The 2012 Driver transfer discussion/speculation thread

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No, he isn't looking or shouldn't be looking for podiums and race wins, but I feel that his experience could still be very valuable for one more year, especially considering the depths Williams have sunken to.

Yeah, 20 solid seasons would be pretty fantastic.

[/Driver bias]

But I can understand why they might choose another driver.
 
Although he's not 'owed' anything, It'd be a shame to see Rubens, who has put 2 years into the team, be released from Williams after many years of them struggling, right before they get the proven Renault engine and get (with the benefit of hindsight) their best chance at a championship in recent years. I think this year could easily see the order shaken up a little, and I believe there is a chance 2012 could be the miracle year for Barrichello if the team has put together a great car, I'm not a Barrichello fan but I would love to see it happen. If he does get dropped I hope they go with Senna, or 'probably-not' (in talks) Petrov.

I have no real preference between those 2 but I would rather see Barrichello finally win a world championship than see Senna come 2nd or something. Not to say Senna couldn't, but we all know that as a driver he's not 'complete' yet.
 
The Renault engine will make very little difference. What on earth makes you think they will be anywhere near championship contending form?
 
RTSolvalou
I have no real preference between those 2 but I would rather see Barrichello finally win a world championship than see Senna come 2nd or something. Not to say Senna couldn't, but we all know that as a driver he's not 'complete' yet.
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Sadly, that just won't happen. Even the most ardent fan must be realistic.

F1 fan is right, the Renault engine will get Williams a handful more points, but doubtfully anything more spectacular than that.
 
RTSolvalou
right before they get the proven Renault engine and get (with the benefit of hindsight) their best chance at a championship in recent years
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I don't think a championship is a realistic proposition for Williams this year. Not unless they pull a Brawn GP out of their hats. I think they'll be aiming to get back in touch with the midfield and fight for points. That's going to be a big ask, because we know that Lotus, Force India, Sauber and Toro Rosso are already going to be squabbling over them, and Caterham want to join the fight. Unless Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and/or Mercedes seriously screw things up, there's already going to be eight cars fighting over two places before Williams and Caterham arrive at the party.

At the very least, we're going to see an ultra-competitive midfield this season.
 
I'm not saying they WILL go from zero to hero, nor do I expect it, but I acknowledge that it's possible, they're not Caterham, we'll just have to wait and see what their technical work amounts to in Melbourne.

People usually improve more after a big wake up call, which is why Wlliams will probably be making sure as hell they don't have another year like 2011, much like McLaren and moreso Ferrari will be throwing everything they've got into their 2012 car, per se, after the royal flogging they got last year.
 
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nitrorocks
That sucks for Rubens. The Brazillian fans are gonna be pissed
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Why would they be upset if one Brazilian replaces another? Sure, Barrichello wouldn't get to see his 20th season, but there would still be a Brazilian racing.

What I find truly fascinating about the second Williams seat is the way none of the drivers vying for it really know what the others are up to. In fact, they don't even know who the other drivers might be:

http://www.crash.net/f1/news/175906/1/dambrosio_van_der_garde_working_in_stealth_mode.html

d'Ambrosio's manager, Benjamin Mignot, confirmed that a decision will be taken sooner rather than later, to ensure that his client is in a position to make the most of pre-season testing when it begins.

“A decision should be made within ten days in time for the start of winter testing at Jerez on 7 February,” he noted, “We are not spoken about much in the foreign press and that's fine, but I can assure you that we are still in the frame and that doors are still open.

“The situation is unchanged since Christmas. We have a reasonable budget for a F1 seat. I'm not talking about the amounts, but we consider Adrian Sutil the only real competitor.”
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There has been nothing to link Adrian Sutil to the HRT drive, so this suggests that d'Ambrosio is bidding for the second Williams seat. He considers Sutil to be his only competition for it, which suggests that Senna and Barrichello have nothing left in them.

