So Who is Going Where? F1 Silly Season!

Alonso's arrival at Ferrari was probably the worst ke

pt secret in the history of Formula One. It just kept dragging on, it was a relief when they finally confirmed it. However, there are some key peices of the puzzle that are yet to fall into place that really dictate what the grid is going to look like next year.

Probably the biggest piece is Kimi Raikkonen. He has been give a huge pay off from Ferrari, and he has already gone on the record saying that it's Mclaren or nothing. However, the Iceman has suddenly become a bit greedy, and is asking for his Ferrari salary... Which is around abouts $50million a year.

Secondly, Jenson Button is also wanting more money from Brawn. It's not a stupid amount, a paltry $8million a year, but Ross Brawn doesn't seem to think Jenson is worth it.

Then there is Mercedes. They've been itching for a German driver, and for domination. Mclaren hasn't been able to give them those during their fifteen year partnership. Rumour is that they are going to sell their shares in Mclaren and jump on the Brawn band wagon.

There are numerous outcomes to this situation, lets go through them one at a time:

Lets say Raikkonen and Mclaren come to an agreement on pay, rallying, vod

ka, whatever, and Kimi heads on back to Mclaren with, or without, Mercedes backing and Button accepts his position at Brawn, as a drive is better than no drive. We would have a pretty good battle on our hands; imagine a motivated Raikkonen going against the always fast Hamilton, the potential time bomb that is the Alonso/Massa duo, and the new Brawn team with Rosberg getting his chance in a fast car. That's without mentioning Vettel in the Red Bull.

There is always the chance that Raikkonen and Mclaren can not come to an agreement. Then what! Well then it goes down another route... Ah ok, it's probably easier to draw this in a tree diagram.

Ha!

Just as I write this Mercedes have bought out Brawn. Lets see if the drivers go where I think they do then....

End of Year Report 2009

Car 1. Lewis Hamilton

This must have been a tough year for Hamilton. It was definitely not the kind of title defence he expected, but that's the problem when a team is developing their car until the end of the season. At least he won won championship; in 2008 BMW stopped car development, and ended Kubica's title chances, but even then the 2009 car was rubbish. So Hamilton can at least take solace in that.

His driving this year was great though, his Australian drive was amazing, sadly his messed that up by lying afterwards. He pushed hard and took third in the championship almost single handily. He did make a few mistakes, like Monaco and Monza, but that is to be expected when pushing so hard. Overall it was a good season, and at least he should not have people complaining he has always had a good car...

Car 2. Heikki Kovalainen

A pretty crappy season for the thunder-bird (my dad's nickname for him, look at this picture next time the grid positions come up before the race). I'm struggling to think of a really good race for him...And I can't come up with one. He was beaten by Massa, who missed half the season, and was trounced by Hamilton. He may not be getting a lot of attention from Mclaren though, but he has never really given them a reason to; even when he out qualifies Hamilton, we all know he is going to fall back cause his race pace is so bad.

He said no to small teams next season, but the small team probably didn't think of him. Forgettable season for Heikki.

Car 3 (1) Felipe Massa

He started the season pretty well, he was out scoring Raikkonen before his accident, even though Raikkonen took the teams first points and podium of the year. Not much else to say but see you next year Felipe, hope you're well enough to take on Alonso.

Car 3 (2) Luca Badoer

Fail.

Car 3 (3) Giancarlo Fisichella

Maybe I was too harsh on Luca. Fisichella was driving well this season. His drive at Spa was good, but you get the feeling that if Alonso, Hamilton, or even Raikkonen himself, was driving it, they would have found a way past. Fisichella is a good driver though, and whether he regrets his move Ferrari... Well I don't know. He is now a Ferrari test driver, unless Force India take him back.

One thing it proves though, the Ferrari was a bitch to drive.

Car 4 Kimi Raikkonen

God himself has no idea what the hell is going on with Kimi. No doubt he is fast, but he just is... Well I don't know. Up until Massa's accident he put some good drives, and some poor ones. Then when Massa ends up in hospital, he decides comes to life with a great drive in Hungary, a string of podiums and a win in Spa. He didn't lose his speed, I think he just didn't have the team on his side. Why would a team would pay so much then support Massa? It's not that they didn't support Kimi, it's just that they just got along with Massa so well. But nevermind, he did a good job and we just have to hope he is in a Mclaren next season so we can see a Kimi VS Lewis VS Massa VS Alonso battle. It would be amazing.

