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Post by schumi on Jul 20, 2007 6:13:53 GMT
I know it's a bit early but as drivers are already being confirmed it makes sense to start this now before I forget it all, so I'll update it as and when drivers are announced.
So far we have:
Ferrari 1 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) 2 Felipe Massa (BR)
BMW Sauber 3 Nick Heidfeld (D) 4 Robert Kubica (PL)
Renault 5 Fernando Alonso (E) 6 Nelson Piquet (BR)
Williams Toyota 7 Nico Rosberg (D) 8 Kazuki Nakajima (J)
Red Bull Renault 9 David Coulthard (GB) 10 Mark Webber (AUS)
Toyota 11 Jarno Trulli (I) 12 Timo Glock (D)
STR Ferrari 14 Sebastien Bourdais (F) 15 Sebastian Vettel (D)
Honda 16 Jenson Button (GB) 17 Rubens Barrichello (BR)
Super Aguri Honda 18 Takuma Sato (J) 19 Anthony Davidson (GB)
Force India 20 Adrian Sutil (D) 21 Giancarlo Fisichella (I)
McLaren Mercedes 22 Lewis Hamilton (GB) 23 Heikki Kovalainen (FIN)
Two teams already electing to stick with their current line-up but are they going to fall foul of "comfortable" syndrome? I'd say Jenson needs to get out of that team or risk disappearing into the depths of obscurity, but given the trouble he had getting out of his Williams contract you could forgive him for wanting to give all that a miss.
There was some doubt about whether Ralf Schumacher would see out this season, let alone be here for the next, but that seems to have resolved itself with some better performances recently, and he seems set to drive for at least one more year, though not necessarily with Toyota.
It'll be interesting to see what happens with the top two teams - Ferrari and McLaren. Out of all the drivers, I'm least sure about Kimi's commitment, but I don't doubt McLaren will want to hold on to Lewis. And I'm sure he'll be happy to stay.
I don't think there will be any major shocks. Formula One seems to be going through a lull - Stepneygate excepted, though even that hasn't been huge news unless you follow it through the relevant websites. Any thoughts?
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Post by donsking on Jul 20, 2007 20:40:05 GMT
Continuity is often a good thing and I think RBR have got a decent pair of drivers; won't set the World alight, but should be able to rack up a few points without too much drama.
As for Button, I reckon he needs his bumps read, it must be obvious there's something drastically wrong in that team; with the budget they have available, it's taking them far too long to get any pace from the car, which either suggests the test team are duffers, the team aren't listening to them or their engineers need taking outside and shooting.
As I've said before, whenever I see him interviewed, whether it's before the race, after, or on a subject not even related to him or his team, everything about him shouts despondancy; he's got his head down before he gets in the car and that isn't helping.
Jenson is in a career cul-de-sac at the moment, he needs new challenges to sharpen him up and get some of the fight back in to him, unless he knows something we don't, like Honda have already bought this year's Ferraris!.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2007 8:49:47 GMT
I dont think Jenson can get out of that contract without it costing him an awful lot of money, after all given his previous actions dont you think Honda would want a water tight deal?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2007 22:43:12 GMT
I think Jensen should stay at Honda and try to improve things from within.
He jumped from a poor Williams (think it was them) to a supposedly better team who are now struggling. Where would he go to?
If Honda are really serious about winning then Button should stay at Honda.
Really don't understand the underachievement at Honda and Toyota with their alleged spending power. Something is definitely wrong at those two teams.
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Post by donsking on Aug 6, 2007 23:23:24 GMT
Button is in big trouble with his career if Honda don't pull out all the stops next year.
It will be his fifth year with the team, during which time he has had one solitary win and a generally rubbish car, and this from a driver who entered F1 with as much hype as Lewis Hamilton.
I can only imagine that either Honda was his only option for 2008, or they offered him a deal that he couldn't refuse, because I can see no other reason why he would want to stay.
He must be kicking himself for pressing Honda to buy his contract from Williams, he would've been much off being there for the past couple of seasons, and it would've served his career better too.
