F1 Fanatic

Schumacher has only scored 2 points after 5 races in the same car his team-mate has won a race in, that’s got to be grinding his and Haug’s gears.

Schumacher’s been very unlucky so far this season, he’s had two retirements which wern’t his fault, in Malaysia Grosjean spun him around and in Bahrain a DRS problem caused him to go out in Q1.

I’d say Senna’s seat doesn’t look safe, he needs to prove that Spain was just one of those weekends where everything went wrong.

@plushpile

Schumacher has only scored 2 points after 5 races in the same car his team-mate has won a race in, that’s got to be grinding his and Haug’s gears. (This might be a little unfavorable given he lost a shot at the same win due to a pit stop error)

But who would replace Schumacher? There are no obvious candidates. The only conceivable scenario I can see playing out is Mercedes pulling di Resta out of Force India, but they’d have to give something back in return. Maybe they’d put Robert Wickens in the car, since he’s currently being wasted in DTM … but the team would have to be pretty damn sure that di Resta would be a better investment than Schumacher. Unless they wanted to put Wickens straight into the Mercedes in Schumacher’s place; while he has the pedigree, it’s nevertheless a huge risk.

<blockquote?And as unlikely as it sounds I’ll just throw this one out there – Lewis Hamilton.
I can’t see this happening, really. Hamilton’s difficulties can be traced back to the team rather than the driver, so it’s more likely that Hamilton would walk away of his own accord rather than being dropped by the team. I find that as equally unlikely as Schumacher being ditched by Mercedes, because Hamilton would have nowhere else to go. And while I’m sure Red Bull would love to take him on as a “test driver” to “help familiarise him with the team”, it would be seen as a cynical ploy to take Hamilton out of the championship race.

The only possible scenario that I can think of is Schumacher quitting Mercedes in frustration, and the team roping Hamilton in as a replacement. This would leave an opening at McLaren, but again with no obvious candidate – aside from Kevin Magnussen, who doesn’t really have enough experience – to fill it. Nor can I see Gary Paffet or Oliver Turvey in the car. So they’d probably have to try and lure Alexander Rossi away from Caterham, or take a chance on someone like Kevin Korjus. Talented as those drivers are, neither would be particularly ideal. McLaren would have to throw everything behind Button.

In the cases of both Schumacher and Hamilton, I think the most likely outcome is one or both drivers leaving their teams at the end of the season, rather than being replaced outright.

Schumacher to Force India?

Yeah, right.

If Schumacher quits the sport, it will probably be because of his frustrations with the tyres. And he’s going to get the same tyres at Force India that he does at Mercedes.

Well I do distinctly remember you saying last year that Hamilton could well end up at Force India. Interesting that you’d dismiss a world champion going there now.

I remember saying it as well. I also remember it not being very serious, a case of me seeing whether or not I could make a case for the most ludicrous ideas seem plausible.

On another note – I could see a top team making a play for Kovalainen. Mid-season? I don’t know. If he sees that he’s done his job with Caterham by building a name for himself to be picked by a top team, then he would.

I think it’s really difficult to judge Kovalainen. He’s done fantastic work with Caterham, but he was a little out of his depth at McLaren. Sure, he’s matured as a driver, but since he went straight from McLaren to Caterham, it’s hard to tell exactly where he falls on the spectrum.

Shame about Senna. He had a terrible weekend. I wonder if being taken out was a blessing- it prevented him doing a Massa and finishing as shockingly as he qualified in relation to his team mate. His saving grace has been a couple of good races where he outshone Maldonado. If he can return to those and avoid any more weekends like Spain he might be able to save himself. Or in the worst case make himself attractive to other teams.

Massa will be replaced with Fishichella. short term soon… Poor Massa is no longer competitive and is hurting Ferrari in the Constructors points PLUS a team needs two drivers for some help to the other…Fernando is doing this by himself and the cars are the same. Paul de Resta will join the team next year or Sergio Perez.

Fisichella is solid, dependable, can work with Alonso and has no trouble following orders.

However, Adam Cooper has noted Adrian Stuil’s presence in the paddock of late, and while he never directly says Sutil could replace Massa, he’s certainly thinking it.