35 replies to this topic

[William Hunt]

Since I'm fed up with all the topics about Kimi, Alonso and Ferrari  I've added another poll (did one on Force India too) about another team: Sauber.

 

Sirotkin will certainly make his debut next year?

With Ferrari & Red Bull now having decided their line-up, McLaren & Mercedes keeping their drivers and Lotus most probably opting for Hülkenberg / Grosjean, the seats of Force India and Sauber will be the highest profile empty seats.

 

Sutil is not certain of a new contract yet, neither is Gutiérrez so we have some uncertainty here and two nice midfield seats undecided.

 

Who will partner Sirotkin then?

Discuss and vote please.

 

My feeling is that it's between Gutiérrez and Bianchi but I may be wrong.

[GuilhermeMach]

I believe they will take Massa. He may not be as fast as he one was, but they certainly do need an experienced driver for the regulation changes and to partner Sirotkin. Guitierrez would be grossly inexperienced for that

[William Hunt]

hmmm, interesting: so far we have 3 votes for Massa, 2 for Gutiérrez, 2 for Nasr, 1 for Leimer and 1 for Bianchi.

Edited by William Hunt, 11 September 2013 - 19:43.

[JHSingo]

Felipe Nasr. Has banking from Brazil/cash that Sauber desperately needs.

 

Can see Massa leaving the sport.

[William Hunt]

Felipe Nasr. Has banking from Brazil/cash that Sauber desperately needs.

 

Okay but if Sauber still needs cash and the Russian money alone won't be enough, why not keeping Gutiérrez and his Mexican sponsors then? Esteban will have a year of experience under his belt next year. Nasr or Leimer (who tested for Sauber at the end of 2011 and who has a Swiss nationality, he may be in in the running, especially if he wins the GP2 title) would be complete rookies.

[just me again]

I was thinking. Maybe it Will be a good idea for Ferrari to Pay hulkenbergs salary. So they have him close by if Raikkonen or Alonso walk.
It Will Also make it easyer to beat Lotus

Edited by just me again, 11 September 2013 - 19:53.

[William Hunt]

There is no way that Ferrari will pay Sauber to let Nico Hülkenberg drive for them.

But Ferrari are highly likely very willing to pay Sauber to let Jules Bianchi drive for them.

The succesor of Kimi Raikkönen (or Alonso) at Ferrari won't be Hülkenberg, it will be Bianchi or maybe even Raffaele Marciello.

I doubt that either Kimi or Alonso will walk from Ferrari before the end of the contract that they signed.

Bianchi is clearly beiing prepared for a Ferrari seat, just like they did with Felipe Massa when Ferrari had him 1 year as test driver and loaned him out to Sauber 2 years. They will do exactly the same with Bianchi.

Edited by William Hunt, 11 September 2013 - 19:58.

[Snic]

I still don't think Sirotkin will drive for Sauber next year, he may be third driver with Gutierrez and Nasr driving for them

[Collective]

Sirotkin will drive for Sauber. He will get the superlicense kilometers by testing a 2011 car in October (logistics to be confirmed, but Monisha said as much to Blick) and during winter testing. 

 

I think Gutiérrez would make sense if they still need Telmex or feel the sponsorship revenue they get from them is worth it. He will have a full season under his belt and if he gets his Saturdays together, he should be able to capitalize on his pretty decent race pace of late and make a better case for being considered by the team for a second season.

 

I don't think Ferrari would lose engine revenue to seat an ex-driver (Massa) in Sauber. Doesn't make business or sporting sense AT ALL. Bianchi, though, that probably makes sense for everyone involved. I'm going with Gutiérrez because it doesn't look like all the Russian millions come all at once, must be a multi-year thing for the quantities involved, and in that case having a good sponsor makes sense. But who knows...

Edited by Collective, 11 September 2013 - 21:31.

[Spillage]

I think they'll keep Gutierrez; I can't see Hulkenberg staying even if he does miss out on a seat at Lotus.

 

Would Charles Pic not be in the running? He was mooted as a potential Sauber driver last year and I'd like to see him in a non-rear grid car. I understand he has some backing as well.

[KingTiger]

If Gutierrez keeps bringing the cash it doesn't make too much sense to get rid of him. He might not be the next Senna, but he will at least have some experience with the team. Whats the point of giving the seat to another hopeless pay driver like Nasr or Leimar who don't have any F1 experience?

[noikeee]

Gutierrez. He's been a disappointment to me this season, I suspect the team expected more as well, but I think they need the money that badly, as much as they can get - would they be sticking a 18 year old in the car otherwise?

[William Hunt]

Whats the point of giving the seat to another hopeless pay driver like Nasr or Leimar who don't have any F1 experience?

 

Felipe Nasr and Fabio Leimer are not 'hopeless' pay drivers, they are talented drivers that both deserve a chance in F1, unfortunately with the lack of F1 teams that's not easy. But I wouldn't call the leader in GP2 and a former British F3 champion who also won a European F. BMW title 'hopeless'.

[Wander]

If Gutierrez keeps bringing the cash it doesn't make too much sense to get rid of him. He might not be the next Senna, but he will at least have some experience with the team. Whats the point of giving the seat to another hopeless pay driver like Nasr or Leimar who don't have any F1 experience?

 

Well, they could also actually hire someone who could score points in a mediocre car. Gutierrez is not that guy.

[KingTiger]

Felipe Nasr and Fabio Leimer are not 'hopeless' pay drivers, they are talented drivers that both deserve a chance in F1, unfortunately with the lack of F1 teams that's not easy. But I wouldn't call the leader in GP2 and a former British F3 champion who also won a European F. BMW title 'hopeless'.

 

GP2 is hopeless pay driver central at the moment. The price to compete there is ridiculous. The best young drivers are all in WSR.

Well, they could also actually hire someone who could score points in a mediocre car. Gutierrez is not that guy.

The current car is total junk, Hulkenberg (who is a top 5-7 driver) had managed only 7 points all year before Monza. 

[Disgrace]

Gutierrez. He's been a disappointment to me this season, I suspect the team expected more as well, but I think they need the money that badly, as much as they can get - would they be sticking a 18 year old in the car otherwise?

 

Exactly this. It looks like a potentially disasterous line-up but Gutierrez is coming along in the races. Another winter of testing and he could be there. Sirotkin is a complete unknown but why shouldn't he be another Tuero or Alguersuari at least?

[William Hunt]

GP2 is hopeless pay driver central at the moment. The price to compete there is ridiculous. The best young drivers are all in WSR.

 

 

The prices are indeed ridiculous but that doesn't mean that there are no talented drivers in GP2, there is quite a lot of talent on the GP2 grid of this year imho. Stoffel Vandoorne and Kevin Magnussen are probably the best young drivers and they are in World Series but apart from them and maybe Felix Da Costa the other World Series drivers aren't really better as the top drivers in GP2.

 

However: take the top half of the GP2 field and the top half of the World Series field and you have an awesome grid full of talent.

Edited by William Hunt, 12 September 2013 - 04:47.

[vas04614]

Hulk might be in Lotus else could be FI again.

[Petroltorque]

I think before you can say who gets the seat you need to examine Sauber's financial state. Hinwil need money. Simply taking a driver in exchange for a subsidy on a power unit is not enough. They need hard cash to pay infrastructure, development, staffing and 2014 costs. It's for that reason Massa is a non runner, that's excluding his lack of ability on the technical side and his inconsistency from track to track.  Bianchi might work if he brings cash. The problem with Gutierrez is that Telmex are bringing the bare minimum for him to hold down the seat so he can be outbid.

 Ideally Sauber need someone reasonably quick, experienced and with a solid financial backing. I would go for Sutil. 

[MustangSally]

Ideally Sauber need someone reasonably quick, experienced and with a solid financial backing.

I think this is why Petrov has an outside chance. He was quite decent in his last season alongside Heikki. As I understand it, Sauber are looking at the Russian link as a route to more sponsors there and definitely looking to capitalise on Sochi.

[midgrid]

An all-Russian line-up would be quite something!

[anbeck]

I don't think they could do an all-Russian line-up. It would rather be Petrov stepping in for a year until Sirotkin had time to get used to F1 by running Friday sessions. The other cockpit would be for Gutierrez.

 

Then again, I think Bianchi might be in a better car next year, with FI and Sauber being the only options.

[Kobasmashi]

Exactly this. It looks like a potentially disasterous line-up but Gutierrez is coming along in the races. Another winter of testing and he could be there. Sirotkin is a complete unknown but why shouldn't he be another Tuero or Alguersuari at least?

I'm not sure he'd want to be another Tuero

[William Hunt]

I don't think they could do an all-Russian line-up. It would rather be Petrov stepping in for a year until Sirotkin had time to get used to F1 by running Friday sessions.

 

Why not? With a Russian GP coming up Petrov may find new sponsors to fund him. But Sirotkin will drive races next year, his sponsors have made it very clear that they will not accept anything else.

[William Hunt]

So we have so far:

 

Gutiérrez: 25 votes

Massa 23 votes

Bianchi: 13 votes

Kobayashi: 5 votes

Nasr: 2 votes

Petrov: 2 votes

Sutil: 2 votes

Hülkenberg: 2 votes

Frijns: 2 votes

Leimer: 1 vote

Kovalainen: 1 vote

Magnussen: 0 votes

Coletti: 0 votes

 

 

I'm surprised about the number of votes that Massa got, expected the poll to be between Gutiérrez and Bianchi, not Gutiérrez and Massa.

[William Hunt]

Apparently Marc Surer (someone on this forum posted a link to the source) said that Adrian Sutil could very well move to Sauber (to me that would make sense).

 

But today I heard from someone that I know who lives in Switzerland that Adrian Sutil has in fact already visited the Sauber factory in Hinwill!

So that's two sources linking Sutil to Sauber.

Edited by William Hunt, 12 October 2013 - 01:11.

[TheUltimateWorrier]

I'm surprised about the number of votes that Massa got, expected the poll to be between Gutiérrez and Bianchi, not Gutiérrez and Massa.

 

 

I was under the impression that Bianchi has already been confirmed for Marussia next year . .

 

Sutil to Sauber would be a decent move. Solid points scorer and a good reference point to see what potential Sirotkin has.

[Baddoer]

Petrov obviously

[William Hunt]

 

 

I was under the impression that Bianchi has already been confirmed for Marussia next year . .

 

This poll was done when Bianchi was not yet confirmed by Marussia.

[MikeV1987]

I really can't see Massa being in F1 let alone joining Sauber next season.

Edited by MikeV1987, 14 October 2013 - 17:05.

[William Hunt]

Kaltenborn confirms talks with Petrov regarding 2014 seat

http://grandprix247....ding-2014-seat/

Edited by William Hunt, 25 October 2013 - 09:25.

[Shiroo]

Sauber becoming Russian team?

 

Petrov has Gazprom backing... well I would say that it is like 100% chance that he will be there for next season. If 30mln won't be enough they will just add next 10 or so.

Edited by Shiroo, 25 October 2013 - 09:26.

[EthanM]

Sauber becoming Russian team?

 

Petrov has Gazprom backing... well I would say that it is like 100% chance that he will be there for next season. If 30mln won't be enough they will just add next 10 or so.

 

if it was that simple why isn't he racing this season ?

 

 

I am a sad panda Sauber will fall into a full paydriver lineup though

[Shiroo]

if it was that simple why isn't he racing this season ?

 

 

I am a sad panda Sauber will fall into a full paydriver lineup though

 

he didn't have Gazprom backing back then as far as I can remember.

and Russians are pushing now hard to have plenty of drivers for next season tbh.

Also Gazprom is massively Kreml influenced.

[EthanM]

he didn't have Gazprom backing back then as far as I can remember.

and Russians are pushing now hard to have plenty of drivers for next season tbh.

Also Gazprom is massively Kreml influenced.

 

well it's government controlled so of course it's Kremlin influenced

 

anyways, the way I hear it Sirokin's backers are late with payments and Petrov is an alternative to Sirotkin