F1 Fanatic

@Antonio Nartea I’m still not 100% convinced Di Resta has even done enough this year to even have a drive, maybe thats where Alguersuari comes into the picture.

That’s strange, because until now he’s insinuated that a deal has already been struck.

Maybe, but common sense dictates that he would be careful about that because teams might lose interest in him very quickly if he demonstrates that he cannot/does not understand his position with them.

Caterham:
With renewed sponsorship from state-owned Russian Helicopters and a motivating eleventh place in Brazil, Vitaly Petrov could fend off threats from Bruno Senna and Giedo van der Garde to keep his seat alongside Charles Pic. Prior to Caterham’s Brazilian triumph, van der Garde was the favourite for the seat. Now Williams refugee Bruno Senna is also flaunting his cash in the hopes he will remain on the grid for 2013.

Force India:
With Force India’s star switched to Sauber, the Silverstone-based team is in need of a quick driver worthy of replacing the Incredible Hulk. ADRIAN SUTIL has experience with the team and displayed great speed in 2011 but a year on the sidelines and visa problems from the Eric Lux assault could hinder the German’s efforts to return to the sport. The ex-Toro Rosso duo of SEBASTIEN BUEMI and JAIME ALGUERSUARI have been mentioned numerous times. Both men have back-up plans if Force India rejects their advances: Buemi could retain his Red Bull reserve role and continue in Le Mans while Alguersuari has been negotiating with BMW over their remaining DTM seat, which is being eyed by Fabio Leimer, Maxime Martin, Alex Zanardi, and Thomas Biagi. Also linked to Force India are Bruno Senna and Kamui Kobayashi, who has raised 1 million euros via kamui-support.

Marussia:
Are definitely going to sign Chilton. Senna’s name has been mentioned but Chilton is the clear favourite.

Lotus:
It’s awfully strange that Romain Grosjean hasn’t been confirmed yet, suggesting speculation that the Franco-Swissman’s seat is under threat. Kamui Kobayashi (who drove for Eric Bouiller’s GP2 team), Heikki Kovalainen, and Sebastien Buemi have all been mentioned, although Grosjean remains the leading candidate for the coveted Lotus seat.

@npf1 This reply is four days late, but one thing that’s important to consider is that Grosjean was signed by Lotus for 2012 due to the Total backing he had. If Total is unhappy with him, then Eric Boullier is his last lifeline.

@dot_com They said a while ago that they’ll announce the drivers this week as far as I recall.

As for who’ll partner di Resta, I don’t know. Sutil, Bianchi, Senna, Alguersuari and Kobayashi have all been rumoured to get the seat.

I’ve heard that both Lotus and Force India’s driver line-ups could be settled as early as tonight, with Grosjean staying at Lotus and Bianchi joining di Resta at Force India.

Elsewhere, Vitaly Petrov and Giedo van der Garde are apparently fighting over the second Caterham seat; van der Garde apparently keeps offering more and more money, and he’s apparently thinking that this is his last chance to get into Formula 1.

As for the second Marussia, the only name I’ve heard in connection with it is Max Chilton. he’s definately leaving the Marussia-Carlin GP2 team, since they’re running Nasr and Palmer next year (oddly, no Tio Ellinas), so he’s certainly available. I’ve also heard that a group of Chinese investors who looked at purchasing HRT have been trying to get Ma Qing Hua into Marussia since they passed on HRT.

@Bullfrog
I have to agree with one of the comments on there, it would seem very damaging to the team’s PR to have people talk about Sutil’s absence on TV, in newspapers and the track. I would imagine sponsors wouldn’t really enjoy that, nor Bernie.

@Prisoner-Monkeys
That’d make a lot of sense for Lotus, but wasn’t the main reason for the Sutil/Senna/20 other drivers rumors that the team found Bianchi inexperienced? Then again, I’ve mentioned before the team has been ‘showing off’ Bianchi this year, much like they were showing off Hulkenberg last year. He did very well in the Young Drivers Test and despite missing out on the WSR FR3.5 title, he seems to be a talented driver.

Sutil seems far fetched due to the facts the might run into visa troubles, as well as not really having a performance edge over Di Resta in 2011. Senna might have money, but if he can’t score in a Williams, would he do so in a Force India? Bianchi is also in Ferrari’s driver program, which means he might be instrumental in a 2014 deal, or financial support. Alguersuari isn’t very special in my book, and with Cepsa sponsoring Toro Rosso still, I wonder what his main appeal to FI would be.

As for van der Garde, he really does feel that way and has stated so in many interviews over 2012. He will not appear in GP2 next year, it’s F1 or nothing. I do honestly wonder where he’s finding sponsors, because McGregor isn’t THAT big and his father in law isn’t THAT rich. Despite the Dutch stockexchange doing well lately, there aren’t many companies who look even remotely interested in international sports sponsorship. He could be reeling in Randstad from Williams, but that was a long-term deal, if I remember correctly. Despite being Dutch, van der Garde never really struck me as an amazing driver, but it’d be nice to have a Dutchman in F1 again. I doubt he’ll go far, though. Petrov did fine this year, so either way, I could see it happening. Pic tweeted about being at the Caterham factory the other day, I wonder if he knows something.

I can’t see Marussia hiring Ma, mainly because they’ve always had promising pay drivers. Di Grassi and D’Ambrosio weren’t that great, but had promising careers until then, as well as Pic doing well in GP2 and before. Ma was pretty much invisible before his runs with HRT, not to mention not very fast.