The FIA published its first entry list for the 2012 F1 season a couple of days ago (source).



Since then, Williams has confirmed Pastor Maldonado.

That leaves these seats to be filled:

• Two seats at Force India
  
• Two seats at STR
  
• One seat at Williams
  
• One seat at Lotus
  
• Two seats at HRT

Another observation is the lack of engine partner for HRT. Will they stay with Cosworth, or go with Ferrari or Mercedes (Renault is already supplying four teams)?

I think STR will retain Buemi and Alguersuari. They've revamped their tech team with two ex-McLaren signings: aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson becoming deputy head of aero, and Luca Furbatto becoming chief designer.

The other teams are much more tricky to predict. However, I think Adrian Sutil is the man of the moment. If Renault wants a fast, reliable driver with a proven track record of delivering results, they should get Sutil rather than Petrov, Grosjean, or Senna. But I'm afraid they'll most probably pick one of the latter three in a conditional contract pending Kubica's recovery.

The Williams' seat will probably go to a well-sponsored driver if Barrichello is shown the door. They are in dire financial straits, and with Maldonado's state sponsorship under threat in Venezuela, they'll need another driver with solid financial backing.

HRT will definitely go for big wallets. No thoughts required for that. But Ricciardo's seat will probably be safe with Red Bull money. Jean Eric Vergne could be a dark horse.

HRT has confirmed De La Rosa a few days ago.

Force India will most likely be Di Resta and Hulkenberg according to Autorsport.

Grosjean has been testing with BMW, so that may be hinting that he's not going to get an F1 seat

HRT did confirm De La Rosa, but they didn't confirm him to a race seat to the FIAs provisional entry list.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

HRT has confirmed De La Rosa a few days ago.

Force India will most likely be Di Resta and Hulkenberg according to Autorsport.

di resta has a strong position due to his mercedes links and he's impressed this year, even though he's spent most of the 2nd half of season being given the gamble of an unconventional strategy, the fact that it was him rather than sutil that was asked to run it possibly tells a lot about how force india see their abilities to adapt. given the rumours about a possible split between mercedes and mclaren in the future, it could make good sense for force india to take hulkenberg as well even if he doesn't bring as much money as some could.

sutil will be interesting, 7 million aprox isn't enough to get a seat at a top / high mid team, i'd suspect that if it comes down to money then petrov can out bid his way into the lotus seat but for someone like williams or lower down the field it's a substantial amount, caterham are unusual for a team towards the back in that they are in a position where the drivers money isn't important. if STR stay unchanged then it's not a good sign for a few drivers in the red bull development program.

the surprise seat could be HRT, de la rosa has obviously seen something there for him to give up a comfortable role, as a well regarded test driver who can be dropped in to any car that's short of a race driver, to risk his reputation in the slowest team, it's possible that a decent injection of funds from another driver could see them move up the grid.

having said that marussia could be very interesting now they have parted ways with nick wirth and the total reliance on CFD but the second seat so far has been a ticket to obscurity, when you hear motorsport journalists actually struggling to remember who was glock's partner this season you know the coverage has been non existant

It is imho a damn shame if sutil won't get a ride but drivers like de la rosa, trulli and barrichello do. Or petrov, maldonado or even kobi and perez. I mean no offense to any one of them but sutil to me looks like driver I'd take over webber or massa. Sutil is above average and deserves a seat imho.

Quote from Hyperactive :

It is imho a damn shame if sutil won't get a ride but drivers like de la rosa, trulli and barrichello do. Or petrov, maldonado or even kobi and perez. I mean no offense to any one of them but sutil to me looks like driver I'd take over webber or massa. Sutil is above average and deserves a seat imho.

Never been keen on Sutil personally. Too much of a crasher and basher for my liking.. wasn't at all surprised to here him and Hamilton are personal friends.

Quote from gezmoor :

Never been keen on Sutil personally. Too much of a crasher and basher for my liking.. wasn't at all surprised to here him and Hamilton are personal friends.

Sutil, crasher/basher? Apart from that incident with the Genii bloke, can't recall of anything wrong about him both on and off track. Which incidents are you refeering to?

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Sutil, crasher/basher? Apart from that incident with the Genii bloke, can't recall of anything wrong about him both on and off track. Which incidents are you refeering to?

Just look at his races in the past few years. Every time he has a chance to score some points, he crashes.

Sutil has been in F1 for many many years, yet he hasn't really shown he has potential. I know his last couple of races were quite strong, but where has he been all year?

He isn't quick, nor is he consistent in terms of performance over a season. None of his teammates has actually been good to actually challenge him, until di Resta, who has been out-racing him all season before Force India start putting the two drivers on different strategy. And let's be honest, Sutil is never going to be top team material.

If I was Force India, I would go with Di Resta and Hulkenberg. Hulkenberg got the pace, he just needs more time in the car. And if I was Williams, I would keep Rubens.

With Rubens you know you are getting what you pay for. He is a proven race winner, with tons of experience and known for his good feedback. I don't really see why anyone would swap Sutil for Rubens. Rubens is the best out of all the available drivers IMO.

i could see senna at lotus, not because of any potential but just because it fits in with lotus' need to link themselves with the old lotus team and ayrton.

the fact that they existed back then as a rival team to the old lotus doesn't seem to matter and i can't wait to see how they work out how many GP's / titles they try to claim that "the lotus team" has when they next win a race

Quote from tinvek :

Grosjean has been testing with BMW, so that may be hinting that he's not going to get an F1 seat

BMW has been testing everyone and his dog lately, so who knows if he'll end up having a DTM race seat.

