Formula One 2012

[N1GTR]

Yeah will be interesting to see if their front wing design is their own in 2012 or RBR style

[Granthem]

Can't wait for 2012. Keeping track of this thread will be difficult however. I gave up with the 2011 one, wayyyyy to time consuming to catch up if you take a days break from SAU

[ctjet]

Yeah will be interesting to see if their front wing design is their own in 2012 or RBR style

They keep banging on about a new approach with their design and development, but I personally don't see anything changing until they introduce turbo powah in 2013

Not that massa will be around to see it

Edited December 1, 2011 by ctjet

[sh@un]

Of course that won't mean the end of him as an F1 driver, oh no.

I'm sure he'll hang around for eons not achieving much, like Barrichello, and eventually becoming 2019's equivalent of... Jarno Trulli

[Berk]

Even Barrichello won a few. Massa hasn't been on the podium in 21 races.

Edited December 1, 2011 by maxima

[mad082]

barichello would've won a few more if he hadn't been ordered to pull over to let spoilt child snr through.

[sh@un]

and he wouldn't have had to make way for Willy if he'd been a better driver in the first place!

[N1GTR]

FIA publishes 2012 entry list

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel

Mark Webber

There will be no change at the top team after Webber signed a new one-year contract at the Belgian Grand Prix. Vettel is tied to Red Bull until 2014.

McLaren

Jenson Button

Lewis Hamilton

Button recently signed a three-year contract with the team after settling in nicely over the past two seasons. Hamilton has hinted that he will extend his contract beyond 2012 next year.

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso

Felipe Massa

Alonso is tied to the team until 2016 but Massa will need to prove himself in 2012 to see his stay extended into 2013.

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg

Michael Schumacher

Rosberg signed a new multi-year deal in Abu Dhabi to extend his contract beyond 2013. Schumacher will be on the final season of his three-year contract in 2012, but the team is willing re-sign the seven-time champion if the circumstances are right.

Renault

Kimi Raikkonen

Vitaly Petrov (Unconfirmed on official FIA list)

Raikkonen grabbed the headlines by agreeing to a two-year deal with the team after the Brazilian Grand Prix. Petrov has a contract for 2012 but both the team and his management have indicated he might be moving on and he was not confirmed on the official FIA entry list. A decision is expected by December 10 with Romain Grosjean and Bruno Senna both eager to fill his space. The situation is made more complicated by Robert Kubica, who is still recovering from his rallying accident and is now out of contract. Renault has said it will do everything to help Kubica return to F1, but has ruled him out of the start of 2012.

Force India

TBA

TBA

Team principal Vijay Mallya is still struggling to fit three into two, with Adrian Sutil, Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg to choose from. Rumours suggest the team has settled on di Resta and Hulkenberg, but Sutil's strong performances this year have complicated matters. It has been reported that Force India is waiting for Sutil to sure up his 2012 plans before an announcement is made.

Sauber

Kamui Kobayashi

Sergio Perez

Sauber announced it would be sticking with its 2011 driver line-up back in July. The team took up an option on Kobayashi to stay for at least another year while Perez already had a multi-year deal in place.

Toro Rosso

TBA

TBA

Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi both did solid jobs in 2011 but it is still unclear whether it was enough to secure their drives for 2012. They face stiff competition from Red Bull-backed drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne, and each week brings fresh speculation. The latest rumour is that Alguersuari and Buemi will hold their positions with Vergne as test driver and Ricciardo slotting in at another team.

Williams

Pastor Maldonado (Unconfirmed on official FIA list)

TBC

Maldonado is expected to stay at the team thanks to the sponsorship money he brings from Venezuelan oil company PDVSA, but he did not feature on the FIA's official entry list. The other seat is anybody's guess, with 2011 driver Rubens Barrichello fighting hard to stay and Adrian Sutil strongly linked to the drive. Test driver Vatteri Bottas impressed during his recent run at the Young Driver Test, but there would be a serious lack of F1 experience if he lined up alongside Maldonado and a season in GP2 is more likely.