Unless something dramatic happens next season, he will disappear into obscurity, as sure as eggs are eggs.
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Post by Genghis on Aug 7, 2007 0:43:13 GMT
If I were Jenson Button, I would be on the phone to Ron Dennis right now... there could be a vacancy at McLaren in 2008 All the best Rob
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2007 9:02:39 GMT
alonso to renault,hamilton to ferrari
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2007 10:45:25 GMT
I notice on the BBC website Nigel Mansell is quite scathing about Jenson Button. I have to say that I quite agree with him, he has reached his level and cannot see any further progress for him. fog
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Post by schumi on Aug 8, 2007 10:49:43 GMT
Mansell is whinging all over the place lately. Well, I say lately but there's nothing new there. He's had a go about McLaren this week too, as has Damon Hill who, it has to be said, gave pretty poor commentary during the race. Made James Allen look good even.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2007 13:11:10 GMT
Button is in big trouble with his career if Honda don't pull out all the stops next year. He's turning into the next David Coulthard - a perenial middle-of-the-gridder.
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Post by donsking on Aug 8, 2007 13:22:59 GMT
Button is in big trouble with his career if Honda don't pull out all the stops next year. He's turning into the next David Coulthard - a perenial middle-of-the-gridder. At the moment, he's not even looking that good!
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Post by donsking on Aug 8, 2007 13:38:25 GMT
Mansell is whinging all over the place lately. Well, I say lately but there's nothing new there. He's had a go about McLaren this week too, as has Damon Hill who, it has to be said, gave pretty poor commentary during the race. Made James Allen look good even. Mansell has never had much good to say about McLaren, particularly after the disaster of the who-ate-all-the-pies special they threw together for him 1995. Shame about Damon, but kinda bears out what I've always said about live commentary, particularly when trying to be a bit defensive about the job that Tony Millard does; take an ordinarily highly articulate and measured individual, put a microphone in his hand and ask him to talk for two hours, and suddenly you've got a gibbering idiot.
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Post by Genghis on Aug 8, 2007 15:15:57 GMT
Mansell is whinging all over the place lately. Well, I say lately but there's nothing new there. He's had a go about McLaren this week too, as has Damon Hill who, it has to be said, gave pretty poor commentary during the race. Made James Allen look good even. Balderdash. Damon Hill gave a great commentary. Brundle's OK, but Damon was a level up, just like on the racetrack. Get rid of Allen. Have Brundle doing his job, and Damon as the expert. That would work. All the best Rob P.S. Mansell has always whinged. Every man has to have his achilles' heel and Mansell's occurs when he opens his mouth. Forget the crap he comes out with, and just remember the best overtaker I've seen in F1.
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Post by Genghis on Aug 8, 2007 15:22:24 GMT
I notice on the BBC website Nigel Mansell is quite scathing about Jenson Button. I have to say that I quite agree with him, he has reached his level and cannot see any further progress for him. fog In contrast, Damon Hill put up a spirited defence of Button during Saturday's qualifying - saying that Honda were wasting Jenson's talent. I tend to agree with Damon. Jenson isn't as good as the knob James Allen tried to make us believe last season, but here's nowhere as bad as some on here are claiming either. Give him a competitive motorcar and he could win races, ala Coulthard. As for knocking Coulthard, the guy has won 13 (?) F1 races, and is the highest-ever British F1 points scorer. That's not a bad record, if you ask me. If Jenson could match that, he's done well. Not everyone can be World Champion. Remember Jean Alesi only won 1 race, Gerhard Berger only 10 races, etc. All the best Rob
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2007 15:54:51 GMT
As for knocking Coulthard, the guy has won 13 (?) F1 races, and is the highest-ever British F1 points scorer. That's not a bad record, if you ask me. It's not a bad record, but he's been in F1 for years, and there are more GPs now than there were in the past. I think my point was that he's never really fulfilled his potential, and seems to have gradually graduated downwards to mediocre teams. Button seems to be heading the same way.
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