Silly Season 2016/2017

[A-Bap]

Dead serious. Hamilton is a bit overrated and Grojean is very underrated. He demonstrated a lot of very nice racecraft this year in that Haas. And you know what? Put them all in identical cars they're within .5 of one another, depending on the track.

Hamilton is overrated? How'd you get to that ?
They way I see it:

Hamilton has more wins than Senna or Prost,
He has the second best race start to win ratio, only behind Schumacher.
He has 3 titles with 2 different teams
Also the 3rd most Pole Positions and only 7 behind Schumacher's record now

Pfft....yeah, overrated

I think if Grojean has a "big team" clause, it will almost surely be for Ferrari.
I suspect he will be heading there in 2018.

I'm a fan of Lewis, but I do think the number of wins/poles etc stats are unfair because we have more races per season these days.

Starts to win ratio etc however are fair game!!

Subjective they may be, but my reasons for asserting that Lewis is overrated are as follows:
- We've seen Hamilton in perhaps the most dominant car in F1 history, and Nico Rosberg, of all drivers, gave him a run for his money
- We've seen Grojean in a back-marker car from a brand new team, and he did amazing things.

[efuloni]

Bottas to Merc
Nasr to Will
Wer to Sau
Gut and Hary to Manor

[Manoah2u]

Hamilton is overrated? How'd you get to that ?
They way I see it:

Hamilton has more wins than Senna or Prost,
He has the second best race start to win ratio, only behind Schumacher.
He has 3 titles with 2 different teams
Also the 3rd most Pole Positions and only 7 behind Schumacher's record now

Pfft....yeah, overrated

I think if Grojean has a "big team" clause, it will almost surely be for Ferrari.
I suspect he will be heading there in 2018.

I'm a fan of Lewis, but I do think the number of wins/poles etc stats are unfair because we have more races per season these days.

Starts to win ratio etc however are fair game!!

Subjective they may be, but my reasons for asserting that Lewis is overrated are as follows:
- We've seen Hamilton in perhaps the most dominant car in F1 history, and Nico Rosberg, of all drivers, gave him a run for his money
- We've seen Grojean in a back-marker car from a brand new team, and he did amazing things.

like what?! complain?!

[Shakeman]

Subjective they may be, but my reasons for asserting that Lewis is overrated are as follows:
- We've seen Hamilton in perhaps the most dominant car in F1 history, and Nico Rosberg, of all drivers, gave him a run for his money
- We've seen Grojean in a back-marker car from a brand new team, and he did amazing things.

What do you mean 'Nico Rosberg, of all drivers'?

Had Merc not signed HAM Rosberg would very likely be a multi WDC, if not a 3x WDC at this moment in time had he been paired by any other driver on the grid.

[godlameroso]

Alonso, Riccardo, Sainz, Perez, Button, Vettel, Verstappen all of them could have given Nico just as much of a headache as Hamilton.

[FrukostScones]

Alonso, Riccardo, Sainz, Perez, Button, Vettel, Verstappen all of them could have given Nico just as much of a headache as Hamilton.

I think Nico wasn't the one with the headache

Just right the sentence like it should say:

"Alonso, Riccardo, Sainz, Perez, Button, Vettel, Verstappen all of them could have given HAM just as much of a headache as Nico."

only ALO, RIC, VES and maybe VET stay.. BUT and PER are laughable in this context. SAI is too unproven (fight against VES was "dirty").

[nevill3]

If they (Mercedes) can lure Valtteri Bottas to the team, that would be great for them and I think Bottas will give Lewis a run for his money during the season.
On the other hand, where does this leave Williams with one rookie driver and another empty seat?

Williams' current reserve driver has a few years experience, is quite fast, looks after his tyres with a little more luck would have had a podium already and still young enough to withstand next years G-forces. He almost matched Hulkenberg when they drove together and beat Adrian Sutil more often than not when he didn't DNF.

Step up Paul Di Resta, your time has come welcome back to the Paddock [-o<

[PlatinumZealot]

Video message from Toto and Lewis

Lewis: "We are going to be in the strongest partnership next year"

Interesting. "Strongest team" would not suggest Wehrlein. I'm doubtful it suggests Bottas. I wouldn't know why Toto would be talking to Lewis about it, unless it's Alonso and there is known to be history there.

If it is, count me surprised.

That Hamilton is buying some of Toto' stock it must be? They way he said partnership, it did not sound like he was refering to a teammate, but more between himself and mercedes/toto.

The video reeks of corporate cajoling though. Hamilton would never post such a video. Toto's kitchen? Toto talking into hamsham's cell phone on hams instagram?! Nope. I dont buy it. Something really weird is going on.

