Formula 1 2009

[Retro_Link]

Haven't they only delayed the decision at this point? At the moment I think its more a case of when rather than if...

Yeah they've just delayed their decission.

 

Rumours are Kubica's manager was having emergency talks with McLaren incase they announced yesterday they were pulling out, but I think they are just speculation.

I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe Kubica would have signed for Renault without having had reassurance about their future (that was part of the reason Alonso went to McLaren because he said they had told him they couldn't give him guarentees for the future).

 

Thus I think Kubica signing for the team is a sign that they'll be around in 2010 at least.

Edited November 14, 2009 by Retro_Link

[Retro_Link]

Button to McLaren?

 

Mercedes to make Brawn their 'A' team?

 

Martin Brundle has written an interesting article in the Times, on the back of Jenson visiting McLaren yesterday.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article6917184.ece

 

Jenson Button still in the driving seat

 

JENSON BUTTON had a guided tour of the McLaren Formula One factory on Friday. He spent two hours with senior management and met a senior engineer. It is not every day that you see a new world champion out of contract and being ushered around a former arch-rival’s facilities.

 

Button and his manager, Richard Goddard, claim that finding a car capable of retaining the world drivers’ championship is a higher priority than money. Often such meetings are clandestine affairs held at midnight, or at remote country house hotels or windy airfields, but McLaren’s headquarters is an impressive sales tool, and both parties clearly wanted the visit to be public.

 

I thought Team Button were simply giving the Brawn negotiators a hurry-up, and that McLaren were managing down the expectations of Kimi Raikkonen, but it runs deeper than that. Button has gone to ground on Brawn, and McLaren have a genuine interest in signing him, although it’s not yet done. Their 2009 driver Heikki Kovalainen is fast and likeable but can't deliver under pressure. McLaren can probably handle two world champions in the same team when it comes to resources and politics, although the experiment failed miserably with Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in 2007. Button is a different character from Alonso.

 

How would two British drivers work for the sponsors? It’s not ideal but Finland is hardly the biggest of markets, and for Vodafone and others, Hamilton and Button working together would provide some strong marketing opportunities.

 

There is a major twist in this tale. This week it will be announced that Mercedes-Benz has sold its shareholding in McLaren and will be taking a majority stake in Brawn GP. McLaren will continue with Mercedes engines, but Brawn will become the works team, so Button has to get out his crystal ball to work out which team will give him the faster car next year. Will McLaren return to top form? Or has the tide turned, given that Brawn and Red Bull won 14 of the 17 races this year?

 

It’s really all about Button’s confidence. Can he take on Hamilton in the team that nurtured and helped to develop the 2008 world champion long before he drove their F1 car in anger?

 

Hamilton was in brilliant form during the second half of the season when McLaren sorted out the car, and he has grown in stature and maturity. I am sure he would rather have an inexperienced teammate, but I suspect that he will fancy he can handle Button or Raikkonen. He wouldn’t want Alonso or Sebastian Vettel alongside him.

 

Nico Rosberg will drive for Brawn next year and I strongly suspect that Button may be nervous that Rosberg will be the favoured son. He has yet to win a race but he has speed and potential. However, Button must feel that he could handle Rosberg in a team that he has helped to develop over many seasons, and where he has forged strong relationships with engineers and mechanics.

 

Whatever the rhetoric, I suspect money does play a part. Button is fully entitled to cash in on being world champion but I would be sure that his Brawn financial package tops £10m next year, and not the lower numbers reported.

 

McLaren played a significant role in helping the Brawn management emerge from the ashes of the Honda team, only for them to begin a love affair and now marriage with McLaren’s part-owner and engine supplier. McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh assures me he has no regrets about doing so for the good of F1 in difficult times, and I take him at face value on that. However, I am sure he would love to steal Brawn’s champion to even the score a little.

 

For Brawn’s part, they clearly haven’t loved Button enough but it seems bizarre that after all the mutual compliments and back-slapping in these past few months, the relationship has broken down. Camp Button have been negotiating through the media, which has alienated Brawn and Mercedes, but falling back in love overnight is an F1 speciality. Cue fat cheque, fast car, smiley photographs and gushing press releases.

