Silly Season 2013/14

[horse]

In some ways the selection of Perez in the first place was the beginning of Mclarens downward spiral. The team is just not as stable as it used to be. They are going to get lost focusing on sifting through these young inexperienced guys, while other teams are busy focussing on improving their car with the feedback from their long term drivers.

But you could also argue that McLaren have done quite well from taking risks on drivers before. They took a risk on Hakkinen, Coultard, Kimi, and Hamilton which all worked out quite nicely for them. Others have not worked out so well, like Kovalainen. The mistake was keeping him 2 seasons rather than one.

[Holm86]

When evaluating Perez after this season im pretty sure pace isnt the only factor looked at. And i dont personally think that McLaren has been that impressed by Button either this season. But Perez is still behind him. This combined with his impopularity between the other drivers and the rumors of bad cooperation with his mechanics could be the reason they want to sack him.
Plus there is talks about Magnussen being faster in their simulator and positive feedback between Magnussen and the engineers at the young drivers tests.

I think this is why they would take the chance of replacing Perez with Magnussen.

But i dont think its only Perez they are dissapointed in. I really think their patience with Button is out. The car this year hasnt been good. But Button seems to have a problem with getting a setup that suits him. IIRC he has had the same problems the other years at McL. To me this seems like he is not good at giving feedback.

But his experience both with F1 and the team having been there a couple of years now is a valuable asset in a season with new regulations. And they are defenetly not gonna sack both drivers at once.
But i think 2014 is last year for Button at McL. If they were satisfied with him they would have prolonged his contract long ago. And made it official.

[tim|away]

@iotar
There is no doubt that Formula1 teams can make mistakes in their evaulation of a driver - and they do! The evaluation process only assists in minimising (rather than eliminating) those mistakes, as there will always be a risk factor left. I imagine that they have their key performance indicators that allow them to judge whether a driver is a good fit (or not). As stated by others, this might not only be based on raw speed, but also development work with the engineers, etc. If you look at Hakkinen, Raikkonen, Hamilton it did work out pretty well. If you look at other examples, it worked out poorly, but that's what you get when you deal with risk and unknowns. The real trick is to minimise the damage in the longterm by choosing your assets as best as you can in the first place and to get rid of underperforming ones quickly rather than to hold onto them and rely on hope alone.

As far as Hulkenberg is concerned, McLaren are not even having remotely as much data of him as they do of the drivers in their own pool. In addition, they have to be worried about compromising the integrity of their young driver programmes if they were to choose outside drivers over their own pool. Don't get me wrong, I'm not stating that Magnussen is better or deserves the seat more than Hulkenberg (quite the opposite from what little I can judge from here), but I can understand the reasons behind it.

[xDama]

The way Stoffel Vandoorne shattered the record in the recent GP2 test is a clear indication he could make the leap to F1 straight away. To me it seems the young Belgian driver from the McLaren Academy is just as good as the highly touted Kevin Magnussen.

No doubt about the fact that Vandoorne is a future F1-star, or at least has every potential of becoming one. But the fact that Mclaren gives Magnussen the seat is only fair. Magnussen won the 3.5 championship, impressed on every test he drove and has done everything right in his career so far.

Stoffel is doing exactly the same, but in comparison to Magnussen, he's still a bit more unexperienced. Mclaren made the right call to push Stoffel in to GP2 (which he'll probably win, given the right material). And lets not forget that Vandoorne is under the management of one certain Jenson Button.

So I think it's quite obvious what Mclaren are thinking of for '14/'15/'16

[Jonnycraig]

So I think it's quite obvious what Mclaren are thinking of for '14/'15/'16

Not really, they have two young drivers that they appear to rate very highly yet F1 journalists seem to believe in the Alonso 15 rumours who has talked if driving until 2020.

http://www.welt.de/sport/formel1/articl ... n-Aus.html

Grosjean not confirmed, 4 others also being considered for the 2 Lotus seats.

[SectorOne]

At the end of the day what Mclaren need is a driver that is faster then Button.
Hamilton was a faster driver then Button so if you remove him and replace him with a driver that is slower then Button you have essentially handicapped yourself.

