Are you quoting the BBC or Jonathan Legard?
That would be Leggard sir
If this were the Cold War and I were a spymaster, I'd totally recruit Legard to work for me. The man is a sponge for any and all rumours, and he seems to believe them. So he'd be really obvious as a spy,a nd so the bad guys would concentrate on feeding him useless information. At the same time, I've got Brundle, Kravitz and Coulthard doing the actual legwork. After all, it was Legard who suggested Sato would go to Lotus, but anyone who puts their ear to the ground for a moment would know that's the first that has been said of it.
I don't know what is more worrying, you having Brundle/Kravitz/Coulthard working for you or Sato coming back.
If Sato comes back, hide behind the sofa moment
I don't think Toyota will feature the Japanese All-Stars next season. Nor do I think they're going to offer Kobayashi a race seat overnight. He's one of their development drivers, but he's under no obligation to compete until he signs a contract. If his management is any good, they'll be meeting-and-greeting up and down pit lane, establishing contacts. The top teams are locked out, the likes of Toro Rosso and Force India are too slow, and the only ones that really have an opening are Renault. They could be amenable, since they're putting Senna, di Grassi and a few other rookies through their paces (Petrov, for one, is rumoured). I'd say Koayashi is likely to show up in a Toyota next season, but if his management is competent, they'll be exploring every option just in case something comes up.
The only teams locked out so far as far as race seats are concerned is Ferrari, Red Bull and the new Campos outfit (not that I am considering them a big team), McLaren have an opening but they want Raikonnen, Brawn have openings but we think Button will be retained and Rosberg will go there so realistically, Renault are thew biggest team with an opening but are thye going to take this risk with him?
I seriously doubt Nakajima is going to go there. Toyota want to win races, and so hiring the only returning driver who failed to score a point in 2009 is just throwing good money after bad. Both are Toyota development drivers, but Toyota have staged a rare coup in finding Kobayashi; as was pointed out, he hasn't been too impressive in GP2 with DAMS (a midfield team at best), while Romain Grosjean was in a top-flight team with Barwa Addax and look how poorly he's doing. If Toyota have to choose between Nakajima or Kobayashi, choosing Kobayashi is a no-brainer. If they pick Nakajima, one has to wonder why they're even in Formula One, because they plainly don't know themselves.
Toyota have been saying they wanted to win races since they cam in but haven't. They could have done in 2005 if not for the tyre issue at Indy, we will never know and they could have done it this year in Bahrain but it never came through and Brawn won! It's mainly been, again, a year of what should have been with Toyota.
If they do have to choose betwen Kobi and Naka, yeah, they are gonna take Kobi any day of the week but Trulli has been there sonce the dawn of time practically and they haven't really gone forward any further.
Toyota are known to have shown interest in Raikkonen, who'll they'll only be abe to get if the McLaren agreement falls through (and I'm doubting it will make it if Kimi's only in it for the money) and they're willing to throw lots of currency at him. They're believed to be talking with Kovalainen, and I think they'll be able to get more out of him than McLaren did because Kovalainen will fit in better with them. Ever since Mark Webber broke his duck in Germany, Kovalainen has inherited the innviable title of Black Cat Magnet. He was looking very strong in practice, and if his gearbox had held on, he certainly would have looked good for the race. To his credit, he did finish ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. The other driver Toyota are said to be looking at is Sebastien Buemi. I like Buemi in that I see something similar to Kobayashi in him: untapped talent let down by lacklustre machinery. But if Toyota take Kobayashi, they won't sign Buemi. They're too inexpeirenced. If the Raikkonen deal with McLaren doesn't work out and he leaves the sport, I actually wouldn't mind seeing Buemi taking Kovalainen's place ... but it's highly unlkely.
But are Toyota willing to pay the money that Kimi wants?
They might be talking with Kovalinen but he promised so much and then failed to deliver, mainly due to the car that he has been in but mostly because of his own fault. It was the same at Renault and in the end, when he finally got his act together, Alonso threw the toys out of the pram.
Buemi is a talent but, and this is personal opinion again, I hink he will stay and Toro Rosso and take over Mark Webber's seat. He hasnt been bad in races, has been let down by the machinery but look at the last couple of races, he out qualified Vettel, Hamilton and Button in Brazil and did the same to Raikonnen in Abu Dhabi. He has great potential but He's RBR bound
Personally, I think Toyota's lineup for 2010 will be Kamui Kobayashi and Heikki Kovalainen.
As unlikely as it seems, it's the most likely
Thank you sir
"Dirty Kate did it again!"
Think it's more to the fact that Hamilton has his problems
Great race, can't wait for next season.
Yeah, only 133 days to go
); this kid will have the top teams looking after him instead of the other way around in about 2 years.
