As it says on the tin:
Williams
Nothing yet confirmed here, however the most likely partnership seems to be Pastor Maldonado alongside F1 returnee, 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, with current team leader Rubens Barrichello sent on his way to retirement, or possibly a temporary gig at Lotus until Robert Kubica is fit. Now this writer is no fan of Maldonado- despite being statistically the worst Williams driver ever (and in this case, the stats do not lie), he will almost certainly retain his seat at Barrichello's expense, primarily due to the sponsorship deal he brings to the team from PDVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company, said to be worth somewhere in the region of £25 million per year. That deal, though, is reportedly under scrutiny- should the plug be pulled, that will almost certainly be the end of Maldonado's less-than-impressive F1 career, certainly with Williams, which could lead to Barrichello being retained, or perhaps a seat for likely Force India refugee Adrian Sutil
Toro Rosso
The smart money (and, in this writer's opinion, the smart thing to do) is on the retention of Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari. However, both Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne of the Red Bull young driver stable are pushing very hard for a race seat- 1 of the 2 is likely to get at least some Friday morning mileage with the team, with a mid-season promotion a strong possibility should Buemi or Alguersuari fail to deliver
Marussia (nee Virgin)
Another name-changer. Timo Glock has a contract for 2012 and will be retained unless offered a drive from a much bigger team, which seems highly unlikely. Alongside him looks likely to be GP2 graduate Charles Pic, with Jerome D'Ambrosio likely to find himself gaining occasional employment as Lotus reserve driver- he's not thought to be a serious contender for a race seat. Canadian Robert Wickens could yet claim a race seat, but is more likely to find himself as 3rd driver, doing the odd Friday run
HRT
Pedro de la Rosa is confirmed as 1 of their drivers. The 2nd seat is likely to be decided by the size of the driver's budget. De la Rosa's compadre, GP2 graduate Dani Clos, is likely to be a contender having tested for the team during the Abu Dhabi young driver test. The addition of de la Rosa is a smart one, providing technical direction and a solid benchmark should a top team wish to evaluate a young driver, such as Red Bull did with Daniel Ricciardo
Wednesday 23 November 2011
Monday 21 November 2011
F1 2012. Who's driving where?
And now for something slightly different....
The driver market for F1 2012 is starting to take shape, however, as I'm about to show, there's still much to be decided:
Top 4 teams
All done and dusted. Mclaren (Button and Hamilton), Red Bull (Vettel and Webber), Ferrari (Alonso and Massa) and Mercedes (Schumacher and Rosberg) are all staying put, at least for the start of 2012. More on that later
Lotus (nee Renault)
This is something of a basket case. Of the current incumbents, Vitaly Petrov has a contract for 2012 and brings in excess of £10 million in funding, but last week's rant on Russian TV at the team must raise questions about his future at Enstone. While he has subsequently apologised, one key quote stood out from the email: "I have one last opportunity to try and make you proud in Brazil". Alongside him since Belgium has been Bruno Senna, who has made a solid if unspectacular impression. A race seat for next season for him is probably dependent on him finding more financial backing. Romain Grosjean is set to take Petrov's car for FP1 in Brazil on Friday, and is widely thought to be a strong contender for a race seat, with him now being stronger and more mature than in his brief stint with the team in 2009. There is also the matter of Robert Kubica- while he has no contract for 2012 with the team, boss Eric Boullier has spoken of the moral obligation he feels to Kubica- if he's race fit for winter testing, one has to believe there's a cockpit waiting for him- if he wants it. More on that later. Externally, another opetion could be Adrian Sutil if he is not retained by Force India, however they are set to be priced out of a move for Kimi Raikkonen. Boullier has already stated his intenton to have 2 top class drivers in the car for 2013.
Force India
Much more straightforward- 2 from Adrian Sutil, Paul Di Resta and test driver Nico Hulkenberg. Paddock consensus seems to be moving towards a Di Resta-Hulkenberg pairing, with Sutil set to go and knock on the doors of Lotus and Williams for a drive
Sauber
Even more straightforward. Current incumbents Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez are both retained
Caterham (nee Lotus)
Again, nice and simple. Current incumbents Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli are retained
Part 2, featuring the remaining teams and Robert Kubica, to follow later this week, but before Brazil
The driver market for F1 2012 is starting to take shape, however, as I'm about to show, there's still much to be decided:
Top 4 teams
All done and dusted. Mclaren (Button and Hamilton), Red Bull (Vettel and Webber), Ferrari (Alonso and Massa) and Mercedes (Schumacher and Rosberg) are all staying put, at least for the start of 2012. More on that later
Lotus (nee Renault)
This is something of a basket case. Of the current incumbents, Vitaly Petrov has a contract for 2012 and brings in excess of £10 million in funding, but last week's rant on Russian TV at the team must raise questions about his future at Enstone. While he has subsequently apologised, one key quote stood out from the email: "I have one last opportunity to try and make you proud in Brazil". Alongside him since Belgium has been Bruno Senna, who has made a solid if unspectacular impression. A race seat for next season for him is probably dependent on him finding more financial backing. Romain Grosjean is set to take Petrov's car for FP1 in Brazil on Friday, and is widely thought to be a strong contender for a race seat, with him now being stronger and more mature than in his brief stint with the team in 2009. There is also the matter of Robert Kubica- while he has no contract for 2012 with the team, boss Eric Boullier has spoken of the moral obligation he feels to Kubica- if he's race fit for winter testing, one has to believe there's a cockpit waiting for him- if he wants it. More on that later. Externally, another opetion could be Adrian Sutil if he is not retained by Force India, however they are set to be priced out of a move for Kimi Raikkonen. Boullier has already stated his intenton to have 2 top class drivers in the car for 2013.
