Everyone considered Rubens past his zenith..until Brawn built a superior machine. If the Renault is a truly competitive car, I 'd imagine all the contenders can do a good job. Nick's a good driver that never got a decent car and since Schumi bumped him out of the Mercedes seat last year, I'd like to see him get a chance this year.
Could be right, but I thought the same about Weber until he was in an excellent machine. We'll see how he tests
And what exactly did he do with that superior machine? I like Nick and I'm happy for him to find a seat. But for Renault this is not helpful. Not that I really care. It should be the incredible Hulk or the Iceman. And yes the Iceman is past his zenith as well, but at least he was in a much higher orbit (read WDC) than Nick will ever be. I'm willing to make a longterm prognosis: Massa at Renault in 2012
I have to agree on this too, I think Heidfeld is underated. I hope he gets the seat, even if he is not Alonso that driver deserves to be on the grid way more than all those so called pilots that pay to drive. what a shame that guy didn't get a seat last year...
There you have hit a nerve with me: I said Webbo is useless for years and boy was I wrong. Nothing I can say against that argument. PS: I was equally wrong about Hakkinen.
We are past the days of when a truly great driver can make a hugely noticeable difference. Everyone with a Super License is a pretty darn good driver driver. Most of what makes the difference today is the car and how tailored to an individual driver's liking it is. I would argue that if you put every driver on the grid into the exact same car, and let them set it up to their liking, that laptimes would not be spread more than a few tenths.
I guess I should make a follow up here: What makes a great driver today is adaptability. How quickly they are able to adapt to a new car, track, set up, tires, etc will set them apart. Also, a driver's ability to adapt their driving style to match the way the car goes quickest will help them be the best.
I'm not sure if it's been posted yet or not, but Citroen has said that Kimi can back out of rallying to return to F1 if he so desires. http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-citroen-says-kimi-raikkonen-free-to-make-f1-return/
Remember Nick was also teammates with Webber at BMW Williams. Webber was suppost to be the faster driver, but Nick surprised the team and beat Webber quite a bit that year. I agree give a good car and the guy can win.
Per Autosport http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89366 No suprise here. I thought this after the crash. He has the Pirelli testing experience as well. Edit...sorry if its a repost. On holiday in Singapore and getting caught up!
I'd bet that most, if not al, new contracts have a Kubica clause. Bit of a shame even if it makes sense. I miss the old days when F1 drivers apearered in a variety of cars.
And so do I !! I am just reading Jochen Rindt's biography, and this illustrates well that era. F1 drivers also used to race F2 cars, GT, touring cars, etc... go to Indy, do the Monte Carlo Rally, do the Tasman series or the Temporada, the Nassau races, and basically jump from car to car all year round. Why are todays' drivers so 'specialised' ? Contracts, I suppose ...
I'm pretty sure Renault are looking forward to Kubica's return, with fingers crossed that it will be some time before the season's done. So the fill-in driver is only a temporary situation... Hulk may be good, with alot of potential, but Nick has the experience now.
I think it also has to do with the level at which drivers compete these days. It's nearly impossible to be diverse enough to win in multiple disciplines.
Agreed. Kimi's lack of team dedication and tendency to become bored have damaged him beyond repair. Actually he alone could turn his situation around, but at this point in life I don't think he'll do it. He's the guy with everything, and he lacks to drive to capture everything more than once apparently. Honestly, he deserved WDC in 2003 but was let down by dodgy reliability. Perhaps he would have faded away sooner if he had won back then? I personally like Kimi and would like to see him return and prove us all wrong, showing that brilliance he had in the early-mid 2000s.
What SRT Mike and me bothers the most about Kimi is that he didn't just totally destroy Massa. He had the talent to do so, but chose the bottle instead. He made Massa look better than he really was.
Heidi seems to be doing a good job at the moment. I hope he gets the race seat. It would be great to see him win at least 1 race in his career..
Brundle...."Personally, I'd crowbar Nico from Force India". Can't disagree with MB, although Nick seems to have put a lock on it with his testing times. Nico's manager stated he wouldn't contact Renault, they'd have to make the first move. Other than putting blocks on the pedals, Seinfeld in the cockpit is far less hassle. Petrov has to be breathing a sigh of relief. Last thing he needs is a temporary teammate who entered F1 the same year climbing in and stomping his times....