 

What would I do? As Brawn GP, I would give Button a 24-hour ultimatum to sign or leave. I would want to know where I stood. It’s a long winter, and maybe the likes of Robert Kubica will be back in the market if Renault quit the sport. Raikkonen would be on my wish-list too. As McLaren, I would try to sign Button while continuing to put together a realistic Raikkonen deal.

 

If I were Button, I would sign the best two-year Brawn deal I could achieve, become the new best friend of Mercedes-Benz, and then keep my options open for the future. The cash will come soon enough and he doesn’t need Hamilton with home advantage regularly beating him.

 

and another report:

 

http://www.tomorrownewsf1.com/f1-button-chez-mclaren-et-raikkonen-chez-brawn-en-2010-9073

 

Will Jenson Button still be a Brawn-Mercedes driver in 2010? Nothing is certain. Richard Goddard told the Daily Express newspaper that McLaren was still in the race to secure the services of the 2009 world champion.

 

According to various British media, Jenson Button will leave the team in which he became the 2009 world champion for McLaren-Mercedes. While Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen will line-up for the Brawn-Mercedes team in 2010.

 

Although Bernie Ecclestone is against a 100% British Association at McLaren, the case is still under great discussion. McLaren would agree to provide 9 million euros to Jenson Button and the same rights as Lewis Hamilton on his image (personal sponsor and derivatives).

 

On Kimi Raikkonen's side, the talks have stalled with McLaren because of salary demands. McLaren will pay 50% of the salaries for their drivers (while the other half will be paid for by Mercedes), 10 or 12 million euros for Kimi Raikkonen would be too much for Mclaren to pay. In comparison to 4.5 million euros for Button.

 

With the acquisition between Brawn and Mercedes that will be announced in a few days, Mercedes will pay the salaries of the Brawn drivers 100%. It is estimated that Nico Rosberg will receive 8 million euros and Kimi Raikkonen 30 million euros.

 

Everything should be clear, however, in a few weeks, because Mercedes-Benz are preparing their separation with McLaren for the 1st of December this year.

Edited November 14, 2009 by Retro_Link

[gaggle64]

I think either Button or Kimi would fit excellently beside Lewis. I've got a feeling Mclaren are playing Button & Kimi's people off against each other, in a bid to get someone (I'm guessing Kimi would still be their first choice) to hurry themselves towards locating a pen.

[Retro_Link]

What I don't understand is, in that last article they say how McLaren only pay half their drivers salaries, and Mercedes pay the other half. However when Mercedes fully join with Brawn they will pay all the drivers salaries.

So if Jenson is wanting alot more money, which must be the main reason he's now looking at McLaren, why doesn't he just wait until Mercedes partner Brawn and he'll get his big salary then!

[gaggle64]

Breaking: Mercedes take ownership of Brawn

Brawn being made an official Mecerdes team, all-German lineup likely - leaving Button likely to join Mclaren.

Edited November 16, 2009 by gaggle64

[Retro_Link]

That's Kimi fucked then!

 

T'is a sad day when world champions (Kimi, Jenson) struggle to find seats, and ordinary drivers like Heidfeld can, due to nationality!

 

Bet he can't believe his luck!

 

 

EDIT:

http://twitter.com/Jamesallenonf1

 

Jamesallenonf1

 

#f1 - Mercedes has confirmed that Brawn will be its works team next year. Cars will be Silver Arrows. McLaren will get Merc engines to 2015

So on one hand Brawns future is now 100% secure, on the other hand,

what made Brawn so appealing this year 'the sole', has now been sucked from the team!

Bye bye day-glo yellow, hello silver arrows, Mercedes F1!

 

McLaren have now got 5 years to develop and build their own competitive F1 engine.

Edited November 16, 2009 by Retro_Link

[Goron_3]

That's Kimi fucked then!

 

T'is a sad day when world champions (Kimi, Jenson) struggle to find seats, and ordinary drivers like Heidfeld can, due to nationality!

