Your predictions for the driver line-up, 2010

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I know it's only the Spanish tabloids again, but with the annoucement of Campos' drivers expected this weekend, they've been running a lot of stories suggesting Pedro de la Rosa will be partnered by Vitaly Petrov. Which I guess makes sense as he knows the team, is as quick as Grosjean, would bring in lots of sponsor opportunities and Campos said he wanted a driver who would unlock new markets. Being the single largest nation in the world, Russia is pretty much the single biggest untapped market there is, with the exception of Africa and possibly the Middle East (except that there are no African or Middle Eastern Fomula One drivers).
 
I'm inclined to believe that one too, Petrov deserves the seat too, he's not been half bad in GP2. De la Rosa gets another chance and he's a good development driver so I think this will probably be the strongest line-up of the new teams unless one of them nabs Heidfeld and Kubica....
 
My possible line-up:

Brawn GP: Button and Barrichello
Red Bull: Webber and Vettel
Toyota: Trulli and Heidfeld (sorry Timo)
McLaren: Hamilton and Sutil
Renault: Kubica and Rosberg
Ferrari:- Alonso and Massa
Williams: Nakajima and Hulkenberg
STR:- Buemi and Alguesari
Force India: Fisichella and Liuzzi
USF1: Graham Rahal and Scott Speed
Campos: De La Rosa and De Grassi
Manor: Davidson and James Walker (possibly)

I think that looks quite good
 
So you think Kovaleinen isn't getting a seat next year?

Interesting - I'd say he was better than some of the drivers in that list though!

C.
 
I have doubts Kovy will be at Macca next year...he's just not good enough to help them secure constructors championships. He doesn't need to beat Hamilton, but he does need to be able to finish fairly well quite regularly and last year he failed to do so. This year he's had the excuse of a crappy car, but now its fixed he has half a year to improve.
He's not bad though, its just he's lacking that little bit extra to push and obtain better results.

Glock will be at Toyota next year no doubt about that. How many times this year has he come from starting at the back or in the pitlane and scoring points? He's a master at it and its been missed by almost everyone. I'd easily say he's the unsung hero of 2009. Even if he lacks luck in qualifying (he is capable of fast laps, but never at the right time it seems) his race craft and strategies are possibly the best in the field and he easily deserves a seat next year.

McLaren could go for anyone at this point, Rosberg seems to be the common name spoken on this subject. I think he'll be staying at Williams though (hopefully partnered by Hulkenburg).
 
Ian Poole
USF1: Graham Rahal and Scott Speed
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Why do people keep thinking Scott Speed is a possibility? The man's useless, an underperforming whinger at the best of times and now confined to racing around in circles for NASCAR. How many NASCAR drivers have made the transition from that series to Formula One?

Oh, that's right: none.
 
To be fair, when he was in Formula 1 he had Ulcerative Colitis, and had surgery a few times for it too. So that would have held him back a bit, even though Liuzzi still wasn't much faster.
 
He got pretty hard done by the STR management too, if I was looking to get into F1, STR and any team run by Flavio would be the last choices and I would be seeking a way out pretty quickly as they seem to be horrible driver managers.
Not that I disagree with dyr though, Speed still didn't do much to impress and is very unlikely to come all the way from NASCAR back to F1 just for USF1 to prove a point. I know Peter Windsor can be a twit but even he wouldn't do that :lol:
 
Anyone think Villeneuve will get a seat next year? Or Senna could probably get with one of the new teams, he's a good, available choice, who has his sponsors. That seems to be something the new teams would want.
 
Villenueve......:lol:

Bruno Senna may very well get a seat, but with who? There are a lot of good drivers on the market and actually money isn't too much of a problem with the teams budget-capping themselves (as in, less of a problem than it once was).

If Sauber really do collapse and miss the 2010 grid, then we instantly have two excellent drivers available. Then there's all the current experienced test drivers as well as current GP2 drivers like Hulkenburg. I think Senna is up against it unfortunately. He has about as much chance as Takuma Sato or Anthony Davidson do anyway.
If its going to be any team, I think Manor is the most likely to hire Senna. Simply because they are an unknown. If Sauber survive or Prodrive or someone comes in, they would potentially be a team who may hire him too. Its too difficult to say though, the driver market is pretty open at the moment, technically almost anyone could go anywhere (though there are some obvious certainties like Button staying at Brawn).
 
Dick Dastardly and Muttley in the Mean Machine
The Slag Brothers in the Bouldermobile
The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe
Professor Pat Pending in the Convert-a-Car
Red Max in the Crimson Haybailer
Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat
Sergeant Blast and Private Meekly in the Army Surplus Special
The Ant Hill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb
Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug
Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific
Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth in the Buzz Wagon
 
for USF1, my money's on Jonathan Summerton and/or Graham Rahal.

Charlie Kimball might have an outside chance too
 
Danny
Dick Dastardly and Muttley in the Mean Machine
The Slag Brothers in the Bouldermobile
The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe
Professor Pat Pending in the Convert-a-Car
Red Max in the Crimson Haybailer
Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat
Sergeant Blast and Private Meekly in the Army Surplus Special
The Ant Hill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb
Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug
Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific
Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth in the Buzz Wagon
Click to expand...


I lol'd. Hard.
 
