Formula 1 2006 by G

[G.Irish]

Guys to watch:


Scott Speed, Nico Rosberg, Anthony Davidson (Friday driver), Narain Karthikeyan (Friday driver, the world's fastest Indian)

Scott Speed
Yes, that really is his name. He's the only American in F1 for some time and a lot of people have big hopes in him. One of the drivers from the first class of the Red Bull American Driver Search, Scott Speed came from a karting background in the US. Its said that during the Red Bull contest that his attitude was brash and arrogant but he was so quick they couldn't deny him the seat.

He's in the second slowest car on the grid (in from the Super Aguri for now) but as I pointed to before, the Toro Rosso might be able to sneak in a surprise finish.

Most Likely to be Signing with Another Team by the End of the Season
Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya, Anthony Davidson

During this offseason McLaren boss Ron Dennis scored a major coup by signing reigning champion Fernando Alonso. However, in doing so, he is basically saying that either Juan or Kimi has to go. Unfortunately for the Ronster, I think bout Juan and Kimi will elect to jump ship.

Several times in the press the Ronster or one of his staff have made comments to the effect that they would have won the championship had their drivers made less mistakes. Certainly true, but the cars flat out broke many more times than their drivers threw things away. In making those comments the McLaren organization has virtually ensured that neither driver will want to re up with them.

Kimi


For awhile now the rumor has been Kimi at Ferrari. He would certainly make a suitable replacement for ole Schumacher. However, several key team personnel are due to retire in the near term future for Ferrari, so it is entirely possible that Ferrari is headed for another extended period of uncompetitiveness.

The other big rumor for Kimi is Toyota. They've got the biggest bankroll in F1 and a lot of reputation at stake. The pressure has been mounting for results at Toyota and getting Kimi would be a huge boon for them. Supposedly Toyota has put a $100 million contract on the table for Kimi.

Juan
Juan has several options but right now Renault seems to be front runner since their main sponsor is Telefonica Movistar (a Spanish company, and Montoya is Colombian). Telefonica certainly can't follow Alonso to McLaren since McLaren is sponsored by a competitor (Vodafone).

Anthony Davidson
Ant has been a test driver for BAR Honda for a few years now and has never failed to post fast times (during all test sessions and Friday practice). However its been high time that he gets a race seat and last season Williams was talking to him but BAR Honda retained his services.

Davidson was apparently over a seat next to Takuma Crasho at Super Aguri but the Honda F1 team principal apparently convinced him to stay with the factory Honda team as the Friday driver. This works out well for Honda F1, but one has to wonder if poor Ant will ever get to race.