubica I don't think is any better or worse then those two. also the 2011 will be presumably set up for both Alonso and Massa too, so Kubica would have to adapt or change his style to adapt to the car, and with only a little amount of testing before the new season its always going to be difficult to settle in.

With these rumors sparking up again, i just wonder if theres something going on in the background with perhaps Massa not happy about what happened in Germany? Perhaps a move to sauber could also be a way of making Massa honor his contract not pay out any compensation for breaking his contract early and knock Massa down a peg or two if he is making noises in the team he wants to leave because of being at thw wrong end of team orders.
 
Ferrari are special and Ferrari are different, according to Ferrari. Ferrari is the dream of all the drivers on the grid, according to Ferrari.

Ferrari must always have the best driver(s). So they chased Raikkonen. They chased Alonso. And they're chasing Kubica.

For the last 4 years there has been a massive fly in the ointment. Felipe, baby. A very popular man within Ferrari and in the world beyond. Schumi quit because he didn't want to see him testing. When Raikkonen came and won, he lost interest - Felipe took up the title charge. In 2009, Felipe was injured, which increased his popularity somewhat. So to dislodge their '1 year temporary driver' has become a ridiculously unpopular thing to do.

So the dream of the others will have to wait, as Ferrari negotiate with the seat they wish they had. Or they could send him out to Sauber, as they always used to...
 
Q: (Joe Saward - Grand Prix Special) Stefano, in relation to Peter - because there have been some rather strange rumours this week about Felipe disappearing off to Sauber and Robert Kubica coming over to you - can you just put that story to bed completely and tell us it’s rubbish?
SD: Absolutely. I totally underline what you’ve said, because I think it’s getting boring news. Every day there is something new on that and I tell you that Peter and I meet a lot of times because we have a good professional relationship, so I can confirm what you said, absolutely.

Q: (Joe Saward - Grand Prix Special) And we are going to see the same drivers next year? ´
SD: Yes.
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/ ... 11301.html
 
I believe that I must interject and demand a measure of silliness in this forum. We will see Alonso at Ferrari next year, and he will be the Number 1, with Lewis Hamilton Number 2.

McLaren will fold, so Button will go to HRT.
 
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