Silly Season 2018/2019

[GrayGreat]

do you dislike him that much?

Pardon me, but I am unable to understand what you meant...

You basically said that your reason to stop watching F1, became void because Alonso will stop. You probably meant "and there is my reason to stop watching formula 1".

Exactly. My bad.

[GrayGreat]

yeah sorry GrayGreat, bit of a silly joke. You made a double negative statement.

Yup. Sorry.

[NAPI10]

Is there a possibility of McLaren considering Perez as lead driver?

[Dr. Acula]

Could he be keeping an eye on Vettels Seat? If Ferrari keeps improving this year and Seb looses again like a runaway bull, what would Ferrari do?

Hardly. The divorce between Ferrari and Alonso at the end of 2014 wasn't exactly a happy one.
Even if Ferrari doesn't win a title this year, they will simply keep going. That's what they have done with Schumacher and it worked out perfectly in the end.

[PlatinumZealot]

Is there a possibility of McLaren considering Perez as lead driver?

The relationship was not good with Whitmarsh... but I can see Zack Signing him.

Besides. Perez unknowingy comitted suicide at Force India by opening the door for the Strolls to come in. He did save the team that is for sure! But Stroll wants a seat for his son. Stroll wants more Mercedes car parts and... Mercedes wants Ocon to drive. So no space for Perez in the very team that he saved. I can only see a solution If Ocon switches with stroll. Or Perez goes to McLaren as you say. But McLaren is too unstable I don't think he will go back willingly.

[ESPImperium]

Didn't see it coming, i thought he would carry on for one more year, but he seems to want to explore pastures new and i don't blame him.

So, with this, i see the grid being like this now:

Mercedes AMG: 44] Hamilton / 77] Bottas
Scuderia Ferrari: 5] Vettel / 7] Raikkonen
Red Bull-Honda: 33] Verstappen / 10] Gasly
Renault Sport F1: 3] Riccardo / 27] Hulhenberg
Haas-Ferrari: 20] Magnussen / 16] Le Clerc
[Team Silverstone]-Mercedes: 31] Ocon / 18] Stroll [Read Force India] - Seemingly Ocon and Stroll are friends, and one will bring budget and the other will bring a Mercedes saving.
Mclaren-Renault: 55] Sainz / xx] Norris - Drivers will cost up to two thirds of Alonsos package, so the team will have extra development budget to spare.
Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda: 28] Hartley / xx] TBA - STR will have to look to going to the old well again, id say they will go for Buemi, but his contract with Toyota will say no. Id say Vergne may be brought back.
Sauber-Ferrari: 2] Vandoorne / xx] Giovinazzi - Sauber are back up for sale, and the rumour is that they are on the brink of a takeover by Alfa Romeo.
Williams-Mercedes: 11] Perez / xx] Russell - Russell will save on engine budget from Mercedes and Perez will bring in budget.

[djos]

I'm not even remotely surprised by Fred retiring from F1, I am however disappointed to see him go.

I hope he goes to Indy and cleans up like Nigel did when he went to champ car.

[Ground Effect]

Didn't see it coming, i thought he would carry on for one more year, but he seems to want to explore pastures new and i don't blame him.

So, with this, i see the grid being like this now:

Mercedes AMG: 44] Hamilton / 77] Bottas
Scuderia Ferrari: 5] Vettel / 7] Raikkonen
Red Bull-Honda: 33] Verstappen / 10] Gasly
Renault Sport F1: 3] Riccardo / 27] Hulhenberg
Haas-Ferrari: 20] Magnussen / 16] Le Clerc
[Team Silverstone]-Mercedes: 31] Ocon / 18] Stroll [Read Force India] - Seemingly Ocon and Stroll are friends, and one will bring budget and the other will bring a Mercedes saving.
Mclaren-Renault: 55] Sainz / xx] Norris - Drivers will cost up to two thirds of Alonsos package, so the team will have extra development budget to spare.
Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda: 28] Hartley / xx] TBA - STR will have to look to going to the old well again, id say they will go for Buemi, but his contract with Toyota will say no. Id say Vergne may be brought back.
Sauber-Ferrari: 2] Vandoorne / xx] Giovinazzi - Sauber are back up for sale, and the rumour is that they are on the brink of a takeover by Alfa Romeo.
Williams-Mercedes: 11] Perez / xx] Russell - Russell will save on engine budget from Mercedes and Perez will bring in budget.

Vergne has been very critical of Red Bull recently, may not be an option.

[f1316]

Didn't see it coming, i thought he would carry on for one more year, but he seems to want to explore pastures new and i don't blame him.

