2014/15 Silly Season

[Jonnycraig]

decision is now postponed till early next week. What on earth are they doing?

Due to the job Mike Conway has done for them, Toyota are not yet ready to finalise their lineup.

[Racer X]

Have they signaled with white or black smoke yet at Woking??

[spinmastermic]

Have they signaled with white or black smoke yet at Woking??

Ron couldn't see his shadow this afternoon so its 6 more weeks unfortunately.....

[Redragon]

With this delay they are taking over the news that Vettel 4th Worldchampion is moving to Ferrari.
No one is talking much about it. Instead all the eyes are on Mclaren. I think the decision has been taken long time ago and Button really knows his future as well as Magnussen.

[djos]

Well moving to Ferrari is a pretty good way to stay a 4 Time world champ imo.

[mikeerfol]

Nice one

[Manoah2u]

Nice one

+2.

[djos]

Nice one

Cheers

[mikeerfol]

Nice one

Cheers

Haha no worries

So back on topic, according to Skysports it's almost 100% sure we'll see McLaren's announcement next week
http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/12479 ... each-other

Sky Sports News HQ understands that while McLaren’s shareholders remain undecided on who to place alongside Alonso for next season, they are determined not to let the uncertainty drag on for much longer, with a conclusion to the long-running saga potentially now occurring next week.



“I understand that at this board meeting, the significant board members genuinely could not decide on what their best line-up is. It was the big beasts in there today – Ron Dennis, Mansour Ojjeh and Sheikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa – and between the three of them they could not come to a definitive conclusion,” Craig Slater reported.



“It’s open-ended as to how long this will take but my understanding is this will not be allowed to drag on to the next board meeting in the New Year. So we’re looking at a period of days rather than weeks and what will happen is those three principals will confer informally over the phone in the meantime and come to some sort of realisation, I would guess in the next week or so.”

[henra]

It was the big beasts in there today – Ron Dennis, Mansour Ojjeh and Sheikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa – and between the three of them they could not come to a definitive conclusion,”

Anyone still surprised about the lacking Performance of McLaren as of lately considering their legacy and budget?
With a Board that can't even decide on such trivial things (in the bigger scheme) as: Who should be Driver number 2?
In the "Real Economy" Companies that don't manage to make decisions are bound to fail.
Well, in F1 probably as well...

[Sasha]

It might not be about the drivers,more like who will be TP because I had a friend who talk to both drivers this week and to him,they seamed liked they know their fates already or don't care anymore.

[adrianjordan]

It might not be about the drivers,more like who will be TP because I had a friend who talk to both drivers this week and to him,they seamed liked they know their fates already or don't care anymore.

I get the impression from recent interviews with JB that he has 2 possibilities - F1 or WEC - and both appeal to him and he will be happy whichever he ends up doing, but that he would (for now) prefer to stay in F1.

[ringo]

I think this is taking so long because of what each driver demands be in his contract.

Maybe Button wants:

Long term contract of 5 more years, equal treatment, more money since he is a WDC.

Alonso wants:

Short term contract of 2 years, #1 status, more money since he is a 2 xWDC that carried ferrari on his back, magnusessen as teammate.

Kmag wants:

A contract, will settle for a few more peanuts, some fair treatment.


All this with Hamilton's Mercedes Contract hanging in the backdrop. You don't Button to be in Hamilton's seat come 2017. You don't want alonso moving on to Mercedes and you're stuck with an aging Button collect a truck load of money using Mclaren as his retirement home. Then on the other side of the coin Kmag doesn't bring much to the table in terms of performance and even marketability. Ideally you want Button to get paid peanuts and you want him to stay short term.

[Jolle]

Sporting wise McLaren (or any team) always had the best results with a clear number one and number two driver in recent years, with 1988 and 1989 as nice odd ones out. I think that Alonso is still not sure at McLaren, and that they are in talks with Hamlilton for 2016. If that falls trough, they go with Alonso and maybe Button on a 1 year deal. The board is deciding how much they want to offer Hamilton.

Two big name drivers (like button/Hamilton, Alonso/Hamilton, Piquet/Mansell) is good for marketing (and income) but bad for World Championships. You need a pretty dominant car to get that done (as they had in 1984/5, 1988/9).

Alonso might take a sabbatical.... And emerge as a Alain Prost at Mercedes in 2016

[Sasha]

Boullier talking on Friday.

Don't expect any driver announcement anytime soon.

When is the first test next year?

That is probably when the public will know.(if Button doesn't sign somewhere else)

I wonder if Dennis wishes Button just signes a WEC contract and that would solve his problem with the other board members.