Car 5 Robert Kubica

Kubica must be pretty miffed with BMW. They end his championship chances in 2008 prematurely, as they wanted to focus on next year, then they fail to create a good car for 2009. Oh, and then they decide to pull out at the end of the season. Never mind, he is on his way to Renault, and we know they can put together a good car even if they have failed to do so for the last three years. Not much to say about this season for Kubica, it was quite quiet. His drive in Brazil was great though, and he looked good in Australia when he was on the right tyres compared to everyone else, but overall a year to forget for him

Car 6 Nick Heidfeld

Nick beat Kubica this year, but no one seems to have noticed. He is in the running for the Mclaren seat if Kimi decides to sod off. I'm struggling to think of any great drives from him this season, but he is consistent. He had his first retirement, in Singapore when Sutil decided to drive into him, since the US GP in 2007. Pretty amazing. I hope to see him in on the grid next year.

Car 7 Fernando Alonso

Fernando had a quiet year on track, but an extremely busy one off. He was caught up in the crashgate scandal, and rumours of him going to Ferrari started to intensify after Massa's crash. In the end it was revealed, he is going to the Scuderia. His driving this season was good, in the rubbish Renault, but I think he was just going through the motions of racing, and was mainly concentrating on 2009. His 2008 season was much better, I can't think of any amazing drives this season from him. It will be intresting to see how he gets along with Massa. Personally I think he will be throwing the toys out of the pram by the third race. Massa is Ferrari's baby, much like Hamilton is Mclarens; and we all know what happened there...

Car 8 (1) Nelson Piquet Jnr

What a cock. He crashed a car into a wall, then complained when he got fired. Sorry dude, you did it, so don't complain. His driving was rubbish. Fair enough Flavio was berating him, but come on! In the first race his spun in a straight line. A STRAIGHT LINE! Amazing skills. Maybe he will get a drive next year, I hope he doesn't though.

Car 8 (2) Romain Grosjean

Well he crashes just as much as Piquet, but I suppose he does have less experience than him. Flavio was probably too quick to throw Piquet out. Grosjean needs another year or two in GP2, he is out of his depth in F1.

Car 9 Jarno Trulli

Well he didn't do much did he? His Toyota was one of the best cars at the beginning and he pretty much did nothing with it. We know it was one of the best cause he came from the pitlane to third in Australia. That was a great drive, but his season tailed off from there. Now he has to find a team, and it looks like he will head to Lotus. I don't rate Trulli at all. He is blistering over one lap, but his race pace is pants. He spends most of his time going backwards.

Car 10 (1) Timi Glock

Average season for Glock. Again, he should have done more with the car at the beginning of the season. His race pace is better than Trulli's though, and is qualifying is probably average for the Toyota. He might get a drive next year... A team could do worse, he is stunningly average driver.

Car 10 (2) Kamui Kobayashi

He has only competed in two races, but i love him. And so do most others. It's refreshing to see a driver who can take places and overtake. His move on Button in Abu Dhabi stunned me. I was expecting him to banzai it into the side of Button or make use of the underground run off area. Nope, he breaks and switches back on Button, making the new world champion look like a tit. God I hope he gets a drive next season, we need more like him.

Car 11 (1) Sebastian Bourdais

We all know Bourdais is fast. He destroyed everyone else in Champ Car, he is in the process of making everyone look stupid in Superleague Formula, he can drive a Le Mans' car pretty well too. So what happened in F1? Well the car didn't suit him, and Toro Rosso are the Red Bull test team, looking for a young driver that can do a Hamilton. He deserves an F1 drive, maybe one of the new teams will take him.

Car 11 (2) Jaime Alguersuari

Hmmmm.... He did better than I thought he would. He has binned it a few times, but he is barely older than me! I reckon Toro Rosso should have sent him into GP2 first cause he looks out of his depth. He should be commended for trying though.