 

Bet he can't believe his luck!

 

Yup looks like Kimi is gone; he should have taken the rumoured 5mil offer Mclaren offered him instead of wanting more. Either way he's earning a lot of money this year so fair play to him lol.

 

About time Heidfeld got a quick car, he's always been one of my favourite drivers On youtube there is a video of some of the overtakes he's done over the years; some are just outstanding.

[Retro_Link]

"It's yet another example of F1's warped politics that, at a time when the sport is suffering a pandemic of average drivers, a talent such as Raikkonen is in serious danger of being consigned to early retirement."

 

Planet F1

The ONLY way I see Kimi staying in F1 now is if Mercedes REALLY want that No.1 on their car.

 

Either way it also sucks for Button... he's World Champion and yet if he stays at Mercedes he's Rosbergs No.2, if he goes to McLaren, well that's team Lewis, how will he handle that!

Edited November 16, 2009 by Retro_Link

[Will]

I doubt Kimi will be too fussed, I think he'd rather try his hand at something else now. He seems to have lost some of his thirst for F1 in the last 2 years.

 

I agree about Button, either way he's going to be in a bad position. If it were me I'd much rather be at Mercedes. He knows the team and setup and regardless of Rosberg's contract he will effectively be the No. 1 driver. At McLaren he's number 2 to a driver who knows the team and is a much better driver than him. Don't really know why he's considering it to be honest, seems a stupid stupid move. (I know it's for money but when your choices are £5m or £10m I'd rather go on where I'm more likely to win.)

[Retro_Link]

If Mercedes want German drivers, it may well be out of his hands now.

[Will]

Well yes, but if he'd have sorted it out a little quicker he wouldn't have the problem. Doesn't surprise me though, seems to be in his nature to mess up team movements.

[Retro_Link]

I think this move by Mercedes is the reason why the majority of the drivers market has yet to be decided.

Sure we're only hearing about this now, but Brawn and McLaren especially, must have known about this for a few months now, to be able to work through the Mercedes deal as far as both teams are concerned.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the reason why Kimi, Button, Rosberg etc... haven't been able to sign a deal, or confirm anything to the press. Now we'll start to see some movement and confirmations.

Edited November 16, 2009 by Retro_Link

[Will]

That's true I suppose, hasn't the Brawn/Mercedes deal been common, albeit unconfirmed, knowledge for a fair while now? I certainly had it in my head that we'd known it was coming since at least Abu Dhabi?

 

Also I think Rosberg confirmed he had a drive a little while ago too, though wouldn't give the name of the team. The news stories seem to be suggesting it will be Heidfeld replacing Button which also makes no sense, they already have one German. You'd think that the World Champion would be a bigger draw than another.

 

Whatever happens it will be interesting how it all plays out. I think Button would be an idiot to end up at McLaren, as much as Mercedes will be stupid to let him go there.

[Retro_Link]

That's true I suppose' date=' hasn't the Brawn/Mercedes deal been common, albeit unconfirmed, knowledge for a fair while now? I certainly had it in my head that we'd known it was coming since at least Abu Dhabi?

 

Also I think Rosberg confirmed he had a drive a little while ago too, though wouldn't give the name of the team. The news stories seem to be suggesting it will be Heidfeld replacing Button which also makes no sense, they already have one German. You'd think that the World Champion would be a bigger draw than another.

 

Whatever happens it will be interesting how it all plays out. I think Button would be an idiot to end up at McLaren, as much as Mercedes will be stupid to let him go there.[/quote']I agree.

 

 

Mercedes have just said an all German line-up isn't necessarily gonna happen:

 

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80175

 

Q: Can you tell us if the look and feel of the Brawn will change to be Silver Arrows next year?

 

Dieter Zetsch: The answer is yes. Without any detail so far of how this will look, we are on the way to develop that, but it will clearly be Silver Arrows.

 

Q: Could you comment on driver line-up?

 

DZ: Not yet, we are working diligently on that topic but there is no final decision there therefore I cannot comment on it.

