Sayonara, cowboy!

[Minardi Man]

I definitely wouldn't say I have lost all respect for Sauber, but certainly I've lost some.
I just don't see Gutierrez deserving an F1 drive yet, his performance in GP2 this year was poor in my opinion overall, almost being beaten by his rookie teammate does not to me a midfield F1 driver make.

[Gerudo Dragon]

Yes, we'll have a new driver next season. So let's prepare him by giving him one practice session! Derp.

[James1978]

Gutierrez for next year's RotY.

[pi314159]

Gutierrez for next year's RotY.

Possibly, but only if Caterham doesn't take van der Garde.

[Snoozey2]

Gutierrez for next year's RotY.

Possibly, but only if Caterham doesn't take van der Garde.

Whoa, whoa, whoa... this thread is for Cowboy, not for pre-emptively bashing his replacements. I'd like to keep my memory of Kamui's remaining time in F1 a happy one, if i can.

Why not reminisce about his races (or his rejectful moments, for those who are so inclined), or something like that?

[mario]

Gutierrez for next year's RotY.

Possibly, but only if Caterham doesn't take van der Garde.

Whoa, whoa, whoa... this thread is for Cowboy, not for pre-emptively bashing his replacements. I'd like to keep my memory of Kamui's remaining time in F1 a happy one, if i can.

Why not reminisce about his races (or his rejectful moments, for those who are so inclined), or something like that?

Or, given that it looks increasingly like he is going to be leaving the sport, looking to his future prospects instead. I wouldn't be surprised if, come 2013, we see Kobayashi appearing in Toyota's sports car racing line up given that Nakajima ended up reappearing there - which, given Toyota's three victories this season against the full strength of Audi, might not necessarily be all that bad a career move.

[Dj_bereta]

Monisha for next year's RotY.

Fixed.

[pi314159]

Or, given that it looks increasingly like he is going to be leaving the sport, looking to his future prospects instead. I wouldn't be surprised if, come 2013, we see Kobayashi appearing in Toyota's sports car racing line up given that Nakajima ended up reappearing there - which, given Toyota's three victories this season against the full strength of Audi, might not necessarily be all that bad a career move.

Kobayashi joining Toyota's WEC programm? Would be nice to see if he leaves Formula 1. Given that he started his carreer there, it seems possible. Also, I think that Toyota want to have a Japanese driver in their line up, and he is (at least in Formula 1) a better driver than Nakajima, whose most rememberable moment this year was crashing into the DeltaWing. So I'd like to see him replacing Nakajima at Toyota, who was in my opinion the weakest driver in their lineup this year.

[mario]

Or, given that it looks increasingly like he is going to be leaving the sport, looking to his future prospects instead. I wouldn't be surprised if, come 2013, we see Kobayashi appearing in Toyota's sports car racing line up given that Nakajima ended up reappearing there - which, given Toyota's three victories this season against the full strength of Audi, might not necessarily be all that bad a career move.

Kobayashi joining Toyota's WEC programm? Would be nice to see if he leaves Formula 1. Given that he started his carreer there, it seems possible. Also, I think that Toyota want to have a Japanese driver in their line up, and he is (at least in Formula 1) a better driver than Nakajima, whose most rememberable moment this year was crashing into the DeltaWing. So I'd like to see him replacing Nakajima at Toyota, who was in my opinion the weakest driver in their lineup this year.

Given the old links between Toyota and Kobayashi, the prospect of Toyota hiring Kobayashi for their WEC program does exist - they followed a similar procedure with Nakajima, and we have seen a number of LMP1 and LMP2 outfits hiring ex-F1 drivers.
Nakajima did also stick the TS030 on pole position for the 6 Hour race in Fuji earlier this year and was responsible for piloting that car to victory in the final stint, so at least he had some positive points to counterbalance his earlier accident. Still, I would agree that Kobayashi would be a suitable replacement for Nakajima, although there is also the possibility that, should Toyota expand to a two car team for 2013, that Toyota would want both drivers on board.