Lotus

Heikki Kovalainen

Jarno Trulli

Kovalainen has been linked to a drive at Renault but says he will honour his current contract until the end of 2012. The second seat is less straightforward however, as Trulli extended his contract by one year in September, but in recent weeks Red Bull-backed Daniel Ricciardo has been linked to the seat. The team is remaining tight lipped on the issue but has not moved to deny the rumours.

HRT

Pedro de la Rosa (Unconfirmed on official FIA list)

TBC

The news that de la Rosa will drive for HRT in 2012 came as a surprise, but it does satisfy the team's desire to have a Spanish driver in one of its cars. Bizarrely he was not confirmed on the official FIA entry list even though he has been announced as a driver by the team. Tonio Liuzzi is adamant he has a contract for 2012, but before the final race CEO Saul Ruiz de Marco said he would not confirm the team's second driver until after the season. Liuzzi does not fit with the team's tradition of opting for at least one pay driver so he might find himself under threat from someone with more cash. Spaniard Dani Clos has been linked to the seat after he tested for the team in Abu Dhabi, while Czech driver Jan Charouz bought his way into the Young Driver Test and a Friday drive in Brazil. Daniel Ricciardo looks unlikely to stay after half a season at the team with Red Bull's backing.

Virgin

Timo Glock

Charles Pic

Just hours after the Brazilian Grand Prix, Virgin announced Pic would replace Jerome d'Ambrosio next year. Glock has a contract for another year but is believed to have a break clause if a big team comes knocking.

Source; F1 Blogspot

[N1GTR]

Same source;

'We convinced Kimi to come back' - Boullier

Renault team principal Eric Boullier believes his team's potential convinced Kimi Raikkonen to return to Formula One.

The 2007 world champion has signed a two-year deal with the team that will see him return to the sport after a two-year absence. Boullier said the news was positive for the team and proof that it was on the right track for the future.

"It is good news for the sport and of course it is good news for the team," Boullier said. "Strategically, it is good to have a big name, a high class driver and Formula One world champion to join us. He is committed to racing for us and he is definitely a very good character with the experience he has from driving for McLaren and Ferrari. Also, to have someone like Kimi signing with us shows that the package we have offered was good enough - we convinced Kimi to come back to Formula One!"

Raikkonen is adamant he has the motivation to make a successful comeback, but said his two biggest challenges for 2012 would be learning to use the Pirelli tyres and building up his neck muscles. There will be just three four-day tests ahead of the start of the season, but Boullier said Raikkonen will be able to hone his skills and fitness using the team's new simulator and a some runs in a 2009-spec car.

"First of all, in not so long we will have our simulator ready - this is good news for him and for us," he added. "I think that we will also be able to plan a couple of days with the demo car."

Boullier said Renault has plenty to be optimistic about heading into the winter break and that it would be bolstering its team ahead of next season.

"There are many things that the team will announce soon, in the coming weeks and the coming months," he said. "Let's not forget that the team's current identity is only a couple of years old and it is clear that we have made some strategic investments like the wind tunnel, like the CFD pole and like the building of the simulator- it will be a state of the art simulator.

"We are also in the process to reinforce our team with the recruitment of some key people, some of them have already joined us and some are to be announced soon but we can't say too much at this stage as some of them are currently on gardening leave.

"Next year, we will also have an upgrade of our facilities trackside, in fact it is going to be a complete change with a new engineers truck, a new infrastructure for the team garage, which of course will also have an impact on our image and obviously Kimi joining us is a big step in reinforcing the investment Genii Capital is putting in the team at every level."

[tweety bird]

Stefano Domenicali on Kubica coming to ferrari.

Asked by Autosport whether Ferrari could allow Kubica to use their facilities and test one of their cars, he said: "No. Not really."If you remember we are speaking about drivers for Ferrari since January of last year, so I think that maybe next week we come with the Valentino Rossi position!

"So, no."

Boullier still wants him back.

"I need to sit down with Robert and his manager to understand what is the timescale for him to come back.

Bernie Ecclestone on vettel

"Sebastian is a Champion of the people, a Champion the fans can identify with."

how wrong can one person be.....

texas is not out yet.

"Deadlines are terrible things because people always go to the end of the deadline. But if it isn't all signed before the World Motor Sport Council meeting, it can't happen."

many lols for you.

