Has Silly Season already started?
If not, that bell you hear (ring) signals it has.
The BBC’s Jonathan Legard has two Tweets that should get all you Michael Schumacher and Adrian Sutil fans going:
@johnLatchamF1 Would have to be (seen to be) Michael’s decision to stop. Mercedes wouldn’t want to force out Germany’s 7 time champ 2 minutes ago via ÃœberTwitter in reply to johnLatchamF1
Hearing that Sutil is leading contender to replace Schumacher at season’s end IF he leaves Mercedes. Sutil out of contract at Force India about 5 hours ago via ÃœberTwitter
I guess being just a point behind Schumacher is turning out to be a good thing for Sutil.
As is the want of Silly Season, this then sets in motion a few other possibilities:
Vitantonio Liuzzi doesn’t lose his seat, since Sutil leaves. And Karun Chandhok gets that seat, finally bringing an Indian driver to the Indian team in the year when the Indian Grand Prix debuts.
That makes sense, huh?
Plus there’s that Paul di Resta guy. So maybe Liuzzi’s seat isn’t so safe, after all. A Force India team with an Indian driver and one from Great Britain would seem to have some marketing juice.
I can’t see Force India picking up someone like Pedro de la Rosa, however.
All that aside, there is one final point to consider: the fact there are rumors, even just rumors, that Schumacher might bag his comeback. That says something — that he’s thinking it, that he’s underwhelmed so much that others think it, a combination of both — that we can’t ignore.
I’d also have to think Sutil would be a good partner for Robert Kubica at Renault if the team can’t land Kimi Raikkonen and decides to ditch Vitaly Petrov.
