Silly Season 2017/2018

[PlatinumZealot]

It's interesting what Toto said in the Sky race pre-show. He openly admitted about Hamilton's mental state being affected by what happened in Baku and the bad luck with the gearbox. And that's no news for F1 fans, Hamilton is an amazing driver, but is maybe not as mentally strong as the other top drivers of his generation. Not talking about smartness, but how outside events impact their ability to focus and deliver. Alonso is the exact opposite of that. He has matured immensely over the past few years and seems to be able to deliver consistent performances every race weekend. Evidence of that is the Mclaren years but, more so, the Ferrari years. Having Toto publicly talk about it might be a sign of things to come.

I definitely see a spot for Alonso at Mercedes.

Sigh.. A mentally weak driver doesnt come back multiple times from being two race wins down. See 2014 and 2016.
The last time Hamilton was mentally affected was 2011. And that was due to a whole smorgasbord of things off the track. A simple crash and broken Gearbox is nothing to Hamilton. As a close Hamitoj follower i can say I have never seem him so mature, confident and most importantly, positive before!
He knows he will beat Vettel on equal terms. It will come.

[PlatinumZealot]

It's interesting what Toto said in the Sky race pre-show. He openly admitted about Hamilton's mental state being affected by what happened in Baku and the bad luck with the gearbox. And that's no news for F1 fans, Hamilton is an amazing driver, but is maybe not as mentally strong as the other top drivers of his generation. Not talking about smartness, but how outside events impact their ability to focus and deliver. Alonso is the exact opposite of that. He has matured immensely over the past few years and seems to be able to deliver consistent performances every race weekend. Evidence of that is the Mclaren years but, more so, the Ferrari years. Having Toto publicly talk about it might be a sign of things to come.

I definitely see a spot for Alonso at Mercedes.

Sigh.. A mentally weak driver doesnt come back multiple times from being two race wins down. See 2014 and 2016.
The last time Hamilton was mentally affected was 2011. And that was due to a whole smorgasbord of things off the track. A simple crash and broken Gearbox is nothing to Hamilton. As a close Hamitoj follower i can say I have never seem him so mature, confident and most importantly, positive before!
He knows he will beat Vettel on equal terms. It will come and if it is not this year it will be when they are both driving for Mercedes!

[alexx_88]

Sigh.. A mentally weak driver doesnt come back multiple times from being two race wins down. See 2014 and 2016.
The last time Hamilton was mentally affected was 2011. And that was due to a whole smorgasbord of things off the track. A simple crash and broken Gearbox is nothing to Hamilton. As a close Hamitoj follower i can say I have never seem him so mature, confident and most importantly, positive before!
He knows he will beat Vettel on equal terms. It will come.

Take it up with the person who said it on Sky, his boss, Toto.

I'm somewhere in between on this. O think he has supreme confidence in his driving skills, but mental games do shake him up a bit. Like what Nico did last year and what Sebastian did AFTER Baku, by not admitting it was his fault.

[Vasconia]

It's interesting what Toto said in the Sky race pre-show. He openly admitted about Hamilton's mental state being affected by what happened in Baku and the bad luck with the gearbox. And that's no news for F1 fans, Hamilton is an amazing driver, but is maybe not as mentally strong as the other top drivers of his generation. Not talking about smartness, but how outside events impact their ability to focus and deliver. Alonso is the exact opposite of that. He has matured immensely over the past few years and seems to be able to deliver consistent performances every race weekend. Evidence of that is the Mclaren years but, more so, the Ferrari years. Having Toto publicly talk about it might be a sign of things to come.

I definitely see a spot for Alonso at Mercedes.

Sigh.. A mentally weak driver doesnt come back multiple times from being two race wins down. See 2014 and 2016.
The last time Hamilton was mentally affected was 2011. And that was due to a whole smorgasbord of things off the track. A simple crash and broken Gearbox is nothing to Hamilton. As a close Hamitoj follower i can say I have never seem him so mature, confident and most importantly, positive before!
He knows he will beat Vettel on equal terms. It will come.

When he has had bad races Hamilton is a driver who can really fight back and have an awesome weekend. But, its true that he is mentally not that constant if you understand what I want to say. Sometimes he is very strong and he can play games but sometimes certain circunstances can affect him. We have seen sometimes. He is an unpredictable guy, I neve know if something will affect him positively or negatively.

[Big Mangalhit]

How attractive would Bottas be for Ferrari? Would Bottas have a good understanding of what Mercedes are doing, car wise? Engine wise?

Think about it - if they want a good driver to pair Vettel, Bottas might just fit that bill nicely, especially if he can take some intimate knowledge with him. That's of course assuming Mercedes takes too long in retaining him or decides not to. If Ferrari does show interest in him for these reasons, this may make Bottas more attractive to Mercedes.

