F1

Driver moves

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  • #132054
    Ben Needham
    Participant

    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, Kovalainen

    2014:
    Ferrari – Alonso, Vettel
    McLaren – Button, Di Resta
    Mercedes – Hamilton, Rosberg
    Red Bull (confirmed) – Raikkonen, Perez(?)
    Lotus – Grosjean, Kobayashi
    Sauber – Guttierez, Kovalainen

    I know it’s a ramble but I thought it’d be interesting to get everyone elses thoughts!

    #209887
    bag0
    Participant

    Hamiltons 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, Guttierez

    I 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, Bianchi

    #209888
    Ben Needham
    Participant

    As much as I’d love to see a Schumacher/Hamilton combination at Mercedes next year, I just can’t see Rosberg going anywhere!

    #209889
    necrodethmortem
    Participant
    #209890
    Kingshark
    Participant

    This has a huge thread full of rumors for its own.

    #209891

    Duplicate thread closed:

    Silly Season 2013

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