[Driver] Silly season in full swing

[Peralta]

Looks like Heidfeld is next in the chopping block after Bourdais Piquet and possibly Fisichella and Kovalinen. Alonso now rumored to head to Ferrari next year after all. Where will they end up?

[strider]

Whilst there are plenty of stories circulating about what may or not happen during the remainder of the this season, rumours are also beginning to emerge about a re-shuffle of drivers for 2010.

Chief amongst these, of course, is the possibility/probability that Kimi Raikkonen wil be replaced at Ferrari by Fernando Alonso. Done deal or not? The circumstantial evidence suggests that it is.

However, the free Australian e-magazine, GP Week (mag.gpweek.com), whilst revelling in Mark Webber's success this week, has also come up with a couple of possibilities that I certainly had not heard about before.

The first is that Timo Glock is lined up to replace Heikki Kovalainen at McLaren. You can see the logic. Very promising young driver and German, which would please Mercedes, but I'm not sure what Heikki has done to deserve that. In Germany he didn't have the same updates as Lewis, but still managed to qualify one place behind him in an admittedly topsy-turvy qualifying session and secure a precious point for McLaren on Sunday.

The second rumour is that Nico Rosberg may switch to BMW to replace Nick Heidfeld. Again, it doesn't make a huge amount of sense. Williams seem to be getting better, whilst BMW are still lagging.

The other story, and I can't remember where I read it, is Barrichello might take Rosberg's place at Williams if he does decide to move on. Judging by Frank Williams' reaction to Rubens' outburst after the race on Sunday, I see that as unlikely, although Frank did temper his initial reaction to say it certainly wouldn't be tolerated more than once.

Assuming that some or all of these rumours are true, what happens to Kovalainen and Heidfeld and who gets the #2 (sorry, equal #1) drive at Brawn?

Food for discussion?

[ivanalesi]

Also one of the new teams may try to get a seasoned pro, so this will play a big role too. Having drivers as Nick, Heikki and Rubens on the market is very tempting

[jab]

Rosberg to BMW has been rumoured for a while. It seems as if he'd replace Heidfeld although Kubica could leave as well if he gets a big money/team offer (Brawn?). Nick's not been driving badly but neither has he been outstanding over the last 3 1/2 seasons. He'll get another drive somewhere, probably one of the new teams

Barrichello to Williams first came up here courtesy of Mr J Allen, as well as the Rosberg/BMW move and Buemi's potential future move to Ferrari

Sutil to McLaren would be another potential move, I think

[Gingers4Justice]

A lot of these drivers will end up driving the hair dryers that are WTCC cars next year, probably, some may end up attempting Le Mans, perhaps others in IRL of those you mentioned. And they will fail.

But I wouldn't put money on any of those getting seats in F1 next year - there's an endless pool of desperate, fanatic young talents in feeder series too big to ignore for the current and new teams, so they'll be getting the seats. This generation will be ousted out soon.

[jab]

Why should they be? Of the oldest drivers on the grid, Webber is in the form of his life, Rubens is driving well, Trulli is driving well and Heidfeld and Fisi have been solid. Meanwhile, I don't believe any of the current junior generation are anything special. No one appears to be that outstanding

The only 2 drivers of the current grid (excluding departing Bourdais) I'd get rid of are Piquet (because he's not driving well right now) and Nakajima (because he's useless). The grid is of a very high standard these days. There is a reason why as of the last race, there has only been 1 driver change in the last 2 years, which was retirement-induced (DC)

[strider]

Originally Posted by jab

Sutil to McLaren would be another potential move, I think

That makes more sense to me than Glock, particularly with thoughts of his drive on Sunday in mind.

He gets on very well with Hamilton, which is important, because so does Heikki.

<---- What I'm hoping that if everyone plays musical chairs an opening may arise at a lesser team for the chap on the left.

