Actually full quote was:
"I have heard of the rumours, but contrary to the reports, I have not held talks with either Fernando or his management team. But Fernando is a great driver...and you never know."

In F1 nobody ever shuts a door close ;)

Well, that's not even a rumour, is it? Some reporter wrote a speculative silly season piece where he wondered why such a rumour didn't exist and gave a couple of lame reasons why Kimi would make a decent doormat at McLaren and suddenly people act like it's a realistic option.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely want Kimi to be around next year but beggars can't be choosers and it might be a good idea to accept that he's no longer one of the sought-after drivers teams are tripping over themselves to sign. We may need to settle for something lower midfield - if he is to be around at all.

Wrong....

an extract of an intervieW to fer made yesterday

Prefiero, como dije cuando me fui, hacer cuarto o quinto con Renault que ganar una carrera con McLaren y no disfrutarla.

I prefer, as I said at that time when I left (mclaren),, end up forth or fifth with renault than winning a race with mclaren and not enjoy it

Actually you are having a go for no reason.

As has been said several times above - it was Holly Samos that said it and it was said very much in the context of a "silly season" rumour to fill out time while the teams cowered in the garages during the rain. They were not suggesting it had a great deal of crdibility other than the Santander link.

I doubt it will happen, but if it did, I also doubt we'd have a repeat of 2007. Alonso has matured rapidly; he's gone from spoiled Golden Child to an actual team leader. I don't think it's bother him too much if he were partnered someone who was his equal.

Rosberg will be at least 98% as fast as Alonso, maybe 101% at times.

(I think Rosberg is a full top driver and therefore 100% as fast as Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton etc - there is no difference from them to Rosberg, in my opinion only of course, )

Now, Rosberg's salary will be 80% less. Why would Macca sign Alonso instead of Rosberg then!

BBC reporting and insider info is showing to be second rate compared to ITV. First Ben with this silly Kimi to McLaren blog and then Holly with the most ridiculous rumour. I'd be too embarrased to even report such a silly rumour. Whitmarsh actually laughed at the suggestion. Holly needs to stick to reading tabloid mags and cheap celebrity gossip

Not as much of a pipedream as a test driver for 10 years to a Ferrari race seat!

I agree it'd be a lot of pressure for a driver to get his debut at Monza for Ferrari, but he might not ever have such an opportunity again. It's a way to get grand prix experience and for Todt to start getting some cash out of him.

An update: I added possible title sponsors at Brawn and Manor, possible take-over of Force India by Prodrive and Aston Martin branding, as well as likely Renault engines for possible new team Epsilon Euskadi.

Emirates Brawn GP F1 Team
Brawn BGP 002 – Mercedes FO108X (currently) / Renault RS27 (should Red Bull and Mercedes get together, and STR stick with Ferrari) / Ferrari 056 (if Red Bull gets Mercedes and STR switches to Renault) / Cosworth CA2010 (as a last resort, although it's said that 4 teams applied for Cossies)
1. Jenson Button (on a multi-year deal)
2. Rubens Barrichello (one more season?)
Bruno Senna (will he get his chance? Might be unlikely if Brawn lift the WDC/WCC)

Red Bull Racing
Red Bull RB6 – Mercedes FO108X (rumoured) / Renault RS27 (currently) / Ferrari 056 (not likely, since Red Bull are now WDC contenders and a potential Ferrari rival) / Cosworth CA2010 (running 20,000 RPMs in Newey's car ain’t bad)
3. Sebastian Vettel (on a multi-year deal until '11, with an option for '12)
4. Mark Webber (re-signed for ‘10)

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Ferrari F2010 – Ferrari 056
5. Felipe Massa (contracted until ‘10)
6. Kimi Räikkönen (contracted until ‘10)
Fernando Alonso (rumoured since late '07)