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that Jerome d'Ambrosio could race at Williams next year.
 
Autosport is reporting that Kevin Ceccon is among the contenders for the second HRT seat. Normally I'd write this off as idle speculation, but something is clearly afoot: until a week ago, Kevin Ceccon was contracted to drive for Coloni in GP2. An issue of The GP2 Insider quoted him directly as saying he would race for the team. But then, a week ago, Coloni signed Stefano Coletti and Fanio Onidi. No mention was made of Ceccon. I suppose it makes sense on a certain level - Tonio Liuzzi is probably not going to race at HRT this year. And popular rumour places Vitaly Petrov in the seat currently held by Jarno Trulli. That means that there will be no Italian drivers on the grid, probably for the first time since the mid-1970s. Maybe for the first time in the history of the sport. I imagine that this would equal a national scandal in Italy, and that Italian businesses would move heaven and earth to make sure there was an Italian driver in Formula 1.

So either the Ceccon deal was misreported, or his contract was somehow terminated – possibly because HRT are looking to take him. I can’t imagine it would be terminated without a solid deal in place for 2012, but I think it’s more likely that wires got crossed and Ceccon was misreported as racing for Coloni.
 
I don't think Barrichello has got anything left for Williams to improve on.

Experienced as he may be, but experience won't bring Williams back. As pointed out by someone else you need the funds for the necessary upgrades, and if that's what Williams need they ought to invest their seats in a promising pay-driver. I can't even see how Barrichello's experience would help the team, Williams is not a team like Virgin or HRT, experience is not Williams' major issue within the team; It's probably first and foremost funding to build a decently quick car.
 
prisonermonkeys
I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that Jerome d'Ambrosio could race at Williams next year.
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Good on him if it's true. He performed well last year apart from his embarrassing pitlane spin. He was alwys happy to talk to the press with a smile on his face, even after Brazil, which could have been his last ever F1 grand prix.

F1 could do with more like him.
 
F1 fan
Good on him if it's true. He performed well last year apart from his embarrassing pitlane spin. He was alwys happy to talk to the press with a smile on his face, even after Brazil, which could have been his last ever F1 grand prix.

F1 could do with more like him.
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Unlike Raikkonen. :lol:
 
Judging by the recent rumour train, I think Bruno Senna is pretty much the favourite for the seat, seeing as the rumours that become true are the ones that end up being brought up the most (Alonso to Ferrari, Raikkonen's return, etc). Of course, there are plenty of examples of the popular rumours falling flat and a lot of the noise is being made by the typical places. But right now thats who I'm guessing is going to be announced as the major evidence suggests it.

I reckon D'Ambrosio will end up as third driver at Lotus due to his DAMS and Gravity connections. He would be a decent back-up if Grosjean or Raikkonen don't deliver as expected.
 
F1 fan
Good on him if it's true. He performed well last year apart from his embarrassing pitlane spin. He was alwys happy to talk to the press with a smile on his face, even after Brazil, which could have been his last ever F1 grand prix.

F1 could do with more like him.
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It's hard to compare drivers in awful machinery, but Glock did have the edge on him all season. Pitlane spin aside, dry tyres plus wet pitlane won't end up pretty for anyone, drivers have slid into their boxes in the dry as well.

d'ambrosio was the most often one to end up behind both HRT's as well. That shows progress on HRT's part, but I doubt that the F111 was the faster car at any track besides perhaps Montreal, Turkey and Hungary.
 
There's only so much you can expect from a rookie, especially in a Virgin. This is not a Montoya in a Williams being a rookie.

And that's all I have to say about it, I'm already frustrated enough with how few chances rookies get in the F1 circus of nonsense.
 
Ardius
the rumours that become true are the ones that end up being brought up the most (Alonso to Ferrari, Raikkonen's return, etc). Of course, there are plenty of examples of the popular rumours falling flat and a lot of the noise is being made by the typical places.
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Like, say, Raikkonen's return? Most of the rumours, after all, placed him at Williams.
 
