F1 silly season

[EauRouge]

It's getting very silly now with these rumours of Alonso going to Red Bull- can't see it happening. I hope it won't be Kimi either. Seb needs a good number 2 behind him, someone that won't challenge him for the championship. I reckon Ricciardo is Red Bull's best bet.

Agree on both points Eau. Maldonado seems to think he is a better driver than his talent suggests and when interviewed, keeps wittering on about his 'victory' from last season as if he won the title. He says he knows where he is going, but when pushed further, says he has 'options'. I read this as he wants to buy his way into Lotus, which if they don't get the financial package through that they are negotiating, he may well pull off as he will supply money and the back up plan is SFI or Sauber. (although Sauber may well be looking at getting someone much more experienced to mentor the young Sirotkin or else they could be spending a hell of a lot of time repairing cars in the garages with an inexperienced Rookie and Crashtor on their payroll!!)

Sirotkin, well, all I can liken it to is giving your kid who has just passed his driving test first time at the youngest age possible, (so he has minimal experience) the keys to your high performance sports car and telling him to take it out for a spin on his own...... I mean, you just wouldn't would you? For their safety and for the safety of other road users, it just wouldn't be a smart move. The only hope is that he really does have some talent and that his extraordinarily rich parents have bought him a simulator for a previous birthday

Nice to see Heikki back on the grid, would dearly like to see him drive again and I think Massa will do ok at Williams. Sorry about Perez being dropped at such short notice, but think McLaren had a knee-jerk reaction to Hamilton leaving, I don't think they really thought he would go and then when he did, Perez was the talk of the paddock at that moment, so they signed him when I think he could have done with another year at Sauber or another mid-field team to gain more experience. Personally, I would have taken the Hulk if I had been McLaren - feel sorry for him as he seems to keep missing out, am wondering if there is something we don't know that is keeping him out of a better car.

What do you think of this seasons Rookies, Eau, who do you think has done well and who has underperformed?

I really rate Hulkenburg, I'm surprised that one of the top teams hasn't snapped him up already. It was unbelievable that he was without a drive after that pole at Interlagos a couple of years ago. I wonder if they're wary of the new weight limit.

Rookies, I'd have to say Bottas. Williams haven't had a great season but he's finished more races than Crashtor. Does he count as a rookie? I know he's had a couple of seasons testing.

I am going to be so annoyed when Lotus sign Maldonado instead of Hulkenberg for 2 reasons, the first of which is Hulkenberg is a great driver and with a better car he is going to win numerous races and two is that Maldonado and Grosjean together will bankrupt Lotus with the repair bills and the amount of spare parts they will need and that will be one less team on the grid but more importantly it means the Lotus team will stop tweeting which i find hilarious :)

I really wanted Nico H to go to Mclaren because i thought that would be one of the strongest partnerships on the grid but i don't think Mclaren could have taken on another "heavy" driver because they already have Jenson and that would've given them the heavest drivers on the grid for 2014 when the engines are taking up most of the weight limit it was a risk they couldn't of undertaken really

I am hoping that Sirotkin does not end up at Sauber like has been stated because the Russian/Sauber deal has not gone through yet and Maldonado and his money can go there where he can do less damage to other drivers and their cars before leaving F1 next year to make way for better drivers

Hi Hilarious - have you heard that Maldonado is going to Lotus for definite? I really hope that is not the case, will be sooo disappointed if the Hulk misses out on that after missing out on Ferrari move. Always the bridesmaid and never the Bride! Maybe Perez will get Lotus seat if money still a factor - have heard that Martin Whitmarsh has been in contact with Eric Bouillier to see if he can go there.

Who do you think will win at Austin - Vettel or Hamilton?? I can see Seb running away with the last two races and adding yet another record to his impressive tally. He is definitely making the most of the situation whilst he can as who knows which car will be the best next year, although Red Bull have the finances to develop a car, it will be interesting to see which engine supplier gets it right and which gets it wrong.