Force India
Much more straightforward- 2 from Adrian Sutil, Paul Di Resta and test driver Nico Hulkenberg. Paddock consensus seems to be moving towards a Di Resta-Hulkenberg pairing, with Sutil set to go and knock on the doors of Lotus and Williams for a drive
Sauber
Even more straightforward. Current incumbents Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez are both retained
Caterham (nee Lotus)
Again, nice and simple. Current incumbents Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli are retained
Part 2, featuring the remaining teams and Robert Kubica, to follow later this week, but before Brazil
Sunday 6 November 2011
Partick Thistle v Ross County- Michael Fraser's Distribution
Evening. (insert excuse for lack of activity on this blog here)
Yesterday, I decided to study County keeper Michael Fraser's distribution, and also to have a look specifically at County's shooting. I'll return to the shooting later, but firstly Fraser's distribution.The basic results are that, of the 24 times Fraser played the ball, he managed to find a team-mate just 5 times (I intend to have the graphic showing this online tomorrow). This gives Fraser a pass completion figure of just 20.83%. It's probably slightly unfair to level that exclusively as a criticism of Fraser, and it should also be noted that he kept a clean sheet and dealt competently with then somewhat stifled Partick Thistle threat, most notably a flying save late on to deny David Rowson what would have been a rather ill-deserved equaliser for Thistle.
It should be noted that Fraser's cause wasn't helped by the fact that many of his goal kicks and passes were directed at Michael Gardyne who, for all his technical ability, is always going to struggle to compete aerially. Compare and contrast this with the game away to Dundee 3 weeks ago, where the more physically imposing Sam Morrow was in the team instead, and able to retain the ball far more often.
The nature of Fraser's distribution is also worthy of comment. Apart from 6 occasions where he had to leave his goal, either in anticipation of forthcoming danger or to take a free-kick, all his kicks were straight down the middle, aiming for 1 of the 2 frontmen. It seems County this season are not for building from the back, or at least not involving Fraser- there were, interestingly, a couple of excellent transitions from defence to offence ending in shots on goal which completely bypassed Fraser. While it sounds churlish to be finding fault with a team unbeaten in 10 league games and top of the league, should County be denied the services of both Morrow and Colin McMenamin, they are going to have real issues with ball retention in the attacking 3rd of the park. But we'll worry about that another day
Yesterday, I decided to study County keeper Michael Fraser's distribution, and also to have a look specifically at County's shooting. I'll return to the shooting later, but firstly Fraser's distribution.The basic results are that, of the 24 times Fraser played the ball, he managed to find a team-mate just 5 times (I intend to have the graphic showing this online tomorrow). This gives Fraser a pass completion figure of just 20.83%. It's probably slightly unfair to level that exclusively as a criticism of Fraser, and it should also be noted that he kept a clean sheet and dealt competently with then somewhat stifled Partick Thistle threat, most notably a flying save late on to deny David Rowson what would have been a rather ill-deserved equaliser for Thistle.
It should be noted that Fraser's cause wasn't helped by the fact that many of his goal kicks and passes were directed at Michael Gardyne who, for all his technical ability, is always going to struggle to compete aerially. Compare and contrast this with the game away to Dundee 3 weeks ago, where the more physically imposing Sam Morrow was in the team instead, and able to retain the ball far more often.
The nature of Fraser's distribution is also worthy of comment. Apart from 6 occasions where he had to leave his goal, either in anticipation of forthcoming danger or to take a free-kick, all his kicks were straight down the middle, aiming for 1 of the 2 frontmen. It seems County this season are not for building from the back, or at least not involving Fraser- there were, interestingly, a couple of excellent transitions from defence to offence ending in shots on goal which completely bypassed Fraser. While it sounds churlish to be finding fault with a team unbeaten in 10 league games and top of the league, should County be denied the services of both Morrow and Colin McMenamin, they are going to have real issues with ball retention in the attacking 3rd of the park. But we'll worry about that another day
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