Your predictions for the driver line-up, 2010

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Sky News are reporting right now that Ferrari have signed Alonso for 3 years from 2010.
 
About damn time :sly:

http://www.ferrari.com/English/News/Pages/090930_F1_News_1.aspx

Press Release

Maranello, 30th September 2009 - Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro announces that it has reached an agreement with the driver Fernando Alonso. The agreement covers three racing seasons, starting in 2010.

The Scuderia’s driver line-up next season will therefore be made up of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, with Giancarlo Fisichella in the role of reserve driver.

Kimi Raikkonen will leave the team at the end of this current season, after what has been a rewarding and fruitful partnership, which saw him win the Drivers’ title in 2007. He also played a key role in Ferrari’s taking of the Constructor’s title that same year and in 2008.

“We are very proud to welcome to our team another winning driver, who has demonstrated his amazing talent by winning two World Championships in his career to date,” said Stefano Domenicali. “Of course, we wish to thank Kimi for everything he has done during his time with Ferrari: in his first year with us, he managed to win the Drivers’ title, thus making his contribution to Ferrari’s history and he played a vital role in our taking of the Constructors’ title in 2007 and 2008. Even during a difficult season like this one, he has demonstrated his great talent, with several good results, including a great win in Spa and we are sure that we can share more good times together in the final three races of this season.”

“With common consent, we have agreed to terminate the contract binding me to Ferrari to the end of 2010, one year ahead of schedule,” said Kimi Raikkonen. “I am very sad to be leaving a team with which I have spent three fantastic years, during which time I won plenty of races. Together, we have won 50% of the world titles in that period and I managed to take the Drivers’ title in 2007, thus achieving the target I had set myself at the start of my career. I have always felt at home with everyone here and I will have many happy memories of my time with the team.”
 
interludes
Barrichello is believed to be closing in on a deal with Sir Frank and the boys from Grove:
If this happens, I think it could actually be a pretty good deal. I'd like to think that Rubinho and Frank Williams would get along famously, and Williams would probably get Mercedes engines in the deal. I also think he'd be a great mentor for Nico Hulkenberg; both could keep the other honest all year long.
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Williams already got turned down for Mercedes power apparently, so its purely a move for an experienced driver to help them out (something that Williams have been sorely lacking these past years).
The last driver they had with a decent number of years' experience behind him was Nick Heidfeld and that was only 5 years experience mind.

It will be weird for some reason to see Barrichello at Williams, after being a Ferrari man for so long it seems so wrong.
 
Some pretty exciting line ups are appearing I have to say, now I look at it. Quite a lot of these teammates will be equal or close to each other and all at teams that should be very competitive. When was the last time we had 4 or more teams with such strong driver line ups?
 
Strongest lineup recently was the Kimi/Massa one. Before that one, Hamilton/ Alonso comes to mind. And, many years ago, Prost/Senna and Prost/Mansell.

It will be interesting to see how McLaren will deal with two top drivers again, after their failure to manage such a situation in the LH/KR year.
 
I know there were previous instances of 1 or 2 teams having strong driver pairings, but next year we may be looking at 4 or more....Rosberg and Button, Barrichello and Hulkenburg, Vettel and Webber are also very good partnerships.
 
Ardius
Some pretty exciting line ups are appearing I have to say, now I look at it. Quite a lot of these teammates will be equal or close to each other and all at teams that should be very competitive. When was the last time we had 4 or more teams with such strong driver line ups?
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Probably have to go back to the late eighties, early ninties when we had Senna, Prost and Mansell, not in the same team obviously

1990 would be a good shout; Senna and Berger in a McLaren, Prost and Mansell in a Fezza, Patrese and Boutsen in Williams and Alesi and Nakajima Sr. in a Tyrrell.
 
No offense to them, but Boutsen and Patrese were never in the same league as Prost & Co.
Nakajima? Seriously? He was good as far as Japanese drivers go, but comparing him to Senna?
 
Nakjima Sr. wasn't even good. And I wouldn't class Berger also in the same category as Prost, Senna or Mansell. He was maybe even with Pattrese.
 
I'd accept Berger though as a strong teammate, seeing as we are comparing this to Button, Rosberg, Webber, etc who are not really up there with Alonso and Hamilton but are pretty damn good anyway.
Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger was always a good line-up. 👍
 
yeti
Didn't the limited budget get thrown out?

C.
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For what I understand there will be some budget restrictions, but they'll be greater than the one proposed at the beginning. If I'm not mistaken it'll decrease each year until it reaches the value they were looking for previously.
 
Ardius
No offense to them, but Boutsen and Patrese were never in the same league as Prost & Co.
Nakajima? Seriously? He was good as far as Japanese drivers go, but comparing him to Senna?
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Okay then sir, what would you like to put forward, i only put that one out as a feeler to see whazt everyone thought
 
Ian Poole
Okay then sir, what would you like to put forward, i only put that one out as a feeler to see whazt everyone thought
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None, that was my point, I don't think we have ever had a time where we had 4 or more teams with very strong driver line ups, there has always been the weak driver here or there as many teams over the years have usually had number 1 and 2 driver status' or a pay driver of some kind or just not had brilliant drivers.
There have been years where there were driver pairings that were good, but perhaps not to the level of the current crop of drivers.

