The Perfect Grid 2015

[Jocke1]

I never saw one for 2014 but in honor of coloni_subaru's thread 'The Perfect Grid 2013', here is one for 2015;



1. Mercedes
Nico Rosberg (he stays on with the team as the reigning WDC from '14)
Sebastian Vettel (as Newey leaves RB, so does Seb)

2. Red Bull Racing
Daniel Ricciardo (#1 driver, wins Montreal and Hungaroring in '14)
Nico Hulkenberg (Nico finally gets that top drive he has wanted for so long)

3. Ferrari
Fernando Alonso (after being promised major improvements on all fronts for 2015 Fernando stays put)
Jules Bianchi (Monaco hero is ready for the big leagues)

4. Force India
Mark Webber (Mark can't shake off the F1 bug, and signs a 2-year contract with Vijay in September of '14)
Daniil Kvyat (FI gets to have Daniil on loan for one season)

5. McLaren
Jenson Button (the elder statesman stays onboard for yet another year at McLaren)
Jolyon Palmer (for the third straight season McLaren puts a different driver in the second car, this time 2014 GP2 Series Champion Jolyon Palmer)

6. Williams
Valtteri Bottas (Williams darling finn stays on with the team)
Susie Wolff (after being the fastest driver in her two FP1 sessions in 2014, she gets promoted to the second race seat for 2015)

7. Scuderia Torro Rosso
Jean-Eric Vergne (JEV seems destined to never be able to leave this team)
Johnny Cecotto, Jnr (Franz Tost sees something in JCJ)

8. Lotus (if the team survives)
Romain Grosjean (like Fernando, Romain is promised major improvements so he decides to stay)
Robert Kubica (Bob miraculously returns to Formula 1)

9. Marussia
Max Chilton (daddy/money/talent/talent/talent)
Vitaly Petrov (wins the last seven races in DTM and returns to F1)

10. Sauber (if the team survives)
Giedo van der Garde (the God returns)
Simona de Silvestro ('twould be awesome)

11. Caterham (if the team survives)
Marcus Ericsson (against ALL odds the qualifying-crashing Swede gets a renewed contract)
Carmen Jorda (finishes runner-up in the 2014 GP3 Series Championship and skips GP2 straight to F1,
becoming one of three women on the grid. Also brings £20 million in sponsorship)


Out of F1 (and 2015 plans);

Lewis Hamilton (after just missing out on the WDC signs contract with Tony Stewart)
Kevin Magnussen (races GT's with father Jan)
Sergio Perez (inspired by Kimi, Checo leaves for WRC)
Felipe Massa (unknown, disappears from the world motorsport radar altogether)
Kimi Raikkonen (ditto Massa)
Adrian Sutil (retires, turns actor)
Esteban Gutierrez (races Brazilian touring cars)
Kamui Kobayashi (chooses to sit out the year, no money left)
Pastor Maldonado (signs twelve-year contract as crash test driver for Euro NCAP)



Edit;
Damn, I forgot about the gold mine that is the Indycar Series

[W12]

Mercedes
Nico Rosberg
Nico Hulkenberg

Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo
Sebastian Vettel

Williams
Valtteri Bottas
Felipe Massa

McLaren
Kevin Magnussen
Jenson Button

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso
Kimi Räikkönen

Lotus
Romain Grosjean
Kamui Kobayashi

Force India
Sergio Perez
Narain Karthikeyan

Sauber
Johnny Cecotto, Jr.
Esteban Gutierrez

Toro Rosso
Daniil Kvyat
Alex Lynn

Marussia
Jules Bianchi
Max Chilton

Caterham
Marcus Ericcson
Heikki Kovalainen

Forza Rossa
Adrian Sutil
Pastor Maldonado

[Salamander]

Mercedes
Nico Rosberg
Lewis Hamilton

Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel
Daniel Ricciardo

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso
Nico Hulkenberg

McLaren
Kevin Magnussen
Romain Grosjean

Lotus
Robert Kubica
Jean-Eric Vergne

Williams
Valterri Bottas
Jenson Button

Force India
Sergio Perez
Simona de Silvestro

Toro Rosso
Daniil Kvyat
Carlos Sainz Jr

Sauber
Giedo van der Garde
Jules Bianchi

Marussia
Max Chilton
Johnny Cecotto Jr.

