Silly Season 2020/2021 (starting with silliness in 2019)

[Jolle]

Even without exclusion of sponsorship deals, Hamilton will, at the end of the year, lock up every statistical category as the statistical goat.

Even if he were to drive for free, if that means added stats it would also mean increased sponsorship income otherwise. Brand endorsements, advertising etc.

I don’t follow Moto and Rally but don’t Rossi and Loeb both have 9 titles apiece? What kind of retainers do/did they command?

Don’t think you can really compare Hamilton and Rossi with their deals. Rossi’s income from Yamaha is probably small in comparison what he gets from AGV, his VR46 merch and other deals. His “empire” looks more like that of Michael Jordan.

[raymondu999]

No but that doesn’t preclude Hamilton from doing the same. My point is even if his salary was capped; F1 can be his platform to build clout, upon which he can then cash in otherwise

[Big Tea]

No but that doesn’t preclude Hamilton from doing the same. My point is even if his salary was capped; F1 can be his platform to build clout, upon which he can then cash in otherwise

Sorry Lewis, but we can not give you more than 20 mil. But you supply team clothing with your label at XXX$

[PlatinumZealot]

Speaking of driver salaries... I wonder what figure did Sebastian sign to with Aston Martin?

[MtthsMlw]

Speaking of driver salaries... I wonder what figure did Sebastian sign to with Aston Martin?

Some German media outlet had it at 15 mil € per season through a rather complex salary system.

[Shrieker]

Some posters here were berating Di Resta for saying that Gasly pissed off the wrong people over @ Red Bull. As predicted, they are keen to keep him as a good benchmark over at Tauri, rather than give him the second chance he deserves, proving Di Resta right.

If Gasly keeps his good performances going, he'll surely move out of the Red Bull stable mid next year.

[Zynerji]

Some posters here were berating Di Resta for saying that Gasly pissed off the wrong people over @ Red Bull. As predicted, they are keen to keep him as a good benchmark over at Tauri, rather than give him the second chance he deserves, proving Di Resta right.

If Gasly keeps his good performances going, he'll surely move out of the Red Bull stable mid next year.

To where?

Hes still young. Best to try and focus on keeping the AT drive if 2022 is a tight field.

[Racer X]

Some posters here were berating Di Resta for saying that Gasly pissed off the wrong people over @ Red Bull. As predicted, they are keen to keep him as a good benchmark over at Tauri, rather than give him the second chance he deserves, proving Di Resta right.

If Gasly keeps his good performances going, he'll surely move out of the Red Bull stable mid next year.

For Gasly the Alfa seat is perfect because he can further develop and then simply move to the next best option in the future. For Alfa hes a good benchmark for their driver/car development.

Also hes lucky that hes not out of a seat entirely. Albon/Yuki who else could be there I really did not think Albon would lose his seat but it seems he might.

[Edax]

I guess the short wheelbase and high rake not going to help. But I am not sure whether this is the issue with Albon, since the TR is basically the same platform.

One thing I can think of is that the top cars seem to run the tires much closer to the edge. In the midfield you can see people fighting for the entire race and still have tires at the end. Try to follow someone for 3 laps in a RB, Ferrari, or Merc, or push too hard on an outlap and you will be counting blisters. In order to unlock the performance of these cars tire management skills count more than racing skills. Albon has shown that he can race, but I am not so sure whether he can make the tires work for him.

He seems to suffer more in qualli than in the race, so would it be tyre related? Also, I don't know red bull would find his feedback (well, by feed back I mean call him in to look at his tyres) much use for Max, which seems to be his job.

Also, being worse in qualli seems to lead to it not being a problem following cars as it is usually possible to get him on track in a gap, even if not at the ideal moment. He could even chose a different tyre to max (unless RbR insist, so they can use the data, but if he is on the option it is just as useful to know about the tyre Max is going on to)

Surely they can make or adapt a wing to give him the balance, if it is less on the front or more on the back.
Is it something that makes the flow so touchy that it is like a switch? it works or not, nothing in between?


Thanks for the reply, appreciated, and not intending to shoot you down or anything, don't take it that way.

I absolutely don’t find your post offensive in any way, but thanks for the consideration.

As to whether tires matter in Q, I think Bottas threw away a pole by not heating the tires properly and Vettel ended up fighting a Williams because he couldn’t get his tires dialed in, so it can be a factor in Q.

But I am not sure. I just noticed that he seems to slide more and longer than Verstappen, it does not seem particularly twitchy, more less grippy. As you say balance they should be able to tune in, and I assume he is already running more DF than VES. Nursing the tires is up to the driver, and it seems to be a bigger factor than ever, (Even the mighty Merc looked as stable a platform as a fiat multipla on cold tires).

That is why I was probing that angle.

[raymondu999]

Speaking of driver salaries... I wonder what figure did Sebastian sign to with Aston Martin?

Some German media outlet had it at 15 mil € per season through a rather complex salary system.

There is also the question of his shareholding in Aston — which we do not know if it is a personal purchase extraneous to his drive contract, or if perhaps he was remunerated in money, and options. How does one cap such “fringe benefits,” as it were?

[Shrieker]

Some posters here were berating Di Resta for saying that Gasly pissed off the wrong people over @ Red Bull. As predicted, they are keen to keep him as a good benchmark over at Tauri, rather than give him the second chance he deserves, proving Di Resta right.

If Gasly keeps his good performances going, he'll surely move out of the Red Bull stable mid next year.

To where?

Hes still young. Best to try and focus on keeping the AT drive if 2022 is a tight field.

He's not that young my dude. He'll be well into 25 when the next season gets going.

As to where he can move; there's likely going to be a vacancy @ Renault, after Alonso gives a thrashing to Ocon. He'll at the very least be a much better paid driver, with the opportunity to have a car to show himself a bit better than @ Tauri.

[PlatinumZealot]

Ocon Vs Alonso will be spicy. Alonso is old for sure but if he thrashes Ocon it will put into perspective Daniel and Max Verstappen. I don't expect Alonso to fully come up to speed before mid season though. Whether that is enough to match or embarrass Ocon we will see.

[raymondu999]

Ocon Vs Alonso will be spicy. Alonso is old for sure but if he thrashes Ocon it will put into perspective Daniel and Max Verstappen.

How so?

[NathanOlder]

Ocon Vs Alonso will be spicy. Alonso is old for sure but if he thrashes Ocon it will put into perspective Daniel and Max Verstappen.

How so?

I'm guessing as Danny and Max were an even match, Danny has thrashed Ocon. So if Alonso does too it can give us a very rough idea where Danny and Max stand against an old Alonso.

In all this though, its lose lose for Ocon. If he beats Alonso.... its just ' Alonso is past it, no. biggie for Ocon'

If he loses, thats probably it for esteban.

[Phil]

Personally, I'm expecting Ocon to be trashed by Alonso. More so than now against Ricciardo, because I see Alonso as an extremely adaptable and versatile driver. Like Hamilton and Verstappen, I think he'll be able to handle a car that is inherently difficult or unstable. If the car is planted and predictable, then of course the differences might be smaller.

That's just my hunch though. I have no idea how Alonso will be after being 2 years away from F1. Somehow, I don't think it will matter much, that's how highly I rate Alonso.