surely not.

Kimi is not the quickest, he's among the quickest! Alonso, Lewis, Kimi and Massa are the top 4 in F1, all the rest is BS...

It is you, you alone.

Andrew Benson on BBC News' Inside F1 programme: "Alonso to Ferrari - the deal is done. Ferrari just haven't confirmed it publicly yet."

Yeh watched that. And he said for 2010. Was very clear on that. He said they still had to decide what to do with Kimi.

There probably is little if anything to decide, it seems like postponing the inevitable unpleasantness in breaching his contract, which is, pay up and release. If they stall too long, Räikkönen may well in position to sue damages which might end up costing Ferrari another shitload of money.

I hope Robertson milks a budget cap worth of cash out of them

I read that indeed he did: Kimi's full salary for 2010 + the bonuses: 1mil/race victory + 1mil. if he wins the WDC.
If Kimi gets a car that can win some races in 2010....Ferrari will have to pay a massive sum.



P.S. this is from a french magazine, and they claim this is according to their sources...so I don't know how much is real or not.

No wonder he doesn't seem very distracted by his situation, getting the biggest salary in f1 history for a year and possibly another paycheck coming from another team while possibly getting a potential championship winning car to drive.

thanks for your quoting, but...


these guys have lots of lawyers round them, the write the contracts with clauses for almost every single situation so we may agree that there is some clause where it is said "what to do if we (any side of the contract) want to end this relation". Then mr.robetson and SD can be under negotiations about kimi's contract but not beyond that (suposed) clauses. IMO.

So "+ the bonuses" sounds me rather unlikely to be reached.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...one/8275913.stm

Mike Gascoyne says Lotus want experienced drivers, and say they've spoken to some people.

Autosport.be
says Fairuz Fauzy will probably be in F1 next season.
http://www.autosport.be/news/2009/09/24/Fa...zyOpWegNaarDeF1


His dad is one of the co-founders of Air Asia and he's a malaysian ... so Lotus would be a logical choice.

2 years ago he tested of Spyker-Ferrari & he was 4th in GP2 Asia last year.

I don't think he's a big talent, he's good but not great.

That story only exists because Lotus is owned by Proton, Proton is Malaysian, and Fauzy is the only Malaysian driver anywhere near F1 these days.

It isn't going to happen, by any stretch of the imagination, unless they REALLY need money (which they won't; at least not that much). Don't believe everything you read.

I didn't say I believe it,
but it's a possibility that it could happen if Lotus wants to go .."chauvinistic" like USF1 intends to do.

He says to Autosport.be= "Let's hope that they who decides are just thinking the same way, I hope I'll be in F1 but it's not up to me to decide."

True. I don't even know if there's any Toyota fans about anymore-quite a few back in the '04 off-season,if I remember correctly. Hell,even a change of livery might have helped.

they get a better return on (less) money by concentrating on engines and teaming with Williams

We're getting pay drivers all over the grid next year. Alonso, Nakajima, Algewhatever and now Fauzy? The guy was slower than Albers!!!

Although I'm sure that's not what they were in F1 for...

Did I say were?



Don't know about the rest of the list,but agree with the first name.

Whiles it's true that Fauzy isn't necessarily the best driver out there, I honestly don't think he's that bad.

Give him a good car (like he was given in GP2 Asia) and he may do something with it.

Swede Niclas "Nic" Jönsson will be the official 3rd and reserve driver for USF1 team next season.

Lets hope so. It does not look like USF1 will make it next season, but I hope I'm wrong because they would be interesting team to see in action

I was joking.

Fauzy is not a bad driver at all; he may not be a super talent but he improved a lot over the past years; it wouldn't be totally undeserved.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78995

"Ferrari could announce its 2010 deal with Fernando Alonso as early as next weekend's Japanese Grand Prix"

"With lawyers working hard on the last few details of Kimi Raikkonen's release from his contract with Ferrari, a move that will pave the way for the Finn to return to McLaren"

"Once the Ferrari-Alonso announcement is made, Renault is expected to confirm that Polish driver Robert Kubica will lead its team in 2010."




Ah damn the extremely unreliable Lobato

Hey, let's have a look at the direct quotes in that article:



What announcement? Oh, their driver line-up for next year. And there is no mention of the drivers.

OK, so there is a strong hint Alonso will be out of Renault. But this tells us only he is very likely going away from Renault.


It's no proof of Alonso going to Ferrari.

Also, there is no quote in that article telling us Kubica is going to Renault. I know it has been discussed, even by Martin Whitmarsh.



But to say someone was right, based on that article... that's quite a leap of faith. And notice how good odds they have to get the driver moves right. In a lottery you have very, very bad odds to win. But with the driver moves in F1, the odds are good that you get it right. The reporters have it way too easy - they have very good odds to get it right even when they know pretty much nothing.

Is it just me, or do you think LdM would be a demon at the poker table?

I was analysing the article. Not saying whether Alonso to Ferrari is true or not. The article at hand does not say it is true, there is no confirmation.

The only concrete thing there is a Renault manager giving a strong hint that Alonso is leaving Renault. Can't really use that as proof that he is going to Ferrari.

