2013 F1 Thread

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Sad news that our first F1 pilot has passed away!

Tony Gaze, World War II flying ace and first Australian in F1, dies age 93 | Fox Sports

Now, they were racers!

 

[elbarto]

Surely Massa needs to leave Ferrari.

I think there's a few musical chairs to play out, but Verne should stay at Toro Rosso, and Ricciardo will hinge on Raikkonen who'll be waiting to see what the 2014 Lotus looks like.

Kimi might find the corporate demands too extreme at Red Bull - he'd prefer just to show up and drive the car....

Massa needed to leave Ferrari a long time ago. But if the latest round of rumours are to be believed then Alonso and Vettel are doing a seat swap!

 

[JessicaTam]

Massa needed to leave Ferrari a long time ago. But if the latest round of rumours are to be believed then Alonso and Vettel are doing a seat swap!

Whilst I haven't been following the rumour mill, I think Ferrari and Vettel would be a good fit. Pity Webber has signed with Porsche, or he could have been the no. 1 driver.

 

[Flashback]

Whilst I haven't been following the rumour mill, I think Ferrari and Vettel would be a good fit. Pity Webber has signed with Porsche, or he could have been the no. 1 driver.

I would be surprised if it did happen though... when they clearly love him so much (to keep screwing over Webber) and they have the #1 car on the track, why would you want to move... unless of course we're talking $$

 

[JessicaTam]

I would be surprised if it did happen though... when they clearly love him so much (to keep screwing over Webber) and they have the #1 car on the track, why would you want to move... unless of course we're talking $$

There is the status of being a Ferrari driver. That could be worth the jump across.

 

[SeatBackForward]

There is the status of being a Ferrari driver. That could be worth the jump across.

A German driving a Ferrari, makes it very easy to dislike

 

[JessicaTam]

A German driving a Ferrari, makes it very easy to dislike

It just adds to the reasons.

 

[stewiejp]

Even if Vettel jumps to Ferrari (likely IMO), if Webber had stayed he would still have been playing 2nd fiddle to Kimi R.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Even if Vettel jumps to Ferrari (likely IMO), if Webber had stayed he would still have been playing 2nd fiddle to Kimi R.

Or Alonso..

But the reality is, Webbers best chance at being World Champion is/was with Red Bull, at least he's retiring on his terms this way.

and in other news. Both Russian and India will not be hosting an F1 race in 2014. Unsure why India's being dropped, will be back in 2015. Russia missed a deadline to put in their application - Sochi has other things to worry about this year anyhow.

 

[moa999]

India is being dropped because they were asking for 1/20 of F1 global revenue and charging duty etc on the cars and parts brought in and out....

Whereas in reality am sure FOM gets its TV rights paid in some tax friendly country.

 

[elbarto]

Russia will find its way in by paying a fine or coming up with some lie about why they missed the deadline.India supposedly wanted to be left out because they want to be at the start of the season in 2015 and didn't see the point of having two races so close together.

I don't see Alonso going to RBR to be Vettels understudy. He would only ever be teammate with someone like that on his terms. I suspect his recent out burst and spreading of RBR rumours is get get some action out of Ferrari to make a better car.

 

[eastwest101]

... I suspect his recent out burst and spreading of RBR rumours is get get some action out of Ferrari to make a better car.

I think you may be right there, imagine what Alonso could do with a decent car, Vettel would be insane to switch to Ferrari unless he was sure that next years car was a 200% improvement on this years car. Thats what was so interesting about Hamilton's change to Mercedes - he must have had some idea that the Mercedes was going to get better this year.....

 

[docjames]

The real key to the musical chairs here is Raikkonen and whether Lotus can convince him he'll have a championship winning car in 2014 and beyond.


Imagine if Ferrari finally unload Massa, Raikkonen slots into RBR and Ricciardo could then find himself driving a prancing horse......

 

[SeatBackForward]

The real key to the musical chairs here is Raikkonen and whether Lotus can convince him he'll have a championship winning car in 2014 and beyond.


