2012 FIA Formula 1 World Championship

2011 is over! We need a new thread for the new season, don't we..

First bit of news... Bit of a shock too, Lotus (as in 2012 Lotus, not Caterham) sign one Mr Kimi L. Raikonen.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/96573

Aussie, Daniel Ricciardo moves ever so slightly up the ranks with a move to Caterham being a possibility.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/96560

Interesting, they might wind up with more talent than if Kubica came back.

Sadly that looks to be the end for Senna then, they'll keep Petrov for the dosh he'll bring in.

With Genii bringing in all that new cash, is a pay driver even LRGP's priority now?

One would hope not but....

I'd pick Grosjean over Senna or Petrov. He was usually only about 1/2 second off Alonso in that terrible 2009 Renault, which is not bad given his experience was all of 7 races.

Money money money is the new F1 driver talent how much you can bring in.

RAIKKONEN'S BACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Cmon Lotus!

Just saw the races the BBC are showing, looks like I'm gonna watch 5 max! (Monaco, Britain, Belgium, Singapore, Brazil!

It's all change at Torro Rosso for 2012 with the team dispatching their current drivers in favour of Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Verne.
It's the first time since 2005 that the team has had an all new line up and also means that there are three French drivers on the grid so far for next year. The highest number in years.

In other news, Caterham F1 announced their new logo and subtle changes to their factory and Lotus (Renault) have of course announced their all new line up too with Kimi and Romain taking over from Vitaly and Bruno.

Yeah Matt, couldn't believe it!! I thought at least one of the two STR drivers would have kept their seat! (Alguersuari if anything, Buemi has had 3 seasons now of no improvements). What a shocker. Looks like those two will have a lot to prove in a good midfield car.

Jean-Eric is pretty good. But then so is Ricciardo. I would have liked to have seen Wickens move up into a 3rd driver role by now as well but guess he still has plenty of time to show what he can do.
His performance in F3.5 at Silverstone was utterly dominant.
Daniel has shown he can match Liuzzi and in a better car he ought to be able to pull out some decent perfomances. They're both bloody talented guys. I think the only newby I'm unsure of is Pic. Don't know enough about him but it'll be interesting to see his progression.

The two STR drivers deserved to keep their seats. When their car was competitive at the end of the season they showed that they could hold their own on the track.

Surely that means Alguersuari is going to HRT?

Firstly, don't call me Surely, and secondly: Well, not entirely. Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is heading to HRT, and Tonio Luizzi will most definitely keep his seat. Looks like DJ Squire and Buemi are without drives.

Jaime deserves better.

buemi has shown 0 improvement.

i'm glad jaime has something to fall back on. i was a fan of his since he entered.

just seems like a chill dude.

I actually rather enjoyed his single.

Just sayin'

Massive shame for Jaime, came into F1 as a complete rookie mid-way through 09 didn't impress for a while had a few decent spells in 2010 and in 2011 i thought he was fantastic from the euro leg to the end of the season very impressive some great drives and overtakes from the guy, he proved himself this season and was deserving of a seat for 2011.

But Torro Rosso's a way for rookie drivers to enter the sport and i guess Buemi and Jaime now no longer fall under that catagory, i hope Jaime gets a seat for 2012 and hopefully not a HRT i'd love to see him at Caterham along side Heikki that'd be great for him!

lfcnicklfc wrote:
But Torro Rosso's a way for rookie drivers to enter the sport

No, F1 isn't a sport, the BBC say this all the time. Stop now please.

It's like saying ''so and so have been promoted into the sport of the English Premier League.''

Just sayin'

nickyf1 wrote:

lfcnicklfc wrote:
But Torro Rosso's a way for rookie drivers to enter the sport

No, F1 isn't a sport, the BBC say this all the time. Stop now please.

It's like saying ''so and so have been promoted into the sport of the English Premier League.''

Just sayin'

"However, one has to remember that when Scuderia Toro Rosso was established in 2005, it was done so with the intention of providing a first step into Formula 1 for the youngsters in the Red Bull Junior Driver programme. It is therefore part of the team’s culture to change its driver line-up from time to time in order to achieve this goal."

Quote from Franz Tost - Team Principal

that's not the part he's disagreeing with you about.

Reports that Force India have delayed their driver annoucement for 2012, reports that a well funded Russian could be the cause of this delay...

Petrov could go to Williams they need the money more

Yes, but Force India will still want that money and that driver. Williams is one of their rival teams.

Seeing as Nico Hulkenberg was lined up for a Force India drive, and Petrov is now in contention for the Force India drive, it could go either way. We'll either see Nico at Williams and Petrov at Force India, or vice versa.

I can't see Hulkenberg going back to Williams, not after they dumped him last year.