I know. I was just going by the actual content of the comments. Alonso is neither confirmed nor denied; indeed, the statement about a decision before Japan could mean Raikkonen just as easily as it could mean Alonso. It wasn't actually LdM who said it - I was getting this article confused with one from about a week ago - but Domenicalli. Either way, Ferrari aren't gving anything away. I think they'd be very formidable poker opponents.

Kimi vs. Lewis. Wow, I'm really looking forward to this one.

Here's my prediction:

Lewis wins the qualifying battle, but Kimi brings home more points. Whether either wins the WDC will depend on how good the car is compared to the opposition. Next year there will be four WDC in good cars (these two plus Fernando at Ferrari and Button [most likely] at Brawn). Throw in a maturing Vettel and maybe even Kubica in the Renault and we're talking six drivers that you could honestly make a good bet on and feel good about it. Who knows, maybe Williams will go one step further and have a shot, with Rubens leading the charge. Stranger things have happened.

I have been very hopeful that Rubens will remain at Brawn, but if he ends up leaving, I'd be happy to see him at Williams, who will use KERS in 2010. Having 6 or 7 drivers capable of taking the WDC, in good cars, would be awesome. Add Webber and you've got at least 8.

They say they'll use it, but I doubt they will. KERS is counter-productive; either all the teams should have it, or none of them. I think FOTA will talk Williams out of using it.

Some stuff from the weekend.

Alonso and Massa set for Ferrari.
Kimi to McLaren getting stronger and stronger, Kovalainen out.
Rosberg and Barrichello in a straight swap.
Kubica to Renault with Grosjean who will get half the season to impress.
Heidfeld staying with Sauber as there is a good chance one of the new teams won't make the grid.
Buemi and Alguersuari staying at Toro Rosso both get half a season to impress.
Hulkenberg to Williams if the engines arnt Toyotas.
Nakajima to Toyota as need for Japanese driver on track, Glock stays. Trulli out.
Brendon Hartley doubling up as test driver for RB/TR again.
Liuzzi staying at FI as need for Italian driver on track, Sutil staying.

the mad thing is that no one is talking about kovy anywhere after mclaren! Is his career over then? I think he has been apalling this year, but surely he deserves a drive over the likes of buemi, or alguersuari?

Its Force India not Force Italy so why do they have to have an Italian?

Grosjean's seat at Renault is far from guaranteed... There's wide speculation that he might be substituted by Lucas di Grassi already at the Brazilian GP after Suzuka.

I've seen nothing in Kovalainen's results that indicate he should stay at McLaren. The man's a backmarker in a leader's car, and I suspect he was chose because he won't challenge Hamilton. As for the likes of Buemi and Alguersuari, I'd say they're more deserving than a lot; both keep getting better and better, especally in qualifying.

Jamie and Seb are slow in slow cars, Kova is slow in a now fast one. Thats a death sentence in anyones career. He could end up at one of the new teams etc, but it is really hard seeing him being overly wanted anywhere.

Lol they don't have to, but we'll see.

It might be a nice pr stunt for Brazil but Grosjean will get the first half off next season at Renault. If I'm wrong I'm wrong but I'm not.

Nelson Piquet Sr said on an interview today that the only reason the president of the spanish racing authority is heavily bashing Piquet Jnr is the fact that Campos is interested on having the Brazilian services for 2010, whereas the president wants 2 spanish drivers tehre (i.e., it has nothing to do with Fernando Alonso).

Heikki will move either to Renault together with Robert, or most likely to Toyota to line up with Timo, so they would still have both drivers there with Finnish sure names

Pffft. Piquet is dreaming. If Campos wants a Brazilian driver - and the drivers mot heavily associated with the team are de la Rosa and Petrov - they won't sign Piquet. He's unemployable, and there are better candidates for the team.

I think what rodlamas is saying is that Piquet SR think´s he can BUY a seat at CAMPOS and that pisses the president of the spanish racing authority off. And why not, new teams need money and Piquet JR has recent F1 experience

Bjørn

Dude. Autosport don't play "lottery", they write articles based on good inside sources. Keep that crap for Marca, The Sun and Bild.

For you guys still skeptical about all this: if Alonso was a couple days away from being signed, what do you guys think would be happening right now?

Because with Fisichella testing for Ferrari and Trulli seemingly shafted by Toyota and possibly without a driver for next season, there won't be any Italians otherwise.

All makes sense to me and seems likely except Nakajima. I'd expect Toyota to be more clever than that, Naka isn't performing at all.

"Wide speculation"? It's the first time I've read this. What's your source?

AMuS: Kimi to McLaren is settled

"Die Rückkehr des früheren Formel-1-Weltmeisters Kimi Räikkönen zu McLaren-Mercedes ist offenbar perfekt. Das berichtet das in der Regel gut informierte Fachmagazin 'auto motor und sport'." (www.motorsport-total.com)

~ "according to AMuS the return of former world champion KR to McL is apparently perfect" (or perfect apparently? ^^).

What about Liuzzi? I think he is showing enough to warrent a place on the grid next year.

Uh, that whole conversation started with Liuzzi.

Meanwhile, GPWeek thinks that Toyota wants to get rid not only of Trulli, but Glock as well. Whether his Singapore podium will save his seat remains to be seen.