Who will replace the Iceman in 2016?

Ferrari, the poisoned chalice of modern Formula 1, will be looking for a replacement for the outgoing Kimi Raikkonen in the coming months, but who are the contenders for this prestigious seat?

Firstly, it must be noted that there are two drivers who could have been considered but are instead a reminder of the dangers of the sport that we all love. Robert Kubica and Jules Bianchi have both suffered horrific injuries which will rule them out of the Ferrari drive which they had been previously linked to. Robert Kubica began his career in the Italian formula Renault 2000 series and had received admiring glances from Ferrari before his accident in rallying, Stefano Domenicali had admitted that there was a test drive waiting for Kubica at the end of the 2011 season. Bianchi has been part of the Ferrari young driver program since 2009 after impressing in a test when Ferrari were assessing their options, on the back of Massa's own injury. If these tragedies had not occurred we may have even been looking at a Kubica, Bianchi partnership for 2016.

So who does this leave Ferrari with? I believe that Perez has burnt his bridges with the Scuderia, and hardly impressed at Mclaren but his German team mate at Force India may be a more safe pair of hand for the 2nd Ferrari. Hulkenberg was nearly signed instead of Raikkonen last year, a bad decision in hindsight, and F1 fans have long been asking when will we see the like-able German in a car deserving of his talents? He clearly has the speed, a pole position in his first year in Brazil in his first year, is evidence for this but I worry that the Hulk will instead turn out to be the new Nick Heidfeld, and continue to be a nearly man.

An option from outside of Formula 1 is Raffaele Marciello, a member of the Ferrari young driver program and impressive race winner in tricky conditions at Spa in GP2 this year. I'm sure Ferrari would love to put him in as he would be the first Italian in a Ferrari since Fisichella's unfortunate stand in appearances at the end of 2009.

I feel Ferrari will try to replicate their greatest period of success and pick the driver most suited to the Barrichello role of 2nd driver and keep 'baby schumi' smiling. and put the young Italian in the car provided he can demonstrate consistent speed in the 2015 GP2 season.

Failing all this there may be a double world champion on the market in 2015 if a repeat of 2007 takes place at Mclaren. Stranger things have happened...

What's the point of a test driver?

Gutierrez has been unveiled at Ferrari as a test driver, coinciding with a host of new Mexican sponsors for the Italian team, so the question has to be what is the role of a test driver in modern F1?

Massa and Alonso are two examples of how in the past a driver could go to a high profile team and learn his trade from a world class driver, in Massa's case he calmed down his tyre melting sideways style under the tutelage of Schumacher and then, after taking full advantage of unlimited testing mileage, take the seat of an unwanted driver, in Alonso's case the seat of Jenson Button. (Which he nearly did again last week)

What's the role of a test driver today? There is ofcourse simulator work to be done but the value of this is debatable. Kimi doesn't really bother with it even if he has to learn a new track and Ferrari famously struggle to get any of their off track developments to cooperate with on track gains.

So what will Gutierrez's 2015 entail? There will be no practice sessions for him, he will be left to do the publicity events, a drive up the famous hill at Goodwood and numerous burnout sessions in cities across the world in an out of date car. If he's lucky he won't embarrass himself like Verstappen and Kobayashi and crash the car in front of a bewildered crowd.

So Gutierrez gets nothing from the experience, surely his two years at Sauber have shown him to be no worthy replacement for Raikkonen, so he will sit on the sidelines like an unwanted sub until his sponsors no longer pay.

We need testing back in F1 to bring through talent in F1 and allow drivers to develop at a big team like Massa and Alonso did or we will end up with a field of GP2 drivers whose talents have not had the knowledge and race craft of this generations superstars passed on.