Has anyone published a confirmed drivers list for 2012 yet? IIRC there's not many openings left and with the Kimi shocker one less seat for the likes of Senna, Barichelo, Hulkenberg, Sutil or any of the more minor players in the tail end teams.

 

Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Caterham and Maurissa have. Force India seem certain to be DiResta and Hulkenberg, and I'm not sure about Torro Rosso and Sauber but I suspect they may stay the same. So it only really leaves Williams, one seat at Lotus (i.e. Renault) and one seat at HRT.

I could see Sutil ending up at Williams, and Senna's probably done enough to show he's worthy of a seat somehwere so could even end up at Williams too. Presumably the likes of Senna, Petrov and Maldanado have lots of backing from their respective countries, whereas the Europeans like Sutil and Grosjean probably don't.

 

i'm happy to see Kimi back.

too bad that it's in not top team.
I think Lotus Renault need to change management. at lest Boulie should go.

 

I don't see him doing well. He only came back as he sucked in rallying.

 

I don't think there has ever been an F1 driver who has been any good at rallying!

 

Quite true!

 

Rallying and f1 are vastly different disciplines. Has he been gone too long though.

A plea to the BBC for 2012 coverage:

Do NOT do a grid walk! All the grid walks without mb were embarrasingly awful.

 

I don't think Kimi has been away from F1 for too long, he has been away for two years and he is 32 years old. He has driven for Ferrari and is a World Champion, he is also very fast and has a wicked sense of humour. On the flip side he is notoriously lazy, likes to party, dislikes the corporate side to F1. I would say this is a shrewd move by Renault (Lotus F1) and they have a very good team of drivers to help them move on, I think they also know that Kubica when/if he returns is likely to go to Ferrari to replace Massa at the end of next season (that is my prediction anyway)

 

I've always thought Raikonnen was overrated to be honest. He won the 2007 championship almost by default, after Alonso and Hamilton tried really hard not to win it, and then in 2008-9 he was inconsistent, being beaten to the almost-championship by Massa in 2008. I can't help feeling he'll come back, take the money, and be disapointing once again.

Kubica needs to do a few tests to prove that he's still got it. I wouldn't be surprised to see him doing that for Ferrari late next year, then stepping into the race seat for the last couple of races when Massa and Ferrari have the inevitable end of contract falling out.

 

My feelings exactly.