Kubica to Renault, confirmed!

[teabagyokel]

Robert Kubica will replace Fernando Alonso at Renault next season.

Nice to see a new Renault driver without a Flavio Briatore management history, for the first time since Fisichella signed in 2005! (If you didn't know how shady and corrupt that man was...)
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Will this be a huge step up in Kubica's career or are Renault still a floating ship heading nowhere? And will the Pole be paired with Romain Grosjean or someone else. His only F1 team-mate to date has been Nick Heidfeld. In their Benetton days, they did sign Ferrari's entire 1995 partnership for 1996!

 

[Brogan]

Well the Renault has certainly improved over the season but it's still only one of the better mid field cars.
I doubt it will be challenging for wins too much next season.

All the recent rumours suggest Renault might also replace Grosjean.
No idea who with though.

 

[McZiderRed]

If Renault do get rid of Grosjean, then they could do a lot worse then sign Heidfeld (assuming that having a French driver isn't a pre-requisite). For the drivers being at a new team, having a familiar team-mate (which they are happy to work with?) would help.

 

[fedupwithuserids]

The Renault might improve further with Flav gone, he doesn't seem to suffer people who disagree with, but I think they've got a lot of catching up todo.

I don't think it will help Kubicas career unless the Renault is one of next years top cars, he has had a quiet season this year, as has Heidfeld.

It would be nice to see Grosjean with some solid testing under his belt, if he does get dropped his career has been affected by the FIAs ban on testing. Nice one Max!

Do you think Kovi may head there if dropped?

 

[Brogan]

Do you think Kovi may head there if dropped?

A definite possibility although now that Briatore's gone he may have less chance then he did before of returning there.

Hard to say, I suppose it really depends on who else is willing to drive for Renault.

There are still a lot of seats to fill for next year which is unusual.
Normally it's all sorted by now, isn't it?

Is it Kimi who is now holding things up?

 

[cider_and_toast]

I think this could be a case of Kubica jumping out of a nice BMW badged frying pan into a neat little Renault badged fire. The team are short on consistancy and need to take a pretty big step up to rejoin the top ranks (yes Martin Brundle, I said Ranks) on a regular basis.

Kubica has had a pretty lonely season in a not so great car while his team mate has seemed to have the better of things. A fresh start at Renault will help and I reckon a fresh team mate should give him a new challenge as well. I reckon in the end country will win out over experience and Romain will be in the car again next year. Renault are a team that need some good press at the moment and having a local driver should help even if only a little.

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Some reports are saying Renault could wait until the start of next year to decide on their other driver. I wonder why this could be? There seems to be one driver who's possibly stalling at the moment - perhaps Renault are keen not to rush this driver's decision and are playing a waiting game by saying they have plenty of time to make a decision? Another way of looking at it could be that they have a reserve choice - e.g a rookie driver such as Lucas di Grassi who they could maybe get at short notice if all falls through, but are hanging out for a #1 choice of a certain driver. The one driver who seems to be taking his time is Kimi!

Heidfeld's been linked with the Renault drive too.

 

[fedupwithuserids]

The one driver who seems to be taking his time is Kimi!

Would Kimi be interested in driving for Renault?

Did he not say that he would rather not have a drive if he didn't have a chance of winning the WDC.

Or does Kimi know something about Renault's 2010 car that we don't.

Whatever happens Kimi is the key, once he moves everybody else should hopefully slot into place.

 

[Brogan]

No chance Kimi will go to Renault.

It will either be McLaren or, if the rumours are to be believed, Red Bull in place of Mark Webber.