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That's pretty shitty for Alguersuari, damn Like that guy.

Maybe for HRT but I'm not sure he has enough money compared to Petrov... Or Catheram instead of Trulli ?

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Next Red Bull young driver is Lewis Williamson. Big 2012 for him in FR3.5 then.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

ditching one of them would make sense to me but ditching them both and replace them with rookies?? (can't really call Riccardio seasoned) seems really dumb to me.

1 rookie + 1 seasoned driver seems much more logical to me.

Not sure if Williamson has got what it takes to end up in F1. He's allready 21 an has never ended higher than 4th in any chamionship.

First in line is Carlos Sainz Jr to me. But we'll have to wait a couple of years untill he'll be ready.

But why replace Webber with Vergne/Ricciardo if you have the Raikkonen-Renault-RedBull-connection?

Kimi tootling around in 13th every weekend would put paid to that plan.

Not saying it will happen, but he's going to have to shake off the rust very quickly. More quickly than Michael did, at any rate.

Carlos Jr. will almost certainly also be racing in FR3.5 next year.

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Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

Well it's cool to see 2 drivers that I rate very highly getting a shot in F1. A little harsh on Buemi and Algie though. I thought both had improved nicely this season. Buemi was pretty unlucky with some car failures in good positions, but oh well.

I have no idea how Helmut Marko can decide that a 21 year old driver, with potentially at least 10-15 years in F1 ahead of him, isn't good enough, especially when he's in very good form at the moment

I don't see how either of them are going to do any better than Jaime would have done. That's a marketing decision, not a driving one. But that's Red Bull for you - they'd drop Vettel in an instant if they could get someone better. Welcome to 21st century disposable F1

Too much, too young.

Red Bull would not drop Vettel, don't exaggerate. But you have to question STR's development of drivers. Too much pressure? Because so far their hit rate has been pretty low if you look at the list of 'failures'. Yes Scott Speed sucked, but while Sebastien Buemi was average, Jaime Alguersuari was improving. He is 21 for god sake. No-one thought Vettel was special until Valencia 2008 when according to Ascanelli, something clicked. What if that hadn't happened for Jaime yet? Most F1 drivers don't even start until they're Jaime's age. Its a shame.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Anyway, back to the Silly Season:

HRT may want Alguersuari for the Spanish connection. Repsol sponsorship possible.
Petrov could take his roubles to Caterham.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Very poor decision by STR imo. They should've kept Jaime. Why have 2 rookies? Sounds stupid to me.

I hope Alg can find a seat: I didn't like him at first, but this year has improved a lot. I think he was way more efficient than Buemi in the second half of the season.
So this news kind of leaves me with mixed feelings: Ricciardo and Vergne look very promising, but Red Bull showed that you can't be just "promising", you have to be a star right from the beginning or you can go home. It's unfair what they did with Alg - Buemi maybe wasn't that great.

Maybe we need pre-qualifying? So many drivers around...

But not with different teams, like this:

The top 5 teams field two cars every race.

The bottom 7 teams field three cars and they have a separate session. The top 2 from every team go through to qualifying. That way the drivers stay in F1 but we still have 24 racing.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Oh they would - the organisation is greater than the individual here. These Red Bull young drivers are selling their souls to the devil. Ultimately, Red Bull aren't doing this for charity or any wider purpose - the whole thing is, and has never been more than, a giant sponsorship campaign to sell more fizzy drinks. The drivers they've always picked have as much been down to image as actual talent - the long-haired New Zealander, the Austrian bloke with the earring, the mouthy America, the Italian with a moustache. They're not the only team that does it, by any means, but they seem to be the most ruthless and prioritise image more than, say, the car manufacturers

Vettel may be one of the best drivers out there who has been loyal to Red Bull throughout his career, but if they find someone who is as good as him a few years down the line, and think they'll sell more drinks from having someone new and fresh in there, Vettel will be turfed out. It's the same rationale behind this decision they've announced today - they're not going to get anything more out of these 2 drivers than the 2011 pair but it gets them headlines and publicity, both now and through next season

It all seems particularly baffling because Webber still has a drive, despite being totally useless this year - I reckon Alguersuari would do a better job there than he did. And yet it's the 21 year old hotshot who's turfed out and the 200 year old veteran who needed a win handed to him on a plate who gets yet another year to do fuck all

That's exactly what I think about this.
I was pretty sure all the discussions about Vergne or Ricciardo in a STR would be totally useful, because both Alguersuari and (a bit less) Buemi did a good job this year, and would get both a seat for 2012. I don't like -the man- Alguersuari, but I have been very impressed by -the driver- Alguersuari. IMO, he did a very good job during the second half of the season, qualifying several times in Q3 or near of it.

We can think STR fired Buemi and Alguersuari for marketing reasons, as James B said, and not for bad results, but it's quite a odd decision to hire two rookies at the same moment. Even if Vergne and Ricciardo are great drivers, I wonder how so unexperimented drivers would be able to lead a F1 team and their 300 workers. I hope for them they are good friend with the Pressure!

The sad thing is that the STR announce came so late in the season, now all of the seats are taken. I hope Toro Rosso's boss already told Alguersuari and Buemi to find another way for their career for a few weeks (what would explain why Alguersuari said he was thinking about leaving F1 if he doesn't get a good place).

I agree with most of that, but deals are always done to do with what you're selling. Its why Massa was crucial to Ferrari as they needed a South American selling tool.

Vettel will be at Ferrari by the time anyone challenges him anyway.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Would you describe yourself as a 'recovering' Mark Webber fan?

Vettel will end the relationship with Red Bull long before Red Bull find anyone good enough to match him, let alone beat him.

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Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

I get the feeling that this Red Bull/Toro Rosso situation will remain static for a few seasons now. Vergne/Ricciardo will drive STR forwards, Webber as the dutiful Numero Duo to Sebastian.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

What will happen now is Red Bull will measure the performances of JKV and Ricciardo head to head and the better of the two will replace Webber in 2013.

lol, yeah. He isn't the same Mark Webber that I started supporting a few years ago so fuck him