159 replies to this topic

[Rainmaster]

lewisthegreat2, on 27 September 2009 - 04:55 PM, said:

Nico didn't need to; he's going to Brawn.  It's probably better than McLaren, too.  They may let Kimi race, but Lewis will always be their number one.  While Jenson has a number one status at Brawn, too, Nico is Mercedes' boy and Rubens was allowed to win twice this year while Heikki wasn't even getting the new updates to the chassis like Hamilton.

Besides, Brawn will make Nico an offer he can't refuse...Brawn know if they take Nico and leave Fernando and Kimi at Ferrari and McLaren respectively, they get something of an advantage.  There's little doubt McLaren and Ferrari will have some of the better chassis in 2010, and Brawn will have a tough time beating them.  However, if Brawn have a clear 1-2 pairing in Jenson and Nico, they'll have no distractions to go forward in another title run, while McLaren will have Kimi stealing points from Lewis and Lewis stealing back from Kimi (as well as Kimi bringing team morale down), just as Ferrari will with Massa and Alonso.  Brawn can't let Nico go to McLaren or they're going to have a tougher battle.

Rosberg will be excellent at Brawn, and I think there is a good chance him and Button would take points off each other as well (I don't see who would be the better driver there). Button isn't the number one either, the team may prefer him to Barrichello because he's less of a whiney bitch (and of course, a better driver), but they have been allowed to race each other all year long.

The Mclaren team like Kimi, he fitted in well there and now that Ron Dennis has gone it could work even better. Kimi is not the kind of guy to cause friction in a team even if his team mate beats him (see Massa). So, all in all I think the line ups mentioned (Alonso, Massa + Nico, Button + Kimi, Lewis) would be pretty good for the future of F1.

[whiskee]

McLaren is a complete career-killer team and I dearly hope Heikki finds himself a #1 driver spot from some other now midfield team, and that Kimi will never make the mistake to go back there. They only compete in licking Lewis' a##. He should agree to a major salary cut and go to Brawn. He probably has more money than he knows what to do with already, and soon loads more.

What comes to Renault, I'm a little less optimistic than most of you that they are in the grid next season. How are they going to hunt as good sponsors as ING...

Edited by whiskee, 27 September 2009 - 06:46 PM.

[Rainmaster]

Quote

Ferrari set to confirm Alonso for 2010

By Jonathan Noble Sunday, September 27th 2009, 18:40 GMT
Ferrari could announce its 2010 deal with Fernando Alonso as early as nextweekend's Japanese Grand Prix, with the Spaniard's move to the Maranello team now all but confirmed.

With lawyers working hard on the last few details of Kimi Raikkonen's release from his contract with Ferrari, a move that will pave the way for the Finn to return to McLaren, the Maranello-based outfit has openly admitted that it wants to announce its line-up as quickly as possible.

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said at Singapore on Sunday night: "I think that as soon as we are ready we will let youknow. We don't want to wait too long."

When asked by AUTOSPORT if that announcement could come as early as Suzuka, Domenicali said: "It is a possibility, but it is not guaranteed."

Neither Ferrari nor Renault are now denying that Alonso is on hisway to the Italian outfit, in a deal that has been widely predicted for several months.

Renault's stand-in managing director Jean-Francois Caubet told AUTOSPORT after the Singapore Grand Prix that his outfit would be sad to see Alonso leave after this season.

"I think Fernando will miss Renault and Renault will miss Fernando," he explained.

Once the Ferrari-Alonso announcement is made, Renault is expected to confirm that Polish driver Robert Kubica will lead its team in 2010.

Autosport

Awesome.

[lewisthegreat2]

I was just going to post a link to that same exact article.

I'm expecting nothing less than a smashingly delicious 2010 for grand prix motor racing.  There are four teams with eight really gifted drivers at the front of the field, and while Kubica probably won't be winning, Renault can score podiums, so it's a step up for him.

Here's what I'm predicting:

Brawn
1. Jenson Button
2. Nico Rosberg

Red Bull
3. Sebastian Vettel
4. Mark Webber

Ferrari
5. Fernando Alonso
6. Felipe Massa

McLaren
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Kimi Räikkönen

Toyota
9. Timo Glock
10. Nick Heidfeld

Williams
11. Heikki Kovalainen
12. Nico Hulkenberg

Renault
14. Robert Kubica
15. Romain Grosjean

Qadbak Sauber
16. Giancarlo Fisichella
17. Mirko Bortolotti (or Adam Carroll)

Force India
18. Adrian Sutil
19. Vitantonio Liuzzi

Toro Rosso
20. Sébastien Buemi
21. Jaime Alguersuari

Team US F1 (we'll pretend they're actually going to run)
22. Alexander Wurz
23. Roldán Rodríguez

Campos
24. Pedro de la Rosa
25. Vitaly Petrov (or the dreaded Piquet, sending Petrov to Force India and Liuzzi to who knows, maybe Qadbak)

Manor
26. Rubens Barrichello
27. Álvaro Parente

"Lotus"
28. Jarno?  Nelson?  Kaz (he has an Air Asia connection)?
29. Fairuz Fauzy

[Persevere]

If the latest rumor re:  Ferrari and Alonso actually pans out this time (why am I such a glutton for speculation this season?) and if that indeed starts the crystallization process of firmly linking drivers with their 2010 teams, maybe this will be settled in the next couple of weeks.  At the very least the key players in this year's version of musical chairs will have a home that they can officially confirm.  Otherwise I'm waiting to see the notarized contracts for people like Jenson, Kimi and Nico before I'm convinced that anything has been settled.