Car 12 Sebastien Buemi

Another young F1 driver and he done surprisingly well. Picked up points, hasn't crashed too much. He can't go back to GP2 now, he is too far into F1, so lets hope he does more of the same next season, but increases his pace abit too.

Car 14 Mark Webber

Beaten by Vettel, like most expected. He was lucky to be racing after having his leg mangled, and he got his first win. So I suppose it was a good season for him. One bone I have to pick with him is that he whines about safety, then he swerves around when people go to overtake him. Very hypocritical. I don't see him as a championship winning driver. We'll see how he does next year though.

Car 15 Sebastian Vettel

A great season for Vettel. He has beaten Webber by a good margin, and came second in the driver's standings. He shouldn't be too disappointed with second as he still has plenty of time to win a championship. He needs to work on his overtaking though, and starts. He tends to get stuck behind people after a poor start, and then he just stays there. I can't actually remember him making an overtaking move. He is a bit of a Massa: can only win from the front row.

Car 16 Nico Rosberg

Personally, I think Rosberg is one of the more over rated drivers on the grid. Teams seem to like him, so I must just be missing something, but I can't think of a reason why. This season he probably should have done more with the car, especially at the beginning when he had the advantage of the diffuser. After Spain Patrick Head criticised Rosberg for being inconsistent and not making the best of the car. Following that he had a string of really consistent points finishes. He dominated Nakajima 34.5-0, but that's just Nakajima. Overall he had a good season. Lets see what he can do at his next team... Which will probably be Brawn.

Car 17 Kazuki Nakajima

Well what can we say... He scored zero points, in a car that was good enough to get 34.5 for his team mate. He hasn't really done anything impressive. It's been a terrible season, and he has been made to look worse after Kobayashi's amazing debut. His chances of F1 next year are pretty non-existent.

Car 20 Adrian Sutil

Really he should have scored more points. Problem is, every time he is in with a chance for points, he bins it. His drive at Monza was good, but he managed to screw up a possible podium by trying to take out his pit crew. He should have been higher in Spa; when Fisichella was fighting for the win, he was sat in eleventh. He will get a drive next year, but he really needs to work on his consistency, and his run...

Car 21 Vitantonio Liuzzi

His driving in Monza - his first race in over a year - was impressive. Shame his car conked out on him. After that, he really did a good job of not being noticed... Apart from his huge crash in Brazil during qualifying. He did match his Sutil though, even though Sutil has been driving that car much longer than he has. He looks good for a drive next year.

Car 22 Jenson Button

I take Abu Dhabi as a sign that Jenson was choking under the pressure. He went from 6 out of 7 wins, to struggling to get into the top five. Then, when the pressure is off, he goes and gets on the podium at Abu Dhabi. Jenson is a worthy champion, but he was lucky to have such a huge point advantage. If ever had to go through a season like Hamilton in 2008, I don't think he could pull it off. Lets hope he stays at Brawn and proves me wrong though.

Car 23 Rubens Barrichello

Poor Rubens. That was he last real chance of a title. The beginning to his season was terrible; he only finished second in Melbourne due to people taking themselves out, and his car being so much faster. If you're not going to win, he should at least finish second, his car was just that much faster than anyone elses. Second half was better, but mainly due to Jenson choking himself. He will be at Williams to teach Hulkenberg the ways of F1, and then he will be out.

Team Mate Showdown - Abu Dhabi 2009

Hamilton Vs Kovalainen

Kovalainen's qualifying came to an end early, as his gear box decided to go AWOL in the second session. This, and the extra five place drop, put him at the tail end of the grid. Plus, to add to his horrible luck, Hamilton grabbed pole by a whopping 0.6 seconds.

The race was a different story. Hamilton's brakes failed on him, which is why he couldn't pull away from the Red Bull fast enough to get back out infront of him. Infact, his car was pretty much crippled, as he pulled in a few laps later to retire from the race. His first ever Mechanical DNF in Formula One. Kovalainen's race started off well, he jumped five places on the first lap, but then got stuck behind Raikkonen. Poor Kovi has finished with the same points as Massa, which is hugely embarrasing compared to his team mates two wins. Mclaren also clinched third by one point, and Hamilton took fourth from Raikkonen by the same margin.

Winner: Hamilton.