So, with this, i see the grid being like this now:

Mercedes AMG: 44] Hamilton / 77] Bottas
Scuderia Ferrari: 5] Vettel / 7] Raikkonen
Red Bull-Honda: 33] Verstappen / 10] Gasly
Renault Sport F1: 3] Riccardo / 27] Hulhenberg
Haas-Ferrari: 20] Magnussen / 16] Le Clerc
[Team Silverstone]-Mercedes: 31] Ocon / 18] Stroll [Read Force India] - Seemingly Ocon and Stroll are friends, and one will bring budget and the other will bring a Mercedes saving.
Mclaren-Renault: 55] Sainz / xx] Norris - Drivers will cost up to two thirds of Alonsos package, so the team will have extra development budget to spare.
Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda: 28] Hartley / xx] TBA - STR will have to look to going to the old well again, id say they will go for Buemi, but his contract with Toyota will say no. Id say Vergne may be brought back.
Sauber-Ferrari: 2] Vandoorne / xx] Giovinazzi - Sauber are back up for sale, and the rumour is that they are on the brink of a takeover by Alfa Romeo.
Williams-Mercedes: 11] Perez / xx] Russell - Russell will save on engine budget from Mercedes and Perez will bring in budget.

I now think your predictions may be very close to spot on.

I’m really surprised that RB would favour Gasly over Sainz but it does seem to be the way the wind is blowing and the Alonso announcement is stark demonstration that these decisions at often based as much on team dynamic as performance.

The one I’m not sure about is TR (who I previously forgot all about!). Their continual ‘if you don’t look like a future world champion, you’re out’ philosophy - that put pay to a rapidly improving/still young Algersuari- means surely there’s no place for Hartley. Their options do seem more limited than in recent memory and I wonder if Vandorne might find his way there if ousted from McLaren. Perhaps more likely is Vandorne retains his seat, with a Norris loan to TR, but they’d have to find some arrangement that satisfies both sides.

I’d love to see TR take a chance on an overlooked talent like Ghiotto; he was (imo more than) a match for Ocon in GP3 - let down by poor reliability vs Ocon’s consistent but ultimately slower run of podiums - and has never found a good seat in F2, still managing to be a consistent points scorer. Almost certainly won’t happen but I think it would be positive.

[iotar__]

Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda: 28] Hartley / xx] TBA - STR will have to look to going to the old well again, id say they will go for Buemi, but his contract with Toyota will say no. Id say Vergne may be brought back.

This is what gets upvoted here:
Vergne ~ +5 years out if F1 and in his 30s I guess (didn't check)
Buemi - I don't know, close to 10 and must be 30+ (didn't check)?
What are their qualities except for being former drivers program members? How about Kvyat? Still quicker/better than his replacement, young and drove F1 cars only 2 years ago but wouldn't make Gasly look good.

I know that after Hartley recycling nothing can surprise in Red Bull's insane asylum but this is getting too far.
How about a strange idea of hiring someone on merit to get the best results on track? Not in 2019 Stroll buying and Raikkonen keeping seats F1.

BTW this mindless hype works both ways, talent and mediocrity gets equally mindless cheerleading treatment:
- Gasly after being quicker than Hartley for half a season and driving couple of GPs in circles "has nothing to prove" in F1.
- Leclerc's last three races get black hole of only good marketing (TM) treatment .

Are they any good? Which one is better, maybe someone omitted is? Beats me and it doesn't matter anyway (see: Raikkonen, Ocon, Bottas, Ricciardo-Renault etc.) in current F1. Driver program = certain candidate. You can mess up half of the season badly and have no highlights or previous years to speak of, doesn't matter - not getting a top seat would be a travesty (Brundle Sainz).

[FrukostScones]

SAI to McLaren as expected

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/243 ... so-mclaren

[djos]

Seems like a logical decision, might help with keeping any Spanish sponsors they might have too.

[jjn9128]

Didn't see it coming, i thought he would carry on for one more year, but he seems to want to explore pastures new and i don't blame him.

