2009 Silly Season

[noisebox]

Assuming Brawn win the WDC and WCC they will have a long list of drivers wanting to take at least one of their seats. Also lets assume that of the current drivers Fisi and Barrichello will quit at the end of the season. I also think Raikkonen, Kovaleinen, Trulli, Piquet, Heidfeld and Bourdais will be under severe pressure. Also there will disgruntled 'top' drivers from currently uncompetitive teams such as BMW, McLaren, Ferrari and Renault potentially looking for seats at Brawn, Red Bull and Toyota. Finally there could be up to three new teams on the grid to open up opportunities for new drivers.

All this adds up to probably the most lively silly season for years with the potential for the majority of drives to change hands. Currently I think the only certs for next year are:
Ferrari - Massa
McLaren - Hamilton (probably - World Council punnishment could change this)
Red Bull - Vettel
Brawn - Button

Let the speculation begin!

[runningboots]

Brawn may wish to concentrate on Button and increase funding via a pay driver. Nelsinho to Brawn ?

Not sure why they would want to get rid of Rubens really though. He's had the lion's share of Brawn's "not perfect" luck but has still been solid and is 2nd in the championship. If your teammate is 1st, beging second is probably enough to warrant a good performance review.

[Captain Hammer]

I think it's way too soon to start talking the transfer market since we aren't even a quarter of the way into the season yet.

Brawn may wish to concentrate on Button and increase funding via a pay driver. Nelsinho to Brawn ?

Are you mad? Three wins from four starts, plus two podiums and a twenty-point lead in the constructors' championship in their debut season means sponsors will be queuing up out the door, if not falling over themselves to get their name on Brawn. The Virgin Group has allegedly entered talks to become Brawn's title sponsor, though by the wording of the article - namely quotes from Branson - it seems they've actually made an offer and are negotiating. I wouldn't be surprised if they showed up in Barcelona with a new livery to match their new aero package. They're not going to need a pay driver, and if they did, they could do a lot better than Nelson Piquet. Brawn are the hottest ticket on the grid right now, and a seat would be wasted on the Brazilian.

[runningboots]

Maybe I should have put a at the end of my first line.

For clarity, my second paragraph is meant to be taken seriously.

Regards

[CarlosFerreira]

Three wins from four starts, plus two podiums and a twenty-point lead in the constructors' championship in their debut season means sponsors will be queuing up out the door, if not falling over themselves to get their name on Brawn.

Nope, it doesn't. There's no money to plant in an F1 team, however winning streak it is in right now. Besides, after 2 years of failing to get sponsors/not needing any because of Honda, I'm not sure Brawn's commercial department is that good at the moment. Just my 2 cents.

[noisebox]

Not sure why they would want to get rid of Rubens really though. He's had the lion's share of Brawn's "not perfect" luck but has still been solid and is 2nd in the championship. If your teammate is 1st, beging second is probably enough to warrant a good performance review.

I think Rubens will bow out himself - another year in a potentially championship winning car with a faster team mate will be enough for him.

[noshpit]

i dont think red bull wants to get rid of Mark Webber as Diechtrich Matashites said that vettel and webber were a very good compination due to webbers ability to develop and setup a car (and he has spent half his f1 career at the team so he knows the people) he is also good for marketing due to his like of outdorr activities which fits into what red bull wants. and vettel will stay as he has a contract and he is fast

[noisebox]

i dont think red bull wants to get rid of Mark Webber as Diechtrich Matashites said that vettel and webber were a very good compination due to webbers ability to develop and setup a car (and he has spent half his f1 career at the team so he knows the people) he is also good for marketing due to his like of outdorr activities which fits into what red bull wants. and vettel will stay as he has a contract and he is fast

Just to pick up a discussion on another thread - my thinking is that if Red Bull are fast all year there maybe other drivers eyeing up Webber's seat. I think on balance he will probably stay as pairing say Alonso with Vettel could destabalise the team.

[Dom]

If Barrichello does retire then surely the logical replacement would be Bruno Senna? After all they strongly considered him for a race seat this year.

i dont think red bull wants to get rid of Mark Webber as Diechtrich Matashites said that vettel and webber were a very good compination due to webbers ability to develop and setup a car (and he has spent half his f1 career at the team so he knows the people) he is also good for marketing due to his like of outdorr activities which fits into what red bull wants. and vettel will stay as he has a contract and he is fast

Also Webber is good as a bad luck magnet, keeping potentially race compromising incidents away from Vettel...

[noshpit]

he also has renault engines due to flav being his manager.
flav should have made piquet let webber through due to flav liking webber more

[Ben Gilbert]

Not sure why they would want to get rid of Rubens really though. He's had the lion's share of Brawn's "not perfect" luck but has still been solid and is 2nd in the championship. If your teammate is 1st, beging second is probably enough to warrant a good performance review.

I agree 100%, and I genuinely want Rubens to win the WDC this year. After all the years of playing number two, being shafted by his teams, having to move over like a good little boy and let Michael win, he finally gets the championship. It's the least he deserves.

