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

[Big Tea]

Why no speculation around KMag for the RBR seat? I think he may be a dark horse in that race.

Verstappen and Magnuson. Both 2nd generation drivers. I'm sure its a marketing goldmine.

not sure about the goldmine,

but MAG is still in the game I think

One essential point here is what happens to Lewis. If he just leaves F1, it is probably no big threat to Merc carrying on as before. If however he goes to another team,it can really throw a spanner in their works.
Even without a dominant car like the Merc, he is a good enough and smart enough a driver to be a real threat.

Don't know how he would do in the Red Bull with max, as it would have to be fundamentally changed for Hamilton, and no doubt Max would not perform at the same level in that car.

In a Racing point/AM with funding and people willing to join them as Hamilton is driving, it would be a real threat, especially combined with the way some other teams seem to be shaping up for the next few years.

Mercedes would defiantly be looking over their shoulders to see who is taking their points.

[raymondu999]

I cant see RP/AM or RBR taking Lewis in at least the short-medium term tho. RBR —> why would they? Max has the added bonus of long term potential. RP/AM just committed to a long term project with Seb —> I think they’re prepared to let him have a bit of a crack first before deciding to switch things up. Barring catastrophic failure on either part of the partnership, anyway

[Big Tea]

I cant see RP/AM or RBR taking Lewis in at least the short-medium term tho. RBR —> why would they? Max has the added bonus of long term potential. RP/AM just committed to a long term project with Seb —> I think they’re prepared to let him have a bit of a crack first before deciding to switch things up. Barring catastrophic failure on either part of the partnership, anyway

I agree it is unlikely, but contracts can be overcome by Red Bull (least likely), RP/AM, Ferrari, Mclaren or Renault.
Any of there would become a much more formidable team with Hamilton driving one car

[NathanOlder]

I think its very unlikely, but if Redbull managed to sign Hamilton next season, it gives them a much better chance of winning both Championships.

[Manoah2u]

LOL, Hamilton has absolutely ZERO reason to even concider RedBull.
Not the least because he has a successfull partnership with Monster energy to begin with, he has been with Mercedes forever, and RBR has ZERO to offer him.

Hamilton will never leave Mercedes. Only Ferrari would be interesting but they have nothing to offer him either.

Hamilton by now has become synonym with Mercedes, and vise versa. They'll go down in history as a pair that works and achieved the biggest success in F1. Then, probably after his 8th title, they'll go their own ways and Lewis will start doing something else, like participate in a LM race with Mercedes flagship hypercar.

He'll most likely start his own motorsports programme the likes of RBR and Ferrari driver academy, participate in BLM and anti-racism events, do some acting, do some music, and perhaps get into politics.

Either way, by now, Hamilton is going nowhere but stay with Mercedes unless he shockingly calls it quits after his 7th title, which i doubt, as he will be on par with the great Michael Schumacher, and would benefit, as would Mercedes, to see him achieve the 8th title. THEN calls it quits.

Hamilton, like Schumacher achieving his 7th, probably is getting 'tired' of the whole circus around racing. Not the racing itself, but the whole toll it takes in its totality. He knows what he's worth so he'll get his millions. As he should, as let's face it, Merc is going to make those millions anyway but only thanks to him. So they'll find a way to make a 1-year contract work, where he'll be paid handsomely, and be granted many 'cookies' and 'sweets' so he'll be able to go for one more. And as such, the whole Mercedes circus will be aimed at 1 thing and 1 thing alone: help Hamilton get his 8th title in his final year in F1. This means the whole brackley based department, aswell as all other aspects, including Mercedes-powered 'competitors' like Mclaren, Aston Martin and Williams.
Especially Aston Martin with Vettel will be 'aimed' to get P2, P3 and P4 to make sure neither Verstappen neither LeClerc is going to be endangering Hamilton's title. FIA has clearly become a tool for Hamilton too by now, look at how convenient Imola favoured Lewis with the VSC.

Then, Hamilton will retire at the end of 2021, and Mercedes will have a seat available for a variety of drivers.
Vettel perhaps the 'easiest' since he's signed at Aston Martin, but then again, it's not unlikely Mercedes themselves also will take a step back and sell the team and become a 'supplier', and turn Aston in it's new 'focus point'.

Either way, Verstappen, Vettel, Ricciardo, Norris, Russell, Alonso, all will have the option for a perhaps more interesting seat for 2022. Then again, the entire team might simply 'fuse' with Aston Martin, and will leave Bottas stranded.

