Silly season 2024-2025

[langedweil]

Somebody mentioned the other day about the possibility of him joining the FIA, there has historically been a revolving door between senior team personnel & the FIA. It really does seem like a potential good fit.

It absolutely wouldn't hurt the sport as a whole if ever he becomes part of the FIA visionary team.

Based on really nothing I don't feel like he'll be joining Ferrari. I'd say if he jumps ship it'll be AMR; there's money to run the team on a high level, he could have about the same freedoms as within RBR, there's brand new infrastructure, there's Honda & Alonso, and if Lawrence drops el nino into some others series there might even be Max.
Ferrari otoh feels kinda set too much in stone, with weird internal ego's and structures. I mean someone like Vigna will never 'bend the knee'.
Somehow I don't think AN can be steered by heaps of money, i.e. look at the Domenicali example ..

But most likely he will just take a sailing-leave and after that he might decide to step into another team or maybe maybe maybe indeed FIA (although that doesn't seem to be a proper fit somehow).

Anyway, who are we to know ...

Vigna hasn’t been to a race in months. He was basically moved off by Elkann, timing wise it seems to coincide with when Vasseur joined.

Since Vasseur joining the politking and egos seem largely gone and the results speak for themselves.

As to Vigna, that's true .. but imho he just isn't the racetrack kinda guy, just CEO. Think you're right with Elkann isolating the F1 team towards Vasseur, but still ... the organisation still seems to be much like a wasp's nest internally. As long as the sun shines it'll be fine, but what happens if they don't manage to start winning with that 0,5 billion injection surrounding Ham ?

[dialtone]

It absolutely wouldn't hurt the sport as a whole if ever he becomes part of the FIA visionary team.

Based on really nothing I don't feel like he'll be joining Ferrari. I'd say if he jumps ship it'll be AMR; there's money to run the team on a high level, he could have about the same freedoms as within RBR, there's brand new infrastructure, there's Honda & Alonso, and if Lawrence drops el nino into some others series there might even be Max.
Ferrari otoh feels kinda set too much in stone, with weird internal ego's and structures. I mean someone like Vigna will never 'bend the knee'.
Somehow I don't think AN can be steered by heaps of money, i.e. look at the Domenicali example ..

But most likely he will just take a sailing-leave and after that he might decide to step into another team or maybe maybe maybe indeed FIA (although that doesn't seem to be a proper fit somehow).

Anyway, who are we to know ...

Vigna hasn’t been to a race in months. He was basically moved off by Elkann, timing wise it seems to coincide with when Vasseur joined.

Since Vasseur joining the politking and egos seem largely gone and the results speak for themselves.

As to Vigna, that's true .. but imho he just isn't the racetrack kinda guy, just CEO. Think you're right with Elkann isolating the F1 team towards Vasseur, but still ... the organisation still seems to be much like a wasp's nest internally. As long as the sun shines it'll be fine, but what happens if they don't manage to start winning with that 0,5 billion injection surrounding Ham ?

You can ask that question about any team as we see the previous dominant force Mercedes imploding and now RBR. Newey just needs to find a spot that’s peaceful now and for the next N years he still wants to do stuff.

Plus again… Ferrari is doing GT3, LMH, F1, road cars, entering boats and more. That’s paradise for someone like Newey.

[PapayaFan481]

Vigna hasn’t been to a race in months. He was basically moved off by Elkann, timing wise it seems to coincide with when Vasseur joined.

Since Vasseur joining the politking and egos seem largely gone and the results speak for themselves.

As to Vigna, that's true .. but imho he just isn't the racetrack kinda guy, just CEO. Think you're right with Elkann isolating the F1 team towards Vasseur, but still ... the organisation still seems to be much like a wasp's nest internally. As long as the sun shines it'll be fine, but what happens if they don't manage to start winning with that 0,5 billion injection surrounding Ham ?

You can ask that question about any team as we see the previous dominant force Mercedes imploding and now RBR. Newey just needs to find a spot that’s peaceful now and for the next N years he still wants to do stuff.

Plus again… Ferrari is doing GT3, LMH, F1, road cars, entering boats and more. That’s paradise for someone like Newey.

Maybe that's how they get him. He doesn't join the F1 team per se, but joins Ferrari the parent company and involved in design across the brand.

Imagine the price they could charge for a Ferrari "Designed by Adrian Newey"!!

[Xyz22]

Marko

Helmut Marko reveals details of Carlos Sainz’s Audi offer:

“I think he has a very great three-year offer from Audi.”

“But he has to make a decision relatively soon.”

“We, on the other hand, won't make a decision soon. We won't let things like that put us under pressure.”

As expected.

[FW17]

I hope Geely buys into Alpine F1 team (as they have done with other businesses of Renault) and Zhou gets to drive for them while the rebuild on the next 100 race plan.

[PapayaFan481]

I hope Geely buys into Alpine F1 team (as they have done with other businesses of Renault) and Zhou gets to drive for them while the rebuild on the next 100 race plan.

They could rebrand as Lotus again!!

[FW17]

I hope Geely buys into Alpine F1 team (as they have done with other businesses of Renault) and Zhou gets to drive for them while the rebuild on the next 100 race plan.

They could rebrand as Lotus again!!

Whatever works for Luca de Meo

[CHT]

I hope Geely buys into Alpine F1 team (as they have done with other businesses of Renault) and Zhou gets to drive for them while the rebuild on the next 100 race plan.

Geely is already a substantial shareholder at Aston Martin

[deadhead]

Marko

Helmut Marko reveals details of Carlos Sainz’s Audi offer:

“I think he has a very great three-year offer from Audi.”

“But he has to make a decision relatively soon.”

“We, on the other hand, won't make a decision soon. We won't let things like that put us under pressure.”