[Pointrox]

http://www.onestopstrategy.com/dailyf1n ... areer.html
Reminds me of HWNSNBM Supporter's Club once set up by his manager to land him a drive for 2004.
That's so sad that Japanese companies that once had money to sponsor pitiful drivers/teams now don't even care about a real up-and-coming talent like Kobayashi

[Snoozey2]

The final race has been run.
Time to make good on my promise: the Japanese broadcast of Suzuka 2012, in its entirety.

[girry]

The Real Taki Inoue reports that Kamui has already gathered around 650k Euros via his support site.

Now - let's just keep our feet down, let's not make conclusions of that Boullier-Romain gif, let's all just wait and see....

[LionZoo]

Monisha for next year's RotY.

Fixed.

Seconded. Can we give RotY assists?

[HonoraryNortherner]

I'd be sad to see Kamui leave F1, but unfortunately I think there is no option for him, that is if he doesn't want to take a Caterham/Marrussia/HRT seat. I'd like to him upagainst Paul Di Resta, at Force India, but I don't think that would happen - partially because I don't see him at a British team.

I'd have to bet he'll join Toyota's WEC programme, and have some success to boot.

[mario]

I'd be sad to see Kamui leave F1, but unfortunately I think there is no option for him, that is if he doesn't want to take a Caterham/Marrussia/HRT seat. I'd like to him upagainst Paul Di Resta, at Force India, but I don't think that would happen - partially because I don't see him at a British team.

I'd have to bet he'll join Toyota's WEC programme, and have some success to boot.

I would have thought that the bigger obstacle for Kamui making it into the Force India team would be financial backing, or rather the lack of it - although he has reportedly raised about €650,000 in donations from the website he set up recently, it is still low compared to the sort of sponsorship other drivers can raise (I believe that Sutil's contract with Medion is worth about €2 million a year, perhaps more, whilst some other potential drivers, like Bianchi, have raised closer to €4 million). If Kamui could perhaps match the sponsorship levels that Sutil could raise - €2 million may be an achievable target - then his chances of the second seat at Force India might improve somewhat, although the odds on him getting a seat there are probably still fairly long.

[Daxam_Stark]

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/now-k ... -at-lotus/

Make of this what you will....Don't know if the source is reliable though.

Edit- Just a rumor though. Sooooooo, COULD it happen?That is the question

[mario]

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/now-kobayashi-could-replace-grosjean-at-lotus/

Make of this what you will....Don't know if the source is reliable though.

Edit- Just a rumor though. Sooooooo, COULD it happen?That is the question

It is possible but, in my personal opinion, unlikely.

Now, it is true that Grosjean's erratic form did cost the team a considerable number of points earlier in the season, but whether he cost them enough points to have cost them 3rd in the WCC is perhaps debatable. As of the German GP, which marks the midpoint of the season, Lotus were 4th in the WCC but only one point behind McLaren (with McLaren suffering a noticeable drop in pace around that time), so at that point in time 3rd in the WCC was potentially there for the taking.
However, with the upturn in performance of the top three teams (and especially the upturn in Massa's performance) in the latter half of the year, is it plausible that Grosjean could have scored another 76 points - the minimum needed to have beaten McLaren in the WCC - given that, save for Abu Dhabi, Kimi couldn't really match the performance of the top three teams either? I have my doubts about that.

Added to that, having the support of a major sponsor like Total is likely to weigh in on Grosjean's part (especially if a French GP can be organised since that could increase Grosjean's marketability). Can they be confident that Kobayashi would bring in enough points in the WCC to offset the potential loss in sponsor revenue that could come from ditching Grosjean if they alienated Total in the process? The presence of Boullier within the team is also likely to be in Grosjean's favour, even if it did look like Boullier was a little fed up in some of the recent races with Grosjean's antics on track.
Equally, Grosjean, if he can moderate his over enthusiasm, did show considerable promise earlier in the year, with podium finishes in Bahrain, Canada and Hungary that were earned on merit (he finished fairly close to Kimi in Bahrain and Hungary in terms of time, whilst in Canada he beat him comprehensively). Might the team believe that they could get better returns from improved driver coaching for Grosjean rather than taking a driver that, although he performed more consistently last year, could potentially be a bit slower than Grosjean?

Overall, my gut feeling is that, although Lotus seem to be taking their time over the decision, that Grosjean will probably stay on.

[CarlosFerreira]

...and isn't Boulier Grosjean's manager?