Hamilton progressing in F1 beyond the end of 2021 to me seems unlikely.

[Racer X]

Racing Point is downplaying the value of Sergio's sponsorship money saying that at the end of the day his contribution amounts to about 3million. Perhaps they are still trying to help out Hulkenberg.

1. They gave him credit for the development of this year's car based on running in Silverstone.
2. Now are downplaying the value of his sponsorship.

I mean they really don't wanna see Sergio succeed to they?

So much so that they are willing to sacrifice podiums (plural).

[LHamilton]

Racing Point is downplaying the value of Sergio's sponsorship money saying that at the end of the day his contribution amounts to about 3million. Perhaps they are still trying to help out Hulkenberg.

1. They gave him credit for the development of this year's car based on running in Silverstone.
2. Now are downplaying the value of his sponsorship.

I mean they really don't wanna see Sergio succeed to they?

So much so that they are willing to sacrifice podiums (plural).

You can give source from where you have gotten that information regarding RP downplaying Sergios sponsorship money. I have only seen that it was one unknown F1-boss, written in a single tabloid. Could just be gossip you know.

Besides, it's quite the conspiracy that you point out Hulkenberg as the reason to why "Racing Point" would do this. Why couldn't it be them (if it were indeed RP) trying to justify the Vettel move? What do they have to gain from "hyping" Hulkenberg up? I very much doubt RP has any animosity towards Perez, nor do I see them not wanting him to succeed.

Sacrifice podiums? Again, conspiracies from a person who can't see both sides of the story. I would rather deem this to be a lack of good strategy calls from RP, not with the intent of being bad, but simply taking bad decisions. It's not like this is the first year of that.

Why would they be angry with Perez from "not contributing enough sponsorship money", but also denying him podium places which would see RP gaining points towards a better championship placing in the constructors and thus also get more money? Doesn't add up.

[Manoah2u]

Racing Point is downplaying the value of Sergio's sponsorship money saying that at the end of the day his contribution amounts to about 3million.

I highly doubt that.
Claro/TelMex,TelCel is clearly visible on the car, all coming thanks to Sergio,
and I very much doubt that will be 'only' 3 million annually to begin with.
There's also Pemex and Jalisco for example.
In the past there was more presence on the cars from Sergio's sponsors,
like through Quaker State for example,
Some may not be 'active' on the 2020 year, that may be true, and surely, that has impact.
However i personally think that has much more to do with the 'direction' RP is heading and
which agreements they are taking aboard.

Let's for example take this idea:

Imagine 2019, thanks to Sergio Perez, there's a 50 million dollar annual deal where CLARO
is in giant letters on the rear wing, and on the sidepods TELCEL for 20 million, and on the bargebords
and front wing endplates TelMex for 10 million dollar, and on the tip of the nose Quaker State for 5 million.

Now imagine that for 2020, Racing Point, thanks to daddy Stroll and Canadian money, and perhaps their own brand,
they no longer continue with CLARO, TELCEL and TELMEX but keep Quaker State.
They 'lose' 80 million dollar like that, and replace it with Bombardier, Canadalife, whatever.
All that they have kept from Perez is '5 million' through Quaker State.

It's in a sense true then that Perez 'only brings' 5 million, in a VERY black-and-white way of looking at things.
However, you would then completely ignore the fact of a total of 85 million dollars just a year before, and the ONLY reason that money is no longer present is because the team boss HIMSELF did not continue this deal.

In other words, it's not like perez 'only brings' 5 million. He actually brings 85 million, hell, he can perhaps bring even more. And that's not even mentioning his results which grant them big FIA bucks.

ANYWAY, even though the above is hypothetically, i'm confident Perez brings more to the table than the claim of 3 million.

[raymondu999]

I think the budget cap, along with the coming bigger budgets from Aston, means that Perez’s sponsorship means less. It’s no longer “added ammunition” in your war chest - it would (I’m guessing?) have to be split up into dividends

[Jolle]

I guess it’s more to do with the team being a promo for the car brand with a four times world champion behind the wheel then a profitable operation on its own.

[raymondu999]

I doubt it. I dont think any manufacturer goes into f1 just for exposure, and not intending to compete

[Manoah2u]

I doubt it. I dont think any manufacturer goes into f1 just for exposure, and not intending to compete

Andrea Moda?

[adrianjordan]

LOL, Hamilton has absolutely ZERO reason to even concider RedBull.
Not the least because he has a successfull partnership with Monster energy to begin with, he has been with Mercedes forever, and RBR has ZERO to offer him.