From Russia With Love

Vitaly Petrov has apologised after his outburst on Russian TV following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Renault driver was bitterly disappointed and thought that strategy mistakes had cost him a points finish and that his team weren't up to the job. Team boss Eric Boullier says that he understands the Russian's frustrations: "The race was tough, he was upset not to have scored points, he was exhausted. Drivers are not robots, they're human beings," reasoned Boullier.

"Vitaly has apologised to the team and sent an email to all the staff at Enstone. And I would just like to add that at no time did he say the phrase 'It's the salt mines for you, comrades!'"

Winging It

It was a case of another flappy Ferrari wing in Abu Dhabi as the Scuderia tried hard to match the performance of Red Bull's aero device. Pitlane pundits have pointed out that the emergence of Ferrari's new wing late in the season, has come after Mark Webber crashed his car at Parabolica during the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. After which his front wing never made it back to the pits. A spokesman for the Scuderia denied that they had received it illegally. "But even if we had, what is their slogan anyway. Red Bull gives you wings..."

Meeting The Main Man

British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Woking on Thursday to open the McLaren team's new production centre. The £50m complex is a state-of-the-art facility designed for the production of the McLaren MP4-12C sports car - which is already sold out. He was shown round by McLaren boss Ron Dennis who introduced the prime minister to Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button his two F1 aces who have been battling it out in the 2011 Championship. A spokesman for No.10 said that the trip to McLaren went exceptionally well, apart from a small incident afterwards where Lewis Hamilton tried to get out of the car park first, gesturing to Mr.Cameron and mouthing 'I'm No.1 round here'.

Seen A Camel Wearing A Wig...?

Eddie Jordan's Wig has been talking about his 'almost hair-raising' adventures in Abu Dhabi. As part of the build-up to the qualifying programme, Jake Humphrey and David Coulthard took a ride on Ferrari World's amazing 150mph rollercoaster that has an acceleration of 0-100 mph in two seconds and the cornering ability of a Red Bull. EJW - who is fast establishing a cult following on Twitter - says that he was in fear of being flung out into the middle of the desert by the G-Forces involved and that modern adhesives can only do so much. "EJ said that if we weren't careful I'd land on a camel or be flapping around like a Ferrari front wing and 'nobody wanted to see that' - apart from the whole of the BBC production team and 5 million viewers!" There is a growing Twitter campaign for EJ to loan out EJW to Adrian Newey or Peter Sauber for Children in Need at the Brazilian GP, the final race of the season.

Texas F1 Massacre

The Austin Grand Prix looks in danger of joining a large pile of failed American F1 enterprises stretching back to Carl Haas's ill-fated Beatrice-Lola project. We've had dodgy GPs in Detroit and Dallas, a Mickey Mouse infield at Indianapolis, the worst ever-designed GP circuit in Las Vegas, Scott Speed, and that rootin' tootin' all-American F1 team, USF1, that failed to make the grid in 2010. "We were hoping that this was going to be an epic like Days of Thunder," said Bernie, "but it's turning into Herbie Rides Again."

Caption: Bernie predicts the Lone Star State GP will be (a) the sphincter of the universe

[Owgasm]

A spokesman for the Scuderia denied that they had received it illegally. "But even if we had, what is their slogan anyway. Red Bull gives you wings..."

[tweety bird]

Williams has confirmed Pastor Maldonado will enter his second season in Formula 1 with the team next year.

more here

[ctjet]

potentially something big to be announced by willams very soon

dunno what, but they're up to something

[sh@un]

"We've decided to stop being shit"

???

[N1GTR]

Lol

[N1GTR]

Or they could be signing up another super sub or retired driver. Heidfeld maybe or even better but totally unrealistic, Mika

[sh@un]

not Mika, not ever

He's McLaren-Mercedes all day every day baby

besides, unlike Schuey, he's got more sense than to attempt some lame-wad comeback

[ctjet]

You still him at a few races during the year, and he looks like he hasn't aged a day

Dam finns

[tweety bird]

relevant....... sought of.

http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/why-use-a-racers-name-20111201-1o7jz.html

[wolverine]

potentially something big to be announced by willams very soon

dunno what, but they're up to something

Signed Senna?