[FMecha]

Snoozey2, that was not a smart move in my opinion. If the FOM starts reading this page either you or us are screwed as they're going to send you or us a cease-and-desist letter. Remove that magnet link immediately.

[Londoner]

Snoozey2, that was not a smart move in my opinion. If the FOM starts reading this page either you or us are screwed as they're going to send you or us a cease-and-desist letter. Remove that magnet link immediately.

What in the blue hell is a magnet link?

[CarlosFerreira]

Snoozey2, that was not a smart move in my opinion. If the FOM starts reading this page either you or us are screwed as they're going to send you or us a cease-and-desist letter. Remove that magnet link immediately.

What in the blue hell is a magnet link?

[Nuppiz]

Snoozey2, that was not a smart move in my opinion. If the FOM starts reading this page either you or us are screwed as they're going to send you or us a cease-and-desist letter. Remove that magnet link immediately.

What in the blue hell is a magnet link?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet_link

[Londoner]

Don't think I've ever read so much jargon in my life.

[Ataxia]

Snoozey2, that was not a smart move in my opinion. If the FOM starts reading this page either you or us are screwed as they're going to send you or us a cease-and-desist letter. Remove that magnet link immediately.

What in the blue hell is a magnet link?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet_link

What would that be in layman's terms?

[Nuppiz]

What would that be in layman's terms?

Well, usually when you want to download/seed something from a torrent, you download a torrent file on your computer and then open it in a BitTorrent client. A magnet link is sort of a direct link to the torrent stream, so by clicking it your BitTorrent client will immediately join it and start downloading/seeding. It's pretty much a matter of personal preference, as torrent files aren't bigger than a few dozen KB at max, so the direct link is not more than a few secs faster.

[mario]

Snoozey2, that was not a smart move in my opinion. If the FOM starts reading this page either you or us are screwed as they're going to send you or us a cease-and-desist letter. Remove that magnet link immediately.

Given your concerns, I have decided to remove the link that had been posted by Snoozey2 (Snoozey2, I hope that you do not object to this but given the concerns expressed above, it may be better to be safer rather than sorry).

[Minardi Man]

I'd strongly bet that GRSJN will get the boot out of Enstone/Lotus, too much negative press and too much financial turmoil with the team to keep him and hi extensive crash bill on.
Will Kamui get his seat though? I don't know, but I'd love that to be the case.

[eytl]

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/now-kobayashi-could-replace-grosjean-at-lotus/

Make of this what you will....Don't know if the source is reliable though.

Edit- Just a rumor though. Sooooooo, COULD it happen?That is the question

Might the team believe that they could get better returns from improved driver coaching for Grosjean rather than taking a driver that, although he performed more consistently last year, could potentially be a bit slower than Grosjean?

Don't you folks get it? Kobayashi to join Lotus as Grosjean's driving coach! You heard it here first.

[James1978]

Who else could get the Lotus seat if they drop Grosjean? Is Kubica is any fit state to make a comeback (if so he's probably the best choice)?

[Jocke1]

Who else could get the Lotus seat if they drop Grosjean? Is Kubica is any fit state to make a comeback (if so he's probably the best choice)?

This was aired during the Texas weekend:
http://youtu.be/GcLE2X8hU4A

[tommykl]

Who else could get the Lotus seat if they drop Grosjean? Is Kubica is any fit state to make a comeback (if so he's probably the best choice)?

Probably just wishful thinking, but d'Ambrosio is still the official reserve driver and has the advantage of also being managed by Boullier...

[SuperAguri]

dear mr Booleeahh

pleese manige Mr Cobahyahshe and give him a driv in the lowtoss as he will be betta then Mr grossjean who kan not cope with raceing too cars at ones.

yurs

david aged 4

[mario]

On another note, it looks like Kobayashi's attempts to raise funding from the public is doing quite well - the latest reports on F1Fanatic indicate that he has raised just shy of £1 million as of today, so it looks like the donations are still rolling in at a respectable rate. It may not be the largest amount of sponsorship that a driver has brought this season, but it is at least beginning to get to the point where it might start influencing decisions.
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/11/30/k ... s-1m-fans/

[CarlosFerreira]

On another note, it looks like Kobayashi's attempts to raise funding from the public is doing quite well - the latest reports on F1Fanatic indicate that he has raised just shy of £1 million as of today, so it looks like the donations are still rolling in at a respectable rate. It may not be the largest amount of sponsorship that a driver has brought this season, but it is at least beginning to get to the point where it might start influencing decisions.
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/11/30/k ... s-1m-fans/

... namely Bernie's decisions. At which point does he realise there is something going on here, pick up the phone and have a chat with his mate Vallya?