Eau, yes agree with Bottas, he has acquitted himself well over the season and seems a very level headed bloke. With Susie Wolff in the team as development driver and her OH Toto as his manager (and as far as I am aware still holding some of the Williams shares), he should be ok for next year and if the car is an improvement on the current years, we may get a better idea of how good he really is. Sir Frank thinks he is the 'real deal' apparently.

Am beginning to think I have a bit of a 'thing' for Finns though, Kimi, Heikki, Valtteri ! Guttierez seems to have been a bit of a 'slow burn' - was thinking he may well have been dropped by team by summer break as he wasn't particularly impressive, but seems to have hit his stride and be doing a lot better. Bianchi has been signed for next year, but he was classed as the most experienced of the rookies, so not really surprised. Max Chilton is saying that he is near to signing a deal for next year and Giedo Van de Garde seems to have been ok, but McLaren are hoping to place Stoffel Vandoorme, so could be an interesting end of the season as the pieces finally fall into place.

Anyone any idea where Paul di Resta is going to end up?

On the sofa at home is a distinct possibility as there are more drivers wanting a seat than there are drives available.

Style

I fear you may be right. And although he's good, and getting better, so are the others.

The deal Lotus had with Quantum is not happening so they need a pay driver to balance the books because although they have a semi pay driver in Grosjean and his Total money they need more to keep going especially because they are now seen as a risk from major sponsors because they they are unable to keep the finances in order to stop drivers leaving and brands do not want to sponsor a team heading for bankruptcy especially without a leading name like Kimi

However the problem with Maldonado going to Lotus with Grosjean is that they both come with oil money which is the delay because Total are the ones paying Grosjeans wages and i doubt they are going to be happy to do so next year if they competing oil sponsors on the same car so Perez could go there with his Telmex money with no issues but it depends who has the bigger budget

Saubers deal is not happening also and they will not take Sirotkin without it so Maldonados money could go there since Sauber officially are struggling to pay the electricity bill but with PDVSA about to go into debt to the total of $4.5 bl is Maldonado actually going to have any money to bring to a team especially with the venezuelan sports currency scandal happening? Also would the team drop him halfway through the year if he could no longer provide the money?

Paul with his seat not safe and too many pay drivers on the grid could be pushed out of f1 and into IndyCar to replace his retiring cousin Franchetti according to recent reports

Very interesting update Hilarious, was not aware that Quantum deal not gone through as the last I had heard was that Lotus were now in a position to settle all outstanding debts. Goes some way towards explaining Kimi's decision to go for surgery now rather than delaying until the end of the current season as he now has to think of giving himself maximum time to recover ready to start next season with Ferrari.

Was aware of the conflict of interest with PDVSA money and Total money at Lotus, but was wondering if they would choose whichever Oil company came with the most backing. Total being French is surely their preferred option, but if Quantum deal no longer available, Perez with his Telmex money and Maldonado with his sack of gold may balance the books. Knew about the Venezuelan currency scandal as someone had asked Maldonado about it during an interview and he said he was not one of the people implicated, but as you rightly point out - if the source of money dries up, he would likely be dropped from the team if he had been signed.

Was not aware of Sauber deal falling through - although glad that Sirotkin will not be on grid as to my mind it was too much too soon for someone so young and inexperienced, but where will that leave Sauber??

The Quantum deal has always been a bit sketchy especially Mansoor Ijaz he is not really the guy you want to trust to hand over money to you and its not something Lotus need to get themselves wrapped up into because if it does happen which i'm hearing is a slim possibility i am very sure they will regret it

Kimi still has yet to be paid by Lotus he tried to arrange payment from Gerard Lopez but nothing happened even Bernie was starting to get involved with the payment saga so why would Kimi race and potentially damage his back further for a team who refuses to pay him instead he chose to not put himself through further pain and get the surgery he needs and then recover in time for be in the best shape he can be for a team that will at least pay him

I definitely think Grosjean is staying at Lotus because Eric is his manager and can't see him going anywhere else but Rafael Ramirez has said that Maldonado will be at Lotus next year so i am not sure what is going to happen there

Hulkenberg to stay at Sauber or go back to Force India? However where does that leave Sergio and his bags of cash!

