Driver moves
- This topic has 5 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 6 months ago by Keith Collantine.
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- 7th September 2012, 14:44 at 2:44 pm #132054Ben NeedhamParticipant
With Hamilton’s future up in the air, I thought it’d be interesting to have a few of your thought’s about what may happen in the driver market over the next few month’s/years.
Assuming Rosberg is safe at Mercedes, one can only assume that, as Eddie Jordan suggested, it would be Schumacher departing, presumably to retirement, to make way for Hamilton.
There were heavy rumours recently that Vettel had signed for Ferrari for 2014 and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see that move come off. Which leaves Ferrari needing a 2013 stop-gap between the 2012 incumbent, Massa, and the incoming Vettel for 2014.
Fingers are being pointed towards the current Force India pairing of Hulkenberg and di Resta to fill the presumably free spots at Ferrari and McLaren for 2013, but would Hulkenberg really be ready to perform for a year knowing full well he would have to look elsewhere for 2014? More realistic in my eyes is that Schumacher would take a swansong back at Ferrari (would he want to partner Alonso), before retiring? Or, even more realistic, is that Raikkonen joins Ferrari for a year, before replacing Vettel/Webber at Red Bull a year later.
But where does that leave the current crop of young talent; Perez, di Resta, Hulkenberg, possibly even Kobayashi? Would they be willing to wait for Button, Alonso or Webber to retire before filling one of the top seats?
A lot is still up in the air for next year, with, in my opinion, only one of the seats at three top teams filled.
I predict a line up of:
2013:
Ferrari – Alonso, Raikkonen
McLaren – Button, Di Resta
Mercedes – Hamilton, Rosberg
Red Bull (confirmed) – Vettel, Webber
Lotus – Grosjean, Kobayashi
Sauber – Perez, Kovalainen2014:
Ferrari – Alonso, Vettel
McLaren – Button, Di Resta
Mercedes – Hamilton, Rosberg
Red Bull (confirmed) – Raikkonen, Perez(?)
Lotus – Grosjean, Kobayashi
Sauber – Guttierez, KovalainenI know it’s a ramble but I thought it’d be interesting to get everyone elses thoughts!
7th September 2012, 15:03 at 3:03 pm #209887bag0ParticipantHamiltons and Schumachers moves are the keys for this years and maybe next years driver movements. It is highly probable that Massa wont be driving a Ferrari next year (at least not in F1), so there is a chance for other drivers to step up. The most probable scenario is, that Hamilton and Schu stays while Massa goes. In that case the 2013 driver line-up should look like this at least in my opinion:
Ferrari – Alonso, Perez (doing what Massa did a few years earlier)
McLaren – Button, Hamilton
Mercedes – Rosberg, Schu
Red Bull (confirmed) – Vettel, Webber
Lotus – Grosjean, Kimi
Sauber – Kobayashi, GuttierezI know that this is a very conservative lineup, but I dont want to give in for the rumors, but if I had to:
Still 2013:
Ferrari – Alonso, Hulkemberg
McLaren – Button, Kimi
Mercedes – Schu, Hamilton
Red Bull (confirmed) – Vettel, Webber
Lotus – Grosjean, Rosberg
Sauber – Kobayashi, Perez
Force India – DiResta, Bianchi7th September 2012, 15:25 at 3:25 pm #209888Ben NeedhamParticipantAs much as I’d love to see a Schumacher/Hamilton combination at Mercedes next year, I just can’t see Rosberg going anywhere!
7th September 2012, 15:56 at 3:56 pm #209889necrodethmortemParticipant7th September 2012, 18:19 at 6:19 pm #209890KingsharkParticipantThis has a huge thread full of rumors for its own.
7th September 2012, 23:30 at 11:30 pm #209891Keith CollantineKeymasterDuplicate thread closed:
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