Silly Season 2017/2018

[The_table]

Alonso back to Ferrari

[scuderiafan]

Alonso back to Ferrari

This makes more sense to me than the Renualt rumors to be honest. If Alonso can't join Mercedes then Ferrari is the only option. I do wonder though if they've moved on from the Spaniard.

[iotar__]

Alonso back to Ferrari

This makes more sense to me than the Renualt rumors to be honest. If Alonso can't join Mercedes then Ferrari is the only option. I do wonder though if they've moved on from the Spaniard.

The opposite this bridge is burned and they can count, money and years :
- Why do you think it's Renault rumours and not about better cars like Williams? They can't pay you 20 million. If they waste more that 5 on Alonso the whole management should be fired five times.

- Renault made every possible mistake in terms of driver management so they might as well bet on 40 year old Alonso. Can't be worse than Sainz, their prime candidate from last season.
- They have also money for nothing from Ecclestone to burn and limited ambitions to win but a marketing noise requirement, good fit.

- It's all rumours of course and very unlikely, change at this stage for limited profits.

[basti313]

Alonso back to Ferrari

Many people here are missing, that he did not "leave" Ferrari. It was an agreed divorce as Ferrari did not want to work with him and he did not want to work with Ferrari anymore.
Ferrari is happy now with a committed top driver and a good atmosphere in the team. Even better than when they were nearly winning the WDC with Alo.
The same for Merc...they will do hell and put the Spanish grumbler into their car.

- Why do you think it's Renault rumours and not about better cars like Williams? They can't pay you 20 million. If they waste more that 5 on Alonso the whole management should be fired five times.

Because Williams is not stupid. They can live with Stroll killing more money with bad driving than his family pays. But they can not live with bad publicity as they need all sponsor money they can get.
My bet is, that Bot will be back in the Williams next season if Merc does not win both CC.

- Renault made every possible mistake in terms of driver management so they might as well bet on 40 year old Alonso. Can't be worse than Sainz, their prime candidate from last season.

That is why I think they will go for Alonso.

[Manoah2u]

Well, Raikkonen's current form and behaviour might end his 2nd Ferrari stint, and open up a spot that will be vastly interesting to fill.

As for Alonso returning to Ferrari, you could argue that Ferrari has 'fired' Raikkonen before and put somebody else in there, and then hired him back
a few years later, so it's not unheared of to do such a thing. Alonso has experience with the team, talks Italian, and before getting demotivated - like the entire team -
was on excellent terms, great relationship, and gave the team mighty results; he did with the Ferrari the same what he does to the Mclaren; extract so much from the
car that compared to the rest, you could almost say he 'exceeds the car's potential'.
That, offcourse is something definately interesting for Ferrari to concider in replacing Raikkonen.
As for the mention Alonso is not good for the 'atmopshere', then i say bullocks based upon fanbois (haters), so please just dump that bag of bs where it belongs, in the sewer.

Nevertheless, there are more options than Alonso.

Ferrari has mentioned through the words of Marchionne for example that Verstappen is definately somebody they have their eyes on, though right now, he's not available to them.
You never know what another 5 races of technical RB13 DNF's might do though, but let's not assume that to happen.

So who else can Ferrari concider besides Alonso and Verstappen?

Well, there's the obvious choice which I think is bound to go to Ferrari at one point anyway and what point better then when Ferrari has gone in the up, and Mercedes in the down,
after already experiencing a less positive relationship with the Silver Arrows last year? Lewis Hamilton would be fantastic for Ferrari to aquire. Losing Hamilton would be a blow for
Ferrari's main competitor right now: Mercedes. RedBull has not sorted their things yet despite Verstappen barging in, but he'll be there anyway. Taking Hamilton aboard instead of
ailing Raikkonen is a welcome treat for the reds, and a Vettel-Hamilton combo is the material of dreams.