Caterham
Heikki Kovalainen
Kamui Kobayashi

Forza Rossa
Pedro de la Rosa
Pastor Maldonado

Haas
Alexander Rossi
Vitaly Petrov

In my perfect F1:
- Nico Rosberg wins the championship fair and square, without needing the double points at Abu Dhabi, causing Lewis Hamilton to sulk massively over the off-season because he has nowhere else to go for the moment.
- Red Bull hang on to Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel, as the two get along well (for now, at least) - Ricciardo beats Vettel to 3rd in the championship despite a late charge from the German.
- By the mid-season break Ferrari and Kimi Raikkonen agree that this really isn't working out for either of them, and part ways for 2015, Kimi going on to do... whatever it is that he'd rather do, while Nico Hulkenberg is picked up to be a solid number 2 to Fernando Alonso.
- Kevin Magnussen grows in confidence as the season wears on, and by the end of it, is regularly thrashing Jenson Button to the point that McLaren feel confident enough to let Button go. In his place comes Romain Grosjean, after a very disappointing GP2 campaign from Stoffel Vandoorne, with Grosjean eager to impress after a wasted year at Lotus.
- Against all odds, Robert Kubica suddenly gains full use of his injured arm, and after a crash course to get him fit for F1 again, is ready to pick up where he left off. After a difficult 2014, Lotus come out of it much wiser, and the 2015 car looks a real title-contender with Kubica at the helm. Also the team decide to take on Jean-Eric Vergne to replace Grosjean, in order to keep their Total sponsorship.
- Felipe Massa continues to squander opportunities at Williams, and finally realises what we've all known for years - that he'll never truly be F1 material again. He bows out gracefully, allowing Jenson Button to come in and use his wealth of experience to try and make Williams not completely waste every opportunity that comes their way.
- Sergio Perez continued to impress with the odd podium in 2014, earning a second season with Force India. Circumstances at Sauber forced them to abandon Simona de Silvestro, but Vijay Mallya picks her up, and gives her a couple free practice outings, in which she impressed enough to earn a 2015 race seat.
- Daniil Kvyat is signed for a second season, with runaway FR3.5 champ Carlos Sainz Jr. brought in to replace Vergne.
- #GiedoVanDerGod gets a break at a bigger team, with Jules Bianchi promoted to Sauber in exchange for cheaper Ferrari engines, which just allows Sauber to squeak by for another year.
- His Canada antics a clear one-off, TALENT Chilton continues racking up solid finishes for the rest of the year, and secures a well-deserved third season for Marussia. After cleaning up his act massively in 2014, Johnny Cecotto Jr earns a seat alongside Chilton, with a ton of PDVSA money to help the team as it marches towards the midfield.
- Caterham... do things... and get Kovalainen back, and re-sign Kobayashi? I dunno.
- Forza Rossa make it in with a decent enough Dallara chassis. Pedro de la Rosa makes his umpteen-millionth F1 comeback to provide feedback on the car, with Maldonado also getting one last shot at proving that he really does belong in F1 and that his win was totally deserved.
- Haas, somehow, get a car together for 2015 despite the statements that they were going to aim for 2016 instead, getting F1 to a full 26-car grid for the first time in decades. Alexander Rossi is signed because he's pretty much the most F1-ready US driver, though the team is also working to get Conor Daly into a GP2 team that doesn't completely suck. With the Ukraine Crisis resolved peacfully, this allows the team to bring Vitaly Petrov back into F1, providing some additional funds and actual racing talent.

Completely unrealistic at points, I know, but this is my perfect grid, after all.