PeterJB
To be fair, when he was in Formula 1 he had Ulcerative Colitis, and had surgery a few times for it too. So that would have held him back a bit, even though Liuzzi still wasn't much faster.
Click to expand...

I don't think Scott Speed was that bad. He didn't get enough time.
 
Danny
Dick Dastardly and Muttley in the Mean Machine
The Slag Brothers in the Bouldermobile
The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe
Professor Pat Pending in the Convert-a-Car
Red Max in the Crimson Haybailer
Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat
Sergeant Blast and Private Meekly in the Army Surplus Special
The Ant Hill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb
Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug
Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific
Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth in the Buzz Wagon
Click to expand...
What about Liuzzi?
 
PeterJB
To be fair, when he was in Formula 1 he had Ulcerative Colitis, and had surgery a few times for it too. So that would have held him back a bit, even though Liuzzi still wasn't much faster.
Click to expand...
Speed might have an irritable bowel, but Kimi Raikkonen has an irritable personality, and that seem to work out okay for him.
 
Danny
Dick Dastardly and Muttley in the Mean Machine
The Slag Brothers in the Bouldermobile
The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe
Professor Pat Pending in the Convert-a-Car
Red Max in the Crimson Haybailer
Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat
Sergeant Blast and Private Meekly in the Army Surplus Special
The Ant Hill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb
Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug
Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific
Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth in the Buzz Wagon
Click to expand...

Too bad that they'd all be made by Warner Bros. :lol:

Anyway, my predictions...

Brawn GP: 1. Jenson Button 2. Bruno Senna (Barrichello has to retire eventually)
Red Bull: 1. Mark Webber 2. Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari: 1. Felipe Massa 2. Kimi Raikkonen
Toyota: 1. Jarno Trulli/Timo Glock (depends whether Trulli stays or not) 2. Timo Glock/Kamui Kobayashi/whoever becomes GP2 champion (again depending if Trulli stays)
McLaren: 1. Lewis Hamilton 2. Heikki Kovalainen
Williams: 1. Nico Rosberg/Kazuki Nakajima (depends if Rosberg does stay) 2. Kazuki Nakajima/Nico Hulkenberg (depends if Rosberg stays)
Renault: 1. Fernando Alonso 2. Romain Grosjean
Toro Rosso: 1. Sebastien Buemi 2. Jaime Alguersuari
Force India: 1. Adrian Sutil 2. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Fisi will go)
Team US F1: 1. Scott Speed 2. Takuma Sato
Campos: 1. Pedro de la Rosa 2. Marc Gene
Manor: 1. Gary Paffett 2. Anthony Davidson

It looks good enough to me.
 
Even if Scott Speed was offered a drive in USF1, I don't think he'd take it. He's doing okay in NASCAR, and I'm sure he's having a better time than he did in F1.

Hopefully it'll be Graham Rahal in the American seat for USF1. Rahal/Sato would be nice to see.
 
Vitaly Petrov won the GP2 feature race in Valencia overnight. He led from the secod corner after a mistake by Hulkenberg, and given the way the Russian held the series leader off for the entire race, I'd say he's made a pretty strong case for being the first of his countrymen to be promoted to a race seat.
 
nissan tuner
for USF1, my money's on Jonathan Summerton and/or Graham Rahal.

Charlie Kimball might have an outside chance too
Click to expand...

I want to see Dale Jr. in F1. I know it would NEVER happen but I'd love to see all the interviews then go to Jr. He would be so out of place. Plus he might not be to bad either judging by his quick time in ALMS. He seems to adapt fairly well. But then again ALMS is probably way different then F1, so nevermind.
 
Danny
Dick Dastardly and Muttley in the Mean Machine
The Slag Brothers in the Bouldermobile
The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe
Professor Pat Pending in the Convert-a-Car
Red Max in the Crimson Haybailer
Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat
Sergeant Blast and Private Meekly in the Army Surplus Special
The Ant Hill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb
Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug
Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific
Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth in the Buzz Wagon
Click to expand...

Someone's been reading Car Issue #563! Jokes, although the Wacky Racers is about as realistic as some people's predictions have been getting!
 
Concur. I personally found it interesting how quiet the commentators were about him... It seemed like it went from "Kimi Raikkonene is heating up his tyres on the parade lap" to "oh, and by the way, Kimi has come third". What a quiet achiever today! Who thinks Badoer can bounce back?
 
senamic
Concur. I personally found it interesting how quiet the commentators were about him... It seemed like it went from "Kimi Raikkonene is heating up his tyres on the parade lap" to "oh, and by the way, Kimi has come third". What a quiet achiever today!
Click to expand...
It's funny; there's only really been two occasions where Raikkonen has finished behind Massa this year. He took Ferrari's first 2009 podium and their first 2009 points, and on the occasion when he's had a poor showing it's either been mechanical or the team's fault. Now he's got two straight podiums to his name and he's eight points clear of Alonso, the man tipped to replace him.
 
I do think that Kovalainen would leave McLaren, Rosberg would leave Williams, Trulli would leave Toyota, Kubica and Heidfeld will leave BMW... Rumours said that Rosberg would join McLaren, Kovalainen would be in somewhere, Kubica could go to Ferrari, Heidfeld could go to Renault, Alonso also could go to Ferrari, Massa is still injured and I do think that he can't race still for next year until his skull is pretty much owkey...

It's a mess to know who will be where but this is just an opinion...
 
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