The car was finished in December
Alonso moved up with hindsight. At the time most people initially thought he moved down.Cs98 wrote: ↑01 Feb 2024, 14:29From ALPINE (!!) who didn't want to give him a multi-year deal. Alonso moved up, Hamilton is moving down (judging by recent history and the fact Ferrari haven't won for 15 years) or at best sideways. If W15 (and by extension W16) were showing great promise, would he really be leaving now? And it's not like he will be going up against an easier teammate at Ferrari. Whatever way you slice it, it's not a good reflection on Merc's future cars.
CaribouBread wrote: ↑01 Feb 2024, 13:59at this rate give it a few hours they'll try to tell us Lewis drove for Ferrari last year
Not really, it was patently obvious Alpine was going nowhere whilst AMR were investing heavily, and crucially, Alpine were offering him a sh*t contract. Alonso's move made sense on so many levels and he was not in a position to pick and choose between top teams. Hamilton had a straight choice between Merc and Ferrari, and chose to ditch the team he built so much with for a final stint in red. Again, I can't believe this says nothing about W15/W16 when we know he had an option to stay for 25 with Merc.KimiRai wrote: ↑01 Feb 2024, 15:22Alonso moved up with hindsight. At the time most people initially thought he moved down.Cs98 wrote: ↑01 Feb 2024, 14:29From ALPINE (!!) who didn't want to give him a multi-year deal. Alonso moved up, Hamilton is moving down (judging by recent history and the fact Ferrari haven't won for 15 years) or at best sideways. If W15 (and by extension W16) were showing great promise, would he really be leaving now? And it's not like he will be going up against an easier teammate at Ferrari. Whatever way you slice it, it's not a good reflection on Merc's future cars.
Russell is at most 1 tenth behind Lewis on race/quali pace and will only improve as he gains experience and backing from the team. Don't see why not go all in behind George and bring in a Bottas-like second driver?
He's in the Mercedes junior team but he's skipping F3 this year and going into F2. He's rapid but extremely raw and Merc haven't taken a risk on this sort of driver in the past (had option on Verstappen but didn't want to put him straight into Merc). Expectation is that he'll only compete for F2 title in 2025 so it'd be a bit early for him
I agree, there is no one fast enough for a Mercedes spot. But only if he performs well in F2DGP123 wrote: ↑01 Feb 2024, 16:29There’s nothing remotely special about Albon, Gasly or Ocon. They’ve all been tried and tested, and only excel at mid tier teams, when the pressure is off.
IMO, they need to be bold and go for Antonelli. He’s massively hyped, as Max was, and he was fast tracked. If you’re good enough, you are old enough. No point playing safe now Mercedes aren’t at the front of F1