Hi guys,
Thought I’d have a change
from writing poems. This post is just a normal piece about the driver market as
in who I think is going where for 2014 and onwards.
Everything written here is
my own opinions and I know people are going to have different thoughts on stuff
that is mentioned, but im just asking if you could respect my thoughts. If you
have different opinions I would like you to share them with me, let me know
what you think but most of all just enjoy the read!
Driver Market
I’m more confused with the
‘driver market’ now than I ever have being in the years I have been watching
F1. There are drivers all over the place who haven’t singed a contract yet, and
Im struggling to figure out where everyone is going to end up.
Let’s start with Nico
Hulkenberg for example. He has being linked with a number of different teams
including lotus, Ferrari, McLaren, and more recently his old team Force India.
Now if you believe the rumours Sauber will not be retaining Nico for the 2014
season – and I certainly believe those rumours! If im honest Nico should have
been given a drive in a bigger team two years ago. The guys a great driver and
has proven that he can drag an underperforming car to the front to fight with
the ‘big boys’. Williams Brazil 2010 anyone? Or maybe look at his year with
force India
Then there’s his season at
Sauber this year and with a car that is miles off the pace of the bigger teams he’s
putting in good performances! Yes, the car has been improved dramatically since
the start of the season and that is reflected as well in Estebans improving
results, but Nico is constantly proving he is quick with some amazing
qualifying performances and then when we get to the race his results have been consistent
compared to that of his team mate and of the guys in teams at a similar level
he is scoring some good valuable points for the team.
So where’s he going to end
up then? Being honest im not entirely sure but Lotus or Ferrari seem the most
likely option to him because lets face it after force India’s performance this
year that would certainly be a step sideways for him and McLaren – well I cant
see it myself maybe some of you think different?
As silly as it sounds
Ferrari seems very likely to me possibly more than lotus even! I’ll say
this…can anyone actually see Fernando and Kimi working at Ferrari next year –
and be honest! I certainly cant, it will end up in a massive falling out just
like McLaren had to deal with in 1989 with Senna and Prost, and as good as
Ferrari are I don’t see them dealing with that very well. So let’s just say
Nico gets the seat at Ferrari alongside Kimi – yeah that would work, but that
means Fernando would be out – so where would he go…?
McLaren. It’s simple!! Well
ok maybe not so simple considering their history together but it would work
well!
The signs are all there from
McLaren that they are interested in signing Alonso in the future and with
interest from Honda – the engine side of things as well Fernando has plenty of
fans at the minute. It might not have worked at McLaren previously but I think
Fernando has grown up quite a bit since then and if Jenson was to stay at
McLaren as is expected then the pairing would work well I think. Jenson and
Fernando get on well away from the track and they have respect for each other
on the track too so I don’t think we could expect to see fireworks there like
we did in 07.
As I believe McLaren quite
like the idea of working with Fernando again; the way I see it is that it would
only be Fernando that needs persuading to move from Ferrari back to the Woking based team. Ok, that may take a bit of work on
McLaren’s part and money will probably come into it too seen as Fernando is
currently the highest paid driver on the grid, but from what I can see McLaren
look to have a more successful future ahead of them than the guys in red.
Firstly you have the Honda
engine deal which sounds like an awesome deal considering the results they
achieved when the two companies paired up last time, and as for next year
(2014) when McLaren will be running with the Mercedes engine, it is said that
it will be the best engine on the grid in comparison to the likes of the
Ferrari and Renault engine, so that’s one thing that could sway Alonso in his
decision of whether to stay at Ferrari or not.
Another thing and probably what’s
playing on Fernando’s mind the most is that Ferrari are yet to give him that
much desired world championship, and that the last time Ferrari won a drivers
title was in 2007 with his provisional team mate Kimi.
Its not that Ferrari have
being no where near a title because they have come very close in 2010 and 2012 between Ferrari and Red
Bull, with Seb winning both years and the one in-between that. Surely though that has got to be even more
frustrating than not been in the title hunt at all? The fact that in both those
years Ferrari have fallen at the final hurdle has got to annoy Fernando massively,
and the big issue I can see him having is that Ferrari as a team don’t seem to
be learning from their mistakes, they had a pig of a car in 2012 and looking at
the results they have had this year in statistics it appears worse. Now im not
slating Ferrari, not at all they are the most followed and successful team in
the sport and im sure that somewhere in the team they are more than capable of
designing and building a car that most drivers could win the title in, but in
three years with Fernando – considered by most the most talented driver on the
current f1 grid – it just hasn’t happened.
Now I know what most of you
are thinking – McLaren haven’t won a title since 2008 and they’ve had some
pretty bad seasons themselves I mean lets all be honest here this season has
been an utter disaster – and that’s coming from a McLaren fan – I think even
the guys in the team would say the same though.
But for every bad season
McLaren seem to have 2 or 3 good ones. They had a good year in both 2007 and
2008, a bad year followed in 2009, but, 10, 11 and 12 haven’t been bad seasons!