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
McLaren MP4-25 – Mercedes FO108X
7. Lewis Hamilton (contracted until '12)
8. Heikki Kovalainen ('10 option not yet taken up)
Nico Rosberg (has Williams deal, but is rumoured for McLaren, would depend on Williams' '09 performance, Kovalainen's results, and whether McLaren actually want him)
Timo Glock (has a multi-year Toyota deal, yet is rumoured for McLaren)
Gary Paffet (long-time McLaren test driver)
Kimi Räikkönen (rumoured if the Alonso-Ferrari deal comes to fruition)

Panasonic Toyota Racing
Toyota TF110 – Toyota RVX-10
9. Jarno Trulli (a new deal is unlikely, according to team bosses)
Kamui Kobayashi (current test driver)
Kazuki Nakajima (allegedly has a long-term Toyota deal, but may not have the ultimate skill to make in in the big time)
Kimi Räikkönen (rumoured, though unlikely)
10. Timo Glock (re-signed for 2009; on a multi-year deal with (yearly?) options; unclear if '10 option has been taken up)

AT&T Williams
Williams FW32 – Toyota RVX-10 (team asked to get out of 2010 contract) / Mercedes FO108X (rumoured) / Renault RS27 (rumoured) / Cosworth CA2010 (always an option)
11. Nico Rosberg (allegedly had a deal until the end of ‘10, but has stated he needs a top car in 2009 to remain at Williams; rumoured for McLaren)
Jarno Trulli (Williams said they’d like an experienced driver in ‘10; Trulli unlikely to stay at Toyota)
Rubens Barrichello (Williams said they’d like an experienced driver in ‘10)
Adam Carroll (GP2 race winner and A1GP champion, has been approached by 2 teams for ‘10)
12. Kazuki Nakajima (confirmed for ‘09; probably on long-term deal because of Toyota)
Kamui Kobayashi (current Toyota test driver)
Nico Hülkenberg (test driver currently in GP2)

Renault F1 Team
Renault R30 – Renault R27
14. Fernando Alonso (signed a '09-'10 deal, but may have a get-out clause)
Robert Kubica (once in Renault’s Driver Development Program; may jump ship from BMW)
15. Nelson Piquet
Lucas Di Grassi (finally takes Piquet's place, depends on his GP2 performance)
Romain Grosjean (Renault test driver, depends on his GP2 performance)

Scuderia Toro Rosso
Toro Roso STR5 – Ferrari 056 (Ferrari contract allegedly runs until ‘10) / Renault R27 (if Red Bull-Mercedes comes to fruition)
16. Sébastien Buemi (hard to see him dropped after some solid drives)
17. Jaime Alguersuari, jr. (replaced Bourdais mid-season '09, likely to stay on)
Brendon Hartley (Red Bull junior driver and tester)
Neel Jani (finally he gets his chance, but 2 Swiss drivers at STR?)

Force India F1 Team (Aston Martin Racing; in Prodrive take-over)
Force India VJM03 (Aston Martin DBF1-10) – Mercedes FO108X
18. Adrian Sutil (depending on his ‘09 performance)
19. Giancarlo Fisichella (may retire after ‘09, or be picked up by one of the new teams)
Vitantonio Liuzzi (current tester)
Karun Chandhok (after another GP2 season, he gets the nod from Mallya)

Telefónica Campos Meta Team
Campos Meta CM10 – Cosworth CA2010 (Dallara-designed and -built car)
20. Pedro de la Rosa (experienced test driver; excellent choice to develop the new car)
Roldán Rodríguez (Spanish GP2 driver)
Javier Villa (Spanish GP2 driver)
21. Vitaly Petrov (although Russian, he drove for Campos/Barwa in GP2 successfully, and brings sponsorship, too)
Giorgio Pantano (although Italian, he was GP2 champion for Campos in ‘08)
Adrián Vallés (Spanish WSR driver, drove for Campos in GP2 in ‘06)
Pastor Maldonado (talented Venezuelan, at least speaks Spanish)