So, with this, i see the grid being like this now:

Mercedes AMG: 44] Hamilton / 77] Bottas
Scuderia Ferrari: 5] Vettel / 7] Raikkonen
Red Bull-Honda: 33] Verstappen / 10] Gasly
Renault Sport F1: 3] Riccardo / 27] Hulhenberg
Haas-Ferrari: 20] Magnussen / 16] Le Clerc
[Team Silverstone]-Mercedes: 31] Ocon / 18] Stroll [Read Force India] - Seemingly Ocon and Stroll are friends, and one will bring budget and the other will bring a Mercedes saving.
Mclaren-Renault: 55] Sainz / xx] Norris - Drivers will cost up to two thirds of Alonsos package, so the team will have extra development budget to spare.
Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda: 28] Hartley / xx] TBA - STR will have to look to going to the old well again, id say they will go for Buemi, but his contract with Toyota will say no. Id say Vergne may be brought back.
Sauber-Ferrari: 2] Vandoorne / xx] Giovinazzi - Sauber are back up for sale, and the rumour is that they are on the brink of a takeover by Alfa Romeo.
Williams-Mercedes: 11] Perez / xx] Russell - Russell will save on engine budget from Mercedes and Perez will bring in budget.

WRT to Red Bull and Toro Rosso, they have limited options outside of F1 if they decide Sainz and Verstappen would be too fractious - they have no-one else with a superlicense. Ticktum was just denied a test license after his 2 year ban and he's their highest ranked junior (doesn't qualify on superlicense points or F1 mileage). Of their old drivers only Buemi is still affiliated - would he leave Toyota for another shot with Toro Rosso? I'm not sure. Verge was most recently testing for Ferrari, likewise Kvyat. I'm coming around to the thought that Red Bull will go with Sainz, with Gasly remaining at Toro Rosso - at least for a year to see how it works.

If Ferrari are buying Sauber why would they move their star junior (Leclerc) to another team?? Even then why would they take Vandoorne over another of their own juniors? Fuoco has tested for a few seasons so I think qualifies for superlicense on test mileage. Sauber is part owned by longbow finance so without a full buyout their driver Ericsson remains.

Perez is the biggest wildcard. He fits in in a lot of places... so I reckon where he ends up will be up to him. Williams, Haas and McLaren stand out as options. He won't want to drive for Williams IMHO. McLaren have said they won't put a rookie in the car next year - so Norris to Toro Rosso could be an option in exchange for a cut to Key's gardening leave - either as a replacement for Hartley or Gasly, depending on where Sainz ends up. McLaren will keep Vandoorne for continuity - I think with Alonso leaving we may see a different Vandoorne when he gets the updates at the earliest possible time... Perez or Sainz will be in the other car. Long shot is Perez AND Sainz... but teams never like changing both drivers. The fact that Perez has been at McLaren before may be a consideration, but it's been 5 years so I doubt it.

I think a lot of us are agreed that Grosjean will struggle to keep his seat.

[djos]

Perez is gone imo, he's a bit of a diva and choked when given a top level chance back when Maclaren was worth driving for.

[ScottB]

Didn't see it coming, i thought he would carry on for one more year, but he seems to want to explore pastures new and i don't blame him.

So, with this, i see the grid being like this now:

Mercedes AMG: 44] Hamilton / 77] Bottas
Scuderia Ferrari: 5] Vettel / 7] Raikkonen
Red Bull-Honda: 33] Verstappen / 10] Gasly
Renault Sport F1: 3] Riccardo / 27] Hulhenberg
Haas-Ferrari: 20] Magnussen / 16] Le Clerc
[Team Silverstone]-Mercedes: 31] Ocon / 18] Stroll [Read Force India] - Seemingly Ocon and Stroll are friends, and one will bring budget and the other will bring a Mercedes saving.
Mclaren-Renault: 55] Sainz / xx] Norris - Drivers will cost up to two thirds of Alonsos package, so the team will have extra development budget to spare.
Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda: 28] Hartley / xx] TBA - STR will have to look to going to the old well again, id say they will go for Buemi, but his contract with Toyota will say no. Id say Vergne may be brought back.
Sauber-Ferrari: 2] Vandoorne / xx] Giovinazzi - Sauber are back up for sale, and the rumour is that they are on the brink of a takeover by Alfa Romeo.
Williams-Mercedes: 11] Perez / xx] Russell - Russell will save on engine budget from Mercedes and Perez will bring in budget.

I believe the Alfa involvement is being rolled back from, it was very much Marchionne's project. I'd expect Ericsson to stay if the Swedes still own it, and Vassuer is a big Vandoorne fan, so that's a possible, Giovinazzi if Ferrari push him.

I could see Perez at Haas alongside Le Clerc, KMag out, Sirotkin or whoever has the most cash with Russell at Williams and STR grabbing whoever is the highest placed, unattached F2 kid and proclaiming them as part of the Academy anyway. I guess they have an outside chance of getting their hands on Norris for a year if they play hardball over Key, which might let Stoffel stay put for another year...