Both Vettel and Hamilton are enjoying their battle outside of being teammates, however this season unfolds, i'm sure both also would be interested to see how they'd fare in the same material. For promotion and marketing Hamilton aboard Ferrari would be gigantic.

I'm leaning towars a very high percentual number that Hamilton will ditch Merc for Ferrari next year.

But offcourse, there's more than just Lewis and the other 2.

Bottas is available, though one could wonder whether he'd be an upgrade from Raikkonen or 'more of the same, just for a bit less'.
Grosjean is not going to happen, rest assured. Perez would be interesting though. Ricciardo would be also massively interesting, but something tells me Danny is rather to end up
at Mercedes instead of Ferrari somehow.

So in reality, Hamilton, Alonso, Ricciardo, Perez, Bottas are the 5 main contenders for a '18 Ferrari seat (which will be the hottest seat to get) and I can only see Hamilton taking that one.

[nevill3]

Alonso will be staying where he is, once September comes around and Honda have unleashed their new improved engine and catapulted McLaren to the top of the podium for the final races of the season.


Honda The power of Dreams

[The_table]

Out of curiosity , why is Grosjean not going to happen and what is the problem with Hulkenberg?

The split between ALO and Ferrari did not seem THAT ugly and like you mentioned he gave them amazing results and he stayed quite loyal considering the performance. (I honestly believe that Massa's results were indicative of issues with the Ferrari under braking for instance.)

[iotar__]

Out of curiosity , why is Grosjean not going to happen and what is the problem with Hulkenberg?

The split between ALO and Ferrari did not seem THAT ugly and like you mentioned he gave them amazing results and he stayed quite loyal considering the performance. (I honestly believe that Massa's results were indicative of issues with the Ferrari under braking for instance.)

About ALO, what I mentioned above: age and money plus policies:
- They pay a lot to Vettel and less to Raikkonen,
- Age: obvious.
- Bridges: it's subjective I guess but I don't think Ferrari thinks about Alo at all,
- approach to drivers: they keep rehiring Raikkonen

- Grosjean should have been driving top car for the last 5 seasons if F1 wasn't a joke.

- As for Ferrari: Marchionne and Vettel (people that choose respectively both and 2nd driver) are responsible for Raikkonen's every failed race, every point or podium lost and potentially '17 constructors championship but undoubtedly second place in '16. That's the starting point .

[NL_Fer]

Just wondering if we will see more of Button this season.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

ALONSO TO RENAULT TALKS HAVE BEGUN

Word is that Renault management are very keen on the idea of having Alonso slotting in next to Nico Hulkenberg and thus spearhead their ambitions. They believe that next year they will have the ammunition to challenge for victories and even the title.
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.
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Meanwhile Auto Bild has reported from Bahrain: “The goal of the French group is to be victorious next year and to drive for the title from 2019 onwards. Alonso has now become a key figure to partner Nico Hülkenberg. And thus have the strongest driver pairing in Formula 1.”

“The first talks between Alonso’s manager Luis Garcia Abad and Renault Motorsport chief Cyril Abiteboul took place behind closed doors in the hospitality area of the French team on Saturday morning [in Bahrain],” the report added.

[Manoah2u]

Mclaren also believed they had the ammunition to challenge for the victory........

but apart from that, the Hulk shows what can be done with the Renault. It's painful to see just how bad of a decision Renault has made in keeping Palmer.
I didnt'have high expectations from him, but atleast expected to be better than how DiResta performed @ FI a couple of years ago. Instead, i think DiResta would actually look like
absolutely huge upgrade compared to Palmer. What a complete joke he is.

I have no doubt that Renault will climb up the order relatively quick during the season and jump to challenge in between the top 5 teams, assuming P6-P10 would be reasonable,
but to have a title contender next year? Nah.

Mercedes, Ferrari and RedBull will fight for the WDC and WCC this year, with RB probably losing too much ground right now, but they're still very much in reach. It'll be Ferrari or Mercedes this year. If Ferrari will grab it, Alonso will be really annoyed. if Mercedes makes it, he'll also be annoyed by being so stupid not to get aboard Merc and staying with Mclaren.