Peter.
It's hard to compare drivers in awful machinery, but Glock did have the edge on him all season. Pitlane spin aside, dry tyres plus wet pitlane won't end up pretty for anyone, drivers have slid into their boxes in the dry as well.

d'ambrosio was the most often one to end up behind both HRT's as well. That shows progress on HRT's part, but I doubt that the F111 was the faster car at any track besides perhaps Montreal, Turkey and Hungary.
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Don't you think it's kind of ironic that you'll put down one person because they were beaten by their teammate, yet you'll completely glance over that fact if it involves a certain driver that you obviously like?
 
F1 fan
Don't you think it's kind of ironic that you'll put down one person because they were beaten by their teammate, yet you'll completely glance over that fact if it involves a certain driver that you obviously like?
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No, I don't. Senna at least showed some potential, beating said teammate after jumping into the car mid season. Throughout the entire season, Jerome was outpace by Glock, and sometimes even by the HRT's. While he didn't impress me too much, I don't think he deserved to be dropped either. He didn't really do a bad job.
 
Peter.
No, I don't. Senna at least showed some potential, beating said teammate after jumping into the car mid season. Throughout the entire season, Jerome was outpace by Glock, and sometimes even by the HRT's. While he didn't impress me too much, I don't think he deserved to be dropped either. He didn't really do a bad job.
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But, surely you would consider their team-mates to be quite a lot different in speed? I do like Petrov, but Glock would probably be faster then him in an equal car. Add the fact that Petrov was much better in a race rather then qualifying shows that Senna wasn't as fast as him during the season, while D'ambrosio could generally match Glock or not embarrass Virgin like Chandok and Yamamoto did at HRT when they had Senna and Klien as team-mates.
 
Peter.
Senna at least showed some potential, beating said teammate after jumping into the car mid season.
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I hate to drag this up again, but you've never given me a conclusive answer: when did Senna beat Petrov? Petrov outqualified Senna (five times) more often than Senna outqualified Petrov (three times). Petrov outraced Senna (five times) more than Senna outraced Petrov (one time). Petrov outscored Senna (five points to two). When your only claim to fame is the only time that you outqualified and outraced your team-mate at the team's single worst event in the season, something is clearly wrong. So how on earth did Senna beat Petrov? I suppose you think Felipe Massa beat Alonso, too.

This is why I think you should have won the Darwin Award in this year's forum awards - I'm sure there is a permanent dent in my forehead from every time I've facepalmed in the last six months. And I've facepalmed every time I've read one of your posts.
 
Peter.
No, I don't. Senna at least showed some potential, beating said teammate after jumping into the car mid season. Throughout the entire season, Jerome was outpace by Glock, and sometimes even by the HRT's. While he didn't impress me too much, I don't think he deserved to be dropped either. He didn't really do a bad job.
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Senna did not beat his teammate. Once again, you're twisting the truth.
 
prisonermonkeys
This is why I think you should have won the Darwin Award in this year's forum awards - I'm sure there is a permanent dent in my forehead from every time I've facepalmed in the last six months. And I've facepalmed every time I've read one of your posts.
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And I voted you for most opinionated because you're always having an argument.:)
 
Let's be clear about this, Senna did quite an impressive job in an unfamiliar car with limited track time/preparation. If you think I'm wrong then you also think Martin Brundle is wrong, and you'll excuse me a moment if I take his opinion over yours :)
 
peter_vod69
Let's be clear about this, Senna did quite an impressive job in an unfamiliar car with limited track time/preparation. If you think I'm wrong then you also think Martin Brundle is wrong, and you'll excuse me a moment if I take his opinion over yours :)
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That is true. But there is also the fact that Senna was outperformed by Petrov and made a few silly mistakes. There's also the fact that Peter is completely blind to this.

Edit: Other Peter that is, not you.
 
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