The F1 driver transfer discussion/speculation archiveFormula 1 

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Dennisch
Isn't Hulkenberg's problem that he is a bit too tall, thus a bit heavy and therefore not being picked up by the top teams?
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I think the weight is settled by ballasting rules now, but having said that driver weight is still "position-fixed" and has a higher centre-of-gravity. I think it's more likely that what's against him is being very good but not brilliant.
 
mustafur
Williams are in a different position now though, they have a Title Sponser that doesn't exactly require a certain driver nationality and they also have some minor Sponsers through Massa, it would make sense for them to hire him purely on what is best for Williams from a Championship perspective.

Back in 2010 it was totally understandable why they dropped him when you had Maldonado knocking on the door with monstrous sponsership money when they where in dire need of it.

When it comes to bad ways of leaving a contract Button takes the cake, back in 2005 Honda bought out his contract to Williams when Button realised the team wasn't going to be as good as he thought when he signed the contract.

Button himself actually put money towards getting out of it as well, kind of sends a giant middle finger to the team lol even if they got out of the deal financially unharmed.
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They also now have far more interested investors supposedly than back then too, which means less money having to be fronted forward by certain oil backed drivers and such. Which ironically didn't even progress the team forward (but that another conversation).

Dennisch
Isn't Hulkenberg's problem that he is a bit too tall, thus a bit heavy and therefore not being picked up by the top teams?
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That has been noted as an issue before, yes. Height is the main issue, but only when the new rules regarding how much driver dress size mattered. If they got back to the way it was before that, then I doubt this would be a topic to discuss around him.
 
Dennisch
Isn't Hulkenberg's problem that he is a bit too tall, thus a bit heavy and therefore not being picked up by the top teams?
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No, that was little more than an excuse contrived to explain away why Hulkenberg had been passed over for a seat again in such a way that it wasn't his fault.

TenEightyOne
How much longer would you give him?
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Personally, I think that he has had his chance. In fact, he has had several. The top teams are all looking at their long-term plans, and by the time a seat opens up again, Hulkenberg will probably be too old to be a viable prospect. Because by that time, another batch of exciting young drivers - Vandoorne, Ocon, Kirchhofer et al - will be in the sport.
 
GTPorsche
The same oil money that hasn't progressed Lotus forward either...
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Exactly. I guess they had so much of it though, that they could let their dreams run wild, hence last years car. Also I imagine a good portion of that money is for insurance on Pastor and replacement parts.
 
LMSCorvetteGT2
Exactly. I guess they had so much of it though, that they could let their dreams run wild, hence last years car. Also I imagine a good portion of that money is for insurance on Pastor and replacement parts.
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I believe most of it was used to clear up the team's debt.
 
prisonermonkeys
I believe most of it was used to clear up the team's debt.
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Lotus seem to be in a better place now, like Williams they appear to be working along a long-term road-map to the top. Much as I was irritated by the whole issue surrounding the name I hope they get up to the front-row fight. 2015 looks pretty much settled but I'm hoping that 2016 will finally see races where any one of 8 drivers (at least) could easily take the win.

That'll make the Lotus seat more sought after but will, equally, up the team's expectations of a driver. The difficulty for them is making the transition from a team with income from drivers to a team that can pay the talent worthy of the car. I see 2016 being a year where experience counts over raw potential (and sponsors) more than it might have done in the previous two or three years.
 
prisonermonkeys
The idea that Hulkenberg will return to Williams is little more than a pipe dream among those who can't accept that Hulkenberg hasn't been promoted to a race-winning seat. He has had several opportunities, and yet has been passed over every single time. If he really is as talented as the die-hard fans like to believe that he is, how do you explain this? Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes all had the opportunity to take him - and none of them did.
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Well done on completely ignoring the points in the post before yours to get your dislike of Hulkenburg off your chest, similar to how you do regularly for Raikkonen and Hamilton. Classic Prisonermonkeys. 👍

Being passed over by those 3 teams, who all chose World Champions, is not a massive blight on Hulkenburg's record, seeing as he would still be a bit of a punt, while championship winning experience is quite clearly a safer, low-risk option.

Ferrari taking Bottas over Hulkenburg would be a setback, although IMO, the wrong choice.

It does remain to be seen weather there is more than 2 race-winning seats next year anyway...
 
