It's summer break once again and while the F1 paddock is calm and quiet on the outside, a lot of chaos is brewing under the surface. Sure, teams are busy working on improvements to their cars for the second half of the season but the biggest buzz is around the transfer negotiations.
The driver changes for next season got stirred up by Mark Webber's announcement that he is set to leave Red Bull Racing and Formula One altogether at the end of the season. This leaves the seat open for the future team mate of reigning World Champion and current championship leader Sebastian Vettel. It's one of the most sought-after seats on the grid because of the Redbull's recent success however, rumored favoritism in the team which allegedly hurt the team's relationship with Webber is a big factor to consider in choosing a team mate. Where's Rubens Barrichello when you need him?
Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen is one of the top contenders for the Red Bull seat due to his stellar performance this year so far. He currently sits in second place in the World Championship race 38 points behind Vettel. However, because of the same success, Lotus is keen on keeping him in the team. Obviously Red Bull can afford a more lucrative package for Kimi but he's been known to make odd decisions in his career. Rumors also exploded after the Hungarian GP that Ferrari have offered Kimi his seat back in the team where he won his lone world title. The logical explanation would be becaus ethey finally woke up and realized that Massa is a dead weight right? But no, the seat to be vacated in Ferrari is allegedly that of Fernando Alonso due to recent tensions brought about by the car's lack of performance.
This brings forward the status of Lotus' lineup for next season. With Raikkonen potentially leaving, this leaves a spot open. It's also well known that Romain Grosjean is in danger of losing his job after his never ending series of mishaps and penalties.
Recent success in the Mercedes team means that they will likely retain both drivers for next year. The team has already won three races this year and with his win in Hungary, Lewis Hamilton in now only 9 points behind the struggling Fernando Alonso in the standings. It's starting to look very good for Lewis Hamilton who decided this season to ditch McLaren whose top driver Jenson Button is languishing in 9th place and the other, Sergio Perez is falling off the cliff way down at 12th.
In the lower half of the grid, it's a trial and error circus with names just changing around each season just as each team changes names and livery based on which sponsor is trying to keep in afloat. Once in a while a new star stands out and is lucky enough to be noticed by one of the midfield teams. The bigger teams also use the smaller teams to test out their drivers which are under development. When the dust clears after this years' shake up, who do you want to find in which seat?
The driver changes for next season got stirred up by Mark Webber's announcement that he is set to leave Red Bull Racing and Formula One altogether at the end of the season. This leaves the seat open for the future team mate of reigning World Champion and current championship leader Sebastian Vettel. It's one of the most sought-after seats on the grid because of the Redbull's recent success however, rumored favoritism in the team which allegedly hurt the team's relationship with Webber is a big factor to consider in choosing a team mate. Where's Rubens Barrichello when you need him?
Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen is one of the top contenders for the Red Bull seat due to his stellar performance this year so far. He currently sits in second place in the World Championship race 38 points behind Vettel. However, because of the same success, Lotus is keen on keeping him in the team. Obviously Red Bull can afford a more lucrative package for Kimi but he's been known to make odd decisions in his career. Rumors also exploded after the Hungarian GP that Ferrari have offered Kimi his seat back in the team where he won his lone world title. The logical explanation would be becaus ethey finally woke up and realized that Massa is a dead weight right? But no, the seat to be vacated in Ferrari is allegedly that of Fernando Alonso due to recent tensions brought about by the car's lack of performance.
This brings forward the status of Lotus' lineup for next season. With Raikkonen potentially leaving, this leaves a spot open. It's also well known that Romain Grosjean is in danger of losing his job after his never ending series of mishaps and penalties.
Recent success in the Mercedes team means that they will likely retain both drivers for next year. The team has already won three races this year and with his win in Hungary, Lewis Hamilton in now only 9 points behind the struggling Fernando Alonso in the standings. It's starting to look very good for Lewis Hamilton who decided this season to ditch McLaren whose top driver Jenson Button is languishing in 9th place and the other, Sergio Perez is falling off the cliff way down at 12th.
In the lower half of the grid, it's a trial and error circus with names just changing around each season just as each team changes names and livery based on which sponsor is trying to keep in afloat. Once in a while a new star stands out and is lucky enough to be noticed by one of the midfield teams. The bigger teams also use the smaller teams to test out their drivers which are under development. When the dust clears after this years' shake up, who do you want to find in which seat?
