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

So that leaves us with 9 seats

2 Caterham
2 Williams
1 Hispania
1 Lotus
1 Marussia
1 Sauber
1 Force India

With

Kovalainen, Petrov, Van der Garde, Senna, Maldonado, Bottas, Alguersuari, Buemi, Sutil ,Kobayashi, Karthikeyan, Grosjean ,Valsecchi, Bianchi, Razia, Pic, d'Ambrosio, Gutiérrez, Chilton and Clos all condenders for at least one of them.

With a lot of announcements recently it seens the music has stopped and the scramble begins.

My Personal prediction

Caterham: Petrov-Senna
Williams: Maldonado-Bottas
HRT: Karthikeyan
Lotus: Grosjean
Sauber: Gutiérrez
Force India: Kovalainen
Marussia: Chilton

 

Hasnt Maldo been confirmed at Williams? That's what I thought anyway.

 

Once again, Toro Rosso mystify me. I'd have thought that they'd want da Costa in that car as soon as possible.

 

didnt he confirm he was staying in F1 but didnt specify williams so nobody knows.

As for that list you can cross off any of the talented drivers as these are only pay seats left

 

Good for Hulkenburg - at Force India he's been outperforming Di Resta and beaten drivers who have faster cars - he has nothing left to prove there. Sauber may be a sidestep, but now he has a new teammate to beat and the opportunity to show his team leadership skills to the top teams. Unless I've missed something, Hulkenburg would be free to move to another team in 2014. I'd love to see him replace a retiring Webber at Red Bull, or if that's not possible then replace Massa.

Chilton is pretty much guaranteed the seat at Marussia, unfortunately.

 

You never know, Chilton might turn out to be good in F1 cars .......

 

Both Vergne and Daniel are doing a-ok from my point of view.

 

Well no seat for Da Costa this year, so maybe the plan is then to win everything in sight next season and then make the move to an F1 seat in 2014. Ricciardo and Vergne have both generally done pretty well this year so I actually don't have any problems with them retaining seats.

The Hulk move to Sauber does seem a sidestep, but he has outdone Di Resta this year and doesn't really have anything left to prove in that team. Plus in Sauber he has a chance at podiums if their form continues into next year. I really hope Kobayashi retains a seat in F1, but its looking more unlikely now and that sucks

 

Hulk is only 5 points ahead of Di Resta after 17 races, hardly decimating him.

And there are still 3 left.

 

I see Maldonado and Grosjean staying where they are next year.

 

Yeah, Di Resta may be the joke of the month around here but they've been a very even driver pairing for the most part although Nico has got the uper hand recently.

 

That may be true, but di Resta hasnt had any problems and Hulk (since Valencia) has been by far the most impressive.

I really think anyone who goes to FI next year will beat him.

 

I agree with all of this except for Petrov at Caterham- isn't he supposed to be out of Russian Roubles?
The only other one is FI it might be Bianchi given their history of promoting test drivers (Sutil, Hulk, Liuzzi, Di Resta have all been testers before getting race seat).

Incidentally I think Ricciardo and Vergne have done enough to deserve a seat.

 

Hulkenberg started slowly, but has got increasingly more impressive as the season has gone on

 

Or bring him in mid-season before he's ready, then sack him after a year or two for not being as good as Vettel.

 

See that probably would happen, although that would be the stupid thing to do.

Also, perhaps I used the wrong words, I didn't mean to imply that Hulk has been decimating Di Resta. However, he has been the better driver for the past few races and I think he deserves the spot to a bigger team more than Di Resta. Of course, Di Resta has already complained about not getting a top drive cause he thinks he deserves it. Surprised he didn't mention Vettel AGAIN

 

hulkenberg is overrated, i cant think of one good weekend from him off the top of my head, people may say brazil 2010, but at the end of the day he went for glory on a saturday which ultimately led to him finishing 8th. force India were fools for letting Sutil go of him in the first place. i really hope that surtil gets a decent seat next season because i genuinely think that he is a great driver and underrated by many

 

Try the majority of the 2nd half of this season.

 

Toro Rosso have been confirmed:http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/10/three-2013-seats-confirmed-in-one-day-toro-rosso-stick-with-ricciardo-and-vergne/#comments

Great
There's still a large amount of people out there that hate these two drivers for what Red Bull did to Buemi and Alguersuari but tbh, I think they just wanted another reason to hate Red Bull because no-one took much notice of either before that. You can't compare Ricciardo and Vergne this season to Buemi and Alguersuari last season, because this car is a dog, and because Buemi had 3 full seasons last year and Alguersuari had two-and-a-half. These guys have done a good job and it's a sign of good faith I think that Red Bull have re-signed them this early and gotten it out of the way.

 

Just had a thought: Imagine if Hulkenberg helps bridge the gap between Force India and Sauber in the WCC and they overtake them. I anticipate an awkward situation next year