Hamilton will never leave Mercedes. Only Ferrari would be interesting but they have nothing to offer him either.

Hamilton by now has become synonym with Mercedes, and vise versa. They'll go down in history as a pair that works and achieved the biggest success in F1. Then, probably after his 8th title, they'll go their own ways and Lewis will start doing something else, like participate in a LM race with Mercedes flagship hypercar.

He'll most likely start his own motorsports programme the likes of RBR and Ferrari driver academy, participate in BLM and anti-racism events, do some acting, do some music, and perhaps get into politics.

Either way, by now, Hamilton is going nowhere but stay with Mercedes unless he shockingly calls it quits after his 7th title, which i doubt, as he will be on par with the great Michael Schumacher, and would benefit, as would Mercedes, to see him achieve the 8th title. THEN calls it quits.

Hamilton, like Schumacher achieving his 7th, probably is getting 'tired' of the whole circus around racing. Not the racing itself, but the whole toll it takes in its totality. He knows what he's worth so he'll get his millions. As he should, as let's face it, Merc is going to make those millions anyway but only thanks to him. So they'll find a way to make a 1-year contract work, where he'll be paid handsomely, and be granted many 'cookies' and 'sweets' so he'll be able to go for one more. And as such, the whole Mercedes circus will be aimed at 1 thing and 1 thing alone: help Hamilton get his 8th title in his final year in F1. This means the whole brackley based department, aswell as all other aspects, including Mercedes-powered 'competitors' like Mclaren, Aston Martin and Williams.
Especially Aston Martin with Vettel will be 'aimed' to get P2, P3 and P4 to make sure neither Verstappen neither LeClerc is going to be endangering Hamilton's title. FIA has clearly become a tool for Hamilton too by now, look at how convenient Imola favoured Lewis with the VSC.

Then, Hamilton will retire at the end of 2021, and Mercedes will have a seat available for a variety of drivers.
Vettel perhaps the 'easiest' since he's signed at Aston Martin, but then again, it's not unlikely Mercedes themselves also will take a step back and sell the team and become a 'supplier', and turn Aston in it's new 'focus point'.

Either way, Verstappen, Vettel, Ricciardo, Norris, Russell, Alonso, all will have the option for a perhaps more interesting seat for 2022. Then again, the entire team might simply 'fuse' with Aston Martin, and will leave Bottas stranded.

Hamilton progressing in F1 beyond the end of 2021 to me seems unlikely.

I largely agree with you, however I also think Hamilton will see the appeal in going for a 9th title in 2022. Proving he can win across the major rule change.

[Manoah2u]

I rather think still that the reason negotiations are going slowly is because Hamilton actually already decided to call it quits after 2021, and because of that, Mercedes is reluctant to pay a certain amount of money. After all, there are big chances that Mercedes will have vastly less success when Hamilton leaves, and as such, aren't too happy and because of that are wondering whether it's from a business exposure view wise or acceptable to pay him the amount he 'demands'. I'm sure they'll find a way to get him that money, they'll probably are investigating how to 'label' that.

Obviously he could just as well stay, but i'm starting to really wonder though. He'll certainly crave that 8th title, but beyond that i think he'll leave out. Perhaps he'll come back in 2 or 3 years and try but i'm doubtfull of that to be honest.

[El Scorchio]

To be entirely honest, there IS a reason for RP to deny Perez podiums and high finishes this season- however tenuous or delving into conspiracy it may be. I'm presuming money really isn't an issue for them at the moment, so this short term pain, however dumb on the face of it, does help them justify their decision to boot him out and retain Stroll jr. instead by lessening the points gained by Perez' clear performance advantage over his team mate. (Yes' I'm saying he's undeniably the better driver) It's not even all that close between them, and Perez has missed an extra race AND lost out on available points due to the 'interesting' strategy calls. You could argue also that Stroll benefitted abnormally points wise from that freakish Italian GP result or the gap would be somewhat bigger.

The bigger gap between Perez and Stroll in the standings, the more dumb the team look- especially if Vettel doesn't clearly outperform Stroll next season and they don't do well in the championship. Of course it's their prerogative to run the team and hire drivers as they see fit, but it's just a bit embarrassing isn't it, if they are clearly putting the boss's son over the team's success as a whole and making it into his personal driving school.

Anyway, I'm not saying any of this is ACTUALLY happening and it's more a train of thought which everyone is of course free to pick the bones out of!