Who said that I dislike him? I just see a gap between the Hulkenberg that is and the Hulkenberg that everyone believes in. After all, he barely beat Vitaly Petrov in GP2, so it's not like he had an earth-shattering junior career.
 
prisonermonkeys
Who said that I dislike him? I just see a gap between the Hulkenberg that is and the Hulkenberg that everyone believes in. After all, he barely beat Vitaly Petrov in GP2, so it's not like he had an earth-shattering junior career.
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He Won GP2 on Debut though and Petrov was in his 4th year.

Also to note: ''The title was won by German rookie Nico Hülkenberg at the penultimate round of the championship at Monza, the first time the series had been won before the final round.''

Only two other drivers to do that is Hamilton and Rosberg.

Going by your own warped standards this is inconsistent, especially when you praise the likes of Vandoorne.
 
McLaren have announced that they would be okay with GP2 teams renting or buying a chassis to compete under a customer car model.
 
TenEightyOne
A little more on the options for Button, Bottas and Raikkonnen. No more firm news but, as I said earlier in the thread, I can see Button going to Williams. That's down to McLaren agreeing it, of course. I imagine that Williams may use the free-Bottas-from-jail cash (reported to be a demand of £15m) to ease Button's parting.
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So can I, only because of all the other crazy stuff since that's happened that makes it just as likely.
 
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prisonermonkeys
Sky Sports are weirdly talking up the idea of Romain Grosjean to Ferrari to make way for Jolyon Palmer to Lotus.
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It seems Grosjean gave an interview to Europe back in 2014 1 in which he both admits to talking to Ferrari (as he says everybody does) and that his options are open for 2015. The article speculates that if 2015 didn't happen then 2016 might.

The website where I found it is a turd though, link. The site goes on to suggest he could have a 2015 McLaren drive, make of that what you will.

Julianna in a Lotus, a car named after a flower driven by a flower? How lovely.
 
What's the chances Sky Sports are hyping up Palmer just because he's British? Honestly, I don't think the BBC are as bad as them for over-excited patriotism.
 
DK
What's the chances Sky Sports are hyping up Palmer just because he's British?
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I think it's far more likely that they were talking about him because they were desperate to talk about anything other than Williams, given that they spent the first half-hour discussing their orders at Silverstone.
 
Dotini
Has it been well-established exactly why Colin Chapman chose the term "Lotus" to identify his designs? I'm not sure it has.
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It's the most likely (to my mind) of a number of possible explanations. Harder to establish why Jelly-One is such a flower.

DK
What's the chances Sky Sports are hyping up Palmer just because he's British? Honestly, I don't think the BBC are as bad as them for over-excited patriotism.
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There's also the connection between the main pundits and Jonathan Palmer.
 
Jolyon Palmer, really? Considering it took him 4 years to win a GP2 title in a dominant car (and over a year to score points), he doesn't really appear any more qualified for an F1 seat than Valsecchi or Leimer.
 
GP2 is increasingly a multi-season campaign for young drivers. The problem is that with a finite number of seats available in Formula 1, drivers are spending longer and longer in GP2. But they're also taking the top seats, which makes it harder for new drivers to stand out.
 
Okay, so here's the really challenging question: if Nico Hulkenberg goes to Haas, who replaces him at Force India?

Pascal Wehrlein would probably be the first choice; he has tested for them before, and with all the talk of Red Bull defecting to Mercedes power, Force India will want to shore up their relationship with Mercedes.

Romain Grosjean would be another good choice, since he's clearly going nowhere at Lotus. Of course, that really depends on what Renault want to do; if they buy back in, they might want to keep him on-board. In the same vein, Pastor Maldonado might be a possible choice if Renault buy Lotus and cut him loose.

If Jenson Button goes to Williams, then Williams might also replace Felipe Massa - probably with Alex Lynn, but they might also go for Wehrlein for the same reasons mentioned above - to get a young driver with star power, which would make Massa a viable choice for Force India.

Stoffel Vandoorne or Kevin Magnussen might also be possibilities, but I imagine McLaren would only arrange it if they were confident of beating Force India.

Otherwise, they would have to look to GP2 where they might be able to find a solid midfielder. I'm thinking of Rio Haryanto or Mitch Evans, who have shown real potential, but have been let down by dud career moves in the past (Haryanto went to Addax when Alejandro Agag was busy with Formula E and neglected the team; the moment Adrian Campos bought it back, Haryanto's results picked up again); or Sergey Sirotkin, who has really had a turn in form, but has been inconsistent in the past (and has had a few sponsorship problems because of the embargo on Russia) and so might need another season.
 
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