Fisichella VS Raikkonen

Fisichella's ferrari nightmare continued. Qualifying dead last is definitely, but it probably makes Luca Badoer feel better about himself. Fisichella spent all race doing nothing, except one rash move on Grosjean. Raikkonen tried, but ended up one place behind where he started thanks to the Japanese sensation that is Kamui Kobayashi. Overall disappointing race for both, but Raikkonen did more than Fisichella. They will both be gutted at how their time at Ferrari came to an end. Yes, even Raikkonen will be feeling it inside, even if he doesn't show it.

Winner: Raikkonen

Heidfeld VS Kubica

Heidfeld was out qualified by 0.4 seconds, and started a position behind Kubica. However, Heidfeld had ten kilograms more fuel on board. Which, I think, means he out qualifed Kubica fuel corrected.

In the race Heidfeld drove well to finish fifth, and take BMW's last points, whilst Kubica got into a scrap with Buemi, and spun on some oil whilst overtaking. It shows Nick isn't that bad compared to Kubica, but he gets none of the praise his Polish counterpart does.

Winner: Heidfeld

Alonso VS Grosjean

The Renault was obviously a real dog this weekend. Alonso was knocked out in the first session, and only out qualified Grosjean by three tenths. I personally think Alonso was just going through the motions of a grand prix weekend, and was just waiting to get back home and try on his new Ferrari overalls in front of the mirror. He still beat Grosjean though. Didn't actually see to much of them this weekend.

Winner: Alonso

Trulli VS Kobayashi

Trulli is well know for being a qualifying master, but having poor race pace. He qualified sixth, whilst Kobayashi qualified twelfth. But yet again Kobayashi proved his has balls and took the Toyota by the scruff of its neck and dragged it into sixth place by the end of the race. In front of Trulli in seventh. On the way Kobayashi forced Button into a mistake, and took him, and had the common sense to let Alonso past, and not waste time defending. It was a drive of a seasoned veteran and it made him the new love child of many F1 fans. I'm certainly a fan, he is a racer, and his clean overtaking and defending is great for a man with only 2 races.

Winner: Kobayashi

Alguersuari VS Buemi

Buemi got the Toro Rosso into the top ten in qualifying, which was a great achievement. He defending harshly against Kubica, squeezing him onto the curbs under breaking, but other than that, his race was good. He beat many other faster cars.

Alguersuari is out of his depth, but you can't really blame him. He is really lacking experience in lower formulas. Taking a step back and trying for F1 again after maybe two years in GP2 would do him a load of good.

Winner: Buemi

Webber VS Vettel

Really this was the perfect race for Vettel. Even if Hamilton had working brakes, it was unlikely that he could have held of Vettel at the pitstops. He started in front of Webber with a heavier car, he pulled away, and stuck to Hamilton's tail. His laps before the stops were great too. Webber has a good race, and his defending in the last two laps were good. He didn't have to resort to the Webber wallop this time.

Winner: Vettel

Rosberg VS Nakajima

If I was Nakajima, I'd be pretty embarrassed about this season. Zero points to thirty four and a half? Then to have another Japanese driver come in and punt you out of a race, then score points, but cut deep. Shame really, cause he might have still got the Toyota seat if Kobayashi failed miserably. But he didn't so Nakajima probably should look around for drives in Le Mans or something. Rosberg qualified and finished ahead in a lackluster race for Williams. Will they finally return to winning ways next year with the Hulk,Barrichello and a Cosworth engine?

Winner: Rosberg

Sutil VS Liuzzi

Poor race by Sutil. Did Trulli's photographs and comments ruin his mindset? He was beaten in both race and qualifying by Liuzzi, and drove around pretty aimlessly only just beating Grosjean. Liuzzi wins, but it's not like he did much either.

Winner: Liuzzi

Button VS Barrichello

Apart from being schooled by Kobayashi, Button drove a good race. Which proved the Brawn did not lose its pace, but Button had lost his nerve. When the pressure was off, Button drove like he drove in the first half of the season. Barrichello might have been closer if he had the full front wing, but it was unlikely. Button does need to be more aggressive, he should have found a way past Webber. He is just too nice.

Oh and congratulations to Button on his upcoming marriage. ;)