Formula one: business dynamics behing the much rumoured three way switch!

In reply to my previous article "three way switch", I am now explaining why switching ¨Coulthard for Piquet at Renault and bringing in Vettel at RBR whilst leaving the empty "chair" at STR for Nelsinho is pure business thinking.

Rumours regarding Coulthard as replacement for Piquet at Renault would have raised a few eyebrows. Why him in particular, since there's so many aspiring young talents in F1 today (Sutil, Glock Rosberg the list goes on) it is more than a surprise Renault would be considering an aging DC as no:2 driver for the rest of the season. Yet the answer to this ever so simple: Vettel!!!

and here is how it works

Matezitsch, RBR and STR owner made it clear a few months ago he would no longer participate in owning STR next year in light of new rules to come into force in 2009. However Vettel the promising young talent is racing at STR right now, and Matezitsch is fully committed to keeping Vettel under his wing thus the downside of splitting with Toro Rosso means splitting away with Vettel. Unless Vettel was to race for sister team RedBull instead and that's the business thinking behind it all; however there's only one problem, how to make this happen? In other words how to convince David Coulthard to relinquish his seat?

Simple make him an offer he cannot refuse i.e. a drive for Renault; also there is another issue to look into, and that's getting the timing sequence right... Business as it were

Back to DC, Surely Matezitsch could have waited till the end of the season for Coulthard to resign and then offering Vettel his dream drive at rising sister team RBR. However this would have been a very risky move, why? because in the meantime between now and the end of the season would have been more than enough for Vettel to shine and teams like Toyota or even BMW to try lure the young German away from RBR. Therefore preventing this from happening, offering Vettel an upgrade to the better of the two sister team, a guarantee in itself for the young German to be in a car that has the potential to lead the midfield and next to take it to the pecking order (if only..) . Moreover knocking two birds with one rock; testing Vettel in a better car, check whether he's more real than hype ...

That's the reasoning behind moving Coulthard as Piquet's replacement because let's face it Vettel is more than good enough to race for Renault but to that extent Matezitsch would be losing his new apprentice as it were; I mean can you imagine (star wars) the emperor without his darth Vader exactly!!!

Moving Piquet away from Renault is also brilliant business thinking from Renault; allowing him to stay in F1 is even better, realising he does have potential yet was brought out in this game a little too early is his main weakness; however he cannot be sent back to GP2, once you made it to Formula 1 you just don't go back, you can try your luck in NASCAR or even DTM ? but not GP2...

In many regards this article is based on rumours, and i fear I may have given more credance to these speculations.

bottom line, not this time I'm afraid.

Alex