Virgin Manor F1 Team
Manor BW01 – Cosworth CA2010 (car designed and built by Nick Wirth, formerly of Simtek and Benetton; could be branded 'Virgin')
22. Anthony Davidson (experienced ex-F1 driver)
Lucas Di Grassi (GP2 race winner, did F3 for Manor in 2005)
23. Adam Carroll (GP2 race winner and A1GP champion, has been approached by 2 teams for ‘10)
Mike Conway (GP2 race winner, currently in IndyCar)
Edoardo Mortara (GP2 race winner)

Team US F1
US F1-10 – Cosworth CA2010
24. Pedro de la Rosa (although Spanish, experienced test driver; excellent choice to develop the new car)
Alex Wurz (although Austrian, experienced test driver; excellent choice to develop the new car)
25. Danica Patrick (often rumoured, but unlikely)
Ryan Hunter-Reay (experienced driver)
Jonathan Summerton (oft-rumoured, but still young)
Marco Andretti (some people believe he has what it takes for F1)
Graham Rahal (rumoured)
Sébastien Bourdais (experienced, and a well-known name in US racing)
Jacques Villeneuve (he is looking for a drive; would be quite a coup by USF1 to have an Indy 500 winner and F1 WDC)

Sauber F1 Team (BMW-owned team did not sign 2010-2012 Concorde Agreement, but did apply for an entry in 2010; working on take-over)
Sauber C25 – Ferrari 056 (again with Petronas badge?) / Cosworth CA2010 (an other option)
26. Robert Kubica (contracted for '09; option for '10?)
Nico Rosberg (rumoured when BMW had not yet announced its pull-out)
27. Nick Heidfeld (contracted for '09)
Christian Klien (current test driver)

Epsilon Euskadi F1 Team (rumoured new team in place of BMW Sauber)
Epsilon Euskadi ee2 – Renault RS27

Prodrive F1 (rumoured new team in place of BMW Sauber)

If it came down to it and Mercedes had to choose between Red Bull and Brawn - ie they had to have one or the other, not both - I think they'd go with Brawn. If Red Bull win both championships, it might be a different story, but so long as Brawn win one of them, I think Mercedes would be quite fond of the notion of having their engines in a championship-winning car. Especially if Button takes the drivers' title. Having your engine in a car carrying the number one is far more appealing than having it in the cars carrying three and four.

Hello everyone. First post by a newbie. Haven't seen it on the board, so here it is: Kubica ruled out possibility to join Ferrari next year when interviewed by Polish press. He said "Ferrari not an option for me"

Well yeah ... they have (reportedly) more drivers than cars for 2010, I doubt they add another driver to the mix

Ferrari is run like a sweet shop by an old married couple. I'm embarassed for them right now.

You are right, but the future so far is far more brighter for RB than forvBGP. I doubt BGP will have a top car next year, considering the relatively low budget they have (even with the FOM/WCC money taken into account)

It's all a big conspiracy, Ferrari are signing up all the drivers for 2010. Luca's bid for 3 cars was just a sham, he really wants a grid full of Ferrari.

No, I am not serious.

I read Kubica is negotiating a contract with Flavio that still allows him to wriggle out should a Ferrari offer come in 2011. But who knows. I've also read he's in the frame at Brawn, Williams and Renault. Man, this is complex.

My New update

Ferrari: Raikkonen/Alonso/Massa
McLaren:Hamilton/?
Renault:Grosjean/?
Williams:?/?
Toyota:Glock/?
Red Bull:Webber/Vettel
Toro Rosso:Buemi/Alguersuari
Brawn:Button/Rubens
Force India:Sutil/?
USGP:?/?
Campos:?/?
Manor:?/?
New team:?/?

Not much of a difference but as STRhave said they are keeping their line-up the same and Brawn are hinting to do the same, so I updated it.

Lewis/Raikkonen, Raikkonen hinted for the first time at not driving with Ferrari next year, and the best remaining seat is McLaren, F1-Live.com have reported this also, and as in the Raikkonen to McLaren thread, lots of speculation is there, it all makes so much sense to return to his home

Well someone pointed out that Mclaren needs a sponsor like Santandair. Kimi will not bring one like that so it is hardly unlikely that Kimi will drive Mclaren next year.