My ideal result:

1st- Barrichello
2nd- Vettel (by one point)
3rd- Button (by three points)
4th- Webber (by four points)

If he doesn't win it this year, then he should definitely win it at some point. I can't see Brawn dropping him from the line-up. He and Button have both proved, as Jamie and Enoch said before, that they may be the older drivers of F1, the geriatrics, but they can still drive! As long as he can keep his heart in it, I don't see why Rubens should have to leave at all, and would be happy to see him carry on in F1.

[KSvt]

It is a little early to be figuring out who's going where for 2010 because who knows how much the "big four" (McLaren, Ferrari, BMW, and Renault) will bounce back by the middle to end of the season. But one guy who's got to be thinking about moving on already is Kubica. He's been a good soldier this season, but he has to be disgusted to have a crap car this year after feeling the team gave up on his championship run in 2008 to focus on 2009. I have trouble imagining him in the same driver lineup with either Hamilton or Alonso, so assuming the latter is headed to Ferrari, are we likely to see Kubica in a Renault in the future? Or to Red Bull and Brawn if they truly are breaking through to be major teams and not just short-term "new rules" winners? I'd love to Kubica see in a Brawn NOW, frankly. Not as much as he would, though.

[DP-Future F1 Reject]

Brawn may wish to concentrate on Button and increase funding via a pay driver. Nelsinho to Brawn ?

Oh, that would be just beautiful just what F1 err F1 rejects needs! Danica Patrick to Brawn anyone?

Like someone else said, does Rubens really need another season as a #2 in a top car?

[KSvt]

Brawn may wish to concentrate on Button and increase funding via a pay driver. Nelsinho to Brawn ?

Oh, that would be just beautiful just what F1 err F1 rejects needs! Danica Patrick to Brawn anyone?

Like someone else said, does Rubens really need another season as a #2 in a top car?

Kudos to you for your user name and avatar! I relish the possibility of Peter Windsor dealing with her as one of his drivers next year...

Can't see Ross Brawn letting a lame pay driver so much as sit in his car. There must be a good Brazilian driver with money? Bruno Senna, who most thought would be in the seat Rubens currently occupies?

[Captain Hammer]

Right now, I'm most interested in who will be joining the new teams for next year. USGPE is confirmed, while Prodrive and Lola are considering (possibly as Prodrive-Lola), and Hyundai seem to be willing but there hasn't been any word beyond their website.

Oh, that would be just beautiful just what F1 err F1 rejects needs! Danica Patrick to Brawn anyone?

She's already expressed her lack of enthusiasm for an F1 drive with USGPE. While I think it's great that she's bringing women into mainstream motorsport, I think signing her would be a bad move. It would be far too easy for someone to sign her on as a marketing tool to secure more sponsors.

Like someone else said, does Rubens really need another season as a #2 in a top car?

Barrichello isn't "number two" at Brawn. There's only one team on the grid that thinks like that anymore, and that's Renault. Brawn will probably only consider Barrichello to be second to Button once one of two things happens: either they will be in a position where Button is the only one of the two who can win the championship; or everything will play out in such a way where both can fight for it, but Barrichello will only be a mathematical possibility of it. Everybod thinks like that these days except Renault, who favour Alonso from the beginning.

[DP-Future F1 Reject]

It would be far too easy for someone to sign her on as a marketing tool to secure more sponsors

Exactly!!! The money is just too good.

[Captain Hammer]

It would be far too easy for someone to sign her on as a marketing tool to secure more sponsors

Exactly!!! The money is just too good.

Does she deserve to be used like that? Should Danica Patrick be signed based on her merits when it comes to securing sponsorship, or based on her actual talent? ChampCar drivers have historically had difficulties in Formula One - Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve have been the only really successful ones - and Danica only has one race victory to her name. I honestly don't think she'd be able to cut it in Formula One, and I think signing her on simply to attract sponsors would be the same as Renault signing Piquet simply to have two cars on the grid. If Patrick were signed on for whatever reason and consistently disappointed or underperformed, her exit would no doubt kill any ability for a woman to join the sport in the future for a very long time. And it would be worse if her team only did it for the sponsorship they could attract as they would have essentially turned her into an unwitting prostitute.

[Frentzen127]

Wait, wasn't that what Giovanna Amatti was meant to be?
You know, a desperate attempt at obtaining cash for a team that was in such condition as Brabham?

[thalion]

Well, with Kaz' Nak' underperforming and Sir Frank's patience running thin, one could well imagine that Toyota might push for the GP2 Asia Series Champion to replace him. Or, better still, Kobayashi could replace Trulli (assuming Glock manages to get the better of him on a regular basis) and Hulkenberg could replace Nakajima.

