2008 Formula One Season Official Thread

[fpv_gtho]

I think Heidfeld will get locked into another BMW contract pretty soon. If theres any movement there it'll be with Kubica. He's got an option on his contract for next year, but his manager has been going around trying to stir up interest with other teams, possibly trying to get more money out of BMW. BMW will want to hold onto Heidfeld if they feel they could lose Kubica, for continuity's sake.

[Zytek_Fan]

Originally Posted by fpv_gtho

I think Heidfeld will get locked into another BMW contract pretty soon. If theres any movement there it'll be with Kubica. He's got an option on his contract for next year, but his manager has been going around trying to stir up interest with other teams, possibly trying to get more money out of BMW. BMW will want to hold onto Heidfeld if they feel they could lose Kubica, for continuity's sake.

Heidfeld has been dismal this year in qualifying due to his driving style.
An aggressive driver like Kubica is more suited to F1 nowadays...

[fpv_gtho]

I dont think its that simple, theyve simply got to make whatever they do work for themselves better. Heidfeld's style isnt holding back his actual driving, just how he warms the tyres for qualifying.

[Jack_Bauer]

Originally Posted by Zytek_Fan

Heidfeld has been dismal this year in qualifying due to his driving style.
An aggressive driver like Kubica is more suited to F1 nowadays...

I think it's also worth noting that typically Kubica has run a fair bit less fuel in qualifying than Heidfeld does. For example, in Australia where RK qualified 2nd and NH 5th, Heidfeld had a full FIVE laps more fuel than Kubica. In Bahrain where Kubica scored his pole position, Heidfeld had four laps more in the tank.

If you ask me, BMW would be incredibly stupid to even think of ditching Heidfeld. He has been nothing short of superb for them ever since BMW's inception. He beat Kubica fairly comfortably last season over the course of the year, and was also excellent in 2006. His racing so far this season has been excellent, and but for some truly rotten luck with the safety car in Spain would probably have more points than he does currently. I see he and Kubica as being extremely closely matched, I wouldn't rule out Heidfeld beating Kubica again this year.

In short, they have a German driver in their German team who has performed with consistent excellence and professionalism for the past few years, and he is in probably the absolute peak of his driving career. I can't see a single legitimate reason for them dropping him.

[Zytek_Fan]

Originally Posted by Jack_Bauer

I think it's also worth noting that typically Kubica has run a fair bit less fuel in qualifying than Heidfeld does. For example, in Australia where RK qualified 2nd and NH 5th, Heidfeld had a full FIVE laps more fuel than Kubica. In Bahrain where Kubica scored his pole position, Heidfeld had four laps more in the tank.

If you ask me, BMW would be incredibly stupid to even think of ditching Heidfeld. He has been nothing short of superb for them ever since BMW's inception. He beat Kubica fairly comfortably last season over the course of the year, and was also excellent in 2006. His racing so far this season has been excellent, and but for some truly rotten luck with the safety car in Spain would probably have more points than he does currently. I see he and Kubica as being extremely closely matched, I wouldn't rule out Heidfeld beating Kubica again this year.

In short, they have a German driver in their German team who has performed with consistent excellence and professionalism for the past few years, and he is in probably the absolute peak of his driving career. I can't see a single legitimate reason for them dropping him.

Heidfeld might last the rest of the season, but Thiessen said he won't finalize a lineup for 2009 until late summer, so "Quick" Nick has only a few months to get his act together.

BMW has very high expectations and I'm sure Nick of all people would know that.

[Kitdy]

Originally Posted by Zytek_Fan

Heidfeld might last the rest of the season, but Thiessen said he won't finalize a lineup for 2009 until late summer, so "Quick" Nick has only a few months to get his act together.

Just because he isn't finalizing the lineup until late summer, doesn't mean he's dissatisfied with Nick's performance or that Nick needs to improve. He's just keeping his options open and maybe putting a little pressure on.

