The Big Picture
Following a four-week summer break, Formula 1's news mainly comes in the form of transfer rumours in the driver market. Following Mark Webber's unsurprising but disappointing announcement that he will leave the sport at the end of the year to move to Porsche sports cars, there has been a steady stream of chatter about who will get the vacant seat at Red Bull for 2014. The main rumours have been that Red Bull have been actively pursuing Kimi Raikkonen to partner Vettel, whilst at the same time there has been lots of talk that Ferrari have been trying to get him back to replace Massa, whose contract expires at the end of the season. Personally, I can't see either of these working out or being entirely true, given that Raikkonen would never be a placid second-fiddle to Vettel at Red Bull, and Ferrari paid a substantial amount of money, rumoured to be up to $30m, to remove Raikkonen in 2009 to make way for Alonso. This weekend it was being stated by everyone bar Red Bull that Daniel Ricciardo had the seat, being promoted up from Torro Rosso to the main team in a validation of the Torro Rosso young driver programme, something that comes at no small cost to Red Bull. It comes as no real surprise given he's a strong young talent, and also someone that can mould to the role of being number two driver to Vettel. Few others with real ambition would want the position in my opinion, as they must realise that no matter how good they are, they simply won't be allowed to succeed, much like Mark Webber now. There's still chatter going on however, as Felipe Massa's manager has reportedly been talking to Force India, and further rumours that Red Bull were interested in McLaren number one Jenson Button. On top of this, there are the questions that hang over certain rookies like Chilton, Gutierrez and Bottas, as to whether their stay in the sport will be longer than their debut season. It's a cut-throat world for young drivers in F1 now, and their talent needs to be backed by their contribution for cash-strapped smaller teams, leaving an opening for new rookies to capitalise on.