2014/15 Silly Season

[SectorOne]

If i was Red Bull (and clearly i´m not)
I would put Vergne and Ricciardo in the RB, two true and tested point scorers, one with excellent qualifying abilities the other with excellent wet weather skills. (similar to the early days of RBR/STR, young guns in STR, experience in RBR)
Then have Kvyat/Verstappen for one year and see how that plays out.
Whoever beats the other gets replaced by whoever has the least amount of points in the Red Bull at the end of 2015.

[JimClarkFan]

If i was Red Bull (and clearly i´m not)
I would put Vergne and Ricciardo in the RB, two true and tested point scorers, one with excellent qualifying abilities the other with excellent wet weather skills. (similar to the early days of RBR/STR, young guns in STR, experience in RBR)
Then have Kvyat/Verstappen for one year and see how that plays out.
Whoever beats the other gets replaced by whoever has the least amount of points in the Red Bull at the end of 2015.

Second that, it is a stupid decision by Red Bull in my view. I can't think of the reasoning behind it, when Vettel was promoted he wiped the floor with Bourdais, Kyvat isn't even close to Vergne in the standings.

The first poor decision I remember them making.

[ScottB]

If i was Red Bull (and clearly i´m not)
I would put Vergne and Ricciardo in the RB, two true and tested point scorers, one with excellent qualifying abilities the other with excellent wet weather skills. (similar to the early days of RBR/STR, young guns in STR, experience in RBR)
Then have Kvyat/Verstappen for one year and see how that plays out.
Whoever beats the other gets replaced by whoever has the least amount of points in the Red Bull at the end of 2015.

Second that, it is a stupid decision by Red Bull in my view. I can't think of the reasoning behind it, when Vettel was promoted he wiped the floor with Bourdais, Kyvat isn't even close to Vergne in the standings.

The first poor decision I remember them making.

Daniel wasn't hammering Vergne however.

Ultimately, Red Bull have little choice but to promote from within. They have so many rookies, and attracting the best, despite their at times quite brutal chopping and changing, is helped with the knowledge that F1 seats await. People thought hiring Daniel over Kimi was a bad move, it certainly wasn't. I'm sure they have access to more than enough comparison data to know Kyvat will do a decent job alongside Ricciardo, and if he doesn't, well, if Verstappen is the wunderkind he is expected to be, then they will have a replacement ready and waiting.

Spending big money to get Alonso in wouldn't really fit the team / corporate image, and as an aside, Russia is a big growth market for Red Bull, Spain is not.

I think Vergne being dropped is a bit harsh, but again, presumably, they've decided he isn't a long term bet for the top team, for whatever reason.

[JimClarkFan]

Daniel wasn't hammering Vergne however.

Ultimately, Red Bull have little choice but to promote from within. They have so many rookies, and attracting the best, despite their at times quite brutal chopping and changing, is helped with the knowledge that F1 seats await. People thought hiring Daniel over Kimi was a bad move, it certainly wasn't. I'm sure they have access to more than enough comparison data to know Kyvat will do a decent job alongside Ricciardo, and if he doesn't, well, if Verstappen is the wunderkind he is expected to be, then they will have a replacement ready and waiting.

Spending big money to get Alonso in wouldn't really fit the team / corporate image, and as an aside, Russia is a big growth market for Red Bull, Spain is not.

I think Vergne being dropped is a bit harsh, but again, presumably, they've decided he isn't a long term bet for the top team, for whatever reason.

I'm not really making the point that they should not hire from within, I am suggesting that Vergne is the obvious choice and he was overlooked and for no good reason.

The decision between Vergne and Daniel was a close one, they probably did get the right man, however Vergne and Daniel were evenly matches in the Torro Rosso.

[Vasconia]

If i was Red Bull (and clearly i´m not)
I would put Vergne and Ricciardo in the RB, two true and tested point scorers, one with excellent qualifying abilities the other with excellent wet weather skills. (similar to the early days of RBR/STR, young guns in STR, experience in RBR)
Then have Kvyat/Verstappen for one year and see how that plays out.
Whoever beats the other gets replaced by whoever has the least amount of points in the Red Bull at the end of 2015.

Second that, it is a stupid decision by Red Bull in my view. I can't think of the reasoning behind it, when Vettel was promoted he wiped the floor with Bourdais, Kyvat isn't even close to Vergne in the standings.

The first poor decision I remember them making.

To be so young and unexperienced Kvyat is doing an impressive season, very solid and not (almost) making mistakes. In my opinion is doing a better job than Vergne, and its his first season so I expect to see him growing a lot. Anyway its too early to promote him to RB, but Russia is a great market and I dont see Vergne improving much more.

[zeph]

Rob Smedley's take on the Ferrari-Alonso split:

http://richlandf1.com/?p=29190

Williams’ Head of Vehicle Performance Rob Smedley says he is ‘surprised’ that Ferrari have allowed a driver of the stature of Fernando Alonso to move to pastures new.

Smedley, who spent five years with Alonso on the other side of the garage as Felipe Massa’s race engineer, says the sport will suffer if the Spaniard does not find a team capable of fighting at the front.

“I’m very much surprised they’ve parted ways,” Smedley said. “Whether it was a mutual agreement or disagreement, whatever you want to call it. But that’s their business.

“I hope for the sport really that he [Alonso] finds a top seat and I echo his ambitions as well – I hope he gets a couple more championships under his belt because he deserves it.

“He’s the very best driver of his generation. As most people found out – and certainly Kimi Raikkonen found out this year – it’s not easy [being Alonso's team-mate].

“These are very good drivers we’re talking about but I don’t think there’s anyone in this paddock that can live with him.”

