The '13 driver transfer discussion/speculation thread op updated 16/10

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peter_vod69
In before PM's gloating...

I've never had much of a feeling of schadenfreude as I have now. I really do begrudge both the lack of support Williams gave Senna, and I begrudge the misfortune that led to his ten year absence from motor racing, which, it seems, has cost him a shot at f1 glory.
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Considering that Bruno still made it to F1, despite his major disadvantage of a 10 year absence from motorsport, is quite impressive.

As Bruno also said (in his views on Williams' decision), it also was kind of inevitable TBH. Judging by the way Williams arranged so many FP sessions for Bottas in Senna's car,we can easily see their true intentions of preparing the Finn for a race seat.

Always felt that Senna had some untapped potential really IMO. I don't know why, maybe because of how he had shown that speed wasn't that much of a problem in the Lotus last year perhaps.

Nevertheless, still excited to see another new Finn coming to the grid. Can't wait to see how he performs, he has shown to have high potential in the FP sessions, judging by his pace there. Always entertaining to watch new fast-rising talents. Perhaps he could become the next Kimi?
 
Senna didn't impress much this year. He can't really blame the practice sessions either because the races where he did get FP1, he didn't notably improve at all. All he has to claim from this season was that he was more reliable and didn't crash as much as Maldonado. But thats not really valuable to any team bar the backmarkers, he needs to be fast as well as reliable.

I felt he deserved another chance after last half season and his mixed HRT season. But this year he hasn't done himself any favours and has not made the most of the opportunity.

He's had his chances and thats as fair as its going to get. He should pursue a career in sportscars as I think he would do very well, maybe even a seat at Toyota or Audi if he's really lucky/got bags of cash. Or Indycar as he might be good enough to run decent-ish in midfield.

But there are plenty of much better drivers about with much higher potential. This season has been quite the waste for Williams. I think they could have seriously challenged Sauber if it weren't for Maldonado being so crashy and Senna being too slow too often.
Hopefully Bottas turns out to be the Raikkonen everyone is expecting as its badly what Williams need along with a great car.
 
Ardius
Senna didn't impress much this year. He can't really blame the practice sessions either because the races where he did get FP1, he didn't notably improve at all. All he has to claim from this season was that he was more reliable and didn't crash as much as Maldonado. But thats not really valuable to any team bar the backmarkers, he needs to be fast as well as reliable.
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I was baffled when he came in for Heidfeld at Lotus, I'm surprised no one has brought his name up. He's consistent and was one of the most experienced drivers on the grid.
 
Check it out:
http://www.f1zone.net/news/kovalainen-could-replace-grosjean-at-lotus/17057/

MTV3 (which covers F1 in Finland) said that Heikki could replace Grosjean and Lotus.

This is a tough one for me because if it's true they're simply looking for talent and not money (since they have that huge Burn/Coke deal they just secured) then that means Kamui should be up for the same position I'd say.

If it were up to you guys, who would you rather take?

This is pretty much just for discussion though since it's unlikely the deal will work. Here's MTV3's track record with rumors btw:

Kovalainen to Mclaren:
http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/f1/uutiset.shtml/2012/09/1614762/kovalainen-mclarenin-karkiehdokas

Kovalainen to Ferrari:
http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/f1/uutiset.shtml/2012/06/1569971/kovalainen-yhdistetaan-ferrari-huhuihin

Kovalainen to Sauber:
http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/f1/uutiset.shtml/2012/06/1569684/kovalainen-ehdolla-sauberille

Kovalainen to Force India:
http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/f1/uutis...ia-vahvistaa-kovalainen-ehdolla-kuljettajaksi
 
Peasantslayer
I was baffled when he came in for Heidfeld at Lotus, I'm surprised no one has brought his name up. He's consistent and was one of the most experienced drivers on the grid.
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Eh, he (Senna) didn't do a bad job at Lotus though. Heidfeld did what Senna did this year - didn't really grasp his opportunity.
Which is why his name hasn't come up now. He's done for F1 barring some random call up like HRT did with Christian Klien and Liuzzi.
 
I've heard that Heikki went to Lotus and said he would gladly take Romain place. However MTV3 recon that atm Romain is in better place. Also the co-owner of Lotus, Gérard Lopez said that he wanted to have Romain with him for the next year, but apparently Romain didnt sign the contract yet.

That's what I read on the french sport site.

For Senna, he didnt do a bad job, but didnt do anything really good neither, like last year at Lotus, which is why he didnt got a contract. He just seems a bit short on speed but that's my opinion.
 
RX-7_FD3S
I've heard that Heikki went to Lotus and said he would gladly take Romain place. However MTV3 recon that atm Romain is in better place. Also the co-owner of Lotus, Gérard Lopez said that he wanted to have Romain with him for the next year, but apparently Romain didnt sign the contract yet.
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I know people think Romain is a much better driver than he was a few years ago but he really should have picked up more points than he has done this year even with the crashes.

