Silly Season 2013/14

[djos]

Well it now seems it´s quite certain it´s either Ricciardo or Raikkonen.
My money is on Ricciardo,

Asked if it is now a two-horse race between the Finn, who currently drives for Lotus, and Ricciardo, Horner admitted: “Essentially, probably.”

http://www.f1zone.net/news/horner-admit ... eat/19743/


Unless Vergne starts lapping the front runners i think his chance is now gone.
(despite having more points last year and this year)

Verne's got more points on luck than good driving imo, especially last year (Monaco this year excepted, that was a very good drive).

[WhiteBlue]

Does it really make a difference if Vergne is rated lower than Riciardo? The obvious focus atm is on Kimi. Until he makes a decision things get congested.

[SectorOne]

That depends if the decision actually is Kimi´s. I think Ricciardo goes to Red Bull, Da Costa moves up into STR next to Vergne for a proper evaluation of him.

I know Red Bull has mentioned they are trying to get Kimi but at the same time not so long ago they said fielding Hamilton and Vettel in the same team would spell trouble.
They had problems with one nr1 and one nr2-ish, imagine the troubles with two nr1´s in the team.

[WhiteBlue]

We can be sure that Red Bull have no such thoughts. They want Kimi and have made him an offer. It is just a question of him accepting it or taking another offer by Lotus or potentially Ferrari.

[djos]

Go Dan, Go!

[turbof1]

Ricciardo will also test for Red Bull:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/108807

Off topic, but this also implies Vergne is out of the running for next year's Red Bull seat.

You were right, I guess it's close to deadlines and RB had to choose or pretend to choose. What if RB hires Raikkonen, will they replace Vergne with DaCosta? Or maybe ditch both?

Young drivers test, another formula 1 success story: Prost, Paffett and Rigon running aero test. I want speed shoot-outs for a seat goddammit .

Kimi remains of course plan A. Vergne looks set to get the boot if you ask me; Torro Rosso tends to have a high driver turnover. Ricciardo looks to have made a good enough impression to stay.
Ricciardo will only make a shot when Red Bull and Raikkonen aren't able to work out a deal. A potentional bump in the road would be marketing and PR requirements which Kimi so heavily dislikes. However, Red Bull might infact look at that as an advantage. The irony of Kimi's "public shyness" and "marketing hatred", is that it makes him actually a top scorer in those areas.

[sennafan24]

On the F1 Show it was mentioned that Riccardo is now strongly linked and Kimi not going anyway if paddock rumors are to be believed,

I actually think Riccardo is the better option, and think with a bit of seasoning he could very well perform well against Seb, maybe not in the first year, but going forward I think he has the potential to out-perform Seb on a consistent basis.

Red Bull may not want a driver the potential of Riccardo to drift elsewhere, he has years to achieve his potential so he may as well try to achieve it at Red Bull.

[Hail22]

A very good question was raised during the FIA press conference to which Kimi Raikkonen was asked the following:

"Kimi as you're aware Red Bull has a massive PR machine, you're not known for being a huge fan of PR. If you were to join Red Bull would you be able to handle the tough demands of being seen in the public eye more often?"

Kimi Raikkonen: "Well I do a little PR here and there, but I like my lifestyle as it is".

In a nut shell, Kimi isn't going to sacrifice his life to promote the business more than he logically has too, which I would agree with. (my opinion)

My money is on Ricciardo, he's great with the marketing machine (example he test drove the VW UP! in Melbourne during the Aus GP week), he is seen in the public eye more often in terms of brand exposure / being near the fans which Red Bull want as an energy drinks brand.

[sennafan24]

Kimi is getting up there in age as well. Plus, I am not sure Vettel will be sticking about past 2015, the lure of a Ferrari drive or to win with a different team I think will be too tempting.

Riccardo along with Bianchi are the two drivers who in my book are showing the most potential to be breakout stars. Red Bull getting one of them (Riccardo clearly) under a long term deal could be vital if they want long term strength in the drivers department.

If I had to hire any F1 driver to a 5 year deal, Riccardo would be near the top of the list with his potential,

[WhiteBlue]

I watched the same interview and Kimi was saying a lot more than what you posted. My impression is that it will not make a difference. His focus is on the car he is likely to get. He needs to find the best package to become champion again. Very few will doubt that Adrian Newey once again will be very aggressive with performance defining parameters like the cooling lay out and other aspects that will influence the thermal stability of the car. But high performance without reliability will be punished harder next year than ever before and Kimi knows that. He has driven Adrian's cars before and he has suffered many breakdowns and had many DNFs in those cars. He says its a very difficult decision to make and perhaps people will call him a fool later for getting it wrong. Obviously he has no direct competitor for the seat and so he can take his time and wait a bit longer for the decision. I believe that he is telling the truth that he still does not know for himself what the decision will eventually be. But there is one aspect that speaks for Red Bull. Kimi hasn't gotten that many years in F1 to get it right and there is s strong likelihood that Red Bull will quickly catch up if they have an initial reliability problem. They are incredibly strong financially. So if it does not work for 2014 the chances are they will make it 2015. And that I believe will eventually sway him towards Red Bull.

[Rikhart]

Raikkonen is a smart man, red bull consistently produces the best package even after the fia take the rug from under them time and time again... If his main ambition is to win, I dont think there will be too much thinking.

[sennafan24]

Raikkonen is a smart man, red bull consistently produces the best package even after the fia take the rug from under them time and time again... If his main ambition is to win, I dont think there will be too much thinking.

But do Red Bull want him now?

If Riccardo impresses more and more, Kimi's chances decrease less and less.

[WhiteBlue]

But do Red Bull want him now?
If Riccardo impresses more and more, Kimi's chances decrease less and less.

Wishful thinking IMO. Of course Mateschitz wants him. What have we leaned over the last weeks? That Red Bull have offered the seat and Kimi is the person making the decision. Why do you think anything changes? Ricciardo is still Plan B should Kimi decide against logic to stay put.

[adrianjordan]

But do Red Bull want him now?
If Riccardo impresses more and more, Kimi's chances decrease less and less.

Wishful thinking IMO. Of course Mateschitz wants him. What have we leaned over the last weeks? That Red Bull have offered the seat and Kimi is the person making the decision. Why do you think anything changes? Ricciardo is still Plan B should Kimi decide against logic to stay put.

I agree with this.

Kimi is a known quantity - they know that if they give him the right car, then he will win and consistently bring home the points.

Yes there might be some friction with Vettel, but actually I think that (as with Hamilton and Button) you can have 2 equal drivers in a team as long as they have the right temperaments and I think Kimi would just get on with driving and not complain like Webber has at times. When you look at it, how often has Vettel complained about Webber? I can't remember a single time...

I think if I was Vettel I would be hearing people saying that I only had so much success because I was in an Adrian Newey creation and think to myself "You know what, let's get them to put a WDC in the other car and I'll show them what I can do!!"

Ricciardo isn't going anywhere, if anything perhaps Red Bull could place him with another team for a few years (Ricciardo to Lotus anyone??)

[djos]

You'd complain too if you had an a$$hat in your team mates corner constantly trying to publicly undermine you!