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

That Will Buxton blog was a good read.

 

So much in there that I hadn't even considered yet seems so obvious.

Of course, if Hamilton now stays at Mclaren...

 

Petrov is gone,

http://www.f1zone.net/news/petrovs-manager-withdraws-from-2013-f1-talks/15916/

 

I guess that's Alguersuari's seat then.

 

Great another year of Massa .

 

But his last. He may have to wake up in in 2014 testing ferrari road cars for a living <yawn>

 

Spot on I think.

 

Well, he said that his new team is getting points regularly, can't be Caterham then.

 

Indeed?

 

According to the Buxton blog he has several offers on the table, or words to that effect.

 

http://www.auto123.com/en/racing-news/f1-jaime-alguersuari-sure-of-2013-comeback?artid=147914

----
Pressed for more details of his 2013 destination, he answered: "In formula one, in a good team. A team to be in the top ten.

"A team between fifth to seventh in the constructors' championship. Being in the points consistently."

Mercedes, Sauber and Force India are currently fifth, sixth and seventh respectively in the 2012 constructors' points standings.

Asked if his 2013 plans are "concrete", Alguersuari insisted: "Yes, otherwise I would not say that I will race in 2013."
----

 

So, out of Mercedes, Sauber and Force India, who is most likely to lose their seat/move to another team. To be fair, a case could be made for all of them to move on for one reason or another except probably Rosberg.

 

If Petrov's gone then I assume Valsecchi will take his seat if he can find sponsorship, and Senna will take it if he can't.

Also, if Alguersuari's going to a top 7 team I'd imagine it will be Sauber, with Kobayashi leaving to goodness knows where. Possibly Caterham or FI.

 

I could see Kobayashi missing out altogether unfortunately, I think he will be the one replaced by Alguersuari.

 

I really hope Kobayashi goes to another team. Sauber play the long game, he doesn't. It's like giving Button Hamilton's car or vise versa. In a team like Mercedes at the start of the year, he'd have done wonders in that, and probably got a few wins with a bit of luck.

 

This. I reckon he'd be a good fit with Button at Mclaren, but the problem is that the stats don't lie - he's had a very poor season this year.

EDIT: Just for fun, this is what I reckon might actually happen for next year, based at least partly on the Will Buxton article:

Schumacher -> his estate
Hamilton -> Mercedes
Hulkenberg -> Mclaren
Bianchi -> Force India
Kobayashi -> &#20999;&#33145;
Alguersuari -> Sauber
Massa -> Rob Smedley's arms
Kovalainen -> Ferrari
Petrov -> the gulags
Valsecchi -> Caterham
Senna -> Caterham
Bottas -> Williams
Pic -> testing, possibly at Sauber
Chilton -> Marussia

Quite a bit of driver movement!

 

That Buxton blog is very interesting, it gives us:

Red Bull: Vettel - Webber
Mclaren: Button - Hulkenburg
Ferrari: Alonso - Kovalainen
Lotus: Raikkonen - Grosjean
Monster Mercedes: Hamilton - Rosberg
Sauber: Perez - ????? (Pic, Kovalainen, Gutierrez, Alguesuari)
Force India: ???? - ???? (Petrov, Alguersuari, Di Resta, Kobayashi)
Williams: Maldonaldo - Bottas
Caterham: ????? - ????
Marussia: Glock - Chilton/Pic
HRT: ???????????????????

Leaving Massa, Di Resta, Alguersari, Senna, Kobayashi, Schumacher, Pic and d'Ambrosio to fill in what's left. How about Massa to Caterham as their experienced development driver?

 

How about Schumacher to HRT? He might be able to teach Karthikeyan a few tricks. He may also continue de la Rosa's development work if the hard-working Spaniard finally calls it quits .

 

That's assuming Caterham will have the financial clout next year to offer a salary to an experienced development driver - and Massa would command quite a salary, certainly equal to Kovalainen's. With them currently expected to finish 11th in the constructors' (thus missing out on even more money for next season) drivers bringing in sponsorship will be even more key to them. The fact they ditched Trulli for Petrov - and were linked with a Red Bull-funded loan for Ricciardo - shows that their priorities are shifting from the (relatively unsuccessful so far) policy of hiring experienced drivers for car development to making sure they have the money to develop the car at all.

Of course, sponsorship and experience are not mutually exclusive.

 

Nothing yet....

Looking subdued,

http://www.bdlive.co.za/sport/other...macher-massa-could-keep-seats-for-next-season