As expected.

Best case for Sainz is VER going to Mercedes and him replacing VER at RBR .. but the prospect of him going against HUL, PER, or RUS, are all pretty great.

I really thought that a top team would eat him up considering his form, but I guess teams look at more than just the last 4/5 races when making this type of decisions.

[CHT]

Marko

As expected.

Best case for Sainz is VER going to Mercedes and him replacing VER at RBR .. but the prospect of him going against HUL, PER, or RUS, are all pretty great.

I really thought that a top team would eat him up considering his form, but I guess teams look at more than just the last 4/5 races when making this type of decisions.

I think the best case for Sainz is to join AM alongside Alonso.

[Xyz22]

Marko

As expected.

Best case for Sainz is VER going to Mercedes and him replacing VER at RBR .. but the prospect of him going against HUL, PER, or RUS, are all pretty great.

I really thought that a top team would eat him up considering his form, but I guess teams look at more than just the last 4/5 races when making this type of decisions.

This is not going to happen in the short term.

[Vanja #66]

Best case for Sainz is VER going to Mercedes and him replacing VER at RBR .. but the prospect of him going against HUL, PER, or RUS, are all pretty great.

I really thought that a top team would eat him up considering his form, but I guess teams look at more than just the last 4/5 races when making this type of decisions.

This is not going to happen in the short term.

“I think everyone wants him, only I think Max is right for the moment,” (Jos) Verstappen said, as quoted by RacingNews365.nl.

“He has a fast car, but we also have to look further to 2026, so we are letting everything come to us at the moment. We stay very calm and see what will happen.”

https://www.planetf1.com/news/max-verst ... verstappen

They (team Max) haven't seen eye-to-eye with Horner about PU and they want out on time

[deadhead]

Yes 2025 is the problematic year for all parties involved it seems

[Chuckjr]

All true, but if she was also Newey's PA and he has now lost her services, that may be at least part of the picture.

If this PA had decided to leave for another position in another organisation he would also lose her services. Losing a PA isn't going to rock the boat to such an extent that a senior member of staff decides to leave too. Overactive libidos of CEOs also don't generally cause senior staff to leave organisations.

No one knows what reason if any Newey has for deciding to leave RB or if he has decided to leave at all. Until Newey is directly quoted I'd take these stories with a huge cup of salt.

Let's pretend Newey has confirmed he's leaving but has not said why...

I can remember an interview with him many years ago where he said, I'm paraphrasing, he enjoyed the RB setup, it was run like a privateer team obviously a well funded one, with the underdog ethos and none of the corporate baggage. What if after Mateschitz's death RB has imported a load of corporate baggage?

My favoured pet theory is it's much more likely than not that the fiercely competitive Newey is missing a more hands on role of designing cars and is seeking to find a more intellectually stimulating role in F1 car development elsewhere. Maybe he even wants to test himself against his World Champion RB colleagues? I could see him being right up for that. RB have said themselves how side-lined Newey is due to the cost cap, I just think that role doesn't fit his character which is well known to be ultra competitive, I'm pretty sure it was Coulthard who once described him as the most competitive person he'd ever met.

When you decide to leave an employer it's not normally for a single reason, there maybe a final straw but you tend to have a multiplicity of reasons to leave.

As much as I'd love to see Newey design a car for Lewis, I think Aston is more early RB-esque, wealthy owner, privateer ethos etc etc. If he's leaving he'll go to Aston is my guess. I hope I'm wrong.

Shakeman, I moved your comment to the silly season thread as my question isn’t really relative to the Horner investigation and more fitting here.

Don’t you think that Lance being the second driver at AM for the foreseeable future (and surely would never leave if Newey joined), and basically no possibility of being fired, weighs in heavily to a decision to go to AM? I’m certainly all for it because I agree it seems a better fit than Ferrari (tho no one would blame him for going to Ferrari), as AM is all the things as you describe exactly. But there’s other stuff that constellates this decision from Newey.

At the end of the day Newey would be hanging his hat on Fred at AM, and Fred would need to be there for (imo) 3 years before Newey would be 100% the center of the car’s design — I don’t think Newey actually lands anywhere till late 2026 (I subscribe to technical gardening leave theories) and plays clean up till 2027. He’d want the best two drivers driving his car in 3-4 years (2027-28). Imo both Ham and Fred will be so far past their prime in 3-4 years, they won’t best showcase his work. Who is going to showcase his 2027-28 baby? Lance? No. Lewis? I think too far past his prime. Charles? Certainly could but it’s doubtful Charles will even be at Ferrari in 2027 as Ferrari has gone balls deep with Lewis.

So in this sense I don’t get his move to Aston or Ferrari as each has their own real concerns in practical life (uprooting to Italy), drivers (age, prime, lack of talent (LS), infighting), politics (Ferrari is anything but privateer and a media rats nest, the owners son is the driver), and technical need of the team (Aston seems in more need technically than Ferrari, and a better fit practically), for a guy his age to be walking into. It’s why I think retirement makes the most sense of those 3 options.

Merc is doubtful to me right now because they don’t have a driver secured yet (I don’t see king George as a good showcase driver in 3-4 years) and would need to get Max there to even make Merc an option. I think Carlos S could be a showcase driver but who knows where he will be in 2027-28. Same with Charles.

All of it just seems too risky no matter which team is chosen for a guy his age and wealth to bother.

Just curious your thoughts past the Horner case re Newey if you have any as you seem very objective.

[FW17]

I hope Geely buys into Alpine F1 team (as they have done with other businesses of Renault) and Zhou gets to drive for them while the rebuild on the next 100 race plan.

Geely is already a substantial shareholder at Aston Martin

Geely also are substantial shareholders of Mercedes, but Renault would be the easiest route into F1 if they choose to.