Formula One - The 2008 team shuffling begins

[GoatMonkey]

He's probably heading off to Renault. Nothing official yet...

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/he...ail/071102131232.shtml

 

[The Boston Dangler]

he's going to nascar. no, just kidding.

 

[GoatMonkey]

Ross Brawn formerly of Ferrari is now signed on at Honda as team principal...

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/he...ail/071112121304.shtml

 

[GoatMonkey]

Alonso is back at Renault officially now. The rest of the teams should start to fall into place now.

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/he...ail/071210181036.shtml

 

[JulesMaximus]

I saw that yesterday on ITV-F1.com. I've been waiting to see when and if this would be announced. I'm kind of surprised that they waited this long to reach an agreement.

 

[GoatMonkey]

The other interesting thing is that Nelson Piquet Jr. will be Alonso's teammate at Renault. I wonder if Bruno Senna will get a spot somewhere also.

And it looks like a strong possibility that Ralf Schumacher will retire.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: GoatMonkey
The other interesting thing is that Nelson Piquet Jr. will be Alonso's teammate at Renault. I wonder if Bruno Senna will get a spot somewhere also.

And it looks like a strong possibility that Ralf Schumacher will retire.

I can't understand why he was one of the top paid drivers for the last couple years-must be his management. He's been horribly inconsistent the last few years.

I also don't understand how Giancarlo Fisichella has managed to stay in F1 for so long. Here's another guy who has been consistently outpaced by a number of teammates over the years.

 

[GoatMonkey]

There were a few races where Fisichella was helpful to Alonso by doing blocking and that kind of thing to help him win. He's never going to be a number one driver on a team though.

Ralf Schumacher is only making a lot of money because of his name. If it wasn't for Michael, he probably never would have even gotten into F1. But you know, if someone offered me that much money and didn't seem to care that I lost every race by 10+ positions (if I even finished it) while my teammate consistently placed higher, I'd have to take that money and run. Ralf belongs in NASCAR or retired.

I feel pretty much the same way about Sato. He's only in it because he's the best Japanese driver available for a Japanese team. If he was from another country he'd be out the door by now.

 

[SVT Cobra]

Well as long as Hamilton stays.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: GoatMonkey
The other interesting thing is that Nelson Piquet Jr. will be Alonso's teammate at Renault. I wonder if Bruno Senna will get a spot somewhere also.

And it looks like a strong possibility that Ralf Schumacher will retire.

I can't understand why he was one of the top paid drivers for the last couple years-must be his management. He's been horribly inconsistent the last few years.

I also don't understand how Giancarlo Fisichella has managed to stay in F1 for so long. Here's another guy who has been consistently outpaced by a number of teammates over the years.

Fizzie is a great driver IMHO. Glad to see he has a drive.

Ralf? About effing time. His heart hasn't been in it for two years if you ask me.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: GoatMonkey
There were a few races where Fisichella was helpful to Alonso by doing blocking and that kind of thing to help him win. He's never going to be a number one driver on a team though.

Ralf Schumacher is only making a lot of money because of his name. If it wasn't for Michael, he probably never would have even gotten into F1. But you know, if someone offered me that much money and didn't seem to care that I lost every race by 10+ positions (if I even finished it) while my teammate consistently placed higher, I'd have to take that money and run. Ralf belongs in NASCAR or retired.

I feel pretty much the same way about Sato. He's only in it because he's the best Japanese driver available for a Japanese team. If he was from another country he'd be out the door by now.

I don't know, Sato had a brilliant drive in Canada this year. He had some difficulty his first year with crashing into people but he has shown flashes of brilliance. Of course, between his lisp and his grasp of the English language you can't understand a fucking word he says so he's a pretty poor interview.

 

[GoatMonkey]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: GoatMonkey
There were a few races where Fisichella was helpful to Alonso by doing blocking and that kind of thing to help him win. He's never going to be a number one driver on a team though.

Ralf Schumacher is only making a lot of money because of his name. If it wasn't for Michael, he probably never would have even gotten into F1. But you know, if someone offered me that much money and didn't seem to care that I lost every race by 10+ positions (if I even finished it) while my teammate consistently placed higher, I'd have to take that money and run. Ralf belongs in NASCAR or retired.