[slimfitcasual]

Williams says Massa not a pay driver
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/111246

At Williams, the most important thing to us has always been the talent and that has been the priority over the commercial benefits or [commercial] attraction of a driver," Williams told AUTOSPORT.

As a hulk fan, that's rich. I guess that PDVSA settlement money is freeing them from the "commercial attraction" that surely Massa brings.

[Phil]

Well I just read James Allens analysis. One thing that sticks out (and I've seen similar opinions here in this forum too) is that Heiki wasn't really rated high. I've only just re-watched the 2008 season and to be honest, I thought Heiki was pretty alright. He had a few unlucky occasions and in Silverstone got pretty much destroyed by Hamilton, but apart from that, I thought his drives were solid and his qualifying (although during the refueling era) was not bad - certainly not much worse than Button who got usually battered in qualifying compared to Lewis.

I know 2009 wasn't exactly a pretty year for Heiki, but the car was obviously difficult to drive and only later in Lewis hands able to to win. Was he really that bad?

[horse]

I know 2009 wasn't exactly a pretty year for Heiki, but the car was obviously difficult to drive and only later in Lewis hands able to to win. Was he really that bad?

Points win prizes, right? And you're only as good as your team mate. So, in 2008, 2009, Hamilton scored 147 points to Heiki's 75, giving him just 51% of Hamilton's return rate. In contrast to Hamilton Vs Button in 2010,11,12, Hamilton scored 657 points to Button's 672 so Button returned 102% of Hamilton's points.

[xDama]

So I think it's quite obvious what Mclaren are thinking of for '14/'15/'16

Not really, they have two young drivers that they appear to rate very highly yet F1 journalists seem to believe in the Alonso 15 rumours who has talked if driving until 2020.

Aah, F1 journalists, the best source

Yet Whitmarsh said he wants both of them in F1, and Magnussen is more than likely to start in 2014. I think it's a more plausible story that Mclaren will be driving with MAG/VAN in 2015, then ALO/MAG or ALO/BUT/VAN/MAG.

[Jonnycraig]

Aah, F1 journalists, the best source

Yet Whitmarsh said he wants both of them in F1, and Magnussen is more than likely to start in 2014. I think it's a more plausible story that Mclaren will be driving with MAG/VAN in 2015, then ALO/MAG or ALO/BUT/VAN/MAG.

McLaren aren't going to risk putting two youngsters in with the brand new Honda unit. Furthermore, Honda themselves will want a big name in the car, be it Button still or Alonso.

The fact they've rushed Magnusson into F1 this year adds weight to the Alonso theory. They need it see what he can do before Vandoorne in 15.

[Jonnycraig]

From James Allen's site, Sutil talking to Sauber, Perez to Force India.

For the 6 seats at Lotus, FI & Sauber you have:

Sutil
Petrov
Di Resta
Maldonado
Grosjean
Perez
Gutierrez

All bringing budgets, then you have Hulkenberg & Kovalainen with no budget, Sirotkin with questionable budget, Kobayashi who claimed to have a 2014 budget, as well as Chilton, Pic & VD Garde all presumably looking to take their budgets further up the grid.

Crazy silly season still ahead.

[Shrieker]

Magnussen in place of Perez seems to me like a good move.

Last time round Macca gambled on a rookie didn't turn out so bad, did it

[Racer X]

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/ ... 15227.html


Whitmarsh Says neither driver has been signed yet for 2014.



So what if McLaren decide to axe both 2013 drivers and they get both their Academy drivers. Lets start that rumor yeah. After all according to some here being a World Champion counts for nothing. So why not get rid of both.

Or no just the Old Dog. After All you cant teach an old dog new tricks and Magnussen says the new cars are so different that its a whole new type of car.

So with that Maybe we see;

Perez Maggnussen
Button Magg
Or
Magg and idk

My point is it seems McLaren are still able to get any two drivers they want no matter howmuch they have promissed to Sergio or Button both dont have a contract.

[SectorOne]

That would be shooting yourself in the foot but since Mclaren has shot themselves in the foot in 2012 and 2013 it all of a sudden seems like this is the sort of idea Mclaren could have.