2013 Driver Lineups

[knowyourenemy]

Originally Posted by Bononi

They should as spanish banks are going down.

Scuderia Ferrari Tata?

[wolfhound]

Driver deals seam to be slotting into place for next year, with only Massa Hamilton and Schumacher to finalise in the top teams. I do not expect much movement for next year at this stage among the top teams.

The following years open up some interesting prospects if Vettel has signed a rumoured pre contract with Ferrari.
If Webber were to retire at about the same time then who would drive for Red Bull as they will need a topliner along with possibly one of the drivers at STR. However neither of the juniors at STR look good enough when compared with the likes of Grosjean or Perez at the moment.

Hamilton?

[beau1]

I can see Hamilton going there in 2014 (If that is when Webber and Vettel have signed until?) , especially if Mclaren don't produce a championship winning car by next year.
Alternatively, I guess if Vettel or Webber win the championship this year then why would they go anywhere (even to Ferrari) in 2014 unless the the Red Bull is crap and if it is that bad then why would Hamilton go there?

I guess Webber is likely to retire in 2014 but who knows, if Red Bull win the championship this year it could be their equivilant of the 2003 season and then they'll dominate 2013.

I wonder, would Vettel be happy going to Ferrari without Mr. Newey or will he take with him a small team like Schumacher did in 1996 and build up the team?

As for the STR drivers, I think Riccardo could end up at Red Bull as by 2014 he'll be pretty experienced and I guess would be the natural choice to replace Webber. There is also Alguersuari waiting in the wings who could be worth a shot as I think he's been the best STR driver since Vettel and probably deserves another chance.

[ECW Dan Selby]

I can't see Red Bull kicking out Alguersuari to then re-hire him for a first team drive...

Selby

[bella]

not after what yer man franz tost said about him at the bottom of this article about the current two toro rosso boys:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101133

i'm not sure where ricciardo will progress to, but jev still has a lot of speed to unlock. he's got the good fire in him, and he really does learn from mistakes too cause he's genuinely a smart boy. it's an unusual combination, but it works.

[chunterer]

At the moment, unfortunately JEV is 'only' performing to the same kind of leve' at Jaime was...

He's not htting the mark in qualy but tends to go like the clappers in the race..

I say 'only' because I didn't think Jaime was doing a bad job, far from it in fact, and perfectly worthy of an F1 seat. It's just that I'm fairly sure JEV is a WDC in the making....

[bella]

lol, glad to see i've convinced you of jev being top drawer material it's all true though, but the great thing is that he really is still learning. i think he does lack qualifying pace compared to ricciardo but he's got a really good racing mind and totally goes for it. ricciardo on the other hand is quite conservative - he'll have a really good look and keep the guy in front on his toes, but as we saw at bcn in 2010 in fr3.5, he just hasn't quite got the balls, belief, whatever, to go for it. my personal opinion is just a little clouded by his poor drive at silverstone in '10 that effectively lost him the title, and the fact he couldn't quite produce it last year whenever he was in the fr3.5 car, particularly before f1 kicked in. but then the fact he won at monaco twice... well it's confusing isn't it?

a real shame because the guy is seriously quick. if he had jev's commitment you'd have a definite webber replacement on your hands. as it is they're going to need to wait for another season and a half to see if jev can get a handle on qualifying or ricciardo can find the ability to really *race*.

i think they're going to have to give them both 2 clear seasons at it because sainz jnr (the next real red bull prodigy) still has a long way to go in taming his inner lunatic. if he can do that then he'll be... well. epic. da costa was pretty bloody good in his fr3.5 debut at the ring too, he's handling it really well.

[wnut]

8 to 1 in qualifying to Ricciardo would tend to pour water on the JEV WDC theory. If you lack ultimate pace ...
Must admit I have been pretty disappointed in Ricciardo though, still the tyres don't exactly lend themselves to storming drives!


Be interesting to see what Herr Doktor Marko thinks at the end of the season!

[p-matt]

It hasn't been that critical where the Toro Rossos qualify as they have clearly the 9tg best car on the grid.

Besides Bahrain, JEV hasn't been that far from Ricciardo's qualifying pace. I still think he will make it to RBR and Daniel won't. I sense there's a big result to come from JEV this year

[spider]

The fact Di Resta and Hamilton Snr have separated could mean that PDR is perhaps frustrated that it looks like for 2013 he won't have an opportunity to step-up to a team further up the grid.

Williams for me would be a great fit for PDR - I still haven't seen enough from him to warrant this tag our British fans give him as being worthy to take the Merc ride. But, Williams, in their resurgence, could be a good berth for him - and with GC in the Design office and Maldonado's $$$s helping to finance a push up the grid, they would be a better place to be than FI, in my opinion for 2013.

The Toro Rosso is clearly just off the back of the midfield teams but light years ahead of the Caterham still, regardless of Caterham's pre-Silverstone PR. So, it's difficult for either Daniel or Jean-Eric to shine, but they're bloody evenly matched - at Silverstone in particular they spent the whole race just a few car lengths apart.

Where will Heikki end up in 2013? If he leaves - Caterham would be a great place for Jaime to get back into the F1 fold...

Will Bianchi make the step up in 2013? What about Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber?)? There are some decent drivers hovering around GP2 and WSR, so will be interesting to see who can put the finances together to make the jump...

[bella]

bianchi's still getting involved in too many... things for my liking. he's clearly an absolute class act, both in racing (see: motorland) and in finding grip where there is none (see: nurburgring fr3.5 race 2, trading fastest laps with sorensen). unfortunately he does daft things (see: nurburgring fr3.5 race 2, going off on slicks in the rain). granted, he's doing fewer of them compared to gp2 but that doesn't bring the title.

i'm yet to feel totally convinced by di resta too but i think he's a victim of the car to a point. same for hulkenberg, which would suggest it's either the car or i need to watch races harder.

[ECW Dan Selby]

Originally Posted by wnut

Be interesting to see what Herr Doktor Marko thinks at the end of the season!

I can see him turfing 'em out. He doesn't seem to have a great deal of patience. Unless you go and win at Monza, i'm not so sure he's interested..

Selby

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by ECW Dan Selby

I can see him turfing 'em out. He doesn't seem to have a great deal of patience. Unless you go and win at Monza, i'm not so sure he's interested..

Selby

These 2 will get at least a long in the team as the previous 2 incumbents had, and I sense that Dan and JEV have long been much more highly regarded within Marko's empire than Buemi was but they were very keen on Jaime who I am still convinced was unfairly dumped after some of his drives last season. Jamie isn't done with F1 yet though, I think he will be back next season and chomping at the bit....

Onto Di Resta again a mo, which was the race earlier this year where he was absoluterly mega and came home 4th or 5th? Bahrain was it?

Proof if anyone needed it that he's canny and consistently fast which are the two main attributes required for a current F1 driver I reckon!

[BSchneiderFan]

Looks like there will be less change than we thought. With Webber re-signing for Red Bull and Massa upping his game, I think we may see unchanged pairings at RBR, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes. Sauber may well keep Perez and Kobayashi, and I think Ricciardo and Vergne are safe at STR. Slim pickings for aspirant F1 racers...

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

Looks like there will be less change than we thought. With Webber re-signing for Red Bull and Massa upping his game, I think we may see unchanged pairings at RBR, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes. Sauber may well keep Perez and Kobayashi, and I think Ricciardo and Vergne are safe at STR. Slim pickings for aspirant F1 racers...

That should be the case...


But Hamilton ?