Very good comment. I could really see this coming especially since Bot is a calm and composed driver. When ferrari signed Vet I got the impression that he brought a lot of know how from RB years. About the handling of the car the procedures the working ethics. Not necessarily aero knowledge per se, but a lot of other information about the team that can be very useful. I think Ferrari was already eying a similar poach with Rosberg and are continuing to do so with either Ham or Bot. Being Ham obviously a more juicy target for all the reasons (faster, marketing, better knowledge of the team).

This drivers can bring in info of secrets on the wheel procedures of the way the maps work, feedback from the comparison of the cars, maybe what is exactly merc quali secret or even which mechanics are worth poaching etc. etc.

[alexx_88]

How attractive would Bottas be for Ferrari? Would Bottas have a good understanding of what Mercedes are doing, car wise? Engine wise?

Think about it - if they want a good driver to pair Vettel, Bottas might just fit that bill nicely, especially if he can take some intimate knowledge with him. That's of course assuming Mercedes takes too long in retaining him or decides not to. If Ferrari does show interest in him for these reasons, this may make Bottas more attractive to Mercedes.

If what Mercedes bosses are saying it's true, then they should sign Bottas within the next few weeks. To be fair, I think they're waiting for the first move, my guess is that Verstapen is their target. Whoever signs him will have the best driver of his generation in my opinion. And I don't think Hamilton and Vettel will stick around as long as Schumacher or Alonso did.

Regarding your first point, I think Bottas' first choice is and should be Mercedes.

[Phil]

Verstappen is nailed in at RedBull, I'm fairly confident, hence why Sainz may be rocking the boat a bit knowing that there is no room there and possibly looking for an out to go to either Ferrari or Renault.

Joe Saward had a good article recently after Baku in that he believes that the contract between RedBull and its drivers may include certain performance clauses. RedBull obviously and officially denied these, but then they did so too in 2014 when suddenly Vettel revealed there was one and chipped off to Ferrari.

The rumour suggests that the RedBull drivers have performance clauses in their favor, if two of three conditions are met.

The first is that the team must provide a "winning" car. The second that it's a top 3 car and the third relates to the driver finishing in the top 5.

The rumour is interesting because Dan won the race in Baku and no matter the circumstance or what led to it, the car and team have now won a GP and thus is a "winning car". There is also a large likelihood that the RedBull team will indeed finish at worst 3rd this year behind Ferrari and Mercedes. The 3rd clause may be a bit more tricky if both Mercedes and Ferrari drivers finish ahead of the RedBull drivers which would leave one of them in 6th position and thus outside the top 5.

I'll look for the article, shouldn't take long.

EDIT: Link to article by Joe Saward: https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2017/06 ... a-thought/

Anyway...

I'm somewhere in between on this. O think he has supreme confidence in his driving skills, but mental games do shake him up a bit. Like what Nico did last year and what Sebastian did AFTER Baku, by not admitting it was his fault.

I have to say, I am growing a little tired of the discussion surround the mental state of Hamilton, especially coming off two weekends in a row where the driver himself was faultless and was hampered by reliability issues. First in Baku where he dominated, only to then lose a safe win for a 5th place and insteading of gaining 7 points on his biggest rival, lost 2 points, by no fault of his own, his headrest coming loose. Yet he comes to Austria where everyone pretty much expected him to fulfill miracles, only to then reveal that this weekend would prove to be another weekend set back by reliability, this time a gearbox change that would demote him 5 places.

There were two options to tackle Austria - go "normal", go for pole and at best start 6th behind his team-mate and two Ferraris and probably two RedBulls and try to pass them all on track, or try to gain some positions by going reverse, taking a gamble on tires and risk starting further behind due to a less optimal qualifying. They opted for the latter and now suddenly, his entire performance that was triggered by a reliability issue is because of Hamiltons "mental state". Yes, absolutely - his mental state caused the headrest to come loose and it also caused his gearbox to be changed.

[Vasconia]

Verstappen is nailed in at RedBull, I'm fairly confident, hence why Sainz may be rocking the boat a bit knowing that there is no room there and possibly looking for an out to go to either Ferrari or Renault.

Joe Saward had a good article recently after Baku in that he believes that the contract between RedBull and its drivers may include certain performance clauses. RedBull obviously and officially denied these, but then they did so too in 2014 when suddenly Vettel revealed there was one and chipped off to Ferrari.

The rumour suggests that the RedBull drivers have performance clauses in their favor, if two of three conditions are met.

The first is that the team must provide a "winning" car. The second that it's a top 3 car and the third relates to the driver finishing in the top 5.

