Looking ahead to 2013 - the Drivers line-up?

[no-FIAt-please]

Just because Williams won a race for the first time in 8 years and Hamilton went to congratulate Frank Williams it doesn't mean he wants to race for them. Still hypothetically I don't think he would challenge for the championship, but I do think he'd get the odd race win or two.

 

[RasputinLives]

I was kind of teasing. But you have to admit if Williams suddenly return to the front of the pack it suddenly presents Lewis with an option that he didn't have before. I'm sure the idea of leading a great name in F1 and a British team back to the front appeals to him massively.

I'm sure it will take a few more good results for Williams than this for him to think about it but compared to his current set of options if he choses to leave Mclaren a revised Williams team would be a god send!

 

[Bill Boddy]

Would Hamilton want to take the pay cut? Presumably his sponsors would have to shoulder it because Frank Williams is known for not handing out cash.

 

[RasputinLives]

It depends what Lewis is interested in - Cash or F1 - from what I've read of him I'd say the second one and I'm sure he'd quote the line about Senna offering to drive the Williams for free. Of course his management staff might have a different idea!

 

[Galahad]

If Sauber lose Perez, I imagine they will try to promote Gutierrez in order to hang onto their Mexican sponsors. Then it would be between Kobayashi and Massa for the other seat, and I wouldn't like to say which way that decision would go. Unless Kamui gets a better offer from elsewhere, that is.

 

[RasputinLives]

I think the Gutierrez move is pretty certain especially as he seems to have woken up in GP2 a little bit this year.

Surely Kamui over Massa is a no brainer right? If people we upset about Buemi and Alguersauri ending up without drives last year imagine the out cry if Kobi goes!

 

[Galahad]

It depends on whether Sauber think they can restore Massa to his pre-accident level of performance. I would certainly stick with Kamui based on this season's performances, of course.

 

[RasputinLives]

I think if you look at the fact its him that scored over 70% of all Saubers points since he joined the team they'd be silly to let him go.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Hamilton to Williams? Would be interesting

I've been advocating this for months. I'm pretty sure I was even saying it a year ago or more.

What could be a better fit? A resurgent British team (ok, so they've had one race win after a few very bad seasons, so I shouldn't get too carried away) and a supremely talented and motivated British racing driver... one might say the natural successor to Nigel Mansell, but even better. How could he resist the challlenge?

They might have to double the capacity at Silverstone.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Senna could then go to Mclaren as Jenson's rear gunner...

 

[teabagyokel]

THE TEABAGYOKEL HIGHLY ACCURATE* COMPUTERISED DRIVER LINE-UP SYSTEM

I fed the permutations in to the Teabagyokel Highly Accurate* Computer and came up with this:

Sebastian Vettel, Jean Eric Vergne
Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg
Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez
Lewis Hamilton, Paul di Resta
Kimi Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean
Nico Hulkenburg, Sam Bird
Kamui Kobayashi, Davide Valsecchi
Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz Jr
Pastor Maldonado, Valteri Bottas
Heikki Kovalainen, Mark Webber
Dani Clos, Giorgio Pantano
Timo Glock, Robert Wickens

So there you have it...

*Highly Accurate is a brand name, and in no way reflects the accuracy of the crapbox that is running these calculations. The computer regrets that subroutine "Narain Karthikeyan" has yet to be reloaded after deletion in January 2006, and is thus not considered. It also stresses that there may be confusion with "Felipe Massa" and "Felipe Nasr" due to is vocal entry system, while stressing that there's no bloody way either will be in F1. However, it has always maintained that "Bruno Senna" cannot be in Formula One according to its calculations.

 

[teabagyokel]

Senna could then go to Mclaren as Jenson's rear gunner...

Is that left-rear gunner?

 

[Josh]

Why Webber to Caterham?

 

[teabagyokel]

Josh - because the computer said so!

I get the feeling that Caterham appreciated having Trulli's input, but his performances off the track didn't suggest they should keep him. Maybe Webber would take RBR knowledge and be a decent driver to boot.

Thats just a thought I had, I think MW would stay in F1 at any cost even if Ferrari fell through.

 

[cider_and_toast]

TBY, I'd pop down the Bookies if I were you and place a bet on those line ups. Talk about an interesting set of predictions. I'd love to see Webber at Caterham.

 

[teabagyokel]

cider_and_toast - I am not second-guessing anything the Hispania Racing Team are going to do.

 

[RasputinLives]

If you were going down the bookies TBY I'd put Gutteriez in there instead of Valsecchi as from what we hear the deal to put him in the race seat when/should Perez leave is pretty much a cert. I'd also say Petrov's millions means he's a cert for a drive somewhere as well!

 

[teabagyokel]

You're probably right RasputinLives. I did, however, find it interesting that Esteban wasn't in Canada last year.

 

[RasputinLives]

I think even if he had been there at 19 and with only 8 GP2 races under his belt they would have thought twice about throwing him in the deep end. I think his name was on the driver as reserve for sponser purposes only and he was mainly there to be givin simulator time and experience with an F1 team - he probably wasn't in Cananda because there wasn't a GP2 round there!

I think last year was always suppose to be an introuductory year for him in GP2 and this year his title challenge. He is only 6th in the standings at the moment but is the only driver to have scored points in every race so far. Take that into account and the fact he waltzed to the GP3 title at 18 and I think he prob deserves that Sauber seat.

EDIT - Just realised Razia has also scored points in every round! whoops! Still I expect him to be in contention for the Caterham seat

 

[Mezzer]

mjo - Mercedes

That's exactly what I've been thinking for the last several weeks. Keeps him with a Merc engine and keep Merc with a WDC if they decide enough is enough with Schumacher.