I assume... Rosberg? Merc will pay more, perhaps, for this to let happen.

Mercedes may well be able to supply four teams at once (McLaren, Brawn, Force India and Red Bull, say) and it seems very unlikely to me they would drop the likely WDC and WCC winners. Between McLaren, Red Bull and Brawn they'd have a good chance at renewed succes next year, too.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Santander keep some sponsorship at McLaren anyway, they've expanded a lot into the UK and Lewis is the No1 sports celebrity according to some marketing research. Also the first requirement is to be fast, Mac is still an old-fashioned racing team like that. If Kimi is available, he'll be on their list I'm sure. The team has a soft spot for him plus loads of telemetry so they'll know pretty accurately how he compares with Heikki. The Merc board would prefer Britney I expect, but the race team have a record of ignoring them.

I wonder if Ron is involved in the decision? I think he'd choose Kimi over Nico, he just respects that sheer speed.

The original rumour was that Santander were going to sponsor both, but with Abbey branding on the McLaren - but that was before they decided they were rebranding all their UK operations to Santander.

And Rosberg doesn't have sheer speed?
Right now I think Rosberg is a faster driver as Raikkönen (who has been too irregular and slower as Massa the past 2 seasons).

Well that's right, bank rebranding = huge marketing spend. Abbey, B&B and A&L, that's enough to make it worth continuing surely, assuming no hard feelings any more. Whitmarsh being nice about Fernando, the "huge loss" quote recently. I don't think money will influence the driver choice, anyway. Alright I suppose they might swap Kimi<>Alonso for £50m but not Kimi/Nico for example.

Kimi's rep has taken a hit recently but for years he was regarded as the fastest guy in F1, the one with the most natural talent; this was often reported in the media as the general feeling in the paddock. Ferrari have really messed up IMO with pairing him with understeery Massa then treating them as equals, with MS lurking around too, in the Massa camp.

Back at Mac with his old RE and a nice twitchy car shared with Lewis I think the real Kimi would be back with us. Nico, well I don't think many people think he's in Lewis' class at all. With Kimi I think Lewis would find himself learning a few new things from the telemetry, even if he came out on top over a season.

Interesting point, especially given the marketing value of Lewis in the UK - Has there ever been the same sponsor on more than one team? (apart from Red Bull and the engine manufacturers obviously)

Marlboro of course on many teams at one GP.

I think there are others too.

Of course, how quickly I forget............

They say they've secured the team' future for the next three years, though they're not saying who the sponsor is (probably out of respect for the Virgin contract already in place and because they'll want it to be dramatic when they unveil the BGP-002), and they have no reason to lie because there's nothing that lying does that telling the truth won't already do (and because if they lie about it, it'll be that much harder to get a sponsor). They may have had to redirect some of their 2010 funding to fix their aero problems for Valencia, but I doubt the team will be counting every penny next season. Their successes so far this year - especially if they continue - mean that sponsors will be lining up to throw money at them.

LMAO! (I see what you did there)

Marco Andretti to F1?

I try not to hate but man, he'd make Bourdais look like Schumacher IMHO.

Maybe it's a typo and... Mario Andretti is coming back...

now THAT'S a comeback story, forget Schumacher's comeback...

Virgin deal was stupid: Virgin have too many products.. almost everything clashes.

Instead of Virgin paying cheap for the rest of this year, I'm sure they would rather put Emirates all over the car this season for free in preparation for next, and to make sure Emirates are involved in the title battle coverage this year. Shame they can't do it because of the clash with the discount basement Virgin deal.

Actually, I believe Virgin paid extra to run minor variations on the liveries; Virgin Galactic and Virgin Active and the others. It's actually something I hope they continue with Manor; had the main Virgin sponsorship, but rotate different Virgin groups from round to round.