Not at all! Okay they haven’t been able to beat the red bulls but who has? At the
minute it seems no one is capable of that but I can see McLaren being very
strong next season and even stronger in 2015! Also, with a potential signing of
Red Bull aerodynamicist Peter Prodromou, it’s got to be worth Fernando having a
good think about.
If the two were to team up
and start to work with each other again McLaren would arguably have the
strongest driver line up on the grid, been the only team yet again to have two
champions in their line up. I can see it working, because Jenson has shown
before with Lewis that he can work well with a high rated team mate and don’t forget
Jenson himself is no slouch – very far from it! He proved over the seasons he
was paired with Lewis that he was more than capable of beating him and became
the first team mate Lewis had come across that out scored him in a season back
in 2011.
Okay so Fernando to McLaren
would leave no space for Sergio and yes the Mexican has done well in his first
year with McLaren considering the car and everything but if Im honest I still
think Perez needs a little more experience with a midfield team – I don’t think
Perez was ready for McLaren and think another year or two with his old team
Sauber would be a great move for him. Yes he would be going backwards but it would
give him time to gain the little experience he’s missing to be able to move
further up the grid again. Perez would have the team around him at Sauber and
they have always been a team who have encouraged their drivers, That’s what I see
Esteban and Perez at Sauber in 2014 would bring in good sponsor money and both
drivers could build on their good growing reputations.
Then there’s Felipe Massa
who is another driver without a seat currently in 2014. The best place I can
see for Felipe to go would be to Lotus to partner Romain. To be honest I don’t see
much problem with that line up at all! Massa Massa
The 2014 Formula One grid as I can see would be:
Vettel & Dan – Red Bull
Kimi & Hulkenberg – Ferrari
Lewis & Nico – Mercedes
Fernando & Jenson – McLaren
Romain & Massa – Lotus
Pail & Sutil – Force India
Vergne
& Da Costa – Torro Rosso
Esteban
& Perez – Sauber
Pastor & Bottas – Williams
Pic & Van Der Garde – Caterham
Bianchi & Chilton – Marrusia
Although the driver market
talk doesn’t stop there. There’s just a few more things id like to mention.
First with Max – he deserves
a second year at Marrusia you can’t possibly prove yourself in just one year
especially not in a back marker team. Max could turn out to be really talented
and if the team got rid of him we wouldn’t know!
Next, Paul. Reports have
been saying that Force India are possibly considering getting rid of Paul – For
who im not sure but why would they do that! Paul is a great driver and he
proved that within his first few races of his formula one career. Yes he’s had
a bad run of races but I think half of that is to do with the car because you don’t
see Sutil putting in impressive performances either do you? So give Paul a
chance and design and build him a decent car to match his talents!
The final thing I want to
comment on with regards to swapping and changing teams is Mercedes…
Now they might well have
their driver line up sorted for at least the next two years but the leadership
of the Brackley team it seems is in doubt.
Talks have been going on
pretty much all year regarding current team boss Ross Brawn’s position in the
team and its just got worse! At the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday Ross made it
clear that he would like very much to stay with Mercedes for 2014 but which
role he would carry out wasn’t commented on.
Now here’s my view… I believe
Ross will be staying as team principal for Mercedes next year however when 2015
arrives my thinking is that Brawn will move to McLaren, and here’s why..!
It’s been very clear that by
whoever it may be in Mercedes Ross is being pushed out of his team boss role. Now
im not at all saying that it’s Toto but whoever it is will get their way at
some point in the near future. Ross will move from Mercedes to McLaren in 2015
leading Toto to become boss of Mercedes and pick up where Ross left of and im
sure he will do a great job.
Ross will arrive at the
Woking based team in time for when the Honda engines come into play, and as
seen in the past Ross has had a lot to do with Honda over the years, also Ross
has a good relationship with Jenson after guiding him to the title in 2009 so
if McLaren were to keep Button which I believe they should when Honda returns
to the sport; there would be no issues between JB or Ross from a team point of
view. So in my eyes Ross moving to McLaren would be a very good step for him to
take and would also boost the McLaren team on the technical side of things.
Finally – and this is where
it all gets kind of complicated and I start dreaming of what could be, but
doing it in a realistic way!
2016. Lewis Hamilton will
have completed his 3 year deal with the Mercedes team leaving him either to
renew his contract with the team or potentially looking for somewhere to go and
perhaps finish his F1 career – the way im thinking it would be the latter.
If the theory is correct and
Ross is moving to McLaren then Lewis would have lost the man that persuaded him
to go to Mercedes in the first place, also by 2016 McLaren would of (Hopefully)
adapted to the Honda engines after working with them for a year already so any
reliability issues or power issue would have been ironed out. This would be the
perfect opportunity –presuming that Fernando would have either moved from
McLaren or retired at this point - for Lewis Hamilton to move back ‘home’ to
his family at McLaren. If Lewis went back to Woking he could maybe sign a three
or five year deal with the team just has he did when he stated back in 2007 and
possibly end his career the way he started it…with success and a world
championship!
So what are your thoughts on
that..? Do you agree? Disagree? Or maybe you haven’t you don’t know what to
think??
If you have any comments at
all Id love to hear them and most of all thanks for taking the time to read
this, hope you’ve enjoyed it!
Lauren J
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