Silly Season 2018/2019

[PlatinumZealot]

Alonso is the biggest Diva of them all and i don't see anyone complaining. Pascal is an obedient little elf compared to him.

Returns on the effort.

You get good returns on Alonso

Points in two back-marker cars that have no business finishing anywhere in the top ten is pretty good if you ask me.

[djos]

Didn’t Manor refer to him as ‘Princess Pascal’ or something?

Yep I'm pretty sure i heard that too.

[Phil]

IMO there's no way I can see Hartley hanging on to that seat. Poor guy can't catch a break. He knows first hand how it is to get kicked from an F1 team and it seems it will happen again, soon. All that pressure sure isn't helping him either.

Grosjean is probably at risk too, given his contract ends end of this season...

[djos]

IMO there's no way I can see Hartley hanging on to that seat. Poor guy can't catch a break. He knows first hand how it is to get kicked from an F1 team and it seems it will happen again, soon. All that pressure sure isn't helping him either.

Grosjean is probably at risk too, given his contract ends end of this season...

It's a shame but he's also pretty tall too which can't be helpful in an F1 car.

RoGro seems to have gone back to his old ways of making a mess, I wouldn't be surprised to see him go either.

[SteveRacer]

Who could Haas get to replace RoGro? It seems to me they would prefer someone with experience. I don't see the experienced drivers leaving their current situation to go to Haas. They arent going to get anyone from the top three. I would consider a move from Renault, Mclaren and Force India a lateral move so I think those drivers are off the list. That would leave someone from Toro Rosso, Williams or Sauber.

[godlameroso]

Haas dumps Gro, TR drops Hartley, and McLaren makes way for Norris. In the musical chairs, either Vandoorne or Wherlein replaces Grosjean. TR takes a fast Japanese driver to compare to Gasley. Or Riccardo goes to Ferrari Gasley goes to Red Bull, and TR takes Wherelein from Mercedes.

[Manoah2u]

Come on people, Wehrlein is F1 history.

Grosjean surely will be exit-F1 after this season. He makes stupid mistakes, drives like when he was the 1st lap nutcase, constantly moans, is aging and his results are declining instead of improving, is demanding, wants too big of a paycheck, and HAAS no longer needs his 'expertise' by now. Magnussen is doing pretty good except he really needs to calm tf down.

I wouldn't know who might replace Grosjean, though it might be interesting to see Kubica go there. Has a wealth of experience, is fast, stable, surely not expensive at all.

Ricciardo surely will go to Ferrari next year, so Sainz will be promoted to RedBull, or Renault will buy him off from RedBull, and Gasly will go to RedBull. Most likely scenario, really.

Sainz stays at Renault, Hulkenberg i'm not certain, but for 1 year probably he will, unless there will be another couple of DNF's and clumsy stuff, he'll simply leave F1 and go back to WEC/ stuff like that. If that happens, and Kubica is not at HAAS, we MIGHT see Robert go to Renault as a racing driver, but since they're ambitioning WDC and WCC prospects, i don't expect that. Perez could happen.

If gasly goes to RedBull, Hartley will stay, and Matsushita will join Toro Rosso (thanks to Honda).

I'm still neutral towards Bottas right now, but Hamilton is still pretty much quite a league away from him, despite Hamilton not having such a 'drive' or 'ambition' like back in 2014 to 2016, and Bottas despite having a great seat, and all the best chances, is rather 'grey' and 'unimpressive' to be honest, i really, really, really wouldn't be surprised to see Ocon promoted to Mercedes alongside Hamilton. it Surely would motivate Ocon, it surely also would put more pressure on Lewis, so a win-win. And i'm pretty sure Ocon is faster than Bottas, albeit he is less stable.

VanDoorne is just not worth an F1 seat, so i'd see Bottas go to Mclaren alongside Alonso. UNLESS Alonso replaces Bottas, then Bottas will go alongside VanDoorne. Really bad line-up for Mclaren though, so I'd expect VanDoorne to get replaced by Lando Norris and be alongside Bottas then, much better lineup.