I keep hoping that Bourdais will be dropped and Sato will get the call from STR, but that seems like quite a stretch. If it doesn't happen this year, certainly a young Red Bull driver will get the call, instead. A much better chance is for Grosjean to take over for Nelsinho--here's hoping. Another possibility is that Renault could switch one Brazilian with a fast surname for another.

Hmm, this is way too serious so far, so I'll just conclude by noting that it's as good as a done deal that Luca Badoer will finally the nod over at Ferrari when Kimi decides to change careers due to lucrative offers from the frozen treats marketing industry ("what is the photocopier" works in pretty much any advertising campaign, I'm sure you'll agree).

[Faustus]

It would be far too easy for someone to sign her on as a marketing tool to secure more sponsors

Exactly!!! The money is just too good.

I think you may be over-estimating the advertising value of Danica Patrick. Just because she is a half-decent driver (at best) and a woman (a fit one), there is no guarantee whatsoever that she is a better prospect for a sponsor. Remember that Brabham couldn't get any sponsors with Giovanna Amati and Vanina Ickx, Susie Stoddart, Katherine Legge and Sarah Fisher all struggled to find sponsors.

[StoneColdSpider]

F1 would have to make special rule that Danica has to pit on her own... in a empty pitlane.... or she will kill every1.....

[Captain Hammer]

I think you may be over-estimating the advertising value of Danica Patrick. Just because she is a half-decent driver (at best) and a woman (a fit one), there is no guarantee whatsoever that she is a better prospect for a sponsor. Remember that Brabham couldn't get any sponsors with Giovanna Amati and Vanina Ickx, Susie Stoddart, Katherine Legge and Sarah Fisher all struggled to find sponsors.

I'm just thinking about this from the view of someone looking to sign a new driver. Patrick would draw considerable media attention - moreso than the others - because she was the first woman to win an international motorsorts event, and also because of her appearances in Sports Illustrated.

[noisebox]

USGPE is confirmed

USGPE are far from confirmed. No chassis, no engine, no drivers and as we speak no 2010 entry.

[Captain Hammer]

I meant confirmed to be making an effort. Unlike any of the other provisional teams who have expressed interest, they actually have a game plan. Peter Windsor has said that chassis developent won't begin until later this year - I'd say that now the new regulations have been revealed, it'll be in the design studio very soon - and I believe he mentioned in the Bahrain pre-race show that USGPE will be running Coswroth's spec engine. I also think they've purchased facilities in Charlotte to house the team's main operations and have entered an agreement to share their European base with the Epsilon Euskadi LMES team in norhtern Spain.

[RejectSteve]

...I believe he mentioned in the Bahrain pre-race show that USGPE will be running Coswroth's spec engine. I also think they've purchased facilities in Charlotte to house the team's main operations and have entered an agreement to share their European base with the Epsilon Euskadi LMES team in norhtern Spain.

From what I understood, the facilities they'll use are ex-NASCAR and are a temporary home until their bespoke headquarters are completed.

The base in northern Spain should help, if the team enter as a budget team for 2010, their unlimited preseason testing will primarily be in southern Spain's Jerez and Catalunya plus Portugal's Algarve circuit. Given the lack of high-end Spanish racing efforts, that's about as good of a location as they could get when it comes to testing logistics.

[Captain Hammer]

The base in northern Spain should help, if the team enter as a budget team for 2010, their unlimited preseason testing will primarily be in southern Spain's Jerez and Catalunya plus Portugal's Algarve circuit. Given the lack of high-end Spanish racing efforts, that's about as good of a location as they could get when it comes to testing logistics.

Of the five circuits regularly used for testing, four are in close proximity to northern Spain: Algarve, Jerez, Paul Ricard and Catalunya. Toyota took a lot of flak for setting up their headquarters in Cologne because of their relative isolation compared to all the teams based in England, but it could be that USGPE have done something pretty clever here: while the FIA and FOM will be aiding them and any new teams to come into the sport in their debut year, the support will stop come 2011, so USGPE are dieally palced in such a way that once the supprt has ended, they'll be able to move about freely whilst keeping costs down.

[XurizManson]

Bruno Senna confirmed at our team:

F1R-001

[Bleu]

We should put more legendary Reject sponsors in: MTV, Jägermeister, MasterCard, Ursus for example. Also don't forget that Rial Wheels is still operating.

[XurizManson]

Tried to.

F1R-002

[RejectSteve]

That's great. I'm torn between the two. Sure, both have the Life W12, but I prefer the Reynard chassis'ed first one. First, because Reynard is barely in existance now (very small amateur-oriented sports cars), while Lola is still producing major racing cars and secondly, notice the F1 Rejects theme. That car is so intent on being rejectworthy that it's running grooved slicks! Brilliant!

[StoneColdSpider]

i will kick Brunos arse in a Reject racing competition

[CarlosFerreira]

This might not be popular, but I see nothing special about Bruno Senna. He's got the name, much as Damon, Jacques, Nico, Vanina, Mathias, Nelson, etc., but he's not his uncle. I think going to Renault now would finish his career much as it's finishing Nelson's.