Kimi’s going to be back in F1 next year. Just hope that Renault can deliver him a decent car and that Kubica is back on top form before too long.

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

What a fantastic line up there’d be at the top of the grid – Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton, Button, Raikkonen, Kubica and even Webber and Massa if they can turn things round

Perhaps he needs a new Yacht ? I wonder if he’ll be more motivated than his last Ferrari year ?

Legend!

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3JWFEK5q88[/video]

Damn shame for Senna though – he seemed to be holding his own.

i hope this is the start of something great from Lotus!

By all accounts part of the reason was indeed that he had been burning through his money a bit quickly but I can see that he’d got a bit bored of F1 and that coincided with being at Ferrari, a team to which he was clearly not suited. A couple of years off and hopefully we’ll see the old Kimi back on top form.

He needs to have a word with himself about his motivation at times though

He’s missed loads of long haul rally rounds, allegedly because he can’t be bothered with the travelling

Be good to get his ‘who gives a shit’ attitude back to the paddock though

Whose going to Williams then, though Kimi was having Rubens drive 😕

Sutil

Thing is he was doing rally and nascar for fun alone so I can see why he couldn’t be bothered with excessive travel, etc.

Knew Kimi was testing for Williams thought it was a done deal, hmmm

Is he the ex rally driver then ?

Excellent.

Hope it lifts what is really just a bit of a precession.

New engine for Williams next year and the new car will be alot better too so should see what Pastor can actually do when not hampered by a ‘comprimised’ car

Is he the ex rally driver then ?

recently, yes
before that a F1 world champ

He’s a bona fide nutter 🙂

Have a look at his quali lap at Spa in 02 – he never even lifted through Eau Rouge and Raidillion
Later said that he knew where any wreckage would be 😯

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el7H859G4ug[/video]

Where’d you get Sutil as Williams driver next year then Jota?

Kimi is ace.

New engine for Williams next year and the new car will be alot better too so should see what Pastor can actually do when not hampered by a ‘comprimised’ car

Hopefully – I hate seeing the once great Williams team doing so badly now – but no guarantees really and they could just as easily find themselves falling behind Caterham next year… As for Maldonado, he strikes me as a classic pay driver. I don’t expect Williams would be running him if they could afford not to…

@Clubber, don’t think so, some major stuff going on with the car as well as ditching the Cosworth engine for a Renault

@Jota just checked with a ‘friend’ Sutil is not confirmed as yet.

As I said, I really hope so but that’s been the story from Williams for the last 5+ years. I know they’ve had a major shakeup of management now but that’s only part of turning it around. I suspect it may take more than one season.

LoCo

just lots of rumours really but they make even more sense now

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/11/is-sutil-the-force-india-driver-looking-for-a-seat-elsewhere/

I’m pretty sure they’ll be running in the top ten next year not consistantly being 14/15th, plus they better sort me hospitality at the british GP this year 8)

@Jota Sutil and another driver that tested are in the running 😉

To be consistently top 10 will require them to be better than at least one of:
– Red Bull
– McLaren
– Ferrari
– Renault
– Mercedes

(Not to mention potentially Force India)

I’m not convinced. I’d love to be wrong though.

They could go with Bottas but to run 2 rookies would be suicide IMO

Yep totally need a driver that can give proper feedback, who knows, will update you if I hear anything interesting

I also reckon that Red Bull will pay Lotus [Caterham] to take D’Ambrosio too

I reckon that Trulli’s time at Caterham may well not have that long to go…

Would be nice to see Senna earn himself a seat in a better car next year too.

Isn’t there somebody on here that works at Williams. I’m sure there is, can’t remember his username now tho.

Great tweet from Alex Wurz – basically says

Kimi + Petrov @ Lotus in 2011

Debriefings will be short 😀

@ I ache, yes, not quite sure what he does though, spanner i think

Would be nice to see Senna earn himself a seat in a better car next year too.

Better than the Renault? so that’s one of the top 4? Not going to happen really

They’re all looking for the next Vettel or Hamilton now
If you weren’t exceptional in 2 seasons, you better find some money for a drive in the lower orders

I also reckon that Red Bull will pay Lotus [Caterham] to take D’Ambrosio too

Sorry I meant Ricciardo

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GSLkzuMpRjM#![/video]

Meh. Always thought he was a modern Jacques Villeneuve – more intent on making money and whinging than winning races.

I was glad he quit F1.

Disagree with that though I think they’re similar in other ways. They love racing. They both hated all the politics, advertising and so on that goes with F1 though. By all accounts Kimi is the life and soul of the party outside the corporate environment and that does indeed take some cash to fund. I don’t think money’s the driver, really just that he wants to enjoy himself. As for whinging, I don’t really recall that much of Kimi and besides, I think if you get sucked into the media portrayal of people, then they all tend to look whingy when things aren’t going well – eg:

Journo – what’s going wrong for you this season?

Sportsperson – well it’s not really all that bad but I’ve been struggling with XXXX and I’m pretty frustrated that I’m not doing as well as I hoped.

Headline – XXXX blasts team/etc for frustrating season

Afterall, “XXXX says that things are ok really” wouldn’t really be a very effective headline in selling papers/advertising/etc 🙂

Woot! Woot! Better than a Williams drive. Let moneybags have his seat there.

Lets see if Kimi’s got his hunger back or……did he really drop off a talent cliff in his last season in F1?

Would rather see Kimi return than Schumacher. Still takes a seat away from someone who might be an up and coming though, which is a bit of a shame.

Still takes a seat away from someone who might be an up and coming though

Not sure it does really

It’s obvious that Kubica isn’t going to be back for the start of the season so they needed to fill that seat and I can’t imagine they’d want to have 2 young guns again next season.

Any driver who enters and wins a longdistance snowmobile race under the pseudonym james hunt is ok by me. Glad to see him back in F1.

wish he’d bloody cheer up!

rockfield, wasnt that a powerboat race?