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

[braunracing88]

I don't normally do these, but for kicks, an ideal world:

Red Bull - Vettel/Alonso
Mercedes - Hamilton/Rosberg
McLaren - Button/Perez
Ferrari - Hulkenburg/Kobayashi
Lotus - Raikkonen/Grosjean
Force India - Bianchi/Nasr
Sauber - Frijns/Pic
Williams - Maldonado/Bottas
Toro Rosso - Ricciardo/Vergne
Caterham - Van der Garde/Rossi
Marrusia - Calado/Magnussen

I hope your prediction about Alexander Rossi getting a race seat comes true. Time to put a Yank back on the f:censored:ing grid!

 

[Wardez]

Isn't Heikki lining himself up for a return to Caterham? I really don't think Van der Garde's gonna be around next season. Poor guy, wish he could've really gotten a shot like this while he was younger. Spyker didn't count.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

I hope your prediction about Alexander Rossi getting a race seat comes true. Time to put a Yank back on the f:censored:ing grid!

I don't think he should have the seat yet.

 

[Bram Turismo]

I'd like to see Stoffel Vandoorne have a future within F1 and do good. Bas Leinders never was any good, it's about time Belgium has another decent driver in F1.

 

[hondalicious]

I'd like to see Stoffel Vandoorne have a future within F1 and do good. Bas Leinders never was any good, it's about time Belgium has another decent driver in F1.

I hope this will happen next year or maybe the year after.
without problems last time out he would be leading the F3.5 championship with a decent chance of winning it in his first year after winning the 2.0 the year before.

 

[Wardez]

More on Alonso, "Red Bull boss confirms that meeting in Budapest was about Alonso:"

http://grandprix247.com/2013/08/03/red-bull-boss-confirms-meeting-in-budapest-was-about-alonso/

 

[J-PaP]

More on Alonso, "Red Bull boss confirms that meeting in Budapest was about Alonso:"

http://grandprix247.com/2013/08/03/red-bull-boss-confirms-meeting-in-budapest-was-about-alonso/

Could this be a reaction by Red Bull to try get one back on Ferrari assuming they got Raikkonen?

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

At the time of his return to Formula 1, Lotus executives, in part, opted for the Finnish Kimi Raikkonen because it did not ask for an astronomical salary. In reality, Iceman prefers to operate in the form of premiums on the basis of the marked points. This method yields him 30,000 dollar per point (about 23,000 euros). Last year, the former Ferrari driver thus converted a nice jackpot of EUR 4.6 million. Only problem, like last season, Kimi has still not received a dime since the start of the season. The entourage of the pilot tempers: "it was the same thing last season and everything is set at the right time. Will this be the same this year." Except that, by then, Kimi Raikkonen will have perhaps taken a decision in favour of Red Bull for his future.

Translated from French Media

 

[Wardez]

That's too bad, there's really no reason for Kimi to stay there at all. It's pretty much 100% he'll be at a new team next year, but as for which one, we'll find out soon.
Sucks that the Enstone boys have been getting poached pretty much like McLaren has been with talent in drivers and engineers. Except Enstone has doesn't have McLaren £££.

Kimi's been through ups and downs of a salary rollercoaster like no other. Going from making more than anyone with Ferrari then out, then to Lotus and he's driving on past due.

I'm still hoping he goes back to Ferrari as, like I said before, he likes Allison and I think everyone's over the political BS that happened last year. He knows a lot more than we do and I have a feeling he's not liking something about RBR's upcoming program for whatever reason. I feel that if he really wanted to go RBR and knew it was a sure-shot 100% package thing (both in performance and responsibility to the team/ownership of his image) he would've been confirmed by now.

But it is silly season, full swing, so we'll see.

 

[Speedster7]

I don't think Kimi would fair well at RBR, I think it would be similar to Alonso at McLaren in '07, a lead driver given number 2 status never works

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Calado chasing that there FI seat.

Alex Rossi also talking about his prospects for the Caterham seat..

 

[King1982]

Lewis will beg McLaren to take him back!

Lol

Been a fan of Lewis for years, but im not really surprised about the news as i think its been on the cards for while..everyone seems to be saying that he will be in the midfield next year, but i think he'll be challenging for the title!..he might not have the car for it, but he is the sort of driver who can get wins and podiums regardless of whether he has a good car or not!

..also the Button/Perez combo looks very interesting! 👍

You're a genius

 

[BHRxRacer]

1) Kimi said people will call him stupid when they find out what his decision is, or something along those lines IIRC.
2) Alonso's already losing his **** just like he was with Mclaren and Briatore's Renault.
3) Vettel saying he'd rather have Kimi than Alonso as a teammate.

Yeah looks like Kimi's gone to Ferrari and Alonso's gone to RB. Should be interesting.

 

[BHRxRacer]

Forgot to add:
4) Horner saying RB is interested in the best team. I'm not sure of it was Horner or somebody else at RB though.

ANYWAY

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/kimi-raikkonen-to-replace-felipe-massa-at-ferrari/414321-5-24.html

Ferrari are denying it, just like they denied James Allison. Lol.


-

Alonso losing his **** confirms one of two things. Either he doesn't care about Ferrari anymore since he's leaving or he knows a big gun is going to be his teammate next year. That teammate is either Alonso or Kimi but I doubt it's the latter.

This is a bit far fetched but I hope it happens
Ferrari: Vettel + Kimi
RB: Alonso + Verccardo

 

[Wardez]

Add more steam to the Kimi to Ferrari train:
http://www.racingfanatic.net/2013/08/kimi-raikkonen-is-going-to-ferrari.html

According to a Finnish paper, which's reputation I'm not up on whatsoever. But anyway, there's that.