If Sutil were to go to McLaren, then Liuzzi would presumably be the one to take his place.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by jab

Why should they be? Of the oldest drivers on the grid, Webber is in the form of his life, Rubens is driving well, Trulli is driving well and Heidfeld and Fisi have been solid. Meanwhile, I don't believe any of the current junior generation are anything special. No one appears to be that outstanding

The only 2 drivers of the current grid (excluding departing Bourdais) I'd get rid of are Piquet (because he's not driving well right now) and Nakajima (because he's useless). The grid is of a very high standard these days. There is a reason why as of the last race, there has only been 1 driver change in the last 2 years, which was retirement-induced (DC)

I know. But that's irrelevant as to whether these drivers can still do a good job. You and I disagree on the next generation, but the new teams will consider themselves to be honing in new talent if they take these on. Besides, as pros, those drivers will have higher wage demands than say your Marc Genes or Alex Wurzs. Those two, ofcourse, are not in the same league, but they're a lot cheaper and I'm sure won't be short of sponsors.

That's just my perception, anyway.

[jab]

They're not going to get rid of drivers that are performing well on the basis that they're old and expensive, especially considering the next generation of F1 drivers will have had far less testing experience due to the testing ban

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by jab

They're not going to get rid of drivers that are performing well on the basis that they're old and expensive, especially considering the next generation of F1 drivers will have had far less testing experience due to the testing ban

I'm no longer fighting an argument I believe myself, but I think that Heidfeld and Fisi won't find it as easy as Kovalainen.

They're an up and coming team, Force India, but if you're surplus to requirements there...

[jab]

Fisi, yes, I think he's probably on the way out, but Heidfeld's experience will be invaluable to a new team. He's only 32 and he's still driving reasonably enough

Added to that, it seems de la Rosa is all set for a Campos drive, and he's 38, older than Rubens

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by jab

Fisi, yes, I think he's probably on the way out, but Heidfeld's experience will be invaluable to a new team. He's only 32 and he's still driving reasonably enough

Added to that, it seems de la Rosa is all set for a Campos drive, and he's 38, older than Rubens

And I include de la Rosa in the same category as Wurz and Gene, experienced but cheap.

[kipper]

I can't imagine that Red Bull will change their drivers and now that Toro Rosso are runjning Alguersauri, I don't think they will either. With regards to Toyota, a continuation of the Trulli-Glock line up seems logical. Toyota will probably place one of their drivers at Williams, which would suggest either Nakajima or Kamui Kobayashi. Rosberg will probably leave and join either McLaren or BMW, which means that if Kobayashi joins, the team may recuit an experienced driver from elsewhere as I can't see the team running two Japanese drivers. I suspect that Brawn will retain Button and recruit Bruno Senna for their second seat. Renault is likely to have two vacant seats and it seems logical that either Romain Grosjean or Lucas di Grassi will occupy one for I can't see the team running two rookies. BMW could be an interesting scenario as I can imagine that Kubica may be keen on a move if he feels that he can achieve his championship aspirations more quickly elsewhere. With regards to Force India, Campos, Manor and USF1 I suspect commerical pressures may account for a number of their drivers.

[Marbot]

Some media outlets are reporting that Kimi will retire at the end of the season,which leaves the spot nicely vacant for Alonso.

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/...re-after-2009/

Webber to Renault!

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by strider

Chief amongst these, of course, is the possibility/probability that Kimi Raikkonen wil be replaced at Ferrari by Fernando Alonso. Done deal or not? The circumstantial evidence suggests that it is.

The Finnish media are reporting a 'done deal'.

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/...re-after-2009/

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Marbot

Webber to Renault!

Based on This it seem RBR wont have Mr Webber as senior driver next season... the prose almost suggests he would be an afterthought

Here's hoping that MW wins the WDC and wanders off somewhere else with the #1 plate!

