Silly Season 2017/2018

[PlatinumZealot]

If I were McLaren I woul dbe running th erest of the season as pure test sessions. Slap on new components, even if they will receive penalties, or be disqualified after the race (just don't let the info leak before the start of the race! ), and collect miles for engine, chassis and aero. If points would actually be collected, even nicer, but they need to stretch the rules as far as possible. All with focus on 2018 (and beyond?), to get a better start to the season. Sauber should be doing the same. If they need to calculate the prize money into their budget they're doing it wrong anyway - that should be a bonus for the team members and for in-season testing for the following year, but they should never plan on this money.

Ah. They have already started testing. We heard Alonso shout over the radio, "This is a test!" back in Monza. lol

[zeph]

If you feel Alonso has matured, I really pity your judgement.

Pity is good, because it implies compassion. Thank you for your compassion, dear anonymous internet forum poster.

[Schuttelberg]

If you feel Alonso has matured, I really pity your judgement.

Pity is good, because it implies compassion. Thank you for your compassion, dear anonymous internet forum poster.

Cheers!

So when is the big announcement? The week has almost concluded.

[dren]

If you feel Alonso has matured, I really pity your judgement.

Pity is good, because it implies compassion. Thank you for your compassion, dear anonymous internet forum poster.

Cheers!

So when is the big announcement? The week has almost concluded.

There will be an announcement announcing that the announcement will take place in the future.

[Manoah2u]

anybody that is not Kobayashi signed for 2018 f1 race seat is a disappointment for me. No, he'll never drive in F1 again and yes, i think we are missing out on something there.

[Jolle]

Pity is good, because it implies compassion. Thank you for your compassion, dear anonymous internet forum poster.

Cheers!

So when is the big announcement? The week has almost concluded.

There will be an announcement announcing that the announcement will take place in the future.

It’s Ron Dennis his spirit. Promissing an exciting new sponsor since 2013, shortly.

[ripper]

Motorsport.it says that Sainz might replace Palmer in Malaysia and Gasly will be promoted in Toro Rosso

[ChrisDanger]

Well something finally happened.

Carlos Sainz has signed a deal to join Renault, Motorsport.com has learned, in a move that will trigger a series of dominos to secure McLaren the French car manufacturer’s engine for 2018.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/sain ... da-951146/

[NathanOlder]

Just read that. So it appears it will all happen then

[PlatinumZealot]

Nice driver pairing sainz Vs Hulk. It ties in a lot of drivers... Max to sainz to hulk to perez.. And back to kvyat and daniel and vettel. We can finally see if hulk is as fast as Vettel if he out qualifies carlos.

[iotar__]

- So Sainz was awarded for a bad season with Renault wasting money (or whatever) on him? Looking good on posters and bringing sponsorship is enough, mastering difficult art of driving in the straight line (Baku, Canada) not required. He cost Toro Ross constructors' places, he can do that to Renault too.

- Linking it with the engine deal is the weird part. We'll make our closest competitor better but Sainz will make up for it? So if they hired Perez they wouldn't be planning giving engines to McLaren . Why?

[Silent Storm]

Nice driver pairing sainz Vs Hulk. It ties in a lot of drivers... Max to sainz to hulk to perez.. And back to kvyat and daniel and vettel. We can finally see if hulk is as fast as Vettel if he out qualifies carlos.

I don't think you can compare him to the Vettel of 2014 who was basically sliding around, braking later and trying to carry more speed through the corner and destroying his tyres early in the race which was shocking as he was kinder on his tyres when he was driving for Toro Rosso, even Rosberg looked as fast as Hamilton in 2014 and getting pole in Canada which shocked me at that time but 2015 and 16 showed us his real speed, so if Vettel had another year we could have an idea of how fast he was compared to Daniel. Similar to how Verstappen was equal to Daniel last year but is clearly faster than him this year.

[PlatinumZealot]

That comprison does't really apply because Max switches in-season and was basically a boy in the sport. Daniel was obviously going to stay on top of him forst time around. Daniel had no business beating a 4XWDC in his own team... But he did... Qualli after Qualli, Race after race. It was certainly legitimate speed.

[djos]

That comprison does't really apply because Max switches in-season and was basically a boy in the sport. Daniel was obviously going to stay on top of him forst time around. Daniel had no business beating a 4XWDC in his own team... But he did... Qualli after Qualli, Race after race. It was certainly legitimate speed.

Indeed, and Dan is winning the team points battle this year mainly due to superb driving and not crashing into others. Both have had mechanical DNF's this year but Dan continually shows his ability to pull off great passes without hitting his opponents, unlike max. Plus he punishes others for making mistakes.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

That comprison does't really apply because Max switches in-season and was basically a boy in the sport. Daniel was obviously going to stay on top of him forst time around. Daniel had no business beating a 4XWDC in his own team... But he did... Qualli after Qualli, Race after race. It was certainly legitimate speed.

Indeed, and Dan is winning the team points battle this year mainly due to superb driving and not crashing into others. Both have had mechanical DNF's this year but Dan continually shows his ability to pull off great passes without hitting his opponents, unlike max. Plus he punishes others for making mistakes.

I wish it would have been so simple to concur.

Max had 6 DNF (all related to PU) and Ric had only 3.
Importantly, on every occasion when Ric gained a podium, Max started ahead of him and could have finished on podium, if not for the DNFs.
In Monaco, Max was ahead of Ric until the strategy played a role.
In Canada, he could have easily retained 2nd place ahead of Bottas, the way Bottas struggled to pass Ocon.
In Baku, it would have been Max who would have won, instead of Ric.
In Silverstone, Max was called in for a precautionary pit stop, that prevented him from a podium.

In fact, on almost all occasions where Ric got on to podium, it would have been Max.

So, just to look at Monza and saying, Ric is better than Max was belying all the realities. So much of frustration and still managing to put in those qualifying performances makes him a stand out performer. Otherwise, just look at Vettel last year.

One fact that has stood out this season is that, Max is faster than Ric over a lap and the engine failures have masked what would have happened in races. If the PU would have shown good reliability, Ric would have been desperately searching for a new home already.