I feel pretty much the same way about Sato. He's only in it because he's the best Japanese driver available for a Japanese team. If he was from another country he'd be out the door by now.

I don't know, Sato had a brilliant drive in Canada this year. He had some difficulty his first year with crashing into people but he has shown flashes of brilliance. Of course, between his lisp and his grasp of the English language you can't understand a fucking word he says so he's a pretty poor interview.

Oh hell yes. That was one of the greatest moments of this season.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNGuw7khT98

I think a lot of that pass was Alonso being afraid of what Sato might do and he just let him go around. Still it's beautiful to watch Alonso get passed by a guy who usually starts in the bottom third of the grid.

In general though, he's not doing that well. I'm not sure how much of it is the car. They talk about the Super best friends team having a better car than the main Honda team, but Super Aguri usually doesn't finish ahead of the main team.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: GoatMonkey

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: GoatMonkey
There were a few races where Fisichella was helpful to Alonso by doing blocking and that kind of thing to help him win. He's never going to be a number one driver on a team though.

Ralf Schumacher is only making a lot of money because of his name. If it wasn't for Michael, he probably never would have even gotten into F1. But you know, if someone offered me that much money and didn't seem to care that I lost every race by 10+ positions (if I even finished it) while my teammate consistently placed higher, I'd have to take that money and run. Ralf belongs in NASCAR or retired.

I feel pretty much the same way about Sato. He's only in it because he's the best Japanese driver available for a Japanese team. If he was from another country he'd be out the door by now.

I don't know, Sato had a brilliant drive in Canada this year. He had some difficulty his first year with crashing into people but he has shown flashes of brilliance. Of course, between his lisp and his grasp of the English language you can't understand a fucking word he says so he's a pretty poor interview.

Oh hell yes. That was one of the greatest moments of this season.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNGuw7khT98

I think a lot of that pass was Alonso being afraid of what Sato might do and he just let him go around. Still it's beautiful to watch Alonso get passed by a guy who usually starts in the bottom third of the grid.

In general though, he's not doing that well. I'm not sure how much of it is the car. They talk about the Super best friends team having a better car than the main Honda team, but Super Aguri usually doesn't finish ahead of the main team.

Well, Sato didn't have the most impressive teammates so it's hard to compare but comparing the Super Aguri car to the factory Honda was an interesting talking point simply because Super Aguri had such a low budget compared to Honda...of course, there are those who say the Super Aguri car was just last year's Honda chassis.

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

Ralf would be the perfect #2 at McLaren. He would be consistent points finisher, especially in a car that was fast. And he meets McLaren's clean-cut image.

Fisi should get the Force India seat. He does great when he's in a crappy car. Look at his Jordan years. He consistently out-drove it.

Sato is good, as his is team-mate Anthony Davidson. I think AD is probably the better racer while Sato is probably the faster drive.

But since Piquet took the second seat at Renault, I really hope Kovy gets the McLaren one.

he deserves tobe on the grid

 

[GoatMonkey]

The full 2008 driver lineup has been announced. Except for one seat at Force India Ferrari. I could've sworn Rubens Barrichello said he was going to retire also. Looks like no Fisichella this season. There's not a Schumacher on the list this year so far. And Bruno Senna didn't get a seat either. I guess a name isn't always enough, but it got Nelson Piquet Jr. in.

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/he...ail/080104162447.shtml


1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa Ferrari
3 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber
4 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber
5 Fernando Alonso Renault
6 Nelson Piquet Renault
7 Nico Rosberg Williams Toyota
8 Kazuki Nakajima Williams Toyota
9 David Coulthard Red Bull Renault
10 Mark Webber Red Bull Renault
11 Jarno Trulli Toyota
12 Timo Glock Toyota
14 Sebastien Bourdais STR Ferrari
15 Sebastian Vettel STR Ferrari
16 Jenson Button Honda
17 Rubens Barrichello Honda
18 Takuma Sato Super Aguri Honda
19 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri Honda
20 Adrian Sutil Force India Ferrari
21 TBA Force India Ferrari
22 Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes
23 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren Mercedes.