[Jack_Bauer]

Originally Posted by Zytek_Fan

Heidfeld might last the rest of the season, but Thiessen said he won't finalize a lineup for 2009 until late summer, so "Quick" Nick has only a few months to get his act together.

Get what act together? He's driven very well this season, and but for a bit of bad luck in Spain would be beating Kubica at this point in the season.

[Zytek_Fan]

Rumours abound of Robert Doornbos replacing Piquet Jr after Doornbos is announced for driving the Renault F1 car at Bavaria City Racing.

Wouldn't be a bad move I would think...and ING being their title sponsor may hold some sway.

[Kitdy]

Originally Posted by Zytek_Fan

Rumours abound of Robert Doornbos replacing Piquet Jr after Doornbos is announced for driving the Renault F1 car at Bavaria City Racing.

I would get Liuzzi instead. Off the top of my head the most underappreciated recent driver in F1, who performed I think quite well.

[Zytek_Fan]

Originally Posted by Kitdy

I would get Liuzzi instead. Off the top of my head the most underappreciated recent driver in F1, who performed I think quite well.

Yeah, but Doornbos was always near the top of the time sheets in practise in a miserable Red Bull RB2. And he went to Champ Car and challenged Bourdais, and drew criticism from Bourdais for his F1 type driving style

[Kitdy]

Originally Posted by Zytek_Fan

Yeah, but Doornbos was always near the top of the time sheets in practise in a miserable Red Bull RB2. And he went to Champ Car and challenged Bourdais, and drew criticism from Bourdais for his F1 type driving style

Yeah I forgot about that. Deserves some credit then. I didn't keep track of practice times back then, so maybe I overlooked him. Did his practice times end up being close to the qualification times? Practice is one thing, qualy another. I don't remember being impressed by his race pace either.

[Zytek_Fan]

Originally Posted by Kitdy

Yeah I forgot about that. Deserves some credit then. I didn't keep track of practice times back then, so maybe I overlooked him. Did his practice times end up being close to the qualification times? Practice is one thing, qualy another. I don't remember being impressed by his race pace either.

His practise times usually were good compared to qualy.
I think in the few races he drove in, he got the RB2 to Q3, which is pretty damn good.
The race pace really was down to experience. He just needed some more driving time. Look at Kubica. He was a Friday driver for most of 2006, and when he came on he was very quick, because he had the experience.


The fact that Doornbos is testing for Renault is a bit more evidence that they're looking at him for a replacement for Piquet.


Kind of feel sorry for Piquet. Maybe he just needs to go and do a season or two of GP2 like Glock did, which may help him out a bit.

[Jack_Bauer]

Originally Posted by Zytek_Fan

Kind of feel sorry for Piquet. Maybe he just needs to go and do a season or two of GP2 like Glock did, which may help him out a bit.

He's just done two seasons of GP2 and a year as the Renault F1 test driver. That's already far more preparation and experience than the likes of Rosberg, Kovalainen, Hamilton, Sutil, Vettel etc had before they were thrown in at the Formula 1 deep end. If he's not ready to step up to the plate after all that, he probably never will be.

[Zytek_Fan]

Originally Posted by Jack_Bauer

He's just done two seasons of GP2 and a year as the Renault F1 test driver. That's already far more preparation and experience than the likes of Rosberg, Kovalainen, Hamilton, Sutil, Vettel etc had before they were thrown in at the Formula 1 deep end. If he's not ready to step up to the plate after all that, he probably never will be.

Shame really. Especially since his father did so well.

[fpv_gtho]

Originally Posted by Zytek_Fan

I think in the few races he drove in, he got the RB2 to Q3, which is pretty damn good.

He got there once in the 3 races he did, but Coulthard was still 12th.

The fact that Doornbos is testing for Renault is a bit more evidence that they're looking at him for a replacement for Piquet.

I dont think so. The names going around the most as any possible replacement are the former Super Aguri drivers. Renault also has Lucas di Grassi, Sakon Yamamoto and Romain Grosjean as test drivers. Doornbos joining them means little. Its been suggested hes only been signed to perform demonstration runs.