F1 2013 - Teams and Drivers - Who goes where?!

Maranello, 16 October - Scuderia Ferrari announces that it has renewed its contract with the driver Felipe Massa to the end of the 2013 race season.

The Scuderia’s driver line-up for next year is therefore made up of Fernando Alonso and the aforementioned Felipe Massa.
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JeditOjanen said:
It's the only one that was actually relevant, as their other points finishes came in the infamous 2005 US GP where only six cars raced.
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Not really. 15th vs 16th is a smaller gap than 8th vs 11th or 17th vs 20th. Again, Monteiro had the superior junior record prior to F1.

JeditOjanen said:
All of what you say about Karthikeyan is accurate, but we all know the Golden Rule of F1 team selection is that the man with the most gold gets the selection.
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Sure, it's been true to some extent throughout F1's history. That said, money + results is better still. Maldonado, although inconsistent at first, did string together a GP2 championship season. Same for Grosjean last year (I already mentioned his management and financial connections in another thread).

JeditOjanen said:
It's the same with Kobayashi - he's had some brilliant results this year and is outqualifying Perez more often than not, but his 2013 drive is in doubt because Gutierrez is backed by Carlos Slim.
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Sure, although Esteban has put in a decent performance in 2012 GP2, considering the two drivers ahead of him have several additional seasons of experience at this level. While I think Kobayashi is being treated a little harshly, he has had three seasons at Sauber with just one podium. Old man PDLR was tying him in qualifying before being dismissed for Heidfeld in 2010. Some of that was bad luck, some was under his control. On top of that, the odd kamikaze move hasn't endeared him to Ms Kaltenborn.

I'm guessing Mr Gutierrez will have a Perez-2011 type season at first but be on pace by 2014. It's not impossible for Sauber to secure other sponsorship (hello Credit Suisse) so I don't think Telmex\Slim will guarantee his seat forever if he crashes or embarrasses himself.
 
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Still think its a couple of years too early for him and goes against what Ferrari have done with the driver line up.
 
JeditOjanen said:
Karthikeyan does have a lot of money that he's saved from his seasons spent racing in other series and that he's now using to pay for at least some of his seat. When his comeback was announced he basically said that driving in F1 meant more to him than being rich, which gets him a lot of credit from me as a person if not as a driver. In fact, I think he's the only guy currently in F1 who is even partially financing his own drive - all the other "pay" drivers are fully backed by corporate sponsors.
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As sr4470 says, he's taking up space a younger driver with more potential could be benefitting from.

sr4470 said:
Yeah, and he's occupying a seat a younger driver could be showing something in. The fact is, Narain's been very inconsistent across his career and is just making up the numbers (and occasionally crashing) in the HRT.

Pedro de la Rosa is several years older than him, long past his prime and didn't have a race seat last year (except Canada) yet Karthikeyan is being absolutely thrashed by the former in 2012. Junior formulae - no contest. PDLR has multiple titles all the way up to his 1998 test driver role at Jordan.

Other drivers can bring money (like HRT's reserve drivers) and will probably get quicker\more reliable over time. Where is Narain going? As I said, when was the last time he did anything halfway noticeable in that car? Getting to the finish, invariably in last place, doesn't really cut it.
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Indeed. :)

JeditOjanen said:
All of what you say about Karthikeyan is accurate, but we all know the Golden Rule of F1 team selection is that the man with the most gold gets the selection. Nico Hulkenberg got Williams their first pole in something like seven years; four months later he was dropped for Maldonado. This turned out to be a reasonable decision for Williams as Maldonado converted his pole to a win, but it still only happened because the Mastor of Disastor came with a large bag of Hugo Chavez's money. It's the same with Kobayashi - he's had some brilliant results this year and is outqualifying Perez more often than not, but his 2013 drive is in doubt because Gutierrez is backed by Carlos Slim.
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Yeah, 'tis a shame, I think, that the likes of Karthikeyan and Maldonado are using money to get seats in F1 that other drivers, with less money, deserve more. But 'tis the way of the world. :( Or at least F1! :p
 
Skeeter said:
Massa on a 1 year deal pretty much confirms someone important is joining in 2014, doesn't it?
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Perhaps they are following Red Bulls method of keeping driver no 2 on a leash by giving out lucrative one year deals?

As I said, if I was LDM I'd say if it was true, just to **** off horner. Ferrari have no real reason to keep quiet.
 
Hmm then both team managers are going to look pretty stupid in 2014 if it happens. Especially Horner who seems 100% certain this isn't going to happen.

I think in the end the money at Red Bull will be colossal to keep Vettel there.
 
I can almost see why Lewis would be disillusioned with McLaren, despite thinking about the performance of the Merc and just how he is going to cope with racing for 7th place plus.

But for Vettel to entertain moving to Ferrari, it's bonkers aside from the "everyone dreams of driving for Ferrari" line. Surely his best chance to continue breaking records is with RB? We've seen how Alonso handles having a competitive team-mate before..
 
dannyjo22 said:
Hmm then both team managers are going to look pretty stupid in 2014 if it happens. Especially Horner who seems 100% certain this isn't going to happen.
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Not really. This is today, and 2014 (or whenever - if ever - it happens) is a long, long way away in PR terms.

The statements made today are made for today. They're long forgotten, aside from casual references, when everything may be different in a year's time - different situation, different financials, different team priorities, different sponsor aims etc etc etc.

F1 is no different to any other sport. The spotlight is on the moment, and only the real, very minority fans, cling to these moments. For everyone else it is a memory sound bite.

2014 - Horner: "XYZ driver has been someone we've nurtured through our driver program and embodies the Red Bull spirit and desire to take the team and sport to a new level"

"Bringing Hamilton to the team also brings a wealth of world championship experience from right across the paddock. We're excited to bring a world champion to a championship team."

"Red Bull has always pushed the boundaries and by bringing Perez, representing a huge emerging nation energised by F1, we'll bring success to a team and a sport leading the rise of motorsport in Mexico."

Seriously, just ignore 95% of what's said today if it relates to anything other than something happening the next few hours / days. I work in PR and most people's attention span is literally zero. The exceptions are too infrequent to worry about.
 
Anyone hazard a guess as to why Perez might have been chosen over Gary Paffett, who's proven a great driver in DTM and is a known quantity and test driver at McLaren?

I haven't seen anyone mention Paffett in all the talk of the driver merry-go-round
 
englishpremier said:
Anyone hazard a guess as to why Perez might have been chosen over Gary Paffett, who's proven a great driver in DTM and is a known quantity and test driver at McLaren?

I haven't seen anyone mention Paffett in all the talk of the driver merry-go-round
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He's Mexican.

Same reason he was chosen over Di Resta.
 
englishpremier said:
Anyone hazard a guess as to why Perez might have been chosen over Gary Paffett, who's proven a great driver in DTM and is a known quantity and test driver at McLaren?

I haven't seen anyone mention Paffett in all the talk of the driver merry-go-round
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Paffett's been testing for McLaren for a while now, if he was up to a race seat he would be in one already. The fact that he's still only testing says a lot unfortunately.
 
Malt_Vinegar said:
If Karthikeyan gets a seat i will be VERY unhappy!!
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Yeah, that said Dani Clos won't be faster right away if he's promoted to the race seat.

Not sure what planet Narain is on, he finished nearly a lap behind Charles Pic at Korea (Pedro was ahead of at least one of the Marussias prior to the throttle issue). Being outqualified at nearly every race is not "matching" a teammate.
 
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