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.

Why is it always Weber's car that has problems, never Vettel's? Although I do have to grudgingly admit that Vettel's car is pretty much untouchable and RBR do consistently earn the right to be smug about it. Even if its their smuggery that make me dislike them so.

Gutted once again for DiResta. He was having a really great race until that wall leapt out at him.

Love that friendship between Alonso and Weber. There's something genuinely touching about the way they always pick each other up. It's the small thing that reminds me that Alonso isn't a total primadonna tosser and is probably an alright kind of a guy when he's not sulking and throwing his toys out of his Ferrari shaped pram

And on the the subject of Ferrari prams
Quite possibly designed by the same person who has been responsible for the f1 cars for the last 3 years

Scratch that Webber just got a ten place penalty for being given a lift back to the garage because he now has three reprimands this season it's beyond stupid!! I know there is a rule that you cant pick anything up on the way back to the pits but its a fellow driver he is not picking up anything bad for god sakes

The fire from Webbers car at the end was pretty spectacular although god love him for still trying to do the last lap even though he had no drive crossing the line

The booing just annoys me and now it seems a lot more people in the paddock because even Niki Lauda took off his hat and said Vettel had an amazing drive and doesn't deserve the boos and he is a Mercedes man ... It did make me laugh when he commented on next years Ferrari partnership by saying the fight between Kimi and Alonso wont even start because Kimi won't even say good morning to him

Yes, bit funny how it's always Webber's car going wrong- how many bad starts has he had because of 'clutch problems'? Not usually a conspiracy theorist, but it's a bit funny, isn't it.....

Love Alonso picking up Webber.

I was half expecting Horner to be shooting Alonso dark glances whilst up on the podium. Not that RBR have any real worries about winning the Constructors' championship, of course...

It does feel like there's not really any need for Webber to do anything for the rest of the season; Vettel's got it all in hand. So why not abandon a broken and flaming car and hitch a lift back.

Did Alonso get a reprimand for picking Webber up?

Answering my own question, having googled... Yes - both Mark and Fernando got reprimands, but Mark's took him up to 3, thus landing him with the grid penalty.

The video makes me laugh even more because basically Mark stuck out his hand to hitch a ride with Fernando like he was a taxi and even rubs the top of his head during the ride in what i can see as the ultimate act of comradery and now the FIA are warning all drivers not to ask/accept lifts from other drivers on the track
The video also looks like if Alonso hadn't of stopped Kimi would've :)

I know the FIA are saying that he should of had the marshals permission and Alonso stopped in a dangerous place but it was the warm down lap they weren't going as fast as they usually are during a race and if as some of the most skilled drivers in the world can't avoid a car and a man on a track whilst driving 70 mph surely they should be in a different career

I think Vettel definitely has the WDC in the bag the constructors though i think is definitely going to Red Bull but i think they are going to have to work at it though especially if they can't get both cars consistently in the top 5

This is a fantastic rumour, I hope there's some truth in it. I'd love to see Rubinho back. I wonder if he'll be getting paid in magic beans.

Sauber have said they won't rehire Barrichello which i think is a good thing because comebacks never end well look at Schumachers return

The Korean race was really action packed for me i knew Vettel was going to win because he has his car completely tuned in but Hulkenberg's drive this race was amazing and if he doesn't get a drive because he is too tall then changes to the regulations definitely need to happen because it would be horrific to lose a driver like that just because he is 6 foot

Seriously though what did Mark do in his last life? Another huge fire after being tagged by Sutil and then the marshals taking ages to put it out which is going to carry over till next race and then the random fire truck made me laugh

The wildest rumor circulating that is not the Newey to Mclaren rumor is that if Vettel and Red bull get the championships sewn up quickly they are going to put Ricciardo in the Red Bull for the rest of the season

Another rumor is that Ross Brawn is being pushed out of Mercedes at the end of this season being replaced by Paddy Lowe and Ross is going to Honda to help them get ready for 2015

It would be nice to have a break from Seb winning every bloody race I can't see it happening though.

I'd heard about the Ross Brawn rumours. I wonder if he could repeat his Brawn success with Honda again? That would be ace.

This is really sad news :( Maria de Villota found dead.

So sad. She went through so much last year with the accident. Her poor family.

I know :( It seemed like she was in the clear and fully recovered from her accident. A terrible loss.

bump! have really enjoyed reading this thread!

I can't believe Vettel won the championship, what a shock! Never saw that coming

Latest rumours- Brawn to Williams? (I would love that) and Perez to stay at McLaren. Oh, and Lotus have been bailed out so Kimi can finally afford to pay his bills and do his big monthly grocery shop.

Kimi's going for an early shower.

I wonder how much vodka the back surgery will involve? I've never even heard of their reserve driver, I wonder if he'll be any good.

