Alonso's teammate for 2013 to be announced tomorrow

[Chris Jenkins]

Makes no sense.
RBR "experience and knowledge"

About what specifially?

Webber must have some knowledge as to why Red Bull has been quicker than Ferrari for the past 3 or 4 years.
I'm sure there's a lot with regards to setup that he can share with his new team.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Webber must have some knowledge as to why Red Bull has been quicker than Ferrari for the past 3 or 4 years.
I'm sure there's a lot with regards to setup that he can share with his new team.

It´s not about setup... It´s about innovation and general design philosophy. Something Webber can´t tell Aerodynamicisists.

 

[Markus Neumann]

Webber seems to be an odd replacement for Massa, in my opinion.

Webber scored around 65% of his team mate's points in 2011. Only Massa, Perez, Buemi and Maldonado did worse. Why would Ferrari replace one under-performing driver with another?

Edit: Also, I agree with Hampus. Webber is not an engineer. Aerodynamics is way more complicated than what it is often made out to be.
Additionally, it's highly unlikely that RB has some kind of "secret trick" that, if Ferrari copied it, would allow them to become a frontrunner again. And you can't even slap one clever part of a car on another one that was built with a different philosophy/concept. Let's say, for example, RB has a particularly good front wing. If you'd put that exact same wing on the Ferrari, it wouldn't automatically make it faster.

 

[Michael Brown]

Yes because it's about the overall package, not one superior part.

 

[David Garcia]

I think Fernando is quite comfortable having Massa around. Reading between lines is easy in all his press announcements...

 

[Xosé Estrada]

Why would he want to downgrade to Ferrari?
Why would Ferrari choose him when they can get a young gun next to Alonso?
Why would RBR let him go? He´s the perfect teammate for Vettel.


Why we should not black list "El confidential"?
You remember that part about an announcement? that part failed to be reality, thus we should black list El Confidential.

The announcement was the article himself, the article never said Ferrari will announce his new driver.

Was me saying "El Confidencial" would announce who will be.

You can black list whoever you want

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Breaking news: Narain moves to Red Bull replacing two time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

news from "Aftonbladet" (swedish magazine with the same credibility as confidential)

 

[Alberto Casado]

Webber scored around 65% of his team mate's points in 2011. Only Massa, Perez, Buemi and Maldonado did worse. Why would Ferrari replace one under-performing driver with another?

I don't agree with the significance of that statistic. If Vettel would have won every race (not far from that) and Webber been third everytime (which I can hardly think would be under-performing, a season full of podiums), he would have 15/25->60% of the points. Being second everytime, would have 18/25-> 72% (so, if your teammate is winning, 72% is the best you can ever get). If he had 65% like you say it actually means that he was on average between 2nd and 3rd every time Vettel won.

I would say (quote) "Not bad for a number 2 driver".

 

[Kartik Sri Harsha]

Breaking news: Narain moves to Red Bull replacing two time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

news from "Aftonbladet" (swedish magazine with the same credibility as confidential)

Could be better if Lewis was replaced by NK in Mclaren to pair with Button

 

[Markus Neumann]

I don't agree with the significance of that statistic. If Vettel would have won every race (not far from that) and Webber been third everytime (which I can hardly think would be under-performing, a season full of podiums), he would have 15/25->60% of the points. Being second everytime, would have 18/25-> 72% (so, if your teammate is winning, 72% is the best you can ever get). If he had 65% like you say it actually means that he was on average between 2nd and 3rd every time Vettel won.

I would say (quote) "Not bad for a number 2 driver".

The RB7 was an extremely dominant car and yet Webber only managed to win once with it. If someone indeed, as you said, would let their teammate win every single race and always finish second, I would definitely still consider that to be under-performing. It means that he had a chance at winning every single time and always blew it. The way I see it, that is the very definition of under-performing in F1.

 

[Josh Barton]

The RB7 was an extremely dominant car and yet Webber only managed to win once with it. If someone indeed, as you said, would let their teammate win every single race and always finish second, I would definitely still consider that to be under-performing. It means that he had a chance at winning every single time and always blew it. The way I see it, that is the very definition of under-performing in F1.

Whilst he was underperforming on the track itself I think he was playing a major role at RBR over the past few seasons. His experience and feedback has been mentioned by Horner as being invaluable in the design and setup of the car, even if its not setup exactly how he would want it. In that respect he played a significant role in making the car as fast as it was and this allowed Vettel (who at this stage of his career is clearly faster) to win the title. So in all I dont think RBR think he is underpermforming, whilst he may not be getting the results his presence is still vital to them for the meantime.

IN other teams where the drivers are at similar stages of their careers (Massa and Alonso at Ferarri) I cant honestly say Massa is performing anywhere near what he should be. Alonso has the experience to develop a car without Massa, and the car isnt very good and getting worse every season, and Alonso is blowing Massa away on the track. That is underperforming in every aspect.

 

[Markus Neumann]

His experience and feedback has been mentioned by Horner as being invaluable in the design and setup of the car, even if its not setup exactly how he would want it.

A lot of team bosses use that phrase. But admittedly, I don't know if it's true or not. From the outside, it's impossible to judge the development role a driver plays.

Don't get me wrong: I like Webber. He's perhaps the nicest of all F1 drivers and I hope he stays in the sport just as long as Schumacher. But it just seems increasingly unlikely that's going to happen. This year, there was hope he'd gotten on top of his problems and even beating Vettel, but then in Bahrain, finger-boy suddenly found half a second in qualifying and a full second in the race again, just because he finally likes the car now. It was the exact same story as last year. Vettel, dominating at the front. Webber, having to fight for his place and still only finishing fourth

 

[Josh Barton]

A lot of team bosses use that phrase. But admittedly, I don't know if it's true or not. From the outside, it's impossible to judge the development role a driver plays.

Don't get me wrong: I like Webber. He's perhaps the nicest of all F1 drivers and I hope he stays in the sport just as long as Schumacher. But it just seems increasingly unlikely that's going to happen. This year, there was hope he'd gotten on top of his problems and even beating Vettel, but then in Bahrain, finger-boy suddenly found half a second in qualifying and a full second in the race again, just because he finally likes the car now. It was the exact same story as last year. Vettel, dominating at the front. Webber, having to fight for his place and still only finishing fourth

You're right, he wont be around for much longer. However, I can see the appeal of having him in a team, especially for a mid table team. Ferrari would do well with him. Caterham would love to have him. But I think he would only be a season long investment, I would expect him to be racing sports cars by 2014.

 

[Michael Brown]

I'm gonna wait to see how the rest of the season pans out. I don't see any signs of Ferrari improving, and thy'll probably go for Perez in the end if he keeps up his performance. Since he entered F1 there were already rumours he would replace Massa after his one stop in Australia 2011.

I really love how outspoken Webber is. When rumours started about Spa alternating with France, he said "Alternating Spa and France is a sh*t idea," and more recently, "Doing 10 laps in Mugello is like 1000 laps on the Abu Dhabi track in terms of satisfaction."