Silly Season 2017/2018

[Phil]

This is gonna be great. How often do we actually get to see a driver swap mid season? Now we actually get two. Really hyped to see Sainz go against Hulkenberg in that Renault, at the same time, we will see what Kvyat is made of against the new RB protegee Gasly.

[Sevach]

This is gonna be great. How often do we actually get to see a driver swap mid season? Now we actually get two. Really hyped to see Sainz go against Hulkenberg in that Renault, at the same time, we will see what Kvyat is made of against the new RB protegee Gasly.

Sure is gonna be awkward to be team mates with the guy that took your seat

I sense a rivalry, at least from Kvyat's side.
Daniil also not known for acting cool when he has a chip on his shoulder.

[therealjustin]

Not unexpected I guess, but still a bit shocking.

Despite the negativity surrounding him, Jolyon always seemed like a pretty decent guy to talk to in the paddock. I do hope he finds a seat somewhere in another series.

[Sevach]

A curious thing, Kvyat lost his seat to Gasly, who took on Kvyat's engine allocation, chassis, mechanics...

Now Kvyat replaces Sainz... what the f happens? Will he use Sainz engines or his own? Same thing about chassis, race engineer...

[Nickel]

A curious thing, Kvyat lost his seat to Gasly, who took on Kvyat's engine allocation, chassis, mechanics...

Now Kvyat replaces Sainz... what the f happens? Will he use Sainz engines or his own? Same thing about chassis, race engineer...

I could be wrong but I think it's helpful to think of Gasly as the reserve driver until end of 2017 season. He replaced Kvyat so he took on his allocation of components. Now Daniil will return but Sainz is leaving. Despite Gasly not missing a race in between, he's effectively playing reserve for two different drivers. I'd be interested to know if that's ever happened before.

As for team mechanics et al. That's up to the team I'd think. They may decide that switching personnel affords some benefit with regards to driver evaluation or some such thing. I suppose it might largely depend how much they actually still like Kvyat.

[WaikeCU]

Who knows he'll discover Sainz' ride is different in performance. It would mean STR favoured Sainz.

[Manoah2u]

If Gasly is not going to race in Austin things would be much more interesting, but i think we'll see him race there too.

I do think though Gasly is hugely overrated and to me is only showing he is far from ready and shouldn't be in F1 yet. We may be a bit spoiled with guys like Verstappen and Sainz,
but Gasly to me is showing nothing but pure weakness. The team asking him to push to get valuable points after being sluggish and then ruining it all completely with making a flat spot was honestly very embarassing. Matter of fact, i would have expected stuff like that from Stroll, whom keeps surprising me in the positive.

I think RB's junior driver flow is stagnating and i am confident there won't be a RB junior aside Gasly next year.

I'm glad we got rid of Palmer, and Sainz gets an opportunity there. It's an upgrade where words arent enough.
It would be funny though if Palmer ended up at Toro Rosso though. It might even be his only possibility to be in F1, including next year.
I'd smack myself in the face if Palmer gets a race seat with Toro Rosso Honda next year but hey, expect anything by now.

On a side note,

despite expecting Gasly to race in Austin for F1, don't underestimate that he'd race for the Super Formula instead.
Honda will supply Toro Rosso next year, so Gasly winning that championship would be very valuable and of commercial interest for Honda, as Gasly is running a Honda engine. If his main rival was running a Honda engine , i don't think they would have bothered too much but since the opponent is toyota, and Gasly is running a Honda AND is RedBull sponsored AND will see him in Toro Rosso - Honda next year............

[ESPImperium]

Im expecting Kvjat to take his car and allocation and mechanics and engineers back at Austin. Gasly will go back to Super Formula in order to take it in a Red Bull sponsored Honda Powered car for Japanese PR, Honda need to get their PR machine to back this project, especially now they own 40% of STR. Im expecting Buemi to take a drive for the race in Saint old car and allocation, however i do think this could just be a way for Buemi to put himself back in a F1 car for next year as i think Kvjat will see next season, i see Red Bull/Toro Rosso/Honda placing Buemi in the seat for a season as Matsushita will spend one more year in F2 and also test for STR as well for a seat in 2018 as well, it will also be a way to see how Buemi stands up in F1 these days. It will also give Red Bull a better insurance if VES or RIC move to either Mercedes or Ferrari in 2019. The rumour of STR taking WEH is wide of the mark as Marko won't take a Mercedes Junior driver.

The other elephant is the Williams seat, this will be down to Kubica getting enough finance together or Mercedes offering Frank and Claire money off for taking Di Resta for the year. Mercedes are offering €15m off i believe, and DIR is getting backing from Scottish companies as well, not much but €5m, that will also help. IF Kubica can get even €12m together, i think they will take him.

As for McLaren, Alonso will sign on for 2 more years. He will retire from F1 in 2019 i think.

Sauber will take Le Clerc and Giovinazzi, i see Ferrari buying or leveraging for both seats. ERI isn't cutting it for me, too many errors now, now Palmer is away its only ERI that can fill those shoes, maybes Kvjat will fill those shoes for one race but after that it will be ERI.

[Manoah2u]

Can people just stop saying 'Saints' it is Sainz. SAINZ.

We dont say Lewiz Hemmeltongue or Fernando Alontso. Seb Vetsel or Kimi Raikkonig.
seriously it is beyond annoying.

And it's also Kvyat, not kvjat.

[NathanOlder]

Can people just stop saying 'Saints' it is Sainz. SAINZ.

We dont say Lewiz Hemmeltongue or Fernando Alontso. Seb Vetsel or Kimi Raikkonig.
seriously it is beyond annoying.

And it's also Kvyat, not kvjat.

I only saw it on the previous post and assumed it was type error. Many people been doing it ?

[rscsr]

Can people just stop saying 'Saints' it is Sainz. SAINZ.

We dont say Lewiz Hemmeltongue or Fernando Alontso. Seb Vetsel or Kimi Raikkonig.
seriously it is beyond annoying.

And it's also Kvyat, not kvjat.

I only saw it on the previous post and assumed it was type error. Many people been doing it ?

It is done all the time.

[NathanOlder]

Ah ok. Bit silly really, Not sure why people would do it, makes no sense.

[ChrisDanger]

Carlos the Saint.

[jericho]

When you take a look at the Red Bull Racing website, click drivers and you see what changed

http://www.redbullracing.com/#

[lio007]

When you take a look at the Red Bull Racing website, click drivers and you see what changed

http://www.redbullracing.com/#

What do you mean? I can't see any difference. It's been quite a while RIC / VER / BUE / GAS (if not from the beginning of 2017)