- 289
Wow I feel bad for Rubens considering it will be at his home track.
Kimi talks with Williams? - No. Signs with Lotus Renault for 2012
- Thread starter Hologram777
- 493 comments
- 37,973 views
- 33,155
- Hammerhead Garage
I wouldn't even assume that much. Raikkonen and Williams have admitted to being in negotiations, but nothing more. The same thing happened last year with Raikkonen and Renault. People assumed it was happening, and it fell apart.
- 5,184
- Phoenix, AZ
- nitrorocks
I didn't even know that he was in talks with Renault
- 33,155
- Hammerhead Garage
He was - it was around the time of the 2010 Belgian Grand Prix - but they fell through. Raikkonen accused Eric Boullier and Gerard Lopez of dropping his name to attract sponsors when negotiations had falled through, though one suspects Raikkonen said that because negotiations had fallen through after Renault were unwilling to bow to his demands.
- 22,549
- Arizona
- HamiltonMP427
I remeber that, and he said something about how he'd never drive for Renault to throw it back in their faces.
- 2,218
- Manchester
- toyotsupra
- Jame3sBoy
Maybe he should drive for Caterham next year it will be faster then the Williams that's for sure and do you think should get a race seat with Caterham next year if Kubica can't drive for them?
- 33,155
- Hammerhead Garage
Um, Caterham is the team currently known as Team Lotus. They have Kovalainen and Trulli under contract. Renault is the team that will become Lotus next year. Raikkonen is incredibly unlikely to race for them next year - even if Kubica cannot return - because he had a falling-out with them last year.
- 2,218
- Manchester
- toyotsupra
- Jame3sBoy
Yeah Lotus is the Team that i meant but who do you think should get a seat with Lotus next year Maybe Romain or stick with Senna?
- 33,155
- Hammerhead Garage
That's what this thread is for.
Seismica
Premium
- 4,346
- Guisborough
- GTP_Seismica
Despite the mix-up with the names (How confusing, the team we've known as Lotus for 2 years is now Caterham, and the other team is called Lotus, anyone not terribly into the sport isn't going to understand. It's like if Mclaren changed their name to Mercedes next year and Mercedes changed to Daimler), I think he's right, Caterham will probably be faster than Williams next year
It would be incredibly funny if they did announce it with both Williams cars at the back of the grid. Sure they made their way through, but unless they make a big leap forward, they are going to be leapfrogged by Caterham, on race pace at least.
I think this race has highlighted more of Maldonado's shortfalls. Screw sponsorship, get rid of him instead. Barrichello is waaaay better than Maldonado.
- 717
- FactoryDriver
Despite the mix-up with the names (How confusing, the team we've known as Lotus for 2 years is now Caterham, and the other team is called Lotus, anyone not terribly into the sport isn't going to understand. It's like if Mclaren changed their name to Mercedes next year and Mercedes changed to Daimler), I think he's right, Caterham will probably be faster than Williams next year
It would be incredibly funny if they did announce it with both Williams cars at the back of the grid. Sure they made their way through, but unless they make a big leap forward, they are going to be leapfrogged by Caterham, on race pace at least.
I think this race has highlighted more of Maldonado's shortfalls. Screw sponsorship, get rid of him instead. Barrichello is waaaay better than Maldonado.
Unfortunately, it's a money issue. Maldonado hasn't exactly thrilled anyone but he brings more income to the table for Williams. Barrichello only brings, I dunno... results?
Seismica
Premium
- 4,346
- Guisborough
- GTP_Seismica
I know he's a pay driver, but a driver that bad shouldn't be in F1 at all in my opinion, regardless of how much money he brings to the table. Look at the likes of Petrov, Perez etc. that all bring big sponsorship to their teams and their performances are solid, unlike Maldonado's. Barrichello in an interview stated that he was looking for extra sponsorship to remain within the team. There is a potential sponsorship deal lined up if they sign Raikkonen, which could to some extent replace the money Maldonado brings. I don't care if Raikkonen has been out for a while, he won't be nearly as bad as Maldonado on his comeback.
