The Official Silly Season 2010 Thread
Discussion
I thought I would start this thread a bit later this year. 
Silly Season is definitly here, although seemingly not as many moves as last year.
Red Bull have just re-signed Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel has still got a year left on his contract.
McLaren have Jenson on a 3 year contract. Lewis still has a year or two left on his.
Alonso is on a long deal at Ferrari, Massa's contract ends this year. This leaves a very possible space to fill.
Mercedes have Rosberg and Schumacher secure on 3 year deals.
Renault will want to keep Robert Kubica, but he was only on a 1 year contract. Petrov hasn't performed badly at all and brings some decent Russian money with him.
Force India seem happy with Adrian Sutil and he is contracted for next year too iirc. They seem less happy with Vitantonio Liuzzi. Paul Di Resta has been doing some friday testing for the team and has impressed a lot of people in the paddock.
Williams have Rubens Barrichello on a 2 year contract and Hulkenburg on a 3 year deal. Are these dependent on results?
STR have both their drivers on yearly deals. Alguesari has impressed this year, Buemi has been less impressive than last year. Expect them to be retained.
Sauber (I think) have the drivers on 1 year deals due to the nature of the team being sold at the time of signing them. De La Rosa has been well below parr this year, Kobayashi has managed to get the car into Q3 a couple of times. The car is obviously a difficult car to drive.
Virgin have their drivers on 3 year contracts.
Lotus have Kovalainen on a long term deal. Trulli's is shorter, but I believe it covers him for next year.
HRT are on a shoe string budget and do not have Dallara support (such as it is) next year. They will have a difficult winter, but expect the same drivers next year.
A. N. Other Team. There will (if it's not run by Ken Anderson or Simon Gillett) be a new team on the grid next year. The drivers will probably be from the current GP2 grid.
So, potential movers.
Massa to Renault?
Kubica to Ferrari? Would Alonso deal with Kubica as a teammate?
Buemi to Sauber to replace De La Rosa.
Brendon Hartley to STR.
Other than that I think it will be a surprise if anyone else moves.
Your thoughts?
Silly Season is definitly here, although seemingly not as many moves as last year.
Red Bull have just re-signed Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel has still got a year left on his contract.
McLaren have Jenson on a 3 year contract. Lewis still has a year or two left on his.
Alonso is on a long deal at Ferrari, Massa's contract ends this year. This leaves a very possible space to fill.
Mercedes have Rosberg and Schumacher secure on 3 year deals.
Renault will want to keep Robert Kubica, but he was only on a 1 year contract. Petrov hasn't performed badly at all and brings some decent Russian money with him.
Force India seem happy with Adrian Sutil and he is contracted for next year too iirc. They seem less happy with Vitantonio Liuzzi. Paul Di Resta has been doing some friday testing for the team and has impressed a lot of people in the paddock.
Williams have Rubens Barrichello on a 2 year contract and Hulkenburg on a 3 year deal. Are these dependent on results?
STR have both their drivers on yearly deals. Alguesari has impressed this year, Buemi has been less impressive than last year. Expect them to be retained.
Sauber (I think) have the drivers on 1 year deals due to the nature of the team being sold at the time of signing them. De La Rosa has been well below parr this year, Kobayashi has managed to get the car into Q3 a couple of times. The car is obviously a difficult car to drive.
Virgin have their drivers on 3 year contracts.
Lotus have Kovalainen on a long term deal. Trulli's is shorter, but I believe it covers him for next year.
HRT are on a shoe string budget and do not have Dallara support (such as it is) next year. They will have a difficult winter, but expect the same drivers next year.
A. N. Other Team. There will (if it's not run by Ken Anderson or Simon Gillett) be a new team on the grid next year. The drivers will probably be from the current GP2 grid.
So, potential movers.
Massa to Renault?
Kubica to Ferrari? Would Alonso deal with Kubica as a teammate?
Buemi to Sauber to replace De La Rosa.
Brendon Hartley to STR.
Other than that I think it will be a surprise if anyone else moves.
Your thoughts?
Steamer said:
No Return of the Iceman then 
Strong rumours that he was going to be replacing Webber for the 2010 season, then for the 2011 season. Obviously, Webber has signed with RB again. Raikkonen has always said he is not going to make up the numbers at the back of the grid. He wants to be in a winning car. This means (currently) Red Bull or McLaren.Apart from Massa's seat, I don't think it will be silly season. I think it'll be pretty much the same next season as this.
The only interesting bit is Massa/Kubica.
Does Alonso have any influence on team mates? Maybe something in his contract that allows him to have an input?