RX-7_FD3S
He just seems a bit short on speed but that's my opinion.
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He's almost the opposite of Ayrton. :)
 
Tzun
Ive heard that if Grosjean wants to stay with Lotus he have to sign a long-term deal.
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That would be good for him I think.
Lotus isn't going anywhere but closer to the front of the grid.

I really like Romain despite all the trouble he gets into. Seeing him quali was it 2nd(?) in his first race back in F1 was very impressive. He seems like a very nice guy too. Probably one of the best drivers off the track. If he could just get his on track mishaps fixed, he would be my favorite driver on the current grid.
 
gogatrs
That would be good for him I think.
Lotus isn't going anywhere but closer to the front of the grid.

I really like Romain despite all the trouble he gets into. Seeing him quali was it 2nd(?) in his first race back in F1 was very impressive. He seems like a very nice guy too. Probably one of the best drivers off the track. If he could just get his on track mishaps fixed, he would be my favorite driver on the current grid.
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I second that. I think that the Lotus has a lot of untapped potential. If Romain can get his s*** together he can be up there, I think.
 
Heikki to Lotus would be amazing. Sounds a bit unlikely though. My guess is crashjean will continue :(
 
Sure, if Lotus want to get a penalty for an unsafe release after every pitstop for Grosjean. :sly:

Although, Grosjean may end up staying due to there being no other 'real' standout drivers to replace him with, unless.... Barrichello?
 
AMuS - via PaddockTalk - reckon Lotus is seriously considering getting rid of Romain Grosjean:

http://www.paddocktalk.com/news/html/story-211378.html

And AMuS is very reliable like that. Ignore the part about MTV3 talking about Kovalainen moving to Lotus; they're terribly unreliable when it comes to Finnish drivers.

Meanwhile, In Auto News reckons that Kamui Kobayashi could be on Lotus' shortlist of drivers:

http://www.inautonews.com/now-kobayashi-could-replace-grosjean-at-lotus-report#.ULb9m9NyeiY

I find this particular report very interesting because it directly quotes Gerard Lopez as saying Lotus has a choice to make, which means that they aren't quite sold on the idea of keeping Grosjean.

I'd say Kamui Kobayashi still has an elephant to push up the stairs, though. According to kamui-support.com, he's got $1.2 million in support from fans alone, but concedes that it won't be enough to guarantee a drive. Rather, he sees it as some added incentive that he can put on top of any additional sponsorship he gets.
 
Autosport says Force India have stated that they are focusing on a driver with talent/speed, not money, although from reading the actual (Autosport) article, the quotes don't really say that at all.

www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104664

Driver announcement expected mid December. They make it seem like Di Resta isn't locked in.

Petrov in the running? Over his three seasons he's built up an ok 'castle' of experience and results.
 
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RTSolvalou
Autosport says Force India have stated that they are focusing on a driver with talent/speed, not money, although from reading the actual (Autosport) article, the quotes don't really say that at all.

www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104664

Driver announcement expected mid December. They make it seem like Di Resta isn't locked in.

Petrov in the running? Over his three seasons he's built up an ok 'castle' of experience and results.
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It would be odd if they announced their drivers in December and Di Resta isn't selected since he's representing them at Autosport International in January.
 
I don't know if someone said it already but I just read on Motorpasionf1.com (a Spanish motorsports blog) that HRT is semi-oficially no more.

According to the article, today (November 30th, the day when inscriptions for F1 2013 are cloased or so says the article)Toni Cuquerella, HRT's technical director, tweeted "I've written the last page of HRT's history".

The full tweet goes like this:

"Hace 4 años propuse a un amigo que hiciera un equipo de F1. Hoy después de 3 temporadas se ha escrito la última página de HRT. SUERTE AMIGOS"
("Four years ago, I suggested a friend to make an F1 team. Today, three seasons later, the last page of HRT has been written. GOOD LUCK FRIENDS".

https://twitter.com/tonicuque/status/274657893108809728
 
Aaaaand here's the lastest stupid controversy: people are complaining that Mercedes gave Lewis Hamilton the number 10 instead of the number 9. Apparently, since Hamilton is a former World Champion (and Nico Rosberg is not), the team is supposed to give him the number 9 "out of respect" for his past achievements, even though this has never been done before (Schumacher got the number 3 in 2010 and the number 7 in 2011 and 2012 because he is deeply superstitious and prefers to race with odd numbers).
 
prisonermonkeys
...According to kamui-support.com, he's got $1.2 million in support from fans alone, but concedes that it won't be enough to guarantee a drive. Rather, he sees it as some added incentive that he can put on top of any additional sponsorship he gets.
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I'm surprised they haven't made the www.kamui-support.com website multi-lingual so that he can rake in more funds for a drive next year.
 
I suspect they are limiting the campaign to Japan to try and convince Japanese companies that sponsoring Kobayashi would be a worthwhile investment.
 
4 places left for 2013 - would like to see Kobayashi or Senna go to Lotus. Barichello shouldn't be written off and it'd be great if Force India recruited him :D
As for Caterham and Marussia, it's a lottery...
 
I hope, Force India = Sutil, Lotus = Kobayashi, Caterham = Kovalainen and Marussia = Dont care, lol.
 
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