[jab]

I don't think so. Horner has stated elsewhere that they have an option on him and implied they're looking to keep him. They'd be stupid to let him go. I think if Mark was to go, it would be of his own accord and it would have to be a step up. I don't think he's one to go chasing paychecks dangled in front of him - I remember last year (I think) he said he wants to be winning in F1 and if he was to stay tooling around in the midfield for eternity he'd jack it in and go do something else

He's a race winner now. His stock has gone up by at the very least matching Vettel week in week out. But I think he'll stick with the devil he knows even if it's becoming a team revolving around young Seb V. The only other teams I see him at now are Brawn (as replacement for Rubens - gets along well with Jenson and Ross will want a decent new driver) and Renault (naturally)

[Peralta]

Here is how it's playing out for 2010 which is a big contrast to last year

Ferrari: Massa, Alonso
McLaren: Hamilton Glock or Rosberg
Renault: Grosjean Kovalainen, Webber
RBR: Vettel Buemi or Webber
Wiiliams: Nakajima Heidfeld or Barichello
Toyota: Trulli, Heidfeld or Sutil
Brawn: Button Webber or Kovalainen
Toro Roso: Algusuari Senna
BMW: Kubica Sutil or Klein
Force India: Luizzi Petrov or Shandok
Campos: De la Rosa, Perez or Petrov
Manor: Piquet DiResta
USF1: 2 useless American drivers probably Speed and Summerton

[Peralta]

Forgot to mention Hulkenberg is another possibility to land a seat possibly with Williams or a 4th Mercedes customer team maybe even Force India.

[Dutton]

Originally Posted by Peralta

USF1: 2 useless American drivers probably Speed and Summerton

To be fair, Speed is not useless. He is not a genius, but far from useless. A perfectly legitimate, logical, and reasonable driver for many teams (not the front-runners, clearly), and for the likes of new entrants and/or low end teams, well, an actively good option. That said, I find it doubtful Speed would abandon a progressing NASCAR career for the likes of USF1.

I am not sure both drivers will be USA. One certainly will, you'd think, but the second seat I would imagine will go to the highest bidder.

[Peralta]

I hope you are right in that they run at least a foreigner in one of their cars but they have said time and again they will have 2 mediocre American drivers (is that better) to go with their philosophy the problem is which 2.

[JeremySmith]

I would like to see Adrian Sutil at McLaren...

[SSbaby]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Based on This it seem RBR wont have Mr Webber as senior driver next season... the prose almost suggests he would be an afterthought

Yes. Fortunately Vettel and Webber have similar styles. It's just a shame that Webber generally runs lighter and still gets whipped by his younger teammate in terms of sheer speed.

[EBXR8]

Originally Posted by SSbaby

Yes. Fortunately Vettel and Webber have similar styles. It's just a shame that Webber generally runs lighter and still gets whipped by his younger teammate in terms of sheer speed.

Interesting comment considering last sunday whils both cars in open air Webber was lapping 1 - 2 seconds quicker than his young counterpart, dont get me wrong i think Vettel is brilliant, but he is still young his still has the occasianal Brain Snap, look at the opening few laps of Sundays race he was ragged and all over the shop, whilst yes webber's inital move may have been a little mongrel he regained his composure and just drove.

Vettel will be WDC no doubt, but if i were RBR i would be hinging my bets on Webber this season, afterall Vettell is on his 5th or 6th engine out of 8 "freebies", the season is only half over. Come the final few rounds if you were RBR and both drivers were neck and neck on points and you put all your eggs in the Vettel basket, he blows and engine, Takes 10 spot grid penalty, Loses the championship to Button would you not kick your own ass.

I say let them race, current form suggests they feed off one another, as long as they are not taking one another out, they are
A. Catching Brawn in the constructors hand over Fist and
B Chipping away slightly at Buttons Lead, Its not a question of Who it is a Question of when they catch Button.

After all unlike Brawn RBR seem to understand the meaning of the word TEAM and work together.

[SSbaby]

Originally Posted by EBXR8

Interesting comment considering last sunday whils both cars in open air Webber was lapping 1 - 2 seconds quicker than his young counterpart,

Err, did you actually watch the race? I did. Massa slowed the field down by 1-2 secs a lap. Vettel happened to be stuck in the train behind Massa.

I think it was a lucky win for Webber in many respects. But he did everything he had to do to win and he did drive brilliantly. Still doesn't change my comments and opinions of Webber, though.