Smedley is positive that whichever team picks up Alonso will be better off purely from the motivating force he can will bring with him to a team.

“I think by pure proxy of his talent he tends to motivate people,” he explained. “When you’re at the absolute top of your game and nobody can come near you that’s just motivation in itself.

“If you excel at what you do – in whatever walk of life or role in Formula One – it forces everyone around you to raise their own game. That’s the motivation in working with Fernando.”

Alonso’s relationship with Ferrari appears fractious at the moment, as it was with McLaren in 2007, but Smedley believes his temperament is misunderstood.

“He’s not disruptive at all. He’s pretty coherent with his views and knows what he wants – most people who are good at their job do,” Smedley added.

“That’s a strength, he doesn’t waver from what he wants. He’s mentally strong and can adapt to whatever the regulations are, get on top of it and wring 100% out of the car.”

As a result of Alonso’s departure, Ferrari have effectively relinquished the best driver in the paddock, kept Raikkonen – who has struggled in 2014 – and signed the slower of the two Red Bull drivers this season in Sebastian vetted.

“It probably wouldn’t have been my line of managing the situation if I was in charge,” said Smedley. “But I’m not. That’s their problem isn’t it.”

[Richard]

Ouch, this is damning....

Ferrari have effectively relinquished the best driver in the paddock, kept Raikkonen – who has struggled in 2014 – and signed the slower of the two Red Bull drivers this season in Sebastian vetted.

[zeph]

To be fair, if you read it carefully, you'll see that particular bit is not a direct Smedley quote.

[SectorOne]

This is a golden ticket for Mercedes,

- Red Bull lost Vettel and will lose Newey from his current position, addition of a somewhat inexperienced driver that was the 2nd best STR driver.
- Mclaren loses the best engine, gets a new untested engine, recently had some management changes, hoping to get new drivers for 2015.
- Ferrari massive management changes, loses the best driver on the grid, keeps underperforming Kimi and bought the second best RBR driver as of now.

And Mercedes just ticks on, same drivers, same management, same everything, just pure focus on building a better W05.
I´d be very surprised if any team actually gets any closer next year.

[djos]

Ouch, this is damning....

Ferrari have effectively relinquished the best driver in the paddock, kept Raikkonen – who has struggled in 2014 – and signed the slower of the two Red Bull drivers this season in Sebastian vetted.

Gold!.

[Gaz.]

This is a golden ticket for Mercedes,

- Red Bull lost Vettel and will lose Newey from his current position, addition of a somewhat inexperienced driver that was the 2nd best STR driver.
- Mclaren loses the best engine, gets a new untested engine, recently had some management changes, hoping to get new drivers for 2015.
- Ferrari massive management changes, loses the best driver on the grid, keeps underperforming Kimi and bought the second best RBR driver as of now.

And Mercedes just ticks on, same drivers, same management, same everything, just pure focus on building a better W05.
I´d be very surprised if any team actually gets any closer next year.

A lot of Mercedes reliability issues should be ironed out too, especially any finger trouble.

It seems crass and ill-timed to bring it up, but I wonder if Bianchi's accident has stalled the driver market? Correct me if I'm wrong but Ferrari haven't actually confirmed either driver yet?

[Miguel]

It seems crass and ill-timed to bring it up, but I wonder if Bianchi's accident has stalled the driver market? Correct me if I'm wrong but Ferrari haven't actually confirmed either driver yet?

To be honest, I was thinking the same. It seemed to me that Horner jumped the gun to keep some sort of power, but nobody wanted to announce anything after the horrific accident of Sunday afternoon. Understandably, if I may say so. This may have been used by the key players to strengthen a bit their positions.

Who knows, maybe we'll see an Alonso-Vettel pairing next year in Ferrari (or McLaren!). Or maybe what Alonso has been hinting all along is that he's really retiring at the end of the year, and goes on to drive in Le Mans/WEC or something else. I mean, he has been hinting that route a couple of times in the past.

[Manoah2u]

This is a golden ticket for Mercedes,

- Red Bull lost Vettel and will lose Newey from his current position, addition of a somewhat inexperienced driver that was the 2nd best STR driver.
- Mclaren loses the best engine, gets a new untested engine, recently had some management changes, hoping to get new drivers for 2015.
- Ferrari massive management changes, loses the best driver on the grid, keeps underperforming Kimi and bought the second best RBR driver as of now.

And Mercedes just ticks on, same drivers, same management, same everything, just pure focus on building a better W05.
I´d be very surprised if any team actually gets any closer next year.

A lot of Mercedes reliability issues should be ironed out too, especially any finger trouble.

It seems crass and ill-timed to bring it up, but I wonder if Bianchi's accident has stalled the driver market? Correct me if I'm wrong but Ferrari haven't actually confirmed either driver yet?

My thoughts exactly. Bianchi was heading for Ferrari without any doubt, even though i don't think it would be as soon as 2015 though, unless there would be 3 cars. I think bianchi would have been golden for Ferrari as a number 2 driver, i've always wondered how he'd do in a competetive car instead of a backmarker car. i'm sad to the bones we'll never get to know now, as i'm sure he'll never race in F1 ever again. If he does, he'll be my biggest F1 hero ever period.

[JimClarkFan]

I think Jules was a bit more than a number 2 driver. He has been the standout driver at the bottom end of the grid for some time now. Such a shame,I hope he pulls through, I hope he comes back, and I hope he doesn't lose his edge.

[zeph]

And Mercedes just ticks on, same drivers, same management, same everything, just pure focus on building a better W05.
I´d be very surprised if any team actually gets any closer next year.

I kind of hope Williams can find some extra downforce for next year and challenge harder.

Wouldn't it be ironic if they were to ditch Massa for Alonso, and he finishes second in the WDC...again.