Verstappen stays at RedBull obviously. As for Force India - clueless what'll happen there. Ocon either will stay for another year, or go to Mercedes. Perez will either go to Renault, or stay - as i don't think Ferrari would choose him over Ricciardo, nor would i think Mercedes would go with Perez over their own protegé Ocon. He MIGHT go to Haas though, BUT i don't see how that's a major benefit or any improvement over Force India. Haas would benefit, but i'm not at all sure about Perez. On the other hand, if Vettel might quit (for whatever reason) in 2020, he could go to Ferrari and the question would then be - would being in Haas make that easier or not? I could see Stroll take his money with him and his daddy's money towards Force India and leave Williams in the dry.

Ericsson probably will stay yet another boring year at Sauber, keeping the team down still. LeClerc is doing great. He might go to HAAS to replace grosjean though. But who would take his seat? Giovanazzi was too clumsy and not that impressive imho.

I am curious about 2 upcoming drivers though; Mick Schumacher and Alesi jr.

Where would Mick go? Junior Mercedes driver? or Renault Test driver? I think he'd actually be best off at Force India. Great team, great atmosphere, great learning potential, not much stress on both teams, and would be great for both. Aditionally, it would be a repeat of his legendary dad's career; after all Force India is the former Jordan, where Schumacher started his brilliant F1 career.

Ocon would be a great measurement too, or so would the experienced Perez be.

as for Giuliano Alesi, probably would start at Alfa Romeo Sauber. I don't think he is anywhere near his father Jean's capabilities though, i always thought Jean Alesi was a great driver.

I'm not sure about Pietro Fittipaldi though, he probably would go the same route, starting through Alfa Romeo Sauber, as he is as far as i know part of the Ferrari Acedemy,
but i would actually expect to see him at Haas instead. Nevertheless i think he doesn't show any impressive feats at open-wheeler categories. But his nationality and name might
give him a hand to F1. After all, if complete failures like Ericsson can be in F1, why not somebody like Pietro?

so my current suggestion for 2019 might be:

Mercedes

Hamilton
Ocon

Ferrari

Vettel
Ricciardo

RedBull

Verstappen
Gasly

Renault

Sainz
Hulkenberg

Mclaren

Alonso
Bottas

Force India

Perez
Schumacher / Stroll

Toro Rosso

Hartley
Matsushita

Haas

Magnussen
LeClerc / Kubica

Alfa Romeo Sauber

Ericsson
Alesi / LeClerc

Williams

Stroll
Sirotkin

[F1NAC]

Alesi? Wait this guy is still in GP3? Why would you put him in F1 next year?

[NathanOlder]

Alesi is doing way better than Mick.S. Mick has no future IMO. I watch a lot of the Euro F3, and last year he was rubbish and started this year the same way.
Ferrari should take Leclerc if they dont get Danny Ric. If they do get Danny Ric then Leclerc will take Grosjeans seat.

Alesi is 3yrs away at least. He's only just started to find his feet in GP3.

The future is bright for the Brits,

Norris, Russel , Aitkin all looking very good in F2. All won races so far and are all rookies in that class. All 3 are in young driver programs (Mclaren, Merc & Renault)
and remember Lando is still only 18. I wonder what Mclaren will do if he wins the F2 title, as I think the champion still has to leave the series by default. Maybe Super Formula like what happened to Gasly and Vandoorne

Albon is probably the best non Brit right now, de Vries is not good enough IMO been , his showings in GP3 and F2 have been below standard.

[zeph]

Toto Wolff talked about loyalty, so I think Bottas is probably gonna stay put. Imagine, if his tire hadn’t exploded in Baku, the championship would look like this: HAM 88, BOT 83, VET 76.

Not bad for a #2 driver, right? About as good as it gets, I’d say.


And if Grosjean doesn't step up his game, I can see Leclerc at Haas next season.

[Jolle]

Alonso is the biggest Diva of them all and i don't see anyone complaining. Pascal is an obedient little elf compared to him.

Returns on the effort.

You get good returns on Alonso

He's one of the fastest drivers on the grid, but so far, even with "Mr Sponsor" Zak Brown McLaren have been unable to sign a good deal for the past four seasons. So far he costed McLaren around 100 mln dollars and they got peanuts in return.

