planetf1.com

I'm going to go out on a limb and make a: Marussia and Toro Roso wont be on the grid in 2014.

I'm going to say Caterham and STR! I don't think Mallya will stick around in F1 much longer either if I'm honest, I can see Force India bowing out/being sold by 2015.

So Williams got lucky or they knew what they had with Maldonado after his rookie season so could afford to let go Barrichello?

I'd say probably more luck than anything (though honestly I'm not that familiar with Maldonado's pre-F1 history to know if he came to F1 with a good bit of success at lower levels). But the 2011 Williams was such a dog that I'd say it for sure would have hidden any talent that Maldonado had regardless of whether Williams felt he had some real skill.

I'm not sure of the timing of when decisions were made, but at the end of 2011 there was question about whether Maldonado would lose his backing or not as the Venezuelan congress was looking into whether Chavez overstepped his authority in committing that sponsorship money.

So I'm not sure if Senna was brought in when that issue was still up in the air, and his sponsorship dollars were Williams' security blanket in case PDVSA pulled out or not, or if it was a case of his money being additional dollars on top of that.

I really don't see Rubens as being an either Rubens or Pastor choice for 2012. He had a very good career, but was largely filling space on the grid by 2011.

I think the danger for a team is getting 2 veteran pay drivers who are strictly mediocre and content to be part of the big midfield crowd if the car is good enough to get them into that crowd and if not enjoy the ride and just try to better their teammate.

Well Maldonado's career seemed to be try, try, try again and eventually you will succeed, nothing much was expected of him in F1 but who was to know?

Nope. Just 2. We've already lost HRT. There'll be 22 cars on the 2013 grid.

If two more teams dropped out we'd be down to 18, below the 20 the Concorde Agreement stipulates for 2 car teams.

I think the changes they made in Engineering had more to do with the 2012 car's success than anything else.

Helped by the sponsors the drivers brought to the team?

That would mainly impact this year. By the time drivers have been confirmed, the car is already very much in development. Williams had a huge staff restructuring, and dont forget that Toto Wolff became a lot more involved as Frank take a step back. Money alone does not fix the situation Williams was in.

But it would help with the development of the car throughout the season

Depends how much funding was being drip fed into the team month by month. Maldonado's cash from the 2011 was more likely to go towards the 2012 car though. Teams set out their budget for the year ahead months in advance. Williams probably wanted a more secure future for the following season.

I sort of forgot that about Maldonado's money from 2011 going into the 2012 car, we can assume then that the 2013 Williams will be reasonably well funded

Talking of empty spots, there's a completely empty kart from BS:
http://sphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-a ... 0940_o.jpg


Strange, it was the only one without any sign of sponsor or livrery, look at Bianchi:

http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-a ... 4862_o.jpg

Could just be that he's being kept on as test driver for a second season.

You'd have thought so. They had a strong 2012 financially, and moved up a place in the constructors which gives them another financial boost. Plus they have the deal with Bottas, who must be bringing a fair amount of cash to the team.

Caterham are about to announce line up today or tomorrow, coincidence is it that senna said he would be returning to Europe to finalize his 2013 plans today??

Source?
Aniway, i've read that:

http://f1team.leiaja.com/ainda-sem-equi ... z-em-2013/

Seems that also Force India option is still open for him.

To be honest I'd rather have Caterham and Marussia than third cars, the latter just seems like a can of worms waiting to be opened with regards to on-track shenanigans for team orders. Especially if only two cars counted for the WCC. And if all counted then the smaller teams would have basically no chance at all to work their way up to getting more prize money.

That said, I can't pretend I'm hugely excited by any of these rumoured drivers. Senna is like a cat with 9 lives if he manages to get on the grid again.

The Bottas/BS situation tells me that Williams thought this was going to be a rebuliding year, give Bottas F1 mileage in a low pressure environment, with the view of him racing alongside Maldonado in 2013, BS was there to give the team extra sponsorship money and for him to extend his Grand Prix career and put himself in the shop window for 2013, he had agree to the 15 missed FP1's cos it was either that or no F1 drive. Williams were expecting an improvement but I think they were shocked with how good the car was, if they knew it was so good, they probably would have dealt with the second driver situation a bit different.

true but i would like him to have 1 or 2 seasons in a team where he is settled and has fair treatment if he cant or hasn't after that then fully agree that he had his chance.

A new empty spot appears!
Timo Glock really seems to have broke his 3 years contract with Marussia, leaving Chilton alone.

Who is gonna fill that seat?

Way back for Kovalainen?

I am now hoping Force India and Caterham go for rookies. From the current crop of experienced drivers still hoping for a seat the only one I would miss is Kobayashi. Buemi and Alguersuari would be my reserves since I think they have some potential.

I wouldn't miss the bunch of Kovalainen, Glock, Petrov, Bruno Senna, Sutil, De La Rosa, Karthikeyan and Barrichello. I think they had their fair share of chances.

I am now hoping Force India and Caterham go for rookies.

Caterham removed this afternoon "russian elicopters" sponsorship from the website.

I bet Petrov has already signed for Marussia.

Bruno sennas press office has said the maintenance of his website was already planned and isn't in connection to Caterham removing petrov's sponsors from their site, they claim he is in the uk on personal matters.

Well they are hardly going to say "you know what...chocolate fudge cake it, we admit it....he's got a contract with Caterham....but please dont tell anyone yet!" are they