[infinity4]

I am pretty sure performance played a BIG part in their departure.

Hopefully Renault leave as well so that I can hope Kubica in better McLaren car.

[Bludd]

Originally Posted by infinity4

I am pretty sure performance played a BIG part in their departure.

Hopefully Renault leave as well so that I can hope Kubica in better McLaren car.

If Renault leaves, someone will buy the team because the team is good. Kubica won't drive in a McLaren until 2011 at the earliest, but he wants to go to Ferrari and not McLaren.

[DJ12]

Maybe if Ferrari have another 10 year slump like they did in the mid 80s early 90s.

[Bludd]

Originally Posted by DJ12

Maybe if Ferrari have another 10 year slump like they did in the mid 80s early 90s.

I don't see it happening.

[infinity4]

Originally Posted by Bludd

If Renault leaves, someone will buy the team because the team is good. Kubica won't drive in a McLaren until 2011 at the earliest, but he wants to go to Ferrari and not McLaren.

Source? I heard something like Kubica not wanting to pair up with Hamilton though...

[Bludd]

Originally Posted by infinity4

Source? I heard something like Kubica not wanting to pair up with Hamilton though...

I can't remember where I read it and I can't find it.

Nevertheless, he is fluent in Italian, drove in the International Italian Junior Karting championship and he was the first non-Italian to win that.

[infinity4]

It would be awesome if he can pair up with Alonso in the future.

Having said that, I think we need to actually give Kubica a competitive car. I hear people say he is overrated, well to me BMW was nothing good and he still managed to bring the title fight to last 2 races in 2008. Vettel has been given a chance and he has been making mistakes last season, let's see how Vettel can do in 2010.

My prediction will be that McLaren will struggle a bit because wheelbase is longer, this will favour Ferrari actually. Brawn GP and Red Bull will be strong as well.

[Dave Baumann]

Originally Posted by infinity4

My prediction will be that McLaren will struggle a bit because wheelbase is longer, this will favour Ferrari actually. Brawn GP and Red Bull will be strong as well.

Not sure that that will be that much of an issue. Last year McLaren had a car that favoured the faster corner tracks because they had a long wheelbase. They shortened the wheelbase late into this year so that they could alter the weight balance of the car because they were more restricted than other teams because of the KERS placement.

[Mendel]

This can't be good for Heikki Kovalainen. Where can he go now?

[Bludd]

Originally Posted by Mendel

This can't be good for Heikki Kovalainen. Where can he go now?

World Series by Renault? Joking aside, he's either lucked into a drive with a new team, or he's got a test driver position or he's out and has to go back to Finland and eat yellow snow.

[RobertR1]

It'd be disappointing to see Kimi sit out 2010. He's a top driver that can make for some good exciting racing in a top car.

[Bludd]

Originally Posted by RobertR1

It'd be disappointing to see Kimi sit out 2010. He's a top driver that can make for some good exciting racing in a top car.

If he sits out 2010, it'd be his and his management own damn fault. If they cannot get real and stop pretending that the Santander money doesn't exist when negotiating with other teams, they can just fuck off.

Joe Saward's latest blog posts: What is Renault up to? Why Ferrari is tough on the small teams

The team at Enstone is sound, and if Renault decides to walk away now or at the end of 2010, the team will be bought. It is a proven winner, they have great drivers for next year and if they design a good car for next year, Kubica may decide to lengthen his contract. Renault have proven that they are willing to develop a car to the end of the season (unlike BMW last year) and they have proven they can win races and championships (unlike BMW last year, at least the last part).

Regarding the politics, it is interesting what he's suggesting. Bernie (and thus CVC) can boss around a small new team more easily than a big, manufacturer backed team. 50% of the money the sport is generating is going to the wrong people.

[Tahir2]

For the future of F1 lets hope the FIA and FOTA are able to get on better.

Hopefully there will be less scandals and soap opera moments for the 2010 season but I think it does increase ratings and thus advertising revenue.

I am very sad to see Toyota go, as I think with the right driver they were just about there in terms of performance. Sad to see them go, they certainly did not leave F1 with no achievements - shame that maiden win eluded them but even with it they would have left IMHO.

If the economy and car sales really pick up in 2010 (and indications are that the car industry is on the mend already) who thinks Honda, BMW and Toyota will be back by 2011?

[Bludd]

Originally Posted by Tahir2

If the economy and car sales really pick up in 2010 (and indications are that the car industry is on the mend already) who thinks Honda, BMW and Toyota will be back by 2011?