Till it's on Autosport though, it won't attract too much attention, but I have a feeling it will soon, time's pressing on and deals must be made.

Some people are already crying about a Kimi and Fernando lineup and calling BS but you guys should know with this deal, Fernando probably won't want to stick around. So if it's true, it could be a good indicator of Fernando's chances of wearing the blue suit.

 

[SVT Cobra GT]

I really can't see Kimi partnering Alonso at Ferrari. It just wouldn't work as I reckon Alonso would throw his toys from the pram if he started to stop being the number 1. Kimi would only go there to replace Alonso I think. If that happens then Alonso would be heading to RBR as there aren't any other teams which would interest him.

But Kimi to RBR is still the most likely to me.

 

[Wardez]

Yeah... that's what I said in my previous post.

 

[Imari]

Some people are already crying about a Kimi and Fernando lineup and calling BS but you guys should know with this deal, Fernando probably won't want to stick around. So if it's true, it could be a good indicator of Fernando's chances of wearing the blue suit.

But if Fernando chucks his toys at Ferrari for being on the same team as another top tier driver (Kimi), how is being at RBR with Vettel any better? He's hardly going to be number 1 driver at Red Bull over their triple-possibly-quadruple world champion. At least with Ferrari he'd have the advantage of being the incumbent.

 

[Wardez]

Well the key thing is that Fernando's sick of Ferrari. At this point he'll do anything to win and if that means having to bow down to the Horner at times and do his absolute best to keep in line, he'll do it. I think he's tired of the whole "I need full support and be #1" thing at this point as well. He should know that if he is in a dominant car again, the battle will go down between him and his team mate alone.

The reason he was always put off so much if he didn't get his way before was because he had the strategy in mind like Schumacher had it, where the #2 should always make way for #1 and #2 should only be there to deny points to his rivals. It's gonna be 2014 now, that strategy isn't as practical anymore.

It comes down to RBR now though, in treating him fairly (if he does end up going there). They know they'll have to, especially if they do indeed have the best car next year, in order for Alonso to keep things straight on plan. So that's all he'll demand, parity. I think that way, we can have a really great fight. Although I think that if Alonso still loses fairly to Vettel, even if Vettel doesn't end up being champ again in '14 but just beats him in points, he'll retire.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

I'm reading more stuff about Ferrari denying Kimi than anything.

 

[Wardez]

As far as all that talk goes, I subscribe to this take:

It's a done deal.
Read between the lines...
"Right now, we're really not giving any thought to the driver-market situation," said a Ferrari spokesman. He added that the team were focused on reviving Fernando Alonso's title push. "That is our priority," he said. "Drivers are not a problem for us even if we were to change Felipe."

''Right now... Not giving any thought to the driver market situation'' - Possibly because they already have? Saying they're not thinking 'right now' doesn't mean they haven't already, or that they won't do in the future.

''even if we were to change Felipe.'' - Why say this? If you're not going to replace Felipe, why even entertain the possibility that you may actually do so? Or that you may already have done so?

Note Kimi's talk of his decision potentially being seen as stupid to outsiders. Well, a Ferrari move sure would look stupid given their past with Kimi.

Also note what Kimi said about promotional days and how that could influence his decision. He denied it was a factor, but said ''At least in my knowledge the difference in the teams is just a few days and it's not going to be a deciding factor." Assuming he is referring to Lotus and whichever team he is moving to, you have to wonder whether that knowledge comes from having been with that team in the past.

Perhaps I'm reading way too much into things, but those quotes from Ferrari don't really deny anything.

 

[SVT Cobra GT]

As far as all that talk goes, I subscribe to this take:

Those are really valid points. Each point seems a likely reason for them to say that.

I'm still not sure whether Kimi would entertain a move back to Ferrari especially if Alonso wants out of there and what happened at the end of '09.

 

[BHRxRacer]

As far as all that talk goes, I subscribe to this take:

Where'd you get that from? Someone stole my post >_>

 

[Dr. P]

Latest news (rumors) "confirm", Ricciardo goes to Red Bull and Raikkonen to Ferrari.
From german Sport Bild magazine. Probably these rumors will be announced more officially next weekend.

 

[DK]

I think a few members have shown why we shouldn't take Bild seriously.

 

[Wardez]

Right, but I've also shown how Bild's been very right in the past, so we can take what they say seriously.

 

[niky]

If you throw a lot of coins up in the air and half of them come up heads, that doesn't say much about your accuracy.

It's possible, but it's not a sure thing.

 

[braunracing88]

Marko did indeed jump the gun.
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/red-bull-to-announce-ricciardo-at-spa/

 

[Wardez]

If you throw a lot of coins up in the air and half of them come up heads, that doesn't say much about your accuracy.

It's possible, but it's not a sure thing.

Can be applied to absolutely all the news sources though.

The only reason people can depend on Autosport is 'cause they're always really late on news and only post on it once it's absolutely certain. Yeah, you can say that's ideal journalism in some regards, but a lot of journalism to me lies in investigation, which they do hardly any of these days.

That's why I don't mind chasing rumors around, and Bild always gets scoops on big business and driver stories in F1.

Another aspect is; don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Although Bild definitely has its departments that cover news like a fullon tabloid, other departments can have more integrity depending on who's staffed and such.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Looks like I'm a little late to this party, but yeah nice to see it may be a new Australian to take the seat.