All the rumours of who'll be where in 2011...

Confirmed positions:

No.	Team	Engine	Driver 1	Driver 2	Reserve Driver
1-2	Red Bull Racing	Renault	Sebastian Vettel	Mark Webber
3-4	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	Mercedes	Lewis Hamilton	Jenson Button
5-6	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	Fernando Alonso	Felipe Massa	Jules Bianchi
7-8	Mercedes GP Petronas	Mercedes	Michael Schumacher	Nico Rosberg
9-10	Lotus Renault GP	Renault	Robert Kubica	Vitaly Petrov
11-12	AT&T Williams	Cosworth	Rubens Barrichello	Pastor Maldonado	Valtteri Bottas
14-15	Force India F1 Team	Mercedes
16-17	Sauber F1 Team	Ferrari	Kamui Kobayashi	Sergio Perez	Esteban Gutiérrez
18-19	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Ferrari			Daniel Ricciardo
20-21	Team Lotus	Renault	Jarno Trulli	Heikki Kovalainen
22-23	HRT F1 Team	Cosworth
24-25	Marussia Virgin Racing	Cosworth	Timo Glock	Jerome D'Ambrosio

Massa is reportedly on the brink of a three year extension to his Ferrari contract.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2010/04/ ... rari-deal/

It would be deserved and a period of stability would benefit Ferrari.

But so much for chasing Vettel?

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Yossarian Lives

Thoroughly deserved if he gets it.

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Sometimes you have to go left and right to turn Straight!

I was hearing a one year extension after Australia, but a week after I heard Kubica was their main target. The second rumour was probably a rebound of Kubica's fantastic performances in the opening races. Vettel won't leave Red Bull for the foreseeable future. They are producing fast cars. Why leave? And he has a challenge next season with Kimi as his team mate...

Where does this leave Bianchi? If he wins the GP2 title this year he can't do GP2 again. Sauber?

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"Kimi is one of the greatest" - Martin Whitmarsh 14/05/13

On the face of it I agree with you completely. He is fast, and the car is fast. The team love him, he loves the team, and there does not appear to be any politics going on, which is a great testament to Christian Horner.

But allow me to play Devil's Advocate - what about their reliability situation?

Imagine if you were getting loads of pole positions, say 2 out of 3 races (so the speed was definitely there) but finish just a handful of those races because the car repeatedly had failures, say 2 out of 3 races.
All the while your rivals continually scored solid points/podiums/victories because they actually got to the chequered flag, and you were (relatively) low down in the championship table. What would you do?

An extreme situation I admit, but could that be the story of Red Bull's 2010 season?

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"He's a pain in the arse, but he's a quick pain in the arse." - Williams on Mansell

Shades of 2009 ?

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'.....and I interrupt myself to bring you this....'

I think you have to look at the cause of the 2 failures. Spark Plug and front torque driver. Not really serious issues are they? Could Alonso be frustrated by using 4 engines in as many races. (ie. He will likely be on engine 4 in China I think). Would Alonso leave Ferrari? Why aren't we hearing those rumours? Because the media pick and choose which drivers they start rumours on. I think the media was part of the reason Kimi left Ferrari. Ferrari are very image concious and they were getting a lot of negative press from Raikkonen. But anyway back to the topic I don't think you can say that Vettel would be angry at the team. Vettel snubbed Ferrari last summer, and Ferrari don't like being rejected, which is the reason Alonso never joined Ferrari until Jean Todt left, because he snubbed them in 2001.

Well Vettel has had reliability issues in 2 of 3 races and lies 2 points of the lead. The speed is there and that is the most important thing. Question is has this suspension clarification changed the pecking order?

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"Kimi is one of the greatest" - Martin Whitmarsh 14/05/13

"Massa in no rush to sort Ferrari contract" http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82880

Is he secure that a deal will be done, or being foolish?

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"He's a pain in the arse, but he's a quick pain in the arse." - Williams on Mansell

Rumour going round that Brendon Hartley is being looked at as a potential replacement for Vitaly Petrov should Renault feel Petrov is not what they want next season. No doubt that rumour will be silenced after a good drive by Petrov to 7th place today.

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"Kimi is one of the greatest" - Martin Whitmarsh 14/05/13

A rumour today that Sauber is fed up of Pedro De La Rosa and are going to replace him with Pastor Maldonado. To be honest I don't see what he is doing wrong, considering Kobayashi isn't exactly performing. The only reason I see Maldonado taking Pedro's place is that Sauber lack sponsors and funds. Maldonado comes with around $10 million backing from Venezuelan oil companies. De La Rosa brought little to nothing, well so did Kobayashi (although there were rumours he was bringing the sponsor deal with Panasonic with him, but that seems to have failed to materialise). Doesn't seem the most credible story. Quiet day at the office?

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"Kimi is one of the greatest" - Martin Whitmarsh 14/05/13

I think the team are letting the drivers down and not the other way around.

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Yossarian Lives

If I hear another "comes with around $10 million backing" I think I'll explode.

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Sometimes you have to go left and right to turn Straight!

Christian Klien comes with around $10 million backing - the bookmakers couldn't believe their luck when str8 walked in and placed that bet!

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Yossarian Lives

Kimi to Red Bull, I want to see the guy back in F1 as its kinda boring without him

Thank you Aero nice to see someone who wants Kimi back

Though I thought F1 was boring with him

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"Kimi is one of the greatest" - Martin Whitmarsh 14/05/13

James Allen has hinted that Ferrari are tracking Mark Webber to replace Felipe Massa next season. One win can change everything?

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"Kimi is one of the greatest" - Martin Whitmarsh 14/05/13