The rumour is interesting because Dan won the race in Baku and no matter the circumstance or what led to it, the car and team have now won a GP and thus is a "winning car". There is also a large likelihood that the RedBull team will indeed finish at worst 3rd this year behind Ferrari and Mercedes. The 3rd clause may be a bit more tricky if both Mercedes and Ferrari drivers finish ahead of the RedBull drivers which would leave one of them in 6th position and thus outside the top 5.

I'll look for the article, shouldn't take long.

EDIT: Link to article by Joe Saward: https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2017/06 ... a-thought/

And what about Toro Rosso? it there something similar? I have seen on a Spanish newspaper that RB may have extend Kvyat´s contract another year. Just curious to read this after the terrible weekend he has had. Sainz must be very fustrated now if he has really no chance of going to RB or leaving TR.

[alexx_88]

I have to say, I am growing a little tired of the discussion surround the mental state of Hamilton, especially coming off two weekends in a row where the driver himself was faultless and was hampered by reliability issues.

It's not someone on the forums saying this, but his boss, Toto Wolff, bringing this again into the spotlight. Just re-watched the interview and this is what he said when he was asked what was Lewis' state of mind and if the thing with Vettel affected him:

"I think he is a very sensitive person and it affects him. It affected him that he lost the race because of the headrest came undone and then we had the gearbox problem. At this moment he doesn't have a good momentum around him and then the incident with Sebastian... I think it affects him."

[Phil]

I haven't seen the interview, but I assume he is just commenting that Lewis is human, but not that him being sensitive affected his race performance in anyway. I certainly didn't see anything that would suggest that. He was fighting a car and even when the car wasn't performing as he wanted, he was still pushing and overcame that deficit and managed to close the gap to Ricciardo. I honestly don't know what he could have done better. Before the race, they said that 4th was always the most optimistic they were hoping to achieve, everything else being a bonus. True, with Verstappen dDNF, a potential 3rd was close, but Kimi ruined that by holding up Lewis successfully in the first stint.

[Pany]

Im alonso supporter. He kust escape asap from this project. Better option surely would be mercedes, but if not i think renault or force india will surely be better options for 2018 and 2019 because alonso magic 0.5 seconds or even more to be subtracted from other drivers laptimes may help these teams to make good races. I personally think better improvements are expect for renult pu and chassis for next year and in 2019 there is possibility to start winning races with alonso. With mclaren honda not before 2010

[skoop]

Im alonso supporter. He kust escape asap from this project. Better option surely would be mercedes, but if not i think renault or force india will surely be better options for 2018 and 2019 because alonso magic 0.5 seconds or even more to be subtracted from other drivers laptimes may help these teams to make good races. I personally think better improvements are expect for renult pu and chassis for next year and in 2019 there is possibility to start winning races with alonso. With mclaren honda not before 2010

Force India will never sign Alonso:
1) They won't be fighting for race wins/championships
2) He is way too expensive for them
3) They have 2 very good drivers

[zeph]

I see one possibility for Sainz: Verstappen is publicly grumbling about RBR. His dad didn't do his own career any favors by airing dirty laundry, and if Max is a chip off the old block, I could see him torpedoing his own chances at RBR. Perhaps even 'encouraged' by the idea that he may have a shot with Ferrari next year.
If that is the case, I think RBR could do a lot worse than Ricciardo and Sainz.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.ph ... -situation

[PlatinumZealot]

Im alonso supporter. He kust escape asap from this project. Better option surely would be mercedes, but if not i think renault or force india will surely be better options for 2018 and 2019 because alonso magic 0.5 seconds or even more to be subtracted from other drivers laptimes may help these teams to make good races. I personally think better improvements are expect for renult pu and chassis for next year and in 2019 there is possibility to start winning races with alonso. With mclaren honda not before 2010

Best thing Alonso can do is stay at McLaren and lobby for Mercedes engines for 2019.

[Pany]

if Honda stays honda in 2018, will stay also in 2019 and 2020. Nope. Alonso must decide for the next 3 years:
stay with honda, with mercedes (if Toto wants) or go to Renault. If I were him I would sign with Renault immediately after Mercedes gives a definitive no. That's it

Im alonso supporter. He kust escape asap from this project. Better option surely would be mercedes, but if not i think renault or force india will surely be better options for 2018 and 2019 because alonso magic 0.5 seconds or even more to be subtracted from other drivers laptimes may help these teams to make good races. I personally think better improvements are expect for renult pu and chassis for next year and in 2019 there is possibility to start winning races with alonso. With mclaren honda not before 2010

Best thing Alonso can do is stay at McLaren and lobby for Mercedes engines for 2019.