Alonso in the mix for Red Bull drive

According to some F1 news sources, Raikkonen's been offered a Ferrari drive. The plot thickens!

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

That's a strange one seeing that only 4 years ago Ferrari actually paid Kimi not to drive for them.

I'd thought that the relationship between Kimi and Ferrari had ended less than acrimoniously too.

It strikes me as Ferrari threatening Alonso

In a similar vein to why Red Bull have brought Alonso into the situation, to pressure Kimi's managers.

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Races: 163 - Wins: 23 - Pole Positions: 24 - Fastest Laps: 22
Season 9: Constructors' Champions

Kimi going back to Ferrari would be an actual LOL.
Still, Alonso going to RedBull and Kimi taking his place at Ferrari would be an epic prospect - and it's an outside possibility too.
What it also means is that Massa should keep his seat for a while longer. With uncertainty over who'll be in one car they'll want a safe pair of hands for the other one - and Felipe is exactly that.

Ooh, I love an intriguing silly season - and this is already the best one for years!

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I don't see Kimi returning to Ferrari, partly because they tired of his "plug n play" nature but mostly because they are yet to halt their gradual decline, and that wouldn't interest Kimi. He's in a good place at "Lotus" who seem to get him (if not not pay him on time) and think the only team he'd jump to is Red Bull for the Newey factor, yet at "Lotus" Kimi is effectively lead driver, he wouldn't be at Red Bull, Marko would see to that

I could see Alonso at "Lotus" actually, maybe not alongside Kimi, but he does know the Enstone culture inside out.

Alonso to Red Bull seems like the biggest non-story of the year to me.

His manager was probably discussing Sainz Jr, as has been mentioned already, and as Alonso has become more critical of Ferrari's performance, his manager chatting with other team managers is a little message to the media and his own Ferrari team that he could go elsewhere if they don't pull their fingers out, it's just publicity tricks. Face it, Alonso has been the main factor in getting the results for Ferrari these past few years. With 2 drivers of Massa's skill, they wouldn't have been in the running for any of the titles Alonso was contending. Montezemolo might be trying to remove some of Alonso's "power" and leverage by telling him off in public, but he has to accept they are lucky to have his talent driving their frankly disappointing car. How many times does he have to drive at ten-tenths just to get a podium, while Vettel romps to wins with little or no effort? (ok, recently he's had it tougher, but you get my point)

I saw the rumour about Kimi returning to Ferrari in tonight's Sky Mid-week F1 report. And i'm sure Kimi said himself in an interview during a race weekend that he enjoyed his time at Ferrari and they departed on good terms. I can't imagine there would be any acrimony or hard feelings between them if he was getting $25million not to drive the 2010 season.

I doubt Alonso would want to go to Red Bull while Seb was there, given it's Seb's team and he is very much the favoured son. Alonso was burnt once already with McLaren, so why would he leave "his" Ferrari team?

and I thought it was telling of Vettel to say he preferred Kimi. we know they're good friends off-track, but it's very unusual for any driver to say they don't want a particular driver (Alonso) to be their teammate. whenever any driver is asked if they'd like driver x to be their teammate they always say "I don't care who it is", even if privately they have a preference. it could be viewed as a "fear" of Alonso.

to me, Kimi in Red Bull would be great. he fits the brand and he'll certainly push Vettel, and we'll see how good Seb is with a top notch driver in the same car. I can't help feel that Ricciardo alongside him would be awestruck and an easy walkover for Vettel, probably gifting him another title if the car is competitive.

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RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael

For me, Perez to Ferrari.
Kimi to Mclaren
Alonso to RedBull
Hulk to lead Ferrari
Bianchi to Lotus.

Will never, ever, ever happen.

Ferrari seriously need to get Hulk in though! Get him alongside Alonso learning of the best. Then when Alonso calls it quits, get Bianchi in the car.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Funnily enough, Sainz jr's been saying that he feels he's not yet prepared for F1...

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smoglessbutton4 Wrote:
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> Funnily enough, Sainz jr's been saying that he
> feels he's not yet prepared for F1...


If the meeting was about him, I'd expect it to be about a move up to FR3.5 or GP2.

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

Red Bull pretty much completely ignore GP2 so I'd think if anything it'd be about a move to FR3.5

Sainz Jr. looks seriously impressive though. I think we will see him alongside Da Costa at STR soon.

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Races: 163 - Wins: 23 - Pole Positions: 24 - Fastest Laps: 22
Season 9: Constructors' Champions

The main reason I struggle to see Alonso and Vettel as team-mates is because they're both at the top of their game and totally ruthless to get their own way. They're too selfish to be equals let alone number twos.