[Klon]

Don't get too excited, this million won't help him. Barrichello managed to acquire 3.5 million in sponsorship when he tried to stay with Williams, however it didn't help him at all. If Force India lies and the seat is at least in parts down to money, Kobayashi has no chance in hell (come on, come on, come and get it) of getting said cockpit.

[Ferrarist]

Don't get too excited, this million won't help him. Barrichello managed to acquire 3.5 million in sponsorship when he tried to stay with Williams, however it didn't help him at all. If Force India lies and the seat is at least in parts down to money, Kobayashi has no chance in hell (come on, come on, come and get it) of getting said cockpit.

So what will Kamui do with a million pounds? Refunds would be quite difficult. Aside from charity, he could buy himself a season or two in other series, like the BTCC, or any GT series in Europe. Although he's much more likely to return to Japan, doing either Super GT or WEC for Toyota.

[CarlosFerreira]

Don't get too excited, this million won't help him. Barrichello managed to acquire 3.5 million in sponsorship when he tried to stay with Williams, however it didn't help him at all. If Force India lies and the seat is at least in parts down to money, Kobayashi has no chance in hell (come on, come on, come and get it) of getting said cockpit.

So what will Kamui do with a million pounds? Refunds would be quite difficult. Aside from charity, he could buy himself a season or two in other series, like the BTCC, or any GT series in Europe. Although he's much more likely to return to Japan, doing either Super GT or WEC for Toyota.

I imagine these are pledges, not actual money transfers yet - much like with Kickstarter.

[mario]

Don't get too excited, this million won't help him. Barrichello managed to acquire 3.5 million in sponsorship when he tried to stay with Williams, however it didn't help him at all. If Force India lies and the seat is at least in parts down to money, Kobayashi has no chance in hell (come on, come on, come and get it) of getting said cockpit.

That is true, although in that instance it could be pointed out that Bruno Senna was able to raise about four times what Rubens could ($12-14 million against that $3.5 million). Furthermore, Rubens's departure from Williams was probably not entirely down just to sponsorship - his relationship with the senior management at Williams was reportedly quite strained given that Rubens was quite critical of the performance of the team, so there probably was a slight personal element in the decision to fire Rubens too (i.e. the senior management elected to work with a more amenable driver, even if the mechanics and engineers were much more strongly in favour of keeping Rubens).

In the case of Kobayashi, the only reason why it might be the case that this sponsorship might be enough to start swaying things in his favour is because that amount of money is more comparable to the amount of sponsorship his potential rivals can raise. We know that Mallya is considering hiring Sutil again based on remarks he made in recent interviews, and Sutil's deal with Medion is thought to be worth about €2 million a year - that £1 million, which is about €1.2 million, Kobayashi has raised is not that dissimilar to what Sutil can raise.
Alguersuari has been occasionally mentioned in the press as another candidate, and we know that he is unlikely to bring a significant amount of sponsorship either - so whilst the amount of money that Kobayashi has raised is still quite low, it has somewhat levelled the playing field between Kobayashi and the other more experienced drivers that are competing for that seat.

The odds of Kobayashi continuing on in F1 in 2013 are still probably quite long and I think that Kobayashi is probably on his way out of F1, but they have probably marginally improved - even so, though, it may prove to be a short term option at best given that Kobayashi can't continue raising revenue this way every year.

[Nessafox]

Who else could get the Lotus seat if they drop Grosjean? Is Kubica is any fit state to make a comeback (if so he's probably the best choice)?

Probably just wishful thinking, but d'Ambrosio is still the official reserve driver and has the advantage of also being managed by Boullier...

Giving the good relations between Total and the RACB National Team, they'll consider him as a Plan B. But sadly, he will never be first choice for any of the teams.

[solarcold]

One more season