Either Alonso isn't that big of a return anymore or McLaren is really that bad.

[Big Tea]

Come on people, Wehrlein is F1 history.

Grosjean surely will be exit-F1 after this season. He makes stupid mistakes, drives like when he was the 1st lap nutcase, constantly moans, is aging and his results are declining instead of improving, is demanding, wants too big of a paycheck, and HAAS no longer needs his 'expertise' by now. Magnussen is doing pretty good except he really needs to calm tf down.

I wouldn't know who might replace Grosjean, though it might be interesting to see Kubica go there. Has a wealth of experience, is fast, stable, surely not expensive at all.

Ricciardo surely will go to Ferrari next year, so Sainz will be promoted to RedBull, or Renault will buy him off from RedBull, and Gasly will go to RedBull. Most likely scenario, really.

Sainz stays at Renault, Hulkenberg i'm not certain, but for 1 year probably he will, unless there will be another couple of DNF's and clumsy stuff, he'll simply leave F1 and go back to WEC/ stuff like that. If that happens, and Kubica is not at HAAS, we MIGHT see Robert go to Renault as a racing driver, but since they're ambitioning WDC and WCC prospects, i don't expect that. Perez could happen.

If gasly goes to RedBull, Hartley will stay, and Matsushita will join Toro Rosso (thanks to Honda).

I'm still neutral towards Bottas right now, but Hamilton is still pretty much quite a league away from him, despite Hamilton not having such a 'drive' or 'ambition' like back in 2014 to 2016, and Bottas despite having a great seat, and all the best chances, is rather 'grey' and 'unimpressive' to be honest, i really, really, really wouldn't be surprised to see Ocon promoted to Mercedes alongside Hamilton. it Surely would motivate Ocon, it surely also would put more pressure on Lewis, so a win-win. And i'm pretty sure Ocon is faster than Bottas, albeit he is less stable.

VanDoorne is just not worth an F1 seat, so i'd see Bottas go to Mclaren alongside Alonso. UNLESS Alonso replaces Bottas, then Bottas will go alongside VanDoorne. Really bad line-up for Mclaren though, so I'd expect VanDoorne to get replaced by Lando Norris and be alongside Bottas then, much better lineup.

Verstappen stays at RedBull obviously. As for Force India - clueless what'll happen there. Ocon either will stay for another year, or go to Mercedes. Perez will either go to Renault, or stay - as i don't think Ferrari would choose him over Ricciardo, nor would i think Mercedes would go with Perez over their own protegé Ocon. He MIGHT go to Haas though, BUT i don't see how that's a major benefit or any improvement over Force India. Haas would benefit, but i'm not at all sure about Perez. On the other hand, if Vettel might quit (for whatever reason) in 2020, he could go to Ferrari and the question would then be - would being in Haas make that easier or not? I could see Stroll take his money with him and his daddy's money towards Force India and leave Williams in the dry.

Ericsson probably will stay yet another boring year at Sauber, keeping the team down still. LeClerc is doing great. He might go to HAAS to replace grosjean though. But who would take his seat? Giovanazzi was too clumsy and not that impressive imho.

I am curious about 2 upcoming drivers though; Mick Schumacher and Alesi jr.

Where would Mick go? Junior Mercedes driver? or Renault Test driver? I think he'd actually be best off at Force India. Great team, great atmosphere, great learning potential, not much stress on both teams, and would be great for both. Aditionally, it would be a repeat of his legendary dad's career; after all Force India is the former Jordan, where Schumacher started his brilliant F1 career.

Ocon would be a great measurement too, or so would the experienced Perez be.

as for Giuliano Alesi, probably would start at Alfa Romeo Sauber. I don't think he is anywhere near his father Jean's capabilities though, i always thought Jean Alesi was a great driver.