 

Q: Will you continue to supply Mercedes engines next season to McLaren?

 

DZ: Yes, we will and not only next season but we agreed that we will do that ultimately - of course, for a price - to 2015.

 

Q: You mentioned that McLaren has agreed to buy out the shareholding - is there any other penalty clause that you have to honour?

 

DZ: There is no penalty whatsoever. There are contractual obligations that we will of course fulfil, but there is no penalty.

 

Q: There has been a lot of speculation that the new Mercedes team may field two German drivers next season?

 

DZ: What we would like to see would be the best drivers in the two seats. We certainly would not be opposed if one were German, but that is not a pre requisite which we would give the team.

 

Norbert Haug: I read some speculation and I understand this because we could not give this information earlier. But this will be an international team for Mercedes-Benz is a global player. If you look back in our history we have very often been criticised for not having a German driver, so we were always open and we took the driver decision always together with McLaren. This will be the same in the future. We want to have the best ones and we definitely do not want to have the pure German team - it's an international Silver Arrows team and we want to have the best drivers in the car.

 

Q: It seems to be general knowledge that Nico Rosberg has already been hired and that because you've hired him you might be running scared of taking on Jenson Button?

 

DZ: First of all, we have just announced that we will acquire a share in the Brawn team so we haven't done anything so far. Whatever could have been done would have been done by Ross Brawn, so with that I would like to leave the speculation of drivers.

 

Q Would you not want to have Jenson Button in the team next year?

 

NH: We are in negotiations but all the accurate information is around and we are talking. That's why we are not able to announcement driver line-up. We cannot comment on the drivers.

 

Q: Has Ross Brawn given you a commitment for a certain number of years that he will stay in change?

 

DZ: Yes, he has made a certain commitment and that was very valuable to us.

 

Q: Can you put a figure on how much this is costing Daimler?

 

DZ: No.

 

Q: What about commercial sponsors?

 

DZ: The only thing we can say is that a number of discussions are underway which are promising.

 

Q: Ross Brawn is committed - will Nick Fry remain in his current role?

 

DZ: Without going through the entire team in general I think the team has proved that it can be very competitive and successful, so from a shareholders perspective, there's no reason to change a winning team.

 

Will the team remain in the UK?

 

DZ: Yes. That is obviously a great advantage because Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines are close neighbours and this is logistically highly welcome.

 

You said there is no reason to change a winning team and Jenson Button is a key element as a winning driver. There's confusion as to why someone is asking for a salary that is smaller than some world champions are getting hasn't been snapped up?

 

DZ: It seems that you have more information than I do.

 

To continue with that, the negotiations between Button and Brawn have been with Ross, but now Mercedes is in charge that presumably changes the financial landscape - will that mean you take over the negotiations?

 

DZ: No. It's very similar to what we used to have in our partnership before. Very clearly, Ross Brawn is the team principal he runs the team together with his management team. I am involved as the responsible guy in Mercedes Motorsport, but he is the boss of the team and we have to report to Stuttgart so we are co-ordinated. So in reality if you have discussions and you are a racer you will not find most of the time five different names on the list, you will find two or three so you come to agreement. Very clearly Ross Brawn is the team principal, we are co-ordinated and that's it.

 

Norbert, when will you be able to name your drivers?

 

NH: I would rather hope next week, but don't kill me if it [takes] a couple of weeks longer.

 

What are the strategic objectives?

 

DZ: First of all the brand of motor racing goes back to motor racing. You do motor racing in order to promote your brand in the world market – there's no other platform in sport - or perhaps even beyond - with such a strong presence around the globe and in emerging markets. With the history of Mercedes we have the best opportunity to use that programme for the improvement of our brand.

 

You mentioned McLaren branching into road cars as being part of the reason – were the big scandals that the team was involved in a factor?

 

DZ: We are looking forward. We gave you the clear information, we had a very successful common history with four championships and many victories and now we continue as engine partner.

[Gizmo]

Tbh if Mercedes are after a second German driver I would take Glock over Heidfeld.

[Retro_Link]

or even a chance on Sutil.