[Shadaza]

Pay drivers gone, F1 is now picked via draft. Pick order is determined by the car's placement in the drivers championship. I am going to assume the championship order at the end of the year will be the same or similar to what it is now. So the order is:

1.Mercedes
2.Mercedes
3.Red Bull
4.Ferrari
5.Red Bull
6.Force India
7.McLaren
8.Williams
9.McLaren
10.Force India
11.Williams
12.Ferrari
13.Lotus
14.Toro Rosso
15.Toro Rosso
16.Marussia
17.Sauber
18.Caterham
19.Sauber
20.Marussia
21.Caterham
22.Lotus
23.Forza Rossa
24.Forza Rossa

So here is what an ideal grid would look like.

Mercedes:
1.Nico Rosberg
2. Lewis Hamilton.

I can't see Merc wanting to change anything really.

Red Bull
1.Fernando Alonso
2.Daniel Ricciardo

Red Bull might see Alonso as a steal for a years draft pick, but end up losing Vettel to Ferrari as the Italians take revenge for losing their star. Dale stays.

Ferrari
1.Sebastian Vettel
2.Jules Bianchi

With Alonso gone, the next logical choice is Vettel, Ferrari have to wait a bit for their second pick and after weighing up Button and Bianchi decide to go for the younger driver.

Force India
1.Nico Hulkenberg
2.Stoeffel Vandorne

Hulk is probably the best driver left and Force India take him with both hands. Vandorne gets the second seat after missing out at McLaren but still a classy rookie.

McLaren
1.Kevin Magnussen
2.Romain Grosjean

McLaren decide it is better to hang on to their wonderkid then go with Button. Ron Dennis goes ruthless and decides Grosjean has more potential and Jenson is sidelined from the team he has been with since 2010.

Williams
1.Valtteri Bottas
2.Jean Eric Vergne

Williams are not going to let go of Bottas if they can help it. Seeing how well Vergne performed against Ricciardo and how well Vergne has done this season, Williams have decided to give him a chance.

Lotus
1.Sergio Perez
2.Kamui Kobayashi

When Lotus is fast it is fast, and when it is bad it is BAD. So Lotus sign two drivers that match that philosophy, it's 2012 all over again but for the black and gold team.

Toro Rosso
1.Danill Kvyat
2.Carlos Sainz JR.

Kvyat easily deserves to keep his seat whilst Carlos Sainz is the logical next driver in the Red Bull chain.

Marussia
1.Jenson Button
2.Will Power

Now with no budgets to worry about Marussia can go crazy with the line up, Button is well proven and a driver that will make the most of any opportunity to score points whilst Will Power finally gets the F1 debut he deserves.

Sauber
1.Robin Frijjns
2.Stefano Coletti

Free of budget Sauber can finally run Frijjns! Coletti may have famously choked in GP2, but he offers a better prospect than any of Saubers current line of morons!

Caterham
1.Jolyon Palmer
2.Simon Pagenaud

Palmer would be a great driver for Caterham having proved consistent in GP2. Pagenaud would be an entertaining addition to the back marker team.

Forza Rossa
1.Giedo van der Garde
2.Fabio Leimer

Forza Rossa would need a driver with experience and Van der God would be the hero a new team deserves. I would like to see Leimer get a shot so he is my last driver.

Drivers that will not stay in F1:
Kimi Raikkonen, Fellipe Massa, Adrian Sutil, Pastor Maldonado, Max Chilton and Marcus Ericsson. The first 3 have been in the sport long enough and are passed their best, Maldonado is too much of a liability to be depended on for the true speed he has whilst Chilton and Ericsson are simply not fast enough.

Drivers that just miss out:
Felipe Nasr
Ryan Hunter-Reay (maybe with Haas for 2016, best US open wheel driver going)
Pierre Gasly
Alex Lynn
Sam Bird
James Calado
Robert Kubica (I want to see him test an open wheel car again first)

[Shizuka]

Mercedes / Mercedes
Nico Rosberg
Lewis Hamilton

After some unreliability on Hamilton's side, Rosberg keeps his calm, confident way to rack up the points to grab the title. Lewis decides to stay on for 2015 to have things his way... or so he thinks. But one of them has to go... who is it going to be, the title defender or the contender?

