Adrian Sutil has secured a deal with Sauber to ensure himself a race seat for 2014. He will effectively make the inverse move of Nico Hulkenberg who joined Force India following his departure at Sauber.
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Red Bull Confirms Hungaroring Meeting Was About Alonso
Red Bull has confirmed a meeting about Fernando Alonso took place with the Ferrari driver's manager at the Hungaroring last weekend. Initially, the sensational story of a potential move to Red Bull for the two-time world champion was dismissed by some, as Alonso's manager Luis Garcia Abad also handles the career of rising Red Bull-backed youngster Carlos Sainz jr.
But when told his meeting with Garcia was obviously simply about the 18-year-old Sainz, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sport Bild: "Nonsense. Why would I talk to him about Sainz jr, who has long been in the Red Bull junior team?"
Sainz jr drives for the GP3 team MW Arden, a collaboration between Mark Webber and Horner.
Clearly, Garcia and Horner might have something to talk about other than Alonso, but Red Bull is not hiding the fact the Hungaroring meeting was about Ferrari's number 1. "I can't remember if we talked about Red Bull or Spanish red wine," a mischievous Dr Helmut Marko, the head of Red Bull's driver programme, told German television Sky.
With Australian Webber heading to Le Mans, Red Bull is weighing up a new teammate for Sebastian Vettel next year. Earlier, although Kimi Raikkonen is also still in the running, it was believed Daniel Ricciardo had sped into pole position for the seat.
But Horner insists: "We have never been under pressure to take one of the junior drivers. We have won the world championships for the past three years, and we want to ensure we can carry on doing so in the future."
Nothing has been heard from Alonso's manager Garcia since the Hungaroring meeting, but still involved in the 32-year-old's driver career is the former Renault boss Flavio Briatore. He told La Gazzetta dello Sport: "He has a contract and contracts must be respected. Alonso has never said he wants to leave."
Some men go crazy; some men go slow. Some men go just where they want; some men never go.
what actually is needed in seeking a replacement for webber ?
someone who has the temperament not to be bothered by vettel
someone who has the temperament not to upset vettel
someone who's driving style would be suited to the RBR design philosophy
someone capable of winning races when things are favourable , but will score plenty of points when they are not
only one who has all that ...wonder how firm jenson's contract is
to the optimist a glass is half full ; to the pessimist a glass is half empty ; to the F1 engineer the glass is twice as big as it needs to be
Luca di M has been bashing Alonso for his Hunary outburst about not beeing happy with the situation and the car. "Ferrari drivers are replaceable".... News is Kimi signed the contract with ferrari. Now this with Horner... Hm...
I am not huge Alonso fan, but I respect him for the way he can consistently drag a poor handling race car forward to the sharp end of the field. I would suggest that there are rather few other drivers who could manage to do the same. So, good luck, Signore Montezemolololololo. You might want to think two or even three times before booting Fernando from your team. I imagine every single one of the other 10 teams would be more than happy to find a space for him in their program.
Some men go crazy; some men go slow. Some men go just where they want; some men never go.
If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari.
waynes wrote:and why would Kimi go back to Ferrari? they actively wanted him out of the car to make way for Alonso.
stupid move
Kimi Raikkonen is a professional athlete and Ferrari are willing to pay him for his services (assuming the rumours are true). Can Lotus pay him what Ferrari can? Raikkonen has an expensive lifestyle that he has to maintain for many years after he retires, and a few more years on a Ferrari salary could be needed to keep it going. It's not like Raikkonen would be doing this out of the goodness of his heart. It's business, like how they moved him out for Alonso. Business.
And I am not surprised that Ferrari is trying to break up the "dream team" of Kimi and Vettel at RBR. As I think that pairing would score a lot of points (more than Web + Vet), it would be imperative for RBR's rivals to try and break it up. Ferrari would be looking at Hamilton + Rosberg and Raikkonen + Vettel as their competitors - pretty steep competition.
I am a bit far behind on the rumours - are they saying Raikkonen would partner Alonso at Ferrari or Alonso would go to RBR and Raikkonen would partner someone else (Hulk?) at Ferrari? AFAIK Alonso can't get out of his Santander contract.
Imagine Vettel and Alonso in Red bull next year and that team suddenly goes from winning everything to being back in the midfield due to the rule change, scraping podiums by having two great drivers. Then Ferrari win the title with Kimi or Mercedes with Hamilton. Could you imagine the tantrums and infighting from both drivers. Would be a very entertaining year.
As much as I would like it I still think it wont happen I think it was a story exaggerated by reporters that had nothing to talk about during the break after already doing "Hamilton is a contender" to death, with Horner not denying it and unrelated Ferrari infighting fuelling the fire. I doubt Alonso will leave Ferrari he has the whole team working to his tune he is number one it would be career suicide to leave and McLaren 07 all of again.
"Leave it to Lewis Hamilton to ruin Redbull's day" - Martin Brundle
"Ok Lewis, Its Hammertime!!" - Peter Bonnington
"Fresh tires, 15 laps. What do you think Lewis Hamilton is going to do?" - Martin Brundle