The way he was controlling his car when moving aside for traffic in Abu Dhabi, and the lines he takes (Like the line on the back straight at Sepang) just make him look amateur compared to everybody else. Plus his aggressive reaction against Hamilton during qualifying in Spa, it shows he doesn't have the restraint or the respect for other drivers (To some extent neither does Hamilton, but he didn't turn into him on purpose) The only race I can recall he did well at was Monaco, which came to an unfortunate end.
If Barrichello leaves and Maldonado stays within the team I will lose all respect for Williams. Hulkenberg, the driver who gave them their first pole in many years, and now this?
Last edited:
- 10,828
- Belgium
- bramturismo
The Outlaw
Premium
- 3,042
- Bay Area, California
- GTP_timeattack
Sorry, but this is face palm and half material. Funny you say he is so bad, yet he has achieved a better average qualifying position throughout the season than Ruben's (who's been in the sport for 18 years) who is highly rated by most. Not only that, but he has made it to Q3 three times in his rookie season in a crap car, unlike Ruben's who hasn't once made it to Q3 this year. Despite this, according to you "a driver that bad shouldn't be in F1 at all"...while the other has made it some 18 years
And lets not forget just how poor the Williams FW33 is (Barichello has scored 4 points to Maldanado's 1 = woopty frickin doo) - Petrov had an awesome car (that was very easy drive) in his rookie season, yet he still performed quite poorly to say the least...and was in all honestly lucky to even get a drive this year, especially with one of the stronger teams on the grid. Basically I have no idea how you can use Petrov's rookie season as some legitmate benchmark for Maldanado's.
I'm not trying to be a prick here, but your view seems a bit jaded to say the least...and a little bit of truth is in order.
Last edited:
- 3,033
Barichello is getting old, his performance is dropping off as a driver. He's still better than Maldonado. Maldonado's a big Hugo Chávez fan. (Petróleos de Venezuela)
I wonder why you see a Venezuelan and a Brazilian on the same team together. Is there some kind of South American corporate link? Oh wait, state owned link.
Kimi beats the crap out of both of them ability wise. Kimi Kimi!!!!
(Petróleos de Venezuela)I wonder why you see a Venezuelan and a Brazilian on the same team together. Is there some kind of South American corporate link?
Oh wait, state owned link.Kimi beats the crap out of both of them ability wise. Kimi Kimi!!!!
- 6,888
- Birmingham, UK
- GOTMAXPOWER
Sorry, but this is face palm and half material. Funny you say he is so bad, yet he has achieved a better average qualifying position throughout the season than Ruben's (who's been in the sport for 18 years) who is highly rated by most. Not only that, but he has made it to Q3 three times in his rookie season in a crap car, unlike Ruben's who hasn't once made it to Q3 this year. Despite this, according to you "a driver that bad shouldn't be in F1 at all"...while the other has made it some 18 years
And lets not forget just how poor the Williams FW33 is (Barichello has scored 4 points to Maldanado's 1 = woopty frickin doo) - Petrov had an awesome car (that was very easy drive) in his rookie season, yet he still performed quite poorly to say the least...and was in all honestly lucky to even get a drive this year, especially with one of the stronger teams on the grid. Basically I have no idea how you can use Petrov's rookie season as some legitmate benchmark for Maldanado's.
I agree, it will be exciting to see how Pastor gets on next season with Renault engine's, they helped Caterham a load so I reckon they'll give Williams a kick in the right direction if they can get the rest of the car built around it well. Maldonado's a great talent he took his time but he beat some great drivers to the GP2 title last year. At the end of this season he has totally outclassed Rubens, he was strong at Abu Dhabi again and could've scored points without those penalties. As for the championship points Maldonado would be ahead of Barrichello if Hamilton hadn't crashed into him after the restart.
- 10,373
- Manchester
- Ardius_
Hang on, it wasn't just a Renault engine that helped Caterham. Lets not kick Cosworth too harshly - most of Caterham/Team Lotus' progress has been a variety of factors:
-A second year with a car designed for performance rather than simple reliability.
-The team has begun to benefit from some of the high-profile signings they have made since 2009, they've got a very experienced group of people.
-A Red Bull gearbox and presumably hydraulics - much more reliable than the rubbish Xtrac ones from last year.