 

 

*puts bet on Vettel be Mercedes No.1 driver in 2012*

[gaggle64]

The Guardian is reporting that Button has all-but signed a 3 year deal at Woking. Looks like the Iceman is out in the cold.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/nov/16/jenson-button-joins-mclaren-contract

[Goron_3]

Also looks like Glock has signed for the Manor team for next season. Interesting move; a quick race driver at a new team, he's gonna be in for an interesting season.

[Retro_Link]

Looks like the Iceman is out in the cold.

Also looks like Glock has signed for the Manor team for next season. Interesting move; a quick race driver at a new team, he's gonna be in for an interesting season.

Wtf, What a waste! I was almost certain he'd go to Renault, but maybe their lack of commitment atm was the problem there.

[Goron_3]

Wtf, What a waste! I was almost certain he'd go to Renault, but maybe their lack of commitment atm was the problem there.

 

I dunno i think it's more the fact that Kubica was gonna be the clear No.1 driver there.

[Retro_Link]

I dunno i think it's more the fact that Kubica was gonna be the clear No.1 driver there.

Suppose Heikki might go there actually,

 

Dunno what Glock's thinking though:

"Every driver has the same overall objective - to win the world championship one day - but the way I want to succeed is to be part of the process of building a team and to play a key role in developing the car. This is why the opportunity with Manor Grand Prix is so exciting for me.

Glock, that's just not gonna happen during your career now is it!

[gaggle64]

Rumour for Renault is Motagny - drove briefly for Super Aguri, tested for Toyota for a couple of years, finished 2nd in LeMans. And he's French.

[Gizmo]

Isn't Manor supposed to be the team thats getting a load of backing from Virgin?

[danny]

Isn't Manor supposed to be the team thats getting a load of backing from Virgin?

 

They are getting backing from virgin.Im not sure how much though in reality. I dont think it will be any more than they gave brawn. Which was probably invalubale to brawn but wasnt up there with the really big sponsers in F1

[Retro_Link]

Well Kimi's manager has confirmed it (translation):

 

RÄIKKÖNEN WILL KEEP A SABBATICAL YEAR

 

Turun Sanomat 17.11 2009 22:46:23

 

Kimi Räikkönen's F1-career is over - at least for now. Steve Robertson confirmed to Turun Sanomat from Macau that the negotiations with McLaren had ended.

 

– The options on F1-level next season were McLaren or nothing. Kimi and McLaren didn't reach a contract so therefore he will not drive in F1 next season.

 

– Kimi is still filled with the urge to drive. A sabbatical year doesn't mean anything in that sense. What is most important is that there is a place for Kimi where he can fight for the victories and the championship, Robertson assured.

 

– F1 will miss Kimi. He fought with the Ferrari-car that wasn't developed since summer in a way that only the best drivers are capable of, Robertson reminded.

 

Next year Räikkönen will at least drive some rallies and possibly Le Mans 24 which he would be very interested in winning.

 

Ferrari terminated Räikkönen's contract Sep 30, 2009. Ferrari will compensate breaking the contract with a sum of money that will keep Räikkönen next season too as one of the highest paid F1-driver.

 

Robertson says that they aren't negotiating with other F1-teams. They will turn their eyes to other challenges. We might see Räikkönen in WRC too.

Well IMO F1 has just lost it's best character, one who never bitches or moans about the team, the car, or the other drivers, he stays out of all the politics, because he's just there to race.

He's an out and out racer, and by far one of the best and naturally talented ones out there. It's a real shame.

 

F1 will be interesting for me next year. For the last 8 years, Kimi's been the reason I've been tuning in. And therefore 2010 will be the first time in a long time, I go into the season as a neutral. And especially with many other changes [no refueling, the loss of established teams, many new and perhaps uncompetitive small teams] it's gonna feel very different to me.

 

Think I'll get behind Vettel next year, but I really hope we'll see the Kimi back in the future [he's still young enough] and possibly, fingers crossed, with RedBull in 2011?

 

Now go and kick some ass in the WRC!

 

Edited November 17, 2009 by Retro_Link