Brought to you by TheJudge13 contributor Fortis
Formula one is a sport that’s filled with drama, intrigue and suspense around every corner, something that the late Alfred Hitchcock would be extremely proud of.
Following the continued rumour as to whether or not Kimi Raikkonen will be replaced at Maranello at the end of the current campaign, many names have been banded about as to who his possible replacement will be. Names such as Redbull’s Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg and fellow Finn Valteri Bottas have all been mentioned.
However it now seems that the clear favourite is Williams’ Valteri Bottas after reports that Ferrari had agreed to compensate the Grove outfit to release the driver from his current contractual obligations to the team.
The Finn has however remained guarded as to where he will be racing in 2016, after speaking to reporters at the start of this weekends Hungarian Grand Prix:
“There’s nothing new to tell. There is nothing confirmed. As a driver you want things sorted out as quickly as possible but sometimes you need to wait.”
If Bottas were to join the Scuderia outfit for the 2016 campaign, that would leave a vacant seat alongside Brazilian Felipe Massa. Many believe that this could be filled by 2015 Le Mans winner and former Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg, who’s currently driving for Force India.
Hulk first drove for Williams in a two day test in 2007 and was later signed to race for the team in 2010 season alongside Brazilian Rubens Barrichello.
He enjoyed a very impressive first season in which he scored points in six races during that campaign and secured the teams first pole position since the 2005 European Grand Prix, when he out qualified Sebastian Vettel by 1.049s during changing conditions at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Williams however was facing severe financial difficulties and it was to be the German’s one and only season with the team as he was replaced by GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado at the end of the season. The latter of course brought his vast financial backing from PDVSA.
Today another past driver is being rumoured as a possible replacement for Bottas and that is none other than current McLaren and former 2009 champion Jenson Button.
Yes you read correctly, Jenson Button.
Having beaten out Bruno Junqueira in ‘shoot out’ style showdown arranged by team principle Frank Williams, the Frome flyer was chosen to fill the vacant seat left by departing Alex Zanardi for the 2000 campaign.
Button £8/year, Bottas £0.75M, Massa £3M
Unless Button’s willing to take a (nother) big pay cut (on top of this year’s), I can’t see a team with a more limited budget like Williams being prepared to spend that much more than they are already.
Well Barrichello would have driven for free… desperate times call for desperate measures. Would be good if McLaren could put one of their drivers in at Williams. That said, not sure Mercedes will like that. My gut feel is it will be Pascal Wehrlein.
Actually never considered Pascal as a possibility…
Gonna miss Kimi. His and Bottas comments are textbook code for Kimi out, Bottas in. Button to Williams? Isn’t he too old for that? Can’t we give a talented Hulk a better drive?
Jenson’s gone head-to-head with Lewis and faired well. The same with Alonso. So the fact he’s done pretty well against the two best drivers around, means his stock has gone up. Williams probably believe that with the wealth of experience of Massa and Button, they can do good things. The only other option would indeed be Hulk, but could it even be that Hulk is now more expensive than Button after his Le Mans win? I don’t know, I’m trying to find some good reason for Williams going for Button instead of Hulk.
I think it unlikely Williams would have two of the most senior drivers on the grid together when they’ve often nurtured young talent
There is hope for Pascal Wehrlein then… and not so much for Susie.
I’ll be hoping for vandoorne.
Can’t see it happen mate. Mercedes will surely stop something happening.
Williams can find a real talent (read NOT Button) for their car.
Maybe Button figures that since it cost him $25M to buy himself out of his Williams contract in 2006 – he’s already paid for a seat at Williams.
LOL Cav! Never thought of that!
There are times when you can forgive the poor standard of writing which is unfortunately becoming more common on TJ13. Times when the news being spread is interesting. Times when the analysis is clear and insightful. Times when a genuine scoop is being presented. Even times when non-news is presented with opinions which promote discussion.
It is a shame the writers of such pieces don’t contribute as often as they did in the past…
I agree wholeheartedly on all points……
Cheers, always appreciate the feedback, be it positive or negative, it helps to develop our writing and investigative skills.
As this thread is now ‘yesterday’s news’, I’m unsure that it will be read by many but I think that it is worth making the following points.
I’m not wanting to be unreasonably critical but it seems to me that this site has suffered since its change of format. We don’t seem to be getting the same level of what seemed to be insider information – e.g. the excellent documenting of the Caterham saga as it unfolded – that we did in times gone past. Perhaps certain sources are no longer available, but that ‘inside track’ is what drew me to this site in the first place.
Also, and I appreciate that this may be a view not shared by others, the ‘fan boy wars’ that dominate many of the comment threads have become particularly tiresome. I’ve no interest in learning whether posters think that their hero is better than other peoples’ favourites, especially as it’s the usual suspects spouting their preferences over and over again. That’s why I suggested the setting up of a suitably moderated forum on the site where the technical and news items could be debated seriously. I was slapped down for that – fair enough, but I’m willing to bet that a fair few other readers (some of whom may already have left) feel like-wise.
And finally, I’m still wanting to see the addition of an ‘edit’ button, as is available on other comments sites ! I’ve asked several times, but no-one from the site’s management has told me whether they are even considering it.
Thanks
Certainly agree that a better discussion forum is needed. Your point about a story quickly becoming ‘old news’ is a case in point – so often very interesting discussions tail off because 4 or 5 new posts have appeared and people stop reading the old ones.
It does, of course, limit the life of said Fanboi threads as well but hopefully a decently moderated forum could achieve the same.
The main point I agree with though is the very noticeable lack of technical and insight posts. Even, of actual news. The Judge always used to love pointing out how many stories he broke, often long before the mainstream press got it. These days most of the stories are just repeats of what has been in the main news channels for a day or two already. This story is a classic example – it tells us absolutely nothing we didn’t already know.
It is interesting that we appears to have lost the Daily News post and it has now been replaced by individual articles. The Daily News was originally introduced at the suggestion of myself and others as there were too many individual posts to easily keep track, and the index was there to keep track of the new additions to it as they were so often and numerous.
I get the feeling the Daily News post has been dropped simply because there is so little else so the only way to make it look as if anything is happening is to post the few stories individually.
I know it is hard to complain as those who write for this site do it out of their love of the sport which is difficult to criticise. Lives change, people don’t have as much time as they did so I guess unfortunately we have lost those halcyon days – for the time being at least.
It is good that Fortis has taken up the challenge to contribute content. I’m sure his writing style will improve with practice but I worry about the content. I don’t know if the contributors get assigned jobs or can just write about what they like. If the former then he seems to be getting the office junior jobs at the moment. If the latter…. Well, I hope he doesn’t take it the wrong way when I say I’d for one prefer him to spend his time researching and writing interesting and informative pieces rather than rehashing news that could he summarised in one paragraph and is barely worth publishing in the first place.
“Today another past driver is being rumoured as a possible replacement for Bottas and that is none other than current McLaren and former 2009 champion Jenson Button.”
It is rumoured that the source of the rumours is Jenson Button.