New F1 season kicks off this weekend (Page 16 of 33)

Yes, it is interesting speculating on the 'coming men', so to speak as at some point some of the older drivers will have to make way.

Mark Hughes (a fantastic motorsports writer who can unravel the most technical aspects of the sport and make them interesting reading for the common man) was speculating on the career of Bruno Senna.

He's done an excellent job in the last few races. Qualifying well and bringing it home in the race. He has had so little seat time his efforts should be seen as confirmation of a real latent talent. OK he has the seat at 'Renault' for now but that really won't be the place to be. Red Bull are now Renaults official engine partner so now even 'Renault - Team Lotus' are only Renaults second string. When or if, Kubica comes back he will step in and Petrov's backers will praobably keep him in the seat. So what for Senna?

Hughes reminded his readers of how close Senna was to F1 in 2009. He had a deal to drive for Honda with Button, but Honda's pull out screwed that. Ross Brawn decided it was too risky to put a new boy in the Brawn that year and Barrichello did a great job for him. But if Senna had got the nod - who knows. Wins possibly and running Jenson close in the first half of the year. Had that been the case he would probably be in the Mercedes now and it would be Rosberg trying to get a seat somewhere.

Rosberg might also be in for a move and Ferrari would suit him too, as well as McLaren. Schumi will never be what he was, but he is getting the hang of it again and runs Rosberg very close in the races, even outperforming him these last 3 events (OK he was shunted out at Monza but Schumi had already made a demon start and was well ahead). That can only harm Rosberg's career and value in the short term so a move (the right one) could be a good step, but it would have to be one of those 2 teams.

I believe that Senna has the talent, and I also believe, and with that the marketing of that name and everything that goes with it should be a great lure.

The end of next season (2012) will see a lot of contracts up. Barrichello, Trulli, Schumi(?), maybe even Webber, could all be on their way. Webber's seat would be tied up internally unless they want to have Hamilton, Alonso will have a number 2, either Perez, or some newcomer albeit unlikely.

That leaves De Resta, Nico Hulkenburg, Senna, Glock, Kobiyashi, all looking for potentially better teams.

Glock would be a good fit for Williams, whilst for me, Senna or Hulkenburg would be perfect for Ferrari in a number 2 role. De Resta also as previously said, but if Schumi goes then Mercedes will have first refusal I would expect.

Jenson will stay at McLaren unless Ferrari decide to go for broke and get someone who will always get wins and point for them now. I would expect Massa to end up back at Sauber, or Williams or maybe even Lotus.

But if Webber goes and Hamilton finds a way into Red Bull, who would McLaren pair with Button?

I have to say I would like to see those familiar Brazilian colours in a McLaren again. The line between the great and the merely good is very fine, but it is an almighty shame if those with talent don't get the chance to reach that line and cross it.

A worthy double world champ,too,seeing as he only needs one point this weekend in Japan,a great place to be crowned,i'm sure he won't rest on his laurels afterwards,and push on to win the remaining races too.

went to silverstone to watch british superbikes a few weeks ago (i think it was on Eurosport)...jesus they are loud

firstly sorry for me harping on about motorbikes..

and Tommy Hill won his first title yesterday at Brands Hatch. - This may come as a shock to you F1 fans but the BSB final round of races was made up of 3 races over 1 weekend, - 1 on Saturday and 2 yesterday Sunday. So last race of the day and 2 contenders, - Tommy Hill, local lad from just down the road in Kent, - - very tough story of nearly having to give up racing a few years back when his family ran out of money to support him, - an then his dad had the big "C" and again things were tough...And the other contender was ex MotoGP prodigy USA born John "Hopper" Hopkins, - a true racer who had done superbly all year racing on small tight dangerous circuits that he had never seen before and winning more than just races with true respect from the UK crowds.... So last race of the season and Hopper is winning by a few points, - Tommy knows that he has to beat Hopper...Last lap, - and the lead changes over and over again on a track that is fast and very dangerous.. Tommy does it 6 1000th of a second.

http://www.crash.net/british+superbikes … e_win.html

warning this clip contains racing: 

http://youtu.be/Mzt6g212xzw

ahem ... may we get back to F1?   

Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel on being the youngest ever double world F1 champion.  It was a bit of a foregone conclusion really as he only needed one point from the race to be unbeatable.  However, the driver of the day for me was Jenson Button.  When he joined McLaren I was worried that he would be used as a foil to Lewis but having Lewis as a team mate seems to have spurred Jenson on.   He drove a really intelligent race and unlike the Red Bull team made his tyres last despite being harried in the final part of the race by Alonso.  And he seems like a really nice guy to boot. 

The rest of the season may be a little tame now that the driver's championship is won, but as far as the constructor's trophy is concerned there's still everything to play for as Red Bull haven't won it yet ....... yet.

sorry Lynn, - I am wrong to post up motorcycle racing stuff on this thread, - I forgot that there is no connection with F1....one is a racing sport and the other is a ......   a business for rich sponsors and corporate types.;)   

I know, change the record Ian!!

You are right to congratulate Vettel, great year for him and Red Bull....So is it him or is it the car, that is the question.....?

Dan Wheldon died yesterday, competing in the Indy 300 in Las Vegas.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/15330202.stm
What a tragic loss of life!!!

Yes, very sad news indeed that Dan succumbed to his injuries.

From the clips I've seen it was a classic Indy style oval crash; multiple cars abreast insufficient room leaving no margin for error should someone lose control, which is what happened here.

With 34 cars in the field and at speeds of over 200mph its no wonder 15 cars became involved. At these speeds even these guys can't react quickly enough to avoid a major impact. The footage from Will Powers car is evidence of the difficulties involved.

Questions will have to be asked. Worst possible outcome for IndyCar as it tries to re-establish itself as a major series. Perversely, of course, this accident will serve to heighten its profile, but not in the best way. I suppose it is unsavoury to reflect that Dan Wheldon was only competing in this race as IndyCars nominated 'Race for $5 Million Prize', where if he won the race he would share the prize fund with a spectator at the race, but without a regular drive this year he wouldn't normally have been there without this publicity stunt. But then again, this accident could have occurred anywhere at anytime on the IndyCar schedule.

I saw a report that Mark Blundell was questioning the amount of cars starting at this race track which is (relatively) narrow with extreme banking - so questions will have to be asked.

Indycar have had already used a controversial rolling restart system this year where the cars are 2 abreast. This has itself caused several bad accidents and the teams and drivers have been very vocal about. Randy Bernhard the CEO of IndyCar is very keen to increase the spectacle, but they are going to have to be careful at striking the right balance.

As LynB says, the sport, on 2 or 4 wheels is inherently dangerous at some point and yesterdays accident to one of IndyCars most successful drivers underlines this.

I read ageing ex F1 driver Jean Alesi is gearing up for a debut at the Indy 500 next year. If I were him I would have to question the wisdom of doing it. He was lucky in his career and got out of it intact. He should reflect on that and pull out. The Brickyard isn't a place for 48 year olds to make their rookie debut. I was sad to see Schumi to come back to F1 for that reason. Yesterday he got lucky when Vitaly Petrov got over optimistic. When these guys walk away they should stay away.

Dan Wheldon won't get that chance now. A good man gone.