It seems every team has had a period where they had two brilliant and equally treated drivers, but never at the same time.
 
Ardius
None, that was my point, I don't think we have ever had a time where we had 4 or more teams with very strong driver line ups, there has always been the weak driver here or there as many teams over the years have usually had number 1 and 2 driver status' or a pay driver of some kind or just not had brilliant drivers.
There have been years where there were driver pairings that were good, but perhaps not to the level of the current crop of drivers.

It seems every team has had a period where they had two brilliant and equally treated drivers, but never at the same time.
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I would have to agree 👍
 
In 86 McLaren had Rosberg and Prost, Ferrari had Johansson and Alboreto, Williams had Piquet and Mansell, Brabham had Patresi and de Angelis/Warwick, and Team Lola had Alan Jones and Tambay.
 
Funny press release from Ferrari.

Gold Rush


Maranello, 30 September 2009 - Reading certain newspapers one might think that there is a gold rush in Maranello. There is lots of talk about Fernando Alonso's arrival, but even more so about how much the Spanish driver will earn and what the details of his contract with the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro look like. The numbers talked about have absolutely nothing to do with reality. It's easy to write numbers, forgetting that the world has changed recently. At Ferrari a lot of calculating is done and attention is not only paid to the costs of the operational structure, but also as far as the drivers are concerned.

It's also quite funny reading about the arrival of technicians, as if there weren't any professionals in Maranello, able to plan and manage victorious single-seaters and drivers: just remember that, however this season went, Ferrari won 50% - and maybe even more, when you consider Singapore 2008 - of the World titles in the last 30 years. There's no other team with the same results. Having said that, there are so many stories out there, almost creating a chain reaction of inventions from A to S.
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Besides being funny, I couldn't help but to notice the reference to Singapore 2008. Tsc, tsc ... Ferrari should be more graceful in defeat, I guess. But I find it highly ironic that this is said in a press release about the transfer to Ferrari of the ... Singapore 2008 GP winner! :lol:
 
Don't ask us...:lol:

Also sounds like Toyota is going after Kubica, if he doesn't go to Renault or elsewhere.
 
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yeti
Are they a challenging team?
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Challenging to drive, maybe.

The way I see it, Toyota have potential. It's sitting there, just underneath the surface, and it occasionally shows itself in flashes of inspiration that is let down by the fact that they're a little aimless right now. Bahrain and Spa qualifying, for one. The races in Australia, Singapore, and to a lesser extent, Bahrain. If they can finish strongly in the final three races, they may be able to convince someone like Raikkonen to join them.

They're also said to be going after Robert Kubica in the hopes of pinching him away from Renault at the eleventh hour.

Apparently Toyota are as serious as a heart attack about staying in Formula One. I know there have been rumours over the past few days suggesting they'll withdraw, but according to John Howett, this was a product of Reuters picking up the story from the only Japanese newspaper to have misquoted him.
 
If Toyota could get at lest one top driver their fortunes might improve. It's not that Trulli and Glock are bad, but they're not good enough for a team who's serious about winning.
 
Like I said before, they need a good lead driver who can pick the team up and take them to wins, rather than relying on the ability of the car to take them there. Glock and Trulli are good drivers who can bring in good results, but Toyota need someone who can push the limits all the time consistently.

Raikkonen or Kubica fills the bill, though I'm not so sure Kubica would do a better job than he did with BMW, I think Toyota need someone who will push even when the car isn't quite there, Robert seems to get a little lazy when he thinks the team aren't doing the best they can.
 
Come on, Kubica had a huge season last year. You can't blame him for this year's result. But thinking about their drivers, if they had a top driver they probably could've won some of this year's early races.
 
Sure, Kubica is good when the car is there, but its quite clear that his motivation wanes a little when you compare some of his performances with Heidfeld this season, and he's constantly trying to beat Barrichello for being F1's biggest moaner.
I'm just not sure he would be happy driving seasons with mediocre cars with Toyota where another driver may take what he's got and make the most of it. Although, not many drivers would be happy to sit in midfield cars all the time so I suppose its a moot point really.
 
I can see Trulli leaving after this season, replaced by Kubica. But I'd really hate to see Glock leaving so soon. If that happens, I really hope he finds a spot. I've become a huge fan of Glock. The chap never gives up, no matter how difficult the car is to drive. He also shows some great flashes of speed. The only thing Glock needs is to unfold all his potential, but you can't possibly do that after two seasons with a team as Toyota. I can't see Kimi going to Toyota, Mclaren would be the most likely choice for him.
 
Ardius
Like I said before, they need a good lead driver who can pick the team up and take them to wins, rather than relying on the ability of the car to take them there. Glock and Trulli are good drivers who can bring in good results, but Toyota need someone who can push the limits all the time consistently.
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They're a bit like Ferrari in 1995. They were a midfield team with potential, but they just needed a sharper driver to spearhead their cahrge. They got Schumacher and look how their fortunes changed. If Toyota could somehow land Raikkonen, they could really go places.
 
There was a small mention on the BBC commentary today by Legard about Trulli going to Lotus possibly? Interesting idea, Gascoyne does know Trulli...actually, now I look at their histories, Trulli has followed Gascoyne almost every step of the way.
 
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