I get the impression that Massa is popular and isn't doing a bad job, so it might be difficult for Ferrari to move him on. But then again, unless they are Italian, I don't think Enzo was that sentimental about it all.
All imho.
The only interesting bit is Massa/Kubica.
Does Alonso have any influence on team mates? Maybe something in his contract that allows him to have an input?
I get the impression that Massa is popular and isn't doing a bad job, so it might be difficult for Ferrari to move him on. But then again, unless they are Italian, I don't think Enzo was that sentimental about it all.
All imho.
hondafanatic said:
Apart from Massa's seat, I don't think it will be silly season. I think it'll be pretty much the same next season as this.
Agreed especially as Massa has just been re signed until 1212http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/84244
thestig84 said:
hondafanatic said:
Apart from Massa's seat, I don't think it will be silly season. I think it'll be pretty much the same next season as this.
Agreed especially as Massa has just been re signed until 1212http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/84244
TheDetailDoctor said:
Mazda Baiter said:
HRT are on a shoe string budget and do not have Dallara support (such as it is) next year. They will have a difficult winter, but expect the same car next year.
EFA
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula...
Raikkonen has an option to be at Renault alongside Kubica, Grosjean wants in somewhere next year too.
Raikkonen has an option to be at Renault alongside Kubica, Grosjean wants in somewhere next year too.
ajprice said:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula...
Raikkonen has an option to be at Renault alongside Kubica, Grosjean wants in somewhere next year too.
Means nothing, someone has just pointed out that there is at least one seat at Renault for next year that currently has no driver contracted to it and added Kimi's name as he currently has no F1 drive for next year.Raikkonen has an option to be at Renault alongside Kubica, Grosjean wants in somewhere next year too.
Can't see it happening myself tbh, Kimi has stated that he only wants to be in F1 if he has a championship capable car and the Ranault is performing ok but it's a long way from that. The team would also surely need a serious cash injection as Kimi don't come cheap!
Gaz. said:
hondafanatic said:
thestig84 said:
hondafanatic said:
Apart from Massa's seat, I don't think it will be silly season. I think it'll be pretty much the same next season as this.
Agreed especially as Massa has just been re signed until 1212http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/84244
I don't see why Kobi would want to move from Sauber unless he can bag Luizzi's seat and even then is it worth moving?
DLR- Hasn't performed well in races but is he a good test pilot in an age of limited testing?
Luizzi- he'll be lucky to still have a seat by Silverstone, PDR could get his chance for the remainder of the season.
Jaime Alguersuari - same situation as Kobi imo.
Buemi- only seems to go backwards in the races, I can't see his cntract being renewed.
DLR has never looked a racy racer. And with the limited testing available the main drivers need as much seat time as possible so I cannot see him being kept. Sauber need to find someone to do a Kovalainen.
Liuzzi outperformed Sutil in the early part of the season, so he still has some credits in the bank. Sutil is only better in the wet.
Lotus should get rid of Trulli and replace him with one of the hungry test drivers (there are some very promising talents in the list: Bianchi, Bottas, di Resta, etc).
Schumacher needs to go. He should have remained in retirement this season. There are at least three German drivers if they want them: Glock, Heidfeld (most likely), and Hulkenberg.
Lotus should get rid of Trulli and replace him with one of the hungry test drivers (there are some very promising talents in the list: Bianchi, Bottas, di Resta, etc).
Schumacher needs to go. He should have remained in retirement this season. There are at least three German drivers if they want them: Glock, Heidfeld (most likely), and Hulkenberg.
Mazda Baiter said:
And Hartley in the other STR. A new Red Bull driver to be given a chance at the testing role.
No way. Ricciardo is better. Edited by Jungles on Wednesday 16th June 01:13
KaraK said:
ajprice said:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula...
Raikkonen has an option to be at Renault alongside Kubica, Grosjean wants in somewhere next year too.
Means nothing, someone has just pointed out that there is at least one seat at Renault for next year that currently has no driver contracted to it and added Kimi's name as he currently has no F1 drive for next year.Raikkonen has an option to be at Renault alongside Kubica, Grosjean wants in somewhere next year too.
Can't see it happening myself tbh, Kimi has stated that he only wants to be in F1 if he has a championship capable car and the Ranault is performing ok but it's a long way from that. The team would also surely need a serious cash injection as Kimi don't come cheap!
Anyway, http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula...
Buemi to Red Bull in 2012, surprising, as I'd say Alguersuari has been more impressive this year.
Both Williams drivers are staying put.
Jaques Villeneuve still wants to come back into F1 if anyone will let him in. Once more with feeling Jacques - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jYi4MNDOl4
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