This silly season is getting ridiculous

dear god, Just watched the post quali chats and Maldonado is now saying that his car was tampered with before quali - I bet Claire Williams and the rest of the team will be delighted to see the back of him (her boyfriend is Maldonado's race engineer). No wonder they have all been smiling this weekend, knowing that they only have one race to go before he is gone. Can just imagine his leaving party from Williams........... Party of One! So he is Mad, Bad and Dangerous - bet Lotus or Sauber can't wait for him to join them.

It's almost a relief there's only one race left - what with Paranoid Maldonado, the utter defeat in Button's 'it'll all be over by 3pm' comment, and Vettel's bloomin' doughnuts.

Brazil's going to be a bittersweet affair - Webber's last race, and presumably the last we'll see of some of the others for at least a year. (BBC's gossip page is suggesting di Resta might defect to Indycar next year... Haven't read the full article yet.)

Do we think all the seats will have been announced/confirmed by next week? Or will we be still chasing answers after the season's ended? Also, is Kovalainen back for good, or just for these last two races?

Maldonado is bonkers.

I think there will still be untaken seats by next weekend. I forget which season it was (not that long ago) where there were seats left unconfirmed until almost Christmas. I think we're in for another of those.

I'm so looking forward to next season. We should do a Mumsnet prediction league.

I'm in for that!

Brilliant Idea Eau, and perhaps, just to add a bit of fun to the proceedings, who we would sign if money-were-no-object!!

I suspect most peoples dream team wouldn't include Maldonado then? Just done an on-line poll where the choices were for him to go to Sauber, Lotus or out of F1 altogether, I voted with the majority of some 80% to say out altogether.

Grosjean had his faults last year, but has made steady progress this season and things have started to come good for him. Maldonado is still the same loose cannon he was when he started 3 years ago and I cant imagine after listening to his ramblings after the race that the team get any sort of valuable feedback from him, other than whatever happens it is not his fault! Or that he had a victory! He is hardly a PR dream is he, either for the team he is with or his country. Sorry - rant over

That's a wrap then. Would have been nice to see Wibbah win his last race, I think he will really be missed not by Seb.

I hope there are some more team announcements over the next couple of weeks so I can start making wild predictions about next season.

I think this is what I'm most interested in- where is Ross the Boss going?

It was kind of emotional yesterday; what with 'Waltzing Matilda' spilling out of the Red Bull garage, and then Massa's procession of engineers when he rolled out of his garage. It was nice... I totally wasn't thinking how there was none of this fuss for Perez!!!

But yeah; we've still got a handful of driver spots open, and as you say - goodness only knows what's happening with Braun. I guess we're going to be riding this wave of change for another few weeks yet.

I think I saw a Williams mechanic holding a sign saying 'Good Riddance' as Maldonado left the garage.

I am still standing by my prediction that Ross Brawn will return to the Scuderia. Think that they have decided drastic measures are in order to beat Red Bull and now Mercedes are proving a force to be reckoned with they are starting to buy in some serious expertise. James Allison has already joined them and I would imagine he has been steadily working away at the 2014 car.

Cant wait to see how the drivers market is going to pan out - think there are a few more surprises yet to come.

Just how to survive now until March........ Season reviews and testing should help in the meantime. Will really miss Mark Webber, but glad to see that he is happy to be leaving now and feels that it is the right time for him to move on and do other things.

Ferrari can dominate again.

Just like they did in the early 00s when you-know-who was there The rumours are certainly piling up.

Guardian's alternative driver rankings. Guess who came last

Ha! Mercedes now formally announced that Ross Brawn is leaving (more fool them!!!!) so am waiting to see if he has decided to have a year out to go fishing, or if he is going to Ferrari or whether he will be working with Honda ready for their return to F1. Rumour mill should be starting to wind down now as the pieces slot into place for who is going where next year, but the tension is killing me! Will see if Perez and Hulkenberg are going to be at Force India, Maldonado at Lotus and who gets the seat at Sauber. Caterham rumour is that Kovaleinen will be back and Marrussia were taking Erickson........... anyone else know anything or heard any whispers???

Oh god Lotus have confirmed Maldonado and Grosjean for next year Jesus the repair bill is going to bankrupt the company