And now Massa has signed with Williams replacing Pastor Maldonado. A good move by Williams, I think.

Magnussen to replace Perez at McLaren.

So who is still to confirm their line-up?

so - am now wondering who is going to be left without a seat when the F1 music stops as Perez being unexpectedly thrown into the mix so late on is bound to add to the panic as he brings Telmex sponsorship with him, which given the current state of finances for many teams makes him an attractive proposition.

Would be a crying shame if The Hulk didn't get the Lotus drive, but will depend on what state their finances are in as to whether they end up taking Maldonado with his sack of gold or someone they really want. Have a feeling Di Resta is going to be left out in the cold this time as he has upset too many people at SFI by bigging himself up when things go well and then blaming the team when it doesn't and taking every opportunity to tell everyone that he is worthy of a top drive. Suspect that Chilton and Guttierez are also going to be out of a drive too.

Lotus seem to be causing the bottle neck at the moment and when they announce their driver, everything else should quickly fall into place.

Yes, I think it will all fall into place once Lotus confirm their line-up. Have they confirmed Grosjean? I assume they'll be keeping him after his recent performances.

Who do you think will be at which team of the remaining drivers and seats available Eau? and which team principals??

Haven't heard that Grosjean is confirmed as yet, but would be very surprised if he doesn't stay at Lotus given his upturn in form as the season has progressed. That, and the fact that Bouillier is his manager and he has sponsorship money from Total! All helps with the big picture... Although in a way, nice that the teams faith in him has been rewarded as many teams would have let him go after his 2012 performance - have a feeling that the Spa pile up Grosjean caused will haunt him for ever as clips of it are shown at every opportunity and are part of the Beebs F1 coverage intro.

Cant wait to see how the constructors places fall though, as suspect that Domenicali and Whitmarsh are under extreme pressure given their lacklustre performance and we may see changes of team principals yet, never mind the driver line up. Especially with it being McLarens 50th Anniversary this year - its certainly been one to forget for them which is such a shame given their history. Although on the face of it, I like Whitmarsh, not convinced that he is the right man for the job as he has made some fairly dire decisions which have cost them dearly.

I would not be at all surprised to find that Ross Brawn will be rejoining the Scuderia if they don't get 2nd or 3rd and suspect that he may be the only one who could manage the Alonso/Raikkonen dynamic, thinking back to how he handled Hamilton and Rosberg when they were in the same position as Webber and Vettel in Malaysia and they held station unlike the Red Bull drivers. Never mind 'tyre-gate', must be the only trial in history where the accused suggested the punishment and it was accepted by the court!! Wont be Raikkonen who will cause the problems as he doesn't get involved in the mind games, but Alonso reminds me of Nelson Piquet with Mansell, where he tries to destabilise his team mate to gain advantage.

Looking forward to Interlagos more than Austin though, not so keen on the newer circuits and then after that, how to survive until the 2014 season starts up..........

I don't like to make predictions, they always go all Murray Walker At least one team will have a rich Russian who can't drive that well.

I wonder if you're onto something with the Brawn thing, Ferrari did hint a while ago that they had another big announcement to make about the team.

I never thought Martin Whitmarsh was up to the job, I thought he was just a temporary in between Ron moving over and them finding someone else.

Only other thoughts I had re Ross Brawn was whether he would be going to Honda to help them get ready for their return to F1........ or if he was one of Bernie's 'backstops' if the court case didn't go well and he needed someone to keep things ticking over.

I read that MW didn't want to be the team principal, he was happy with a more desk bound job, but it was Ron himself who wanted him to take on the role.

As to Sauber's choice of driver - well, I find it very worrying that a young lad with little experience but who has parents with deep pockets can 'buy' a drive - over the last 20 years there have thankfully been few serious incidents and no fatalities, but motor racing is dangerous, you only have to watch Jackie Stewarts interview on 'Grand Prix, The Killer Years, where he talks of going to funerals on a regular basis.

It still says that Motor Racing is a dangerous sport on the back of the tickets and you only have to look back a couple of weeks to the tragic loss of Sean Edwards when he was sitting in with an inexperienced driver. Grosjean's Spa incident is another case in point, where he wasn't injured but it could so easily have been Alonso who was. Money has always spoken in F1, but talent still got through but it seems now as if things are moving too far towards those with sponsorship irrespective of talent. I doubt that Maldonado, to name but one, would have had more than a year in the sport had he not got some very rich backers.

Maldonado is crap, I would be happy to see him dropped but I don't think the midfield teams can afford not to sign him.

It is a bit worrying that teenagers can just buy their way into a dangerous sport. I'm sure they can drive, but they need to prove themselves by being good enough, not just by having cash. I think this would be improved by a budget cap but some of the rich teams don't seem keen on one.