Another engine change isn't going to help Williams on its own. Consider that Red Bull, "Renault" and "Lotus" have all used the same engine this year but are seperated by seconds from each other. The engine really means very little for performance these days. The Cosworth is by no means a bad engine, just a less devolped engine than the rest. The areas that the Cosworth is weak are not laptime issues and are more to do with reliability and compatability with the rest of the car. These are issues that can be worked on and improved overtime - they do have to catch up on engines that have been improved (for reliability) since their freeze in 2006.
- 33,155
- Hammerhead Garage
Someone has registered the domain name http://www.qnbwilliams.com/ and currently shows a placeholder webpage. A quick check of WhoIs shows that the registrar was EPAG Domainservices GmbH, and it was registered on October 27. From the looks of things, EPAG is a brand protection service - they register domain names and hold onto them on behalf of their clients to prevent someone from beating their client to the name. For example, back in August a brand protection service called MarkMonitor registered twenty domain names under the title "skyfall" and "jamesbond" (ie "skyfall-jamesbond.com"). In November, Skyfall was announced as the title of the twenty-third Bond film. It's possible that EPAG have done something similar here, registering a whole host of domain names under the "qnbwilliams" banner, possibly foreshadowing an annoucement that Williams and the Qatar National Bank are joining forces.
Of course, this could simply be someone jumping the gun, trying to get free web traffic in anticiaption of an annoucement - qnbwilliams.com is the only registered domain name that I can find (for instance, there is no qnbwilliams.net or qnbwilliams.co.uk). Secondly, Williams have an existing contract with AT&T for title sponsorship. I do not know when this contract ends. Thirdly, despite the contract between AT&T and Williams, the Williams website is just williamsf1.com; the title sponsor is not included. And finally, while both Williams and Raikkonen have confirmed that they have been in negotiations, Raikkonen himself said nothing has been signed yet.
Of course, this could simply be someone jumping the gun, trying to get free web traffic in anticiaption of an annoucement - qnbwilliams.com is the only registered domain name that I can find (for instance, there is no qnbwilliams.net or qnbwilliams.co.uk). Secondly, Williams have an existing contract with AT&T for title sponsorship. I do not know when this contract ends. Thirdly, despite the contract between AT&T and Williams, the Williams website is just williamsf1.com; the title sponsor is not included. And finally, while both Williams and Raikkonen have confirmed that they have been in negotiations, Raikkonen himself said nothing has been signed yet.
- 33,155
- Hammerhead Garage
Yes, that too.
- 3,232
- Wales
Maldonado was the 2010 GP2 champion, so how can you say that he got in as a pay driver alone? He has been in a crap Williams car and has done well alongside rubens, he has scored less points, had more retirements but to be honest I think he's done a pretty good job. You can't compare it to Di Resta or Perez who are in better cars.
His driving in Abu Dhabi was nothing short of terrible and he needs to sort his head out, but its not like the other drivers on the grid are exactly full of innocence either, certaintly not Raikkonen if he is to take a spot. I'd love to see Rubens stay on another year, but I think his time has come, he has no real future and maybe it is time some young talent (or Raikkonen) had a chance.
His driving in Abu Dhabi was nothing short of terrible and he needs to sort his head out, but its not like the other drivers on the grid are exactly full of innocence either, certaintly not Raikkonen if he is to take a spot. I'd love to see Rubens stay on another year, but I think his time has come, he has no real future and maybe it is time some young talent (or Raikkonen) had a chance.
- 881
- Finland
- Sohvakettu
Hey now, this isn't about some Venezuelan, its about Kimi Kimi!! The nordic aryan race rules F1.
I remember reading a paper somewhere about composition of finnish dna. We are apparently a mix of swedes, germanics, slavs and a tiny bit of the original finnish language speakers from somewhere near the Urals...
(Unfortunately this mixed heritage seems to be completely lost on some of the far rights around here...)Sorry about the off topic
hampus_dh
(Banned)
- 1,897
Hey now, this isn't about some Venezuelan, its about Kimi Kimi!! The nordic aryan race rules F1.
Maldonado has won a GP2 championship....big whoop, Kimi won a world championship. LOL
And? Maldo is a rookie...
I´m having a hard time believing Kimi will go to Williams. In the past he has only been with the best teams on the grid at the time, Mclaren or Ferrari.
When Ferrari bought him out he said the only thing that would interest him in staying was if he got a seat in a top team.
Why would he join Williams which haven´t accomplished anything these days?