Red Bull / Renault (they stay with them after Mercedes asks for a horrible price for their engines)
Daniel Ricciardo
Sebastian Vettel

The smiling Perth speed demon instantly became popular in the paddock after scoring his first win, followed by two more in Hungary and Singapore. Some unreliability though keeps the fight going for being best of the rest - but Seb just loses out in the end. Knowing that Newey plans to pen RB11 as his final car, he decides to stay with his home squad for a year, but he pulls an Alonso! Before the 2015 season starts, in the off season he announces a contract with Mercedes from 2016!

Ferrari / Ferrari
Fernando Alonso
Nico Hülkenberg

Räikkönen just wasn't able to cut it in his Ferrari return, so he decides to quit F1 altogether. Alonso stays on one more season, because he wants a much more clear transition to young titans, so he partners up with Hülkenberg to help Ferrari have a solid transition year, as they announced to bring Bianchi up in 2016.

Force India / Mercedes
Sergio Perez
Daniel Juncadella

Hülkenberg gets a call from Ferrari. Mallya only allows this move if he gets paid. Montezuma slams the desk with the bag of cash and takes Nico. Perez stays, but an opening allows Juncadella to debut.

McLaren / Honda
Jenson Button
Kevin Magnussen

Enter Honda. But everything else is the same. Ronspeak keeps the livery the same, but the exclusive Honda contract packs a punch for the popular-in-Japan Button and the McLaren protegé Magnussen. They have the chance to return to the front after years in the midfield.

Williams / Mercedes
Valtteri Bottas
Romain Grosjean

Massa admits in Interlagos in front of his home crowd that he can't get into the groove again. This flips Globo out blaming Williams and so Felipe goes driving touring cars. Williams now needs someone decent... and Grosjean is their pick, as the Frenchman wringled that Lotus to places where it never really belonged.

Toro Rosso / Renault
Daniil Kvyat
Carlos Sainz Jr.

Mateschitz et al decides that Vergne doesn't deserve to stay with them (despite scoring more points and mechanical retirements), so his car is now the young Sainz's. Shades of Ricciardo-Vergne bound to occur... but they both know Vettel leaves after 2015. That contract is tantralizing for both drivers.

Marussia / Ferrari
Jules Bianchi
Max Chilton

Ferrari still gives cheaper units, and the support pays off well. Bianchi now knows he needs to get things going before he goes into the deep water of Ferrari in 2016.

Sauber / Ferrari
Simona de Silvestro
Raffaele Marciello

Kaltenborn admits that Marciello's contract saved the team from bankruptcy, as the young Italian brings the advantage of cheaper Ferrari units. The cash-strapped status is partially solved by signing Simona de Silvestro, who finally helps change the Hispania-ish livery.

Forza Rossa / Ferrari
Adrian Sutil
Pastor Maldonado

Colin Kolles returns with a nice Dallara chassis and Ferrari engines. He needs someone familiar, so he picks up Sutil from Sauber, and to not have big financial issues, he wisely picks up Maldonado as well, hoping he won't crash every weekend. Kolles also announces that he looks at 2015 as a "getting to know you" year, with the main focus on qualifying for every race.

Just 20 cars... just like in 2009.
Some German newspaper (or website... Klon might enlighten us with this) think that Caterham might fall by the wayside mid-season (!), this might happen especially if they constantly end up behind Marussia. Lotus also shows the white flag after 2014 as finishing as low as 8th is financially a deadly result.
Haas stays firmly focused to debut in 2016.

[GerhardTalger]

Merc
Rosberg
Hamilton

RB
Ricciardo
Vettel

Ferrari
Alonso
Hulkenberg

Force India
Perez
Frijns

McLaren
Magnussen
Bianchi

Williams
Bottas
Vandoorne

STR
Kvyat
Sainz Jr

Lotus
Grosjean
Ocon

Marussia
Vergne
Leimer

Sauber
van der Garde
Hunter-Reay

Caterham
Bird
Nasr