I think the possibility is higher that Honda will fix their problems and we will see Mclaren fighting for the podium next year compared to Renault leaping to thw WDC. Leaping towards top 6 finishes? yes. but nothing more.

[Manoah2u]

Out of curiosity , why is Grosjean not going to happen?

Grosjean's aging and despite being a talented driver, also sensitive to perfect settings and a crybaby when it's not going his way. He's also got the promotional value of a sandfigure statue. He has driven well @ Lotus for a while, but never spectacular. He's at HAAS right now and he's doing a great job there, but it's an environment completely free of any stress and pressure, a ferrari b-team essentially where he doesnt have to do much for real, it's all provided, and last year had one of the most useless teammate driver ever in F1 and this year has a teammate that is atleast a tad better than last years but still rather utterly boring, so there is really zero pressure and still he has managed to whine and cry last year over something that you really can't blame a completely new and fresh team too much for. If Force India's comments about Wehrlein are anything to go by, then a complaining frenchmen at a brand new team publicaly despite giving him a car that Caterham, HRT and Manor would have had wet dreams about, potentially will not fall very positively with the Scuderia Ferrari team when making up the balance.

Grosjean drives definately fine. But nothing more. He would completely crack under the pressure @ Ferrari. The only moment he was in the spotlights when he was alongside Kimi @ Lotus and putting in some stellar results. Yet even then, nobody bothered. A question also remains, Kimi's current shape isn't really that wonderous either, and if that's the same as it was in the lotus win-era, and Romain not being able to beat him, then it's all going downhill fast.

Don't get me wrong, i think he deserves to be in F1. But in no way is he Ferrari material. And again, grosjean will never happen if Ferrari gets to choose from Hamilton, Verstappen, Alonso, Bottas, Perez, Sainz, etc. They'd definately hire Perez a double times compared to Grosjean. Both performance wise, as marketing-wise. A spicy Mexican with a lot of interesting possibilities vs a cucumber.

[The_table]

Wel seeing that Perez went swiftly back to force india after his Mclaren stint... :/

[Just_a_fan]

WTaking Hamilton aboard instead of
ailing Raikkonen is a welcome treat for the reds, and a Vettel-Hamilton combo is the material of dreams.

Both Vettel and Hamilton are enjoying their battle outside of being teammates, however this season unfolds, i'm sure both also would be interested to see how they'd fare in the same material. For promotion and marketing Hamilton aboard Ferrari would be gigantic.

I think a Vettel-Hamilton combo is the material of nightmares for a team. Two drivers who are, in reality, the top of the current crop and both with egos. Neither likes losing and one of them will, one way or another. Any signs of preferential treatment would blow the whole thing apart.

One thing about Vettel and Hamilton at Ferrari is that Vettel fits the mould much better. I can't see Hamilton learning Italian, for example. Vettel speaks Italian, from what I've heard on the radio broadcasts. I don't know how much he speaks but I'd wager it's more than Hamilton can / would. That immediately puts Vettel at a huge advantage within the team.

Another thing about the battle between them is that, when in different teams, they can call on the team for help. They can play the political cards etc. In the same team? Ask Alonso after 2007...

As a marketing item, Vettel and Hamilton would be dynamite, that's for sure.

[Manoah2u]

Wel seeing that Perez went swiftly back to force india after his Mclaren stint... :/

lol, Perez got ditched hard by Mclaren making a completely stupid management error the size of Kaltenborn qualities.
They couldn't dump Button but they had to dump somebody because somebody screwed up so hard (probably Whitmarsh) that they had to put Magnussen in that car. Perez actually did outstanding in the Mclaren, it wasn't his fault the Mclaren was a bad car. Perez got scr*wed over by Mclaren, nothing else.