One of the most interesting stories over the last few races was the state of Ferrari’s driver line-up for the 2015 season. While both Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen both had contracts in place, until the end of 2016 and 2015 respectively, there was plenty of rumour around that Alonso was back off to McLaren or off to Mercedes and Raikkonen was to be replaced by young driver Jules Bianchi or Nico Hulkenberg. This has immediately been nulled as it was announced today that Ferrari will retain both their current drivers for next year.
In an interview with Sky Sports, team boss Marco Mattiacci replied with a simple “yeah” when asked on whether his line-up will remain the same for next season. When it came to questions on their 2016 line-up, Mattiacci replied with “wait and see”. With Raikkonen out of contract for then, it is clear that Ferrari will be looking at other options.
Ferrari have become only the second team to announce their line-up for 2015, following Toro Rosso’s announcement earlier in the week that they will be fielding two drivers with a combined age of just 37 with Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen. Pastor Maldonado was confirmed at Lotus weeks ago but a team mate is yet to be confirmed with Romain Grosjean out of contract. Nico Rosberg announced an extension to his contract ahead of his home race at Hockenheim also, with Hamilton currently two years into his three-year deal with Mercedes.
This news will come as a surprise to many but not to others. Despite Raikkonen’s dreadful form this season, he will drive for the team that he delivered the title for in 2007, the last time a Ferrari driver won the Drivers’ World Championship. He has shown better pace in recent races, but is still more places behind his team mate than any other driver in the standings. Understandably given Alonso’s form this season, he is linked to plenty of other teams, but the Spaniard has a contract until the end of 2016 and he is adamant that he wants to stay in Formula One with Ferrari until he claims that third title that he feels he deserves.
Confirmed drivers for 2015:
Caterham: TBA, TBA
Ferrari: Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen
Force India: Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg [both have contracts]
Lotus: Pastor Maldonado, TBA
Marussia: TBA, TBA
McLaren: TBA, TBA
Mercedes: Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton [Rosberg announced extension, Hamilton has contract]
Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel [both have contracts]
Sauber: TBA, TBA
Toro Rosso: Daniil Kvyat, Max Verstappen
Williams: Felipe Massa, Valtteri Bottas [both have contracts]
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