Article: 2013 Driver Line-ups, News & Rumours | Formula one

Crucial_Xtreme has tweeted the article that Forza Ferrari posted yesterday, others (Benson based on a "good source") are saying Hulkenberg's a done deal.

I have to admit, I don't see much sense in going with anyone other than Massa for one year unless Ferrari are pretty confident that the new regs will not come in in 2014 and want someone more consistent than Massa who can provide better feedback for development.

 

I don't really buy into the "Schumacher was undecided" thing, it takes months to negotiate an F1 contract, he'd have known about Hamilton trying to his seat ages ago which surely would've spurred him on to make a decision one way or the other before it was taken out of his hands - assuming there was an offer from Mercedes. He's been saying for ages that we'll know more in October (?), it's almost like he was waiting to see if the Hamilton-Mercedes deal would go through or not to find out whether he had a seat.

 

Kimi would probably be the best option available in 2014 but I don't think he's as good as the top 3 drivers. If he were, Grosjean would not have a speed advantage over him in qualifying. I personally think Kimi has more natural talent than the top 3, but he can't get as close to his maximum potential on a consistent basis.

I'm sure Red Bull remain competitive with Newey there, but without a top 3 driver would they really be able to dominate? Mark Webber for example, was beaten by Alonso in 2010 despite having no mechanical failures, and then in 2011 he was beaten by Button. In my opinion Red Bull made a huge mistake by not signing a pre-contract with Hamilton for 2014. I think they'll struggle a lot without Vettel.

 

I honestly thought Raikkonen would move to Red Bull in 2011, he raced for them in WRC in 2010 and Webber at the time didn't have a contract beyond the end of 2010. I think Red Bull will be the team to beat whether Vettel's there or not, I'd love to see Raikkonen and Bottas there in 2014.

 

We haven't seen Bottas in an F1 race yet, isn't it jumping the gun somewhat assuming he's going to excel if he gets the Williams drive?

 

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#F1 Rumours that Schumachers management have been in Maranello today but could we see the most successful driver ever return to Ferrari?

 

No way. If this happens it would the silliest silly season on record.

 

He's going to be awesome though.

 

Well he's Finnish, so thats a good start. His practice pace is normally pretty decent, he's probably going to be better than Bruno Senna, but as i said, he's never even completed 1 racing lap in an F1 car.

 

I thought they were looking to improve their 2nd driver, not downgrade?

 

Still time if they decide to drop Bruno before the end of the season.

 

Ahh Bottas, as a Bruno fan i always imagine him in black robes carrying a scythe.

 

And lose out on his sponsorship money? I don't think Frank/Toto/whoever runs the team now is that silly.

 

Bottas has sponsorship too. He's backed by Toto. (Wolff, not the 80s pop band...)

Gives him a slight advantage really

 

I didn't realise Wolff was backing Bottas?

And Toto was a rock band, if you take away the dreadful "africa" (i get offended when people refer to rock bands as pop groups, nothing personal)

 

He's part of Bottas' management team, alongside Hakkinen and someone else.

Whoops. Cheers.

 

Hakkinen manages him!!??

 

He's got to get a drive though -surely?

 

Nahh, got to be lies.

 

Hulk has already made a deal with Ferrari. According to one of Benson's tweets.