It won't work like that. Virgin have the contract for 2009, and I doubt Brawn will be willing to break it. It's bad for business. Branson might be paying them a pittance, but if Brawn break a contract simply because a better offer comes along, it's going to make (future) potential sponsors nervous. Because if Brawn do it once, they might do it again. And the contract probably says they won't get any money - from Emirates or whoever (though I do like the sound of Emirates Brawn GP) - until the Virgin deal ends. Brawn don't really need it; they've sorted their aero and tyre management issues, and can probably get through the rest of the season with the Valencia upgrade.

i read this on grandprix.com recently



source

Santandar become a major sponsor in 2010 and if Philip Morris want to pull out of thier sponsorship deal at the end of 2010 like they wanted to this year......Santandar become the primary sponsor in 2011 (Scuderia Ferrari Santandar?)

i seriously doubt they will continue to sponsor McLaren

Maybe PMI would return to McLaren, the legendary red/white livery coming back... no just a wet dream

I read that article, too. And 'Scuderia Ferrari Santander' was exactly what I thought of. Perhaps not in 2010, or even 2011: Philip Morris have a deal with Ferrari until the end of the latter season.

If Raikkonen got back to McLaren and the car would be still to his liking like in 2002-2006 days and reliable, than he would wipe out everyone again IMHO.

God no. Not another bland red/white, please. I love the silver livery (and it's no less legendary) and we already have too much red and too much white in the grid.

rosberg got beaten all the time in karts and lower formala champs HE KNOWS hammy is the real deal and going to mclaren (hammys team) i think is TOO TOO much risk.

You are right, I was just nostalcig, getting old I quess

Why a minor sponsor have exclusive deal!? Virgin are a minor sponsor and do not have an exclusive deal this year. I'm sure Brawn could run large Monster Energy Drink or Nescafe decals if such a deal came along this year. Rather it's Virgin operting so many airlines that makes Emirates signage not able to applied to car in 09 season, in conflict with existing deal sure, I would have thought. (The Emirates deal would be free for this year in preparation for next, so no loss to Brawn either way, just not providing extra value for Emirates.)

Brawn can cause 'scandal' in Italian press with their all-red Emirates car that is indistinguishable from the Ferraris!

No, he didn't. Check the F3 EuroSeries results when both Rosberg and Hamilton were racing in it. Rosberg, with one less race, finished ahead of Hamilton.

Next year they both became Champions, Hamilton in F3, Rosberg in GP2.

Cigarette money is not the future.

According to La Sexta (Spain), Toyota's future is in doubt.

As for Ferrari 3 car plans...
I wonder what Alonso would think of all this.....

3 cars... 3 internal teams.... 2 of them would team up easily and share data MS & FM.... Alonso would have to do his "tricks" again as at Mclaren.... does he want this??

I think people are putting way to much emphasis on Santander's role and their influence. They are not Alonso's personal sponsor - if they were, they'd have gone to Renault - and so any influence they would have over Ferrari's lineup is minimal. If it were any other team, they'd have that muscle, but this is Ferrari we're talking about: if Santander said "Okay, well sponsor you if you sign Fernando Alonso", Ferrari could tell them to go stick it and find another team if that arrangement didn't suit them.

Santander went to McLaren with Alonso, who was orignally signed on a multi-year deal. After the relationship between FA and McLaren broke down, he left but Santander didn't have the option of backing out - although the UK/Lewis marketing probably helped too. Santander want to be where FA is.

There's a difference between wanting to be where he is and actually being his personal sponsor. And I've also heard that they're looking to expand into South America, particularly Brazil. And with Felipe Massa being both Brazilian and driving for Ferrari, using Formula One as a platform is not outside the realms of possibility. They did it with McLaren, scooping up the Abbey awareness through Lewis Hamilton, and they did it without Fernando Alonso. If they can do it once without Alonso, there's nothing to say they can't do it twice. After all, we don't know what they've told Ferrari; you're all just assuming that his driving for them is a part of Santander sonsoring the team. They may also want to go from being a secondary sponsor to a title sponsor and see Ferrari as the best way forward since Ferrari's colours and the same as Santander's, and sponsor colours influence a lot when it comes to liveries.