I don't see Honda buying Brawn back unless they have a water-tight clause. It looks like Mercedes is going to buy that team in the long term and make it a Mercedes works team. Honda could start a new team but this is very expensive and takes a long time, they could come back with the old Super Aguri outfit rebranded as Honda, though.

BMW? I don't care if they will be back, they have shown themselves not to be racers.

Toyota? Well, they never got a properly good driver even though they spent millions. They may be back, but they won't be successful without a stellar driver and without management which is willing to eschew kaizen and just get on with the business of racing which is not exactly the same as building Priuses.

[Dave Baumann]

Originally Posted by Tahir2

If the economy and car sales really pick up in 2010 (and indications are that the car industry is on the mend already) who thinks Honda, BMW and Toyota will be back by 2011?

IMO - no. It'll take a much longer cycle than that before we see the manufacturers coming back in a big way.

Autosport also put an article up that hit the nail on the head - there is not enough room for innovation in F1's rules at the moment to allow manufacturers to see this as a viable development route an have that rub off on the technologies on their consumer cars.

[Dr Evil]

Originally Posted by Bludd

If he sits out 2010, it'd be his and his management own damn fault. If they cannot get real and stop pretending that the Santander money doesn't exist when negotiating with other teams, they can just fuck off.

Apparently Kimi get's more money from Ferrari/Santander if he doesn't drive anywhere next year. The amount of money he get's on top of his Ferrari salary is 17 Million $ if he doesn't drive and 10 Million $ if he drives somewhere else. Maclaren is apparently offering Kimi only 3.5 Million euros for next season, so he would be making more money by not driving. Of course Kimi already has so much money that this would hardly be the end of the world for him, but still it seems like Maclaren is trying to go quite cheap on him. Source for this is a finnish TV channel.

[Bludd]

Originally Posted by Dr Evil

Apparently Kimi get's more money from Ferrari/Santander if he doesn't drive anywhere next year. The amount of money he get's on top of his Ferrari salary is 17 Million $ if he doesn't drive and 10 Million $ if he drives somewhere else. Maclaren is apparently offering Kimi only 3.5 Million euros for next season, so he would be making more money by not driving. Of course Kimi already has so much money that this would hardly be the end of the world for him, but still it seems like Maclaren is trying to go quite cheap on him. Source for this is a finnish TV channel.

Either he is passionate about driving and winning and fighting for championships or he just wants to eat ice cream and drink Coke.

Of course, he shouldn't go there for free, but he should not pretend that $10 million is not serious money.

[Dr Evil]

Originally Posted by Bludd

Either he is passionate about driving and winning and fighting for championships or he just wants to eat ice cream and drink Coke.

Of course, he shouldn't go there for free, but he should not pretend that $10 million is not serious money.

I'd bet money that he is going drive Maclaren next year. So more ice cream and Pepsi Max for ME!

[Bludd]

Originally Posted by Dr Evil

I'd bet money that he is going drive Maclaren next year. So more ice cream and Pepsi Max for ME!

I hope you are right, because it would be awesome to see him and Lewis battle it out against Fernando and Felipe.

And Jens and Nico, and Seb and Mæhhhk.

[Kaotik]

Originally Posted by Bludd

I hope you are right, because it would be awesome to see him and Lewis battle it out against Fernando and Felipe.

And Jens and Nico, and Seb and Mæhhhk.

And what's best, is that apparently lewis favours oversteering car too, so the car should be more or less fitting to both of their styles

[Bludd]

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2009/...endar-rumours/

[Gerry]

Mercedes buying Brawn

Likely to be a Rosberg/Heidfeld line-up as well, which isn't exactly a surprise.

Will this be the first time that the reigning constructor and driver champions lose both drivers during the off-season?

[Dave Baumann]

Apparently McLarne will still run the same silver (with Vodaphone red) colour scheme. I wonder if Brawn will run the same type of high visibility silver that McLaren does - I remember McLaren being quite proud when they developed that.

[Bludd]

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2009/...d-the-drivers/

[Bludd]

Now we will have 3 works teams in F1: Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault. This is down from 6 in 2008 and down from 5 in 2009.

McLaren will still get engines for Mercedes until they themselves can build up their engine department and become a car manufacturer in their own right, and thus a works team.

There's still a cloud over Renault's F1 plans, but I am with Joe Saward on this: I hope they won't pull out and I think Carlos Ghosn, aka Le Cost Cutter, is too intelligent to just drop it now. If he was going to drop it, he would have dropped it earlier.

And breaking news: Button appears to be heading for McLaren. Maybe.
http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2009/...ng-to-mclaren/