I still hope he gets another chance in F1 anyway, he's been really stellar over the last 2 years.

Quote from NSX_FReeDoM :

Just look at his races in the past few years. Every time he has a chance to score some points, he crashes.

Hmm, guess I should've paid more attention at the midfield action then... Examples please?

Quote from NSX_FReeDoM :

Just look at his races in the past few years. Every time he has a chance to score some points, he crashes.

He crashed only once by his own error this year (Canada). Same goes for last year, just one at-fault crash (with Kamui in Korea).

Majority of his DNFs are through mechanical failures, and he has been crashed into by other drivers (Petrov, Raikkonen, etc), more than he has crashed himself.

No, he isn't top-tier material, but he is easily one of the best of the rest IMHO. His points tally reflects it - 9th in the WDC in the 6th team, with only the drivers from the top 4 teams placed higher.

Hamilton must be the wrecking world champion for this year. The amount of carbon fibre he has damaged, not only on his car must run into millions of pounds. Anyone want to guess the cost? Perhaps he thinks he's a nube in LFS eh?

Quote from NSX_FReeDoM :

Just look at his races in the past few years. Every time he has a chance to score some points, he crashes.

Sutil has been in F1 for many many years, yet he hasn't really shown he has potential. I know his last couple of races were quite strong, but where has he been all year?

He isn't quick, nor is he consistent in terms of performance over a season. None of his teammates has actually been good to actually challenge him, until di Resta, who has been out-racing him all season before Force India start putting the two drivers on different strategy. And let's be honest, Sutil is never going to be top team material.

If I was Force India, I would go with Di Resta and Hulkenberg. Hulkenberg got the pace, he just needs more time in the car. And if I was Williams, I would keep Rubens.

With Rubens you know you are getting what you pay for. He is a proven race winner, with tons of experience and known for his good feedback. I don't really see why anyone would swap Sutil for Rubens. Rubens is the best out of all the available drivers IMO.

to be fair the Force india wasn't any good till the second half, and thats when Sutil started asserting dominace over Di resta.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?f ... d&v=mn3lACZy8p8#t=45s

Vettel <3

Awesome. Was that this year or last?

Twas last night I think. Apparently Button was quite funny too (though perhaps not AS funny), but I haven't seen that yet.

Yeah was last night. Apparently Button made some kinda point about BBC/Sky but I've not seen it either.

Just watched it. Quite funny, but not as funny as Vettel. It's clear the top F1 drivers respect each other though. http://youtu.be/m942L-KHcyY?hd=1

new rules for 2012 as of what the FIA agreed on today:

Safety Car: Cars not on the lead lap may unlap themselves once, sothat the lead lap cars are back-to-back in the line. (reaction to Singapore Vettel/Button)

Overtaking/Blocking: In a fight for position cars may not return to the racing line when breaking for a corner. Once off the racing line you need to stick to that line. (reaction to Monza Schumacher/Hamilton)

Short Cutting: You may not short cut the track to return to pitlane, exept for safety reasons. (reaction to Korea Vettel in Qualifying)

Time Limit: In addition to the 2h net time limit, there will be a 4h gross time limit (reaction to Montreal)

Testing: Cars now need to have passed FIA crash tests before the winter testing. Three pre-season tests and one mid-season test are scheduled
- 7th - 10th February Jerez de la Fontera
- 21st - 24th February Barcelona
- 1st - 4th March Barcelona
- 1st - 3rd May Mugello

source in German

Moreover the 2012 schedule was confirmed, including the Grand Prix of Bahrain (Manama) and United States (Austin)

they still didn't change the red flag rule which allows new tyres to be put on..

Overtaking/Blocking: In a fight for position cars may not return to the racing line when breaking for a corner. Once off the racing line you need to stick to that line. (reaction to Monza Schumacher/Hamilton)

Not too happy about that if i am honest. I thought Schumacher was racing fair in Monza.

Quote from NSX_FReeDoM :

Overtaking/Blocking: In a fight for position cars may not return to the racing line when breaking for a corner. Once off the racing line you need to stick to that line. (reaction to Monza Schumacher/Hamilton)

Not too happy about that if i am honest. I thought Schumacher was racing fair in Monza.

I thought the same. It was a hard fight, but fair. It was no zigzagging. This new interpretation of the rule reminds me a bit of ChampCar/IndyCar.

Quote from TFalke55 :

new rules for 2012 as of what the FIA agreed on today:

Safety Car: Cars not on the lead lap may unlap themselves once, sothat the lead lap cars are back-to-back in the line. (reaction to Singapore Vettel/Button)

So everybody who is laps down under a SC will have 1 of those laps back at each SC? I know that SC's don't happen too often, but that would keep a large number of vehicles on the lead lap wouldn't it?

I understand the reason for 1 "free pass" car is NASCAR, and the wave around rule, but wouldn't this make the loss of a lap basically meaningless (unless it is a second lap)?