I'm not sure about Pietro Fittipaldi though, he probably would go the same route, starting through Alfa Romeo Sauber, as he is as far as i know part of the Ferrari Acedemy,
but i would actually expect to see him at Haas instead. Nevertheless i think he doesn't show any impressive feats at open-wheeler categories. But his nationality and name might
give him a hand to F1. After all, if complete failures like Ericsson can be in F1, why not somebody like Pietro?

so my current suggestion for 2019 might be:

Mercedes

Hamilton
Ocon

Ferrari

Vettel
Ricciardo

RedBull

Verstappen
Gasly

Renault

Sainz
Hulkenberg

Mclaren

Alonso
Bottas

Force India

Perez
Schumacher / Stroll

Toro Rosso

Hartley
Matsushita

Haas

Magnussen
LeClerc / Kubica

Alfa Romeo Sauber

Ericsson
Alesi / LeClerc

Williams

Stroll
Sirotkin

You think there is any chance of Kimi doing a year at Haas?

[marmer]

Kubica to Haas is an interesting idea if they don't want a rookie. But needs to happen sooner than later. otherwise i see Robert getting a Alfa drive next year if Leclerc goes to Haas.

I watched Alesi's races at the weekend. I would say that he is a long way from being ready for f1. doesn't seem to be great deal of quality in the whole pack tbh. maybe he will show more as the races go on but he didn't look special. for 2019 there are many drivers in f2 that are much more ready for a seat.

[Mclaren340]

I think Kimi will still be at Ferrari next year.

He's struggled the last few seasons, but Ferrari have stuck with him. I don't see why this would change now.

[Manoah2u]

tbh, i didn't think Kimi would drive this year either. Not that he isn't capable, or isnt' a great driver, but simply down to that i thought, and still do, that Kimi would find F1 less and less exciting, not neccesarily that Ferrari wouldn't be satisfied. He's their last champ anyway. But then still, they're treating their former champ more like a Vettel wingman. And Kimi has received imho some undeserving tactics from Ferrari that saw Vettel win instead of Kimi. Does Kimi want to continue like that?

I think for Kimi, a challenge in another series where he could actually go for wins and WDC's would be much better. Wec, LM, indy, etc.
No way Kimi would go to HAAS. Kimi out of Ferrari is kimi retiring from F1. otherwise, he would/could stay (@ Ferrari).

But, there's more to the picture i'd say. Grabbing Ricciardo is also a wise tactic move. It would weaken RedBull quite hefty. Max is screamingly fast, has great potential, but really is a loose cannon. Daniel is an example in stability, is just as fast, is amazing under braking, and is a great teammate and a great bloke, and is quite experienced. Danny would get replaced by either Sainz - whose relationship with Max didn't work well, and could repeat @ RB, further weakening the team. I think Sainz isn't on the same level (yet) as Danny.
if it won't be Sainz, it's gotta be Gasly. Who is rather inexperienced, not that impressive at all, and far from Danny's level. Again, weakening RedBull significantly.

Snatching Ricciardo would also prevent Mercedes taking him aboard and 'gaining' and advantage. He's definately much bigger talent than Bottas, and Daniel - Lewis would be a very strong pairing.

Lastly, maybe Vettel had a meltdown in his last year at RB. Or not at all. Either way, Ricciardo beat him hard in his rookie year @ RedBull and is vastly more experienced now. Vettel imho is less stable than Daniel (mentally). Just look at Baku last year, Mexico before, etc.

So not only would it weaken the competition by snatching Ricciardo,
it would also strenghten Ferrari. in many aspects.

I'm rather sure Danny's roots - which are apart from Australian, very much Italian - would also strenghten his position @ Ferrari,
aswell as the fact that Danny really is a darn funny, happy, smiling, uplifting and motivating bloke.
He could even motivate Vettel do be more 'competittive' as he probably won't like being beaten by Danny.
More so, it could end up that Vettel becomes Danny's number 2 wingman if he beats him. that would mean then that Ferrari has a improvement,
as Kimi - with all do respect - is not as 'competitive' as Vettel. If Riccy would beat Vettel ,than that's more points in the bag for Ferrari.

Thus, bigger chance on the WCC and WDC.

all i see is lots of Wins for a Ricciardo to Ferrari transfer. hence why i believe it will certainly happen, and Kimi surely will be 'the fall guy'.