Didn't bother to check this but iirc the only reason liuzzi beat sutil in 2010 was because sutil's car broke down in the early races... In pace liuzzi has never been able to match sutil.
Anyways, if Schumacher wouldn't have improved his driving this year I would have tried getting Sutil into the merc and kicked the schumi out for good. Schumi did improve this year though and earned his 2012 season by showing promise just like di resta did as well. Hulkenberg wasn't really showing much promise so it is kind of hard to see why force india would replace sutil with him.
@Jamesallenonf1
James Allen
#f1 Sources telling me F1 fans should keep your eyes on Twitter and websites this evening for Kimi Raikkonen news....
@adamcooperf1
Adam Cooper
#F1 Raikkonen to LRGP story is gatheriing momentum. He should have been there already - I wrote this on Feb 7th! http://t.co/khn92D5K
I thought there was bad blood between Räikkönens people and Renault but I guess it wasn't that big of a deal, and it obviously means that in 09 or 10 whenever it was Kimi was rumoured to be talking to them was true.
I never had the impression Kimi is especially good at developing a car. If the car works he's fast, if it doesn't he becomes frustrated and doesn't bother to give all he can give.
That's not exactly what Renault, who had been on their way down this year, needs.
Well if you read what people who have worked with Kimi say about kimi there is not bad single word about him. Only complaint I've read is from Montezemolo who did not find his spicy and temperimental love boy in Kimi. But the Ferrari tech guys, the Mclaren tech guys all pretty much praised what Kimi did with the car, in the car and in the garage.
Anyways, this is awesome news from finnish pov imho. Maybe even Valtteri for williams. Even doing some friday practise sessions would be great. GP2 seat looks like a goner though...
Too bad for Kubica though. Does this mean he is now without a seat for 2012 and onwards? That's a shame if it's so. That rally incident may then have robbed us an f1 champion... Maybe Kimi/Kubica in Renault in 2013? Or maybe Petrov gets booted as soon as Kubica can find his way back into f1 car...
If I was Tony Fernandes I'd watch closely who goes where and try to get someone who didnt get a seat to replace Trulli. I'm sure even barrichello would do better job. Ricciardo wasn't all that impressive but if I had drop either Buemi or Algersuari that's a really tough one too... I'd definitely take either one of those for he caterham though if one of them was free.
We've had 3 Finnish drivers in F1 (Häkkinen, Salo, Järvilehto) before so it wouldn't be a new record. 4 Finnish drivers would be a record but it doesn't seem likely to happen in close future.
Ricciardo was at times great and at times invisible. I doubt Caterham would want to take an inexperienced second driver unless they were paid handsomely for it. They still have to develop the car a lot to be able to push for points and Ricciardo wouldn't help them get those points or help them in constructing the car nearly as much as Trulli can.
I'm really looking forward to the next season. Räikkönen has proved that if he gets the full attention of a team he can bring outstanding results with a lousy car. Renault has won championships and they know how to win, even though their name changes to Lotus. With a paying driver as a second driver to boost their economy, I think Lotus will have a chance to be in the top 4 teams next year.
Ricciardo for the amount of experience did quite phenomenal but unfortunately being in a bad car means unless half the feild retires and you somehow score points no one notices if you are good or not.
The people who matter notice. The fans may not analyse the performance of every driver in every race (things like laptime stability and in- and out-lap times), but the teams do.
thankfully, or there would be a bunch of one time wonders in the top teams.
Horner already said Ricciardo will be in a race seat next year there just figuring out where they will put him.
which means there wondering if they should sack one of the STR drivers or not, with a link to Caterham for Ricciardo or the sacked STR driver on the cards.
In German media Vijay Mallya was asked several times who will drive for Force India in 2012, since Sutil said he hasn't had a contract for 2012 earlier this year. He always said that he wants to announce the drivers mid-december and no further things were said.
You didn't say anything about a full season. ''Would 3 Finnish F1 drivers be the most in F1 at any one time?'' Salo, Häkkinen, and JJ Lehto were all three racing in Japanese and Australian GPs in -94.
This makes the drivers market a bit interesting. McLaren are not committing to a new contract with Hamilton, which means if the rumours of a switch to Red Bull are true, then there will be a vacant seat at McLaren...around about the time Kubica should be fully fit again. I don't see Kubica going back to Renault now that Kimi has a 2 year deal, because they have loads of great young drivers that need a race seat, so even if they keep Petrov or Senna for the year they will probably drop them from 2014 and get one of the younger guys in the seat.
Am i the only one who thinks Kubica, even if he manages to get fit enough, won't come back to F1? I just don't think he will be able to recover 100%.
Just look at Massa. He just hasn't been the same ever since his accident. He wasn't particularly quick back then, but right now he is just a very average driver.