Imagine if Ferrari finally unload Massa, Raikkonen slots into RBR and Ricciardo could then find himself driving a prancing horse......

I find it highly unlikely that Ferrari would have both Alonso and Vettel onboard. Modern F1 has been about having one strong driver and a second driver in support -e ven if it didn't always pan out in that order (and sorry Webber and Vettel *do* fit into this category). I'm struggling to think back in recent history to when a team had two top rate drviers side by side.

2007 - Alonso and Hamilton, but Hamilton back then isn't Hamilton of today.
2006 - Raikkonen and Montoya, until one of them took their bat and ball and went home.

I think its a successful strategy to be used, as it usually results in one driver benefiting from the developments, team orders etc, and the second driver picks up the scraps as a bonus.

 

[markis10]

2006 - Raikkonen and Montoya, until one of them took their bat and ball and went home.

And found Nascar a lot harder than most think, with Marcos Ambrose doing better than him in terms of wins, and the two have had a bit of a tiff over time.

 

[docjames]

I find it highly unlikely that Ferrari would have both Alonso and Vettel onboard. Modern F1 has been about having one strong driver and a second driver in support -e ven if it didn't always pan out in that order (and sorry Webber and Vettel *do* fit into this category). I'm struggling to think back in recent history to when a team had two top rate drviers side by side.

2007 - Alonso and Hamilton, but Hamilton back then isn't Hamilton of today.
2006 - Raikkonen and Montoya, until one of them took their bat and ball and went home.

I think its a successful strategy to be used, as it usually results in one driver benefiting from the developments, team orders etc, and the second driver picks up the scraps as a bonus.

Not sure why you quoted me - and Ricciardo to RBR or Ferrari would fit this.

I wouldnt put it past RBR to have two "A graders" - Raikkonen and Vettel.

McLaren often had two no.1s - Prost/Senna; Hamilton/Button etc.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Not sure why you quoted me - and Ricciardo to RBR or Ferrari would fit this.

I wouldnt put it past RBR to have two "A graders" - Raikkonen and Vettel.

McLaren often had two no.1s - Prost/Senna; Hamilton/Button etc.

Oops sorry, I thought you were supposing that Ferrari take on board Vettel and Alonso, and RBR end up with Raikkonen and Ricciardo - misread the post.

Prost/Senna was a looooong time ago now, and yes Hamilton/Button did crop up throughout the late 2000's but Button was the at top of his game while Hamilton was still coming up, not quite on par with Prost/Senna. I am just tryign to find a recent example where the say two of the top five F2 drivers (by skills, not by points earned) that were on the same team. Very subjective matter yes!

 

[docjames]

Oops sorry, I thought you were supposing that Ferrari take on board Vettel and Alonso, and RBR end up with Raikkonen and Ricciardo - misread the post.

Prost/Senna was a looooong time ago now, and yes Hamilton/Button did crop up throughout the late 2000's but Button was the at top of his game while Hamilton was still coming up, not quite on par with Prost/Senna. I am just tryign to find a recent example where the say two of the top five F2 drivers (by skills, not by points earned) that were on the same team. Very subjective matter yes!

This one's interesting - not sure I agree with their analysis (and doesnt directly answer your pondering but some interesting data nonetheless.

Rankopedia: Best Formula One Driver Pairing Ever

 

[HarryB]

And found Nascar a lot harder than most think, with Marcos Ambrose doing better than him in terms of wins, and the two have had a bit of a tiff over time.

Yep, and he made another friend or two in turn 1 of lap 1 this morning!

I expect Lotus to up the ante for Raikonnen, Alonso to stay at Ferrari and Ricciardo to be Vettel's understudy. Alonso is not silly enough to move to a team and be considered, at best, equal number 1 so unless Vettel's is somehow lured away from Red Bull Alonso will stay at Ferrari.

 

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(possible) HEADLINE

Ricciardo to joining Red Bull..as third driver. Vettel to be the first F1 driver to drive two cars simultaneously "Schumi dominated with his car, I plan on dominating with two cars. They give me wings afterall"