2006 Driver line up

[SpawnyWhippet]

I am now starting to lose track of this, here is my best guess:

BAR: RB, JB? / TS? / NH?
BMW: NH? / JV? / N.Rosberg?
Ferrari: MS?, FM
McLaren: KR, JPM
Midland: NK, AD? / TM?
Minardi: CA?, R.Doornbos?
Red Bull: DC, CK? / VL?
Renault: FA, GF?
Toyota: JT, RS
Willams: MW, JB? / AP? / NH?

Anyone care to clarify a few of the question marks? Not many new faces in there.

[Kicking-back]

Renault: Alonso and Fisichella
McLaren: Raikkonen and Montoya
Ferrari: Schumacher and Massa
Toyota: R Schumacher and Trulli
Williams: Button and Webber
BAR: Barrichello and Sato
BMW: Villeneuve and Heidfeld
Red Bull: Coulthard and Liuzzi
Midland: Davidson and Monteiro
Minardi: Speed and Klien (if Red Bull takeover, else Albers and Doornbos)


That's my prediction - those in bold have been announced by the teams.

[runshaw]

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

Renault: Alonso and Fisichella

I didn't know Fisichella had been announced! Is Frank Montagny ever going to get an F1 drive? He seems good enough, yet im sure Renault will be thinking more about Kovalainen now.

[Schultz]

Originally Posted by runshaw

I didn't know Fisichella had been announced! Is Frank Montagny ever going to get an F1 drive? He seems good enough, yet im sure Renault will be thinking more about Kovalainen now.

He also has a contract with renault to the end of 2006.

[Skam85]

I would have thought Albers is in the running for Midland, or so it says on F1Racing.net..

Button has been announced by Williams, but nothing is official. We still may see Button on the sidelines in 2006.

I think Ant will be at BAR if Button doesn't stay. Sato will be hard pressed to keep his seat.

Other than that, pretty much spot on. I hope if Red Bull buy Minardi they keep the Minardi name - something like Team Red Bull Minardi, or Minardi Gives You Wings would suffice.

[sonic]

Can't argue with that KB.

I'd put a big question mark over JV though. If I was starting a new company / team I wouldnt want the grumpy old bloke with fixed ideas (and notoriously fussy tastes) ruining the otherwise fresh faced atmos. But thats just me.

If JV goes - Davidson probably stands a chance at BMW.

Skam - despite my belief that BAR want to get rid of Sato, I can only really see him going if they retain JB - then Honda would have no choice but to let him go.

In which case, who gets the second williams seat?

etc.

[Louis B.]

Originally Posted by sonic

I'd put a big question mark over JV though. If I was starting a new company / team I wouldnt want the grumpy old bloke with fixed ideas (and notoriously fussy tastes) ruining the otherwise fresh faced atmos. But thats just me.

Come'on David Richard! Please stop ruminating your old frustrations.

[mac]

Originally Posted by sonic

If JV goes - Davidson probably stands a chance at BMW.

Add Wurz, De La Rosa and even Pizzonia to that list.

[youngoldy]

Hmmmmmmmmmm, i think.....

Renault) Alonso - Kovalinen
McLaren) Raikkonen - Monty
Ferrari) M Schumacher - Masssa
Toyota) Trulli - R Schumacher (Sato either 3rd driver or 2nd)
Willams) Button - Webber
BAR) Barrichello - Davidson
BMW) Villeneuve - Heidfeld
Red Bull) Coulthard - Liuzzi
Midland) Carroll - Monterio
Minardi) Albers - Doornbos

[SpawnyWhippet]

Originally Posted by youngoldy

Hmmmmmmmmmm, i think.....

Renault) Alonso - Kovalinen
McLaren) Raikkonen - Monty
Ferrari) M Schumacher - Masssa
Toyota) Trulli - R Schumacher (Sato either 3rd driver or 2nd)
Willams) Button - Webber
BAR) Barrichello - Davidson
BMW) Villeneuve - Heidfeld
Red Bull) Coulthard - Liuzzi
Midland) Carroll - Monterio
Minardi) Albers - Doornbos

Interesting that people are starting to link Heikki Kovolainen with a Renault race seat now, is this speculation, rumour or fact? I personally think he will be a WDC within 3 years of getting an F1 race seat.

[Alex K]

Sonic BMW may pay aroung 15M Ł if they want JV to go away. He has valid contract if Sauber until the end of 2006. It's not as simple as you think.

OMT. K-B it's Narain that is paying Jordan's bills (with 7M US$/year) so I pressume he will stay, not Tiago.

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by Alex K

OMT. K-B it's Narain that is paying Jordan's bills (with 7M US$/year) so I pressume he will stay, not Tiago.

Midland say they don't need pay drivers, and the team seems to prefer Tiago.

I think Narain will take his budget for a test-drive at a bigger team

[runshaw]

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

Midland say they don't need pay drivers, and the team seems to prefer Tiago.

Yes and if Davidson signs with them (fingers crossed ), he will not be bringing any money to the team.

[Turbo_Charged]

Renault: Alonso/Fisichella
McLaren: Raikkonen/Montoya
Ferrari: Schumacher/Massa
Toyota: R Schumacher/Trulli
Williams: Webber/Pizzonia
BAR: Button/Barrichello
BMW: Villeneuve/Heidfeld
Red Bull: Coulthard/Liuzzi
Midland: Davidson/Monteiro
Minardi: $$/$$

Button is the key man... Frank will get as much cash as he needs for cosworth engine development, so he will sell Button to Honda and Heidfeld to BMW. And will indeed have the last laugh. As a driver combo Mark is a hard worker and Pizzonia is a huge question mark. I still believe Antonio could do a good job given that he was blindly fast before joining Jaguar and up to speed after joining Williams again. He was hot favorite for the seat this season... but wasn't strong enough up against BMW+Webber lobby to give the drive to Nick. Let's see.

The other possible scenario is that if Button goes to Williams, BMW might get Antonio as well and replace JV. All up to Antonio to perform this weekend and Sato prove himself to the Honda management team in the remaining races.

[Stargazer7]

Ok here they are, due to very very secret, after-midnight paddock meetings:

RENAULT: Fernando Alonso - Alain Prost (and the ultimate question is who is gonna be the first driver..) Alain comes back to break the win record that Michael took from him at a home team... Beware!!

McLAREN: Juan Pablo Montoya - Michael Schumacher (Contract signed in the most secret meeting of all, took place in all the tracks of the callendar)

TOYOTA: Satoru Nakajima - Aguri Suzuki (they love tradition AND the japanese dream comes true!)

FERRARI: Sebastian Stahl (the genetics played a major role, MS' step brother) - Giancarlo Fisichella (they have to please tiffosi sometime)

WILLIAMS: Sam Michael - Patrick Head (They always believed that mechanics played the major role).

BAR-HONDA: Jenson Button (They offered 90.000.000 Honda cars to Williams plus the whole factory) - Takuma Sato (why not? that will be a surprise. Moreover, he will drive for free, no money left)

RED BULL RACING: They signed the whole GP2 grid plus another 18 to change both drivers for every race... They are something else!!

BMW: Mark Webber - Nick Heidfeld (there you have it Frank, they told ya they'll leave nothing back and so they did!)

MIDLAND F1 (PERIOD): Sergey Bubka - Andriy Shevchenko (if the doctor can do it why not these exceptional ex-soviet athletes?)

MINARDI: Bill Gates - Lawrence Ellison (They will DEFINITELY pay for their seats, and their age is good)

EVERYTHING IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE. ENJOY F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2006...