Three way driver swap - Jaguar, Williams, McLaren?

[vat_man]

Heard a little rumour today that there might be a bit of a three way swap of drivers in the wind - specifically:

- Webber: From Jaguar to Williams to replace Montoya
- Montoya: From Williams to McLaren to replace Coulthard
- Coulthard - From McLaren to Jaguar to replace Webber

Good to see long term contracts (Webber at Jaguar) not providing any meaningful resistance to the stories going around!

 

[ving]

hey vatty, you live down at the bra Mr?

 

[vat_man]

Originally posted by ving
hey vatty, you live down at the bra Mr?

No, mate - I'm more inner west/north shore Sydney. I haven't hit the water since March.

You weren't looking at my embarrassment of a web-site, were you?

 

[Cobraboy]

Originally posted by vat_man
No, mate - I'm more inner west/north shore Sydney. I haven't hit the water since March.

You weren't looking at my embarrassment of a web-site, were you?

Vat, your website is the bomb. Wait, a bomb.

 

[Matrixhasu77]

Interesting. Although I can't say I agree with Coulthard possibly trading places with Webber for a less powerful car. Didn't Pizzonia get the boot at Jaguar for not being able to compete? Or was it Webber? I'm not sure whats going on with these driver switches. Is the three way swap as you put it going to occur mid season or after(if it does)?

 

[vat_man]

Originally posted by Matrixhasu77
Interesting. Although I can't say I agree with Coulthard possibly trading places with Webber for a less powerful car. Didn't Pizzonia get the boot at Jaguar for not being able to compete? Or was it Webber? I'm not sure whats going on with these driver switches. Is the three way swap as you put it going to occur mid season or after(if it does)?

It would be for next season. The story was that McLaren aren't happy with Coulthard, and that Montoya's interested in leaving Williams for McLaren (apparently he believes Ralf's the team's favourite - ironic, as I believe Frank and Patrick dislike them equally). Williams were apparently sniffing around Webber earlier in the year.

It was Pizzonia that got the boot - remember, the number one rule for a grand prix driver is to destroy your team mate - and since Williams rated Pizzonia, and Webber destroyed him to the point of getting him fired, it would only make sense that Williams would be interested in Webber.

The Monty to McLaren move's been a story for a couple of days now, but it's had me intrigued where Coulthard would go - the story was that Williams would take Fisichella, Gene or Pizzonia to sit beside Ralf.

 

[vat_man]

Originally posted by Cobraboy
Vat, your website is the bomb. Wait, a bomb.

It might have been a bomb - it has certainly gone off...

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Originally posted by Cobraboy
Vat, your website is the bomb. Wait, a bomb.

Certainly the datacentre that hosts it needs to be bombed!

Imagine it! Not even a link to Fantasy F1! I'm hurt!!

Anyway, back on-topic...

This sounds like the product of a fertile imagination. Only one of the four drivers mentioned (the ones that currently hold race seats, that is) is out of contract at the end of this season. So, McLaren would have to buy Montoya out of his contract, and you can bet that Williams won't be over-keen to release him before next year. Williams would have to buy Webber out of his contract, and Fisi is contracted to Jordan, although I believe he can exercise options to leave at the end of the year.

So then your logical swap would be Fisi to McLaren, and DC to Jordan. Except I think DC would rather retire than go to Jordan, and I don't see Fisi fitting in with the McLaren image. Nor (if the truth be told) do I see JPM fitting in there.

No, the person who would be the best fit at McLaren is Webber, and Ron must be kicking himself for missing out on that one. Webber's unassuming speed is exactly what McLaren need to bring more out of Raikkonen. The last thing they need is some emotional Latin-type throwing toys around, and that's what they'd be getting with JPM or Fisi. And if you bring in the other 'name' who's out of contract at the end of this year, Villeneuve into the mix, you see that Webber is even more of a 'fit' for McLaren.

So, if all this played out in the best interests of the teams, you would have:
DC -> Jaguar (Salary rise)
Montoya stays at Williams (Salary more performance-related)
Ralf stays at Williams (Salary more performance-related)
Webber -> McLaren (no change)
Villeneuve -> Retirement
Fisichella -> B.A.R. (no change)

This all assumes that Barrichello (who is contracted at Ferrari until 2004) doesn't suddenly pop onto the market. All of this speculation, including my hypothesis, rests on the main teams (Williams and McLaren) buying at least one person out of their contract. Since they've never shown willingness to do this unless it's an exceptional deal, and since Jaguar will set a sky-high buyout for Webber, I think the whole house of cards will collapse fairly shortly.

However, the time is ripe for watching the drivers' personal web sites. Remember, if the personal web site says "I have a contract for 2004, and that means I'm staying at X team", it really means "I have been fired by X team, and they're all a bunch of gits".

 

[quicksilver1122]

I actually would think it would be interesting to see Montoya with McLaren, as much as I would hate to see DC go. But I personally would like to see Montoya in the MP4-18 or 19, which SHOULD be a much more powerful car than the Williams. This would guaranty some good racing action. I wouldn't mind seeing Webber with McLaren either.

I really can't imagine Barrichello moving to a lesser team than Ferrari. He's a great driver, and I doupt Ferrari would let him go. I personally think he's just as good as MS in certain conditions.

I don't see Ralf going anywhere but up either. He's been doing really well.

Although DC is my favorite current driver. I have to admit he's been doing really poorly. He's been using his "I need to adjust to the new qualifying" excuse way too many time and I can see why McLaren is getting fed up with him. He's constantly making errors. I don't know about him moving all the way down to Jag or Jordan. Like Giles said, he has way too much pride and a reputation to keep than to move down that low.

 

[vat_man]

I could see him at Jaguar, but not Jordan - mind you, it would be interesting to see if Jaguar take him, I imagine the last thing the team wants now is to be seen as a Grand Prix driver retirement home, especially after the previous Irish incumbent.

Coulthard's never really delivered on his promise of 94 and 95 - he's been in a team that delivered two driver's championships, and never really been consistently amongst it. I think there's too many good young drivers on the way up at the moment for him to last much longer - we seem to be on the brink of generational change - just witness Villeneuve and Frentzen probably not being able to get drives next year.

Ferrari are also starting to come to a time where they need to have a think about the team post-Schumacher. These transitions can be a very hard time for a team - McLaren post-Senna, and Benetton post-Schumacher come immediately to mind.