[PlatinumZealot]

Now a new rumor is coming up, that Mercs team is in contact with Renault to release Hulk.

Most likely choice to replace a strong German driver with another proven talented German. =D> [-o<

Hmm. Very left field. But it makes a lot of sense. Better support from Germany and german GP if a german is in the silver arrows.

[hemichromis]

Does anyone know Sainz' contract situation? As i understand it from the Verstappen thing, his contract would force him to race for Red Bull but couldn't force him to stay at Toro Rosso. There was talk of Verstappen going elsewhere. We can only assume Sainz would have a similar contract.

Sainz would be great for Mercedes as he is a fast hungry driver with real experience. Toro Rosso as a junior team shouldn't worry about losing him and Red bull have 2 very hungry, very strong drivers. IMO the problems are political.

Williams will have to be very well compensated to lose Bottas.

[Gerhardsa]

yeah, I donno. I just dont think that Bottas is going anywhere. I might be completely wrong, but:

Williams simply cannot afford to lose their experienced driver and have 2 inexperienced drivers in the 2017 season.
Finances wont be much of a problem to them with the Stroll money coming in, so a engine deal wont sway them either.
Plus there is a rumour about a contract clause in Stroll's contract that Bottas has to be in the team (dunno how that works but anyway)
And Martini apparently not happy with two rookies in the car either, so a lot of pressure on Williams to not let go of Bottas

Merc really are in a tricky situation I must say. I would not want to put Pascal in the car, and nobody seems to budge on their line-ups for next year either.

This Hulk thing, I don't really believe either, Renault are in the same position as Williams needing that top driver to help develop the car. I don't think he will go.
Seems like the only team with a pretty solid backup plan for next year is indeed McLaren, having Button under contract still.
Its getting to a point where we are going to see just how desperate Merc is for a top(ish) end driver.

Unless Williams completely do not care about doing well enough next year, and only care about the money ... that's a possibility as well. But I doubt it.
Only other guy is Sainz (apart from the McLaren theory), but will RBR play ball? To help out the main rival?

[Vasconia]

Now a new rumor is coming up, that Mercs team is in contact with Renault to release Hulk.

Most likely choice to replace a strong German driver with another proven talented German. =D> [-o<

Hmm. Very left field. But it makes a lot of sense. Better support from Germany and german GP if a german is in the silver arrows.

I can´t see this hapenning. Renault is trying to build a project to become a top-team again, and Hulkenberg will be the driver nº1. It would be a nonsense to release Nico right now and hire Pascal who is wellknown for being a quite rude guy.

[JCC]

I can see why Merc would want to have Sainz in one of their cars, but I´m pretty sure that the odds on that happening is less likely than a rainy day in hell tbh. Bottas seems to be their best option imo. He,´s fast enough, non political and prolly available if Merc are willing to spend a bit more than their first (said) offer to Williams.

Cheers
/JC

[Vasconia]

Does anyone know Sainz' contract situation? As i understand it from the Verstappen thing, his contract would force him to race for Red Bull but couldn't force him to stay at Toro Rosso. There was talk of Verstappen going elsewhere. We can only assume Sainz would have a similar contract.

Sainz would be great for Mercedes as he is a fast hungry driver with real experience. Toro Rosso as a junior team shouldn't worry about losing him and Red bull have 2 very hungry, very strong drivers. IMO the problems are political.

Williams will have to be very well compensated to lose Bottas.

I´m afraid that Mercedes should pay a good amount of money if they want Sainz, so I doubt this will happen.

Those special conditions were (perhaps) only for Max so I dont think that Carlos has something similar.

[Facts Only]

If they (Mercedes) can lure Valtteri Bottas to the team, that would be great for them and I think Bottas will give Lewis a run for his money during the season.
On the other hand, where does this leave Williams with one rookie driver and another empty seat?

Williams' current reserve driver has a few years experience, is quite fast, looks after his tyres with a little more luck would have had a podium already and still young enough to withstand next years G-forces. He almost matched Hulkenberg when they drove together and beat Adrian Sutil more often than not when he didn't DNF.

Step up Paul Di Resta, your time has come welcome back to the Paddock [-o<

Paul DiResta!!?!? Are you being serious? He's so dull he makes Bottas look like James Hunt. On track he did nothing memerable in 3 years, not one bit of driving of any note. Off track he was so monotonous that other Force India employees used to try and ditch him at the Xmas party (true story).

F1 needs exciting drivers and interesting characters, not a man who has shown himself to be as dynamic as a ride in a Peugeot 406 D Taxi.