[Piotr]

lewisthegreat2, on 27 September 2009 - 04:55 PM, said:

Nico didn't need to; he's going to Brawn.  It's probably better than McLaren, too.  They may let Kimi race, but Lewis will always be their number one.  While Jenson has a number one status at Brawn, too, Nico is Mercedes' boy and Rubens was allowed to win twice this year while Heikki wasn't even getting the new updates to the chassis like Hamilton.

Besides, Brawn will make Nico an offer he can't refuse...Brawn know if they take Nico and leave Fernando and Kimi at Ferrari and McLaren respectively, they get something of an advantage.  There's little doubt McLaren and Ferrari will have some of the better chassis in 2010, and Brawn will have a tough time beating them.  However, if Brawn have a clear 1-2 pairing in Jenson and Nico, they'll have no distractions to go forward in another title run, while McLaren will have Kimi stealing points from Lewis and Lewis stealing back from Kimi (as well as Kimi bringing team morale down), just as Ferrari will with Massa and Alonso.  Brawn can't let Nico go to McLaren or they're going to have a tougher battle.

So, you think Brawn is so good they may actually make the overrated Nico-boy understand that you should NOT cross the line while exiting the pit lane?  May be a long learning curve...

[Grabthaw the Hammerslayer]

lewisthegreat2, on 27 September 2009 - 08:03 PM, said:

Here's what I'm predicting:

Blimey Eric, you almost sound like you know what you are talking about

Anyway you missed one driver off the list:

Jacques Villeneuve {shudder}

[lewisthegreat2]

A lot of people are saying Kimi and Fernando and Jenson and Nico are the keys to the driver market, and perhaps they are, but Vitaly Petrov carries some weight at the south end of the grid.

Option A is the one I went with in my preditions; Petrov to Campos.

However, Petrov's backers conflict with Campos' sponsors, and Campos need money, so they may go with Piquet, in which case, Petrov has two other options...

Option B: Force India, causing Liuzzi to go elsewhere, perhaps Sauber or prison.

Option C: Renault, assuming MegaFon join the teamm, causing Grosjean's career to end as it probably should have before it began.

[Kati]

lewisthegreat2, on 27 September 2009 - 08:03 PM, said:

I was just going to post a link to that same exact article.

I'm expecting nothing less than a smashingly delicious 2010 for grand prix motor racing.  There are four teams with eight really gifted drivers at the front of the field, and while Kubica probably won't be winning, Renault can score podiums, so it's a step up for him.

Here's what I'm predicting:

Brawn
1. Jenson Button
2. Nico Rosberg

Red Bull
3. Sebastian Vettel
4. Mark Webber

Ferrari
5. Fernando Alonso
6. Felipe Massa

McLaren
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Kimi Räikkönen

Toyota
9. Timo Glock
10. Nick Heidfeld

Williams
11. Heikki Kovalainen
12. Nico Hulkenberg

Renault
14. Robert Kubica
15. Romain Grosjean

Qadbak Sauber
16. Giancarlo Fisichella
17. Mirko Bortolotti (or Adam Carroll)

Force India
18. Adrian Sutil
19. Vitantonio Liuzzi

Toro Rosso
20. Sébastien Buemi
21. Jaime Alguersuari

Team US F1 (we'll pretend they're actually going to run)
22. Alexander Wurz
23. Roldán Rodríguez

Campos
24. Pedro de la Rosa
25. Vitaly Petrov (or the dreaded Piquet, sending Petrov to Force India and Liuzzi to who knows, maybe Qadbak)

Manor
26. Rubens Barrichello
27. Álvaro Parente

"Lotus"
28. Jarno?  Nelson?  Kaz (he has an Air Asia connection)?
29. Fairuz Fauzy

i agree with u on the basic. however, i think the nico brawn story is just another rumor he likes to feed, like mclaren rumour, so id keep rubens and jenson. nico would stay in williams, teaming kovalainen. renault will most likely have di grassi besides kubeetza, as romain is not performing THAT well, if sauber stays, i guess nick and klien will make the line up. toro rosso will most likely have same line p, if they dont try to put bruno senna somehow. hes too quiet for this period of year. force india may keep tonio n adrian, and fisichella was already expected to retire anyways, so he stays with his 3rd seat at ferrari.

[Quiet One]

I am tired of this whole name dance. We should replace every driver with ballet dancers, it would at least make it graceful.

Except for Sutil, no need to replace him.