Alonso, struggled with the concept of equality to Hamilton (and Hamilton was a rookie!) so how is he going to cope with the likes of Vettel who is already a three time on the bounce world champion (probably four time on the bounce) ?

This is why Seb would prefer Kimi, because Kimi simply doesn't give any @#$%&, he turns up, he drives the bollocks of the car, he maybe wins, he goes home.

Kimi to Red Bull is an enticing prospect, but honestly I don't see him winning more races there than he does now at Lotus, Seb is a machine and Red Bull is his team, every last detail goes into him winning. Kimi risks being a perennial number two at Red Bull, at least at Lotus he is in the position of underdog has his day.

Kimi's played second fiddle (to Massa in 2008, though that was the outcome of the year rather than him knowing going into the year), so he knows what it's like and it didn't seem to bother him, though arguably 2009 was his worst year, so perhaps it did in the long-run. I got the feeling he just fell out of love with the whole sport and that was the primary reason why his performances fell off.

Alonso, too, ended up as a number two, with Dennis loving Hamilton so when they ended up at around the same speed.

We'd all love Red Bull to hire Alonso to partner Vettel, but we know Alonso wouldn't do it (being Vettel's own team) and we know Vettel wouldn't allow it (knowing how good Alonso is). It would be spectacular and we'd know for sure how good Vettel is (I'm fully sure he's one of the very fastest drivers out there, but some others seem to need convincing).

Would Red Bull still be able to win the drivers championship with such a pairing? If the car is as good as it has been since 2010, undoubtedly - the field is spread out enough for them to still have the fastest car and other drivers to be taking points off each other as well as Alonso and Vettel taking points off each other... unless they started crashing into each other. :D

The best case (realistic) scenario for me is Kimi going to Red Bull, but I still think they'll bottle it and appoint Ricciardo.

gav Wrote:
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> It would
> be spectacular and we'd know for sure how good
> Vettel is (I'm fully sure he's one of the very
> fastest drivers out there, but some others seem to
> need convincing).

Vettel is arguably quick, although I doubt he is the quickest. But he has more important weaknesses, and that is to be found in his race craft on and off the track. His malignant levels of narcissism is the source of these problems. They manifest in issues such as these (which is not an exhaustive list): defiance of the team leadership structure, massive entitlement in terms of treatment, car design and equipment from the team, poor working relationships with his team mates because he doesn't respect them, lying in the press if his interests change agenda, and risking wins and championships for the all important "satisfaction" of grabbing the fastest lap of every race in the last laps.

Any team mate Red Bull considers, has to be able to deal with that or there will be major issues, strife and conflicts.

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

"Vettel is arguably quick, although I doubt he is the quickest. But he has more important weaknesses, and that is to be found in his race craft on and off the track. His malignant levels of narcissism is the source of these problems. They manifest in issues such as these (which is not an exhaustive list): defiance of the team leadership structure, massive entitlement in terms of treatment, car design and equipment from the team, poor working relationships with his team mates because he doesn't respect them, lying in the press if his interests change agenda, and risking wins and championships for the all important "satisfaction" of grabbing the fastest lap of every race in the last laps.

Any team mate Red Bull considers, has to be able to deal with that or there will be major issues, strife and conflicts."

I think this hits it on the nail in terms of Vettel. In their different ways both Alonso and Raikonnen could cope with this and send it all back in his direction. It would be more fun for we viewers with Alonso because there would be big strife. Maybe Red Bull will go with Ricciardo, I'm not so sure - the man who matters is Dietrich Mateschitz. He is concerned almost exclusively with his brand and his F1 team is now his biggest marketing tool for that brand. For that reason I think he'll go for Raikonnen or Alonso.

Morbid écrivait:
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> Any team mate Red Bull considers, has to be able
> to deal with that or there will be major issues,
> strife and conflicts.

Which is exactly why I want Alonso to go there - I think it'd cut both their egos down to size, and we'd get to watch a fascinating intra-team battle play out.

Alonso and Kimi represent opposite extremes in many ways. Vettel is obviously confident his completeness as a driver will win out easily over Kimi's superior talent but lack of completeness and focus.
Whoever ends up being Vettel's teammate, I'm hoping they end up giving him a shock and a huge fight.

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According to Briatore, reading between the lines, it was a ploy to whip Ferrari into producing a better car.

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

exactly my point Morbid. Alonso's manager being seen publicly with a rival team manager, and Alonso himself denying the meeting is pure publicity from those 2 guys, to give Ferrari a kick up the butt. I'm surprised it even got 1cm of column inches or 1 minute of media airtime, and wasn't instantly dismissed as gossip/rumour that has very little or no basis to it whatsoever. i felt this during the tv coverage while it was happening.

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RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael