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

[LHamilton]

HAAS driver announcement to be made today in an hour. 09.00 CET, 11.00 Bahrain time or 08.00 UK time. Money back on Mick?

Kinda feel bad for Mick. Seems like a very humble guy, but there are a lot of expectations from various people, be it fans, media, teams. All trying to ride that Schumacher name into their fantasy land. Hopefully F1 doesn't come to quickly for him.

[Morteza]

HAAS driver announcement to be made today in an hour. 09.00 CET, 11.00 Bahrain time or 08.00 UK time. Money back on Mick?

Kinda feel bad for Mick. Seems like a very humble guy, but there are a lot of expectations from various people, be it fans, media, teams. All trying to ride that Schumacher name into their fantasy land. Hopefully F1 doesn't come to quickly for him.

[LHamilton]

Hopefully Mick surrounds himself with good people. Seems like most are more interested in the Schumacher brand rather than what he can do on track. Guess that's what F1 is these days. With HAAS signing Mazepin and trying to sweeten the deal with Schumacher due to his brand popularity doesnt put them on top of my christmas letter sendings. I'm not saying that he is not a good driver. I'm saying that for a lot of people that is secondary to the Schumacher brand. It shouldn't be.

[El Scorchio]

Well, we shall soon see if he's good enough. Good luck to the lad. Always going to be question marks over whether he deserves/has earned this until he delivers or is living off the name.
But yes, I'm sure he's got good people looking after him. However I'm sure a lot of people will want a piece of him and he no doubt brings a lot of money and interest to HAAS.

[Gerhardsa]

I think he deserves and earned his place.
Won F3 Euro, will probably win F2 Championship (if all goes well next race).. He is taking the same path as most have done before him. I'd say its earned.
I quite enjoy his racecraft and on track battles/skills. Very clean, hard and fair. He has to work on his qualifying performances though. If he was able to qualy 2-3-4 places higher on average this year, he would probably have been out of reach for anyone in the championship.

[PlatinumZealot]

Haas are really taking the Mickey with this Mazepin guy.

[Just_a_fan]

Is Mazepin bringing a big bag full of cash with him? Hasn't exactly blown the field away in any of his junior series seasons - very solid, certainly, but not exactly "the second coming".

[Scorpaguy]

If it were I paying the bills, which I am not, Shwartzman would have been my choice over both of those two...Mick and Nik seem about equal IMHO.

[Manoah2u]

Well, you can't hype Mick if he gets beaten by 'some russian', and it's not unlikely Mick is going to beat Mazepin relatively easy. \
Haas will take a year or two of easy Mazepin money, and see after two seasons whether they're better off selling the whole joint to the Russians.

[nokivasara]

Hopefully Mick surrounds himself with good people. Seems like most are more interested in the Schumacher brand rather than what he can do on track. Guess that's what F1 is these days. With HAAS signing Mazepin and trying to sweeten the deal with Schumacher due to his brand popularity doesnt put them on top of my christmas letter sendings. I'm not saying that he is not a good driver. I'm saying that for a lot of people that is secondary to the Schumacher brand. It shouldn't be.

It's always difficult being the child of a master like Schumi and trying to make it in the same sport (or profession for that matter), people will think he got the seat because of his name. Add to that the short sighted view of newcomers nowadays, if he doesn't succeed from the start he will be called useless and that he should give up his seat for whoever is doing well in F2 at that point. Superlicense points or not, any of the top three will be a better choice than this Mick guy at that point
RB/TR paved way for this ugly way of treating young guys and that mindset seems to dominate online forums, which is a great shame IMO.

If I owned a team I wouldn't dare to put two rookies in it, but that brings us back to what LHamilton said, russian money and a very marketable name was what tipped the scales over at Haas...

[bosyber]

Hopefully Mick surrounds himself with good people. Seems like most are more interested in the Schumacher brand rather than what he can do on track. Guess that's what F1 is these days. With HAAS signing Mazepin and trying to sweeten the deal with Schumacher due to his brand popularity doesnt put them on top of my christmas letter sendings. I'm not saying that he is not a good driver. I'm saying that for a lot of people that is secondary to the Schumacher brand. It shouldn't be.

I think his uncle Ralf (commenting for Sky Germany) for one probably cares about the long-term strength of the brand (he has a son too, for one), and also for his nephew, and I'm pretty sure his mother does too - she's a clever woman. So, I have some hope he will just be concentrating on doing his own job, applying himself.

Regardless, from earlier single seater series, would say he should be expected to at least need that
half a year Leclerc needed when he came into the sport, and probably the whole season, esp. with the HAAS likely to remain a bit of an inconsistent ride.

[LHamilton]

I wouldn't be suprised if Schumacher does far more on camera work/off track media than anyone else due to his last name and HAAS wanting to profit as much as possible. Hopefully there will be some 'nays' in there from the Schumacher camp, because to much media work takes away focus of what should be primary; on track duties. With HAAS seemingly already "forfeited" next season, I wouldn't be suprised if they did as I wrote about above; letting Schumacher do heavy amounts of media work for that sweet, sweet cash. Hopefully I'm wrong.

[ESPImperium]

Heres my cristal ball, and what its saying.

Bottas and Russell will now be in a two race shootout. Hamilton will want to be back at Abu Dhabi, however I suspect he is done for the year now. Mercedes want to compare Russell to Bottas. If Bottas docent dominate Russell, he is done at Mercedes. By domination, he needs to be at least a half second or more in qualifying, he needs to win over Russell by at least 20 seconds or more. If Bottas fails, he will be back at Williams and Russell will be at Mercedes.

Im suggesting its Hamilton and Russell next year, Williams will be given a massive discount for power units, essentially free. It could lead into Perez staying in F1 at Williams and Bottas being a reserve driver for Mercedes.

The silly season aint over yet. It still has a twist or two. Id like to see every team having two nominated reserve drivers for next year, dare I say just for that team with no sharing of drivers, as even though we may have a vaccine for COVID, I think that there will be a need to continue the present protocols for 2021. COVID will have an effect on a 23 date calendar for 2021 I think. I think with the vaccine, some nations may need to have personnel vaccinated before they enter some countries. Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Grosjean and Kvijat will all be needed, possibly even more if some have other commitments in other series. Aitken and Fittapaldi id suggest will be needed.

Im also hearing that Mazepin is brining a serious wedge of the €30m to the team, and Schumacher is also bringing some cash as well, around $12m a year as well. And with the Schumacher brand, brands will want to sponsor Haas to gain access to that brand name. This will lead to Haas getting more developments into the car. Some I've listened to seem to suggest that Haas may even start to design the car, or parts of car as well next year, and with the new RRA coming in, they may get access to some from Ferrari and even other teams as well who have made staff redundant. Haas could start to move forward, however they lack of an experienced hand at the wheel may stymie their progress.

[LHamilton]

Heres my cristal ball, and what its saying.

If Bottas docent dominate Russell, he is done at Mercedes. By domination, he needs to be at least a half second or more in qualifying, he needs to win over Russell by at least 20 seconds or more. If Bottas fails, he will be back at Williams and Russell will be at Mercedes.

I would be very suprised if Bottas is half a second ahead of Russell. That would be more telling of Russell than Bottas. Given that next race is sub 1 minute, half a second might very well be a difference of eight-ten places.

In Abu Dhabi there is more of a chance for it, but given how much time Russell have had driving various Mercedes cars, knowing the team etc, he shouldn't be 0.5sec off, unless he has an off weekend. Russell should bar minimum put the car where it belongs, on the front row. Hulkenberg managed to do it worse circumstances (I'm refering to his 3rd place in Silverstone). So if Russell is as highly regarded as some claim, he should be there or there about with Bottas. A few tenths a part. I gave him up to 0.2sec in Bahrain Outer to be regarded as 'ok', which probably is a bit generous given how short the lap is. <0.3 in Abu Dhabi should be expected, and i think even that is generous. (Both qualifying times)

If I wanna be harsh, I would say =<0.1 in Bahrain Outer and =<0.2 in Abu Dhabi

[Big Tea]

Heres my cristal ball, and what its saying.

If Bottas docent dominate Russell, he is done at Mercedes. By domination, he needs to be at least a half second or more in qualifying, he needs to win over Russell by at least 20 seconds or more. If Bottas fails, he will be back at Williams and Russell will be at Mercedes.

I would be very suprised if Bottas is half a second ahead of Russell. That would be more telling of Russell than Bottas. Given that next race is sub 1 minute, half a second might very well be a difference of eight-ten places.

In Abu Dhabi there is more of a chance for it, but given how much time Russell have had driving various Mercedes cars, knowing the team etc, he shouldn't be 0.5sec off, unless he has an off weekend. Russell should bar minimum put the car where it belongs, on the front row. Hulkenberg managed to do it worse circumstances (I'm refering to his 3rd place in Silverstone). So if Russell is as highly regarded as some claim, he should be there or there about with Bottas. A few tenths a part. I gave him up to 0.2sec in Bahrain Outer to be regarded as 'ok', which probably is a bit generous given how short the lap is. <0.3 in Abu Dhabi should be expected, and i think even that is generous. (Both qualifying times)

If I wanna be harsh, I would say =<0.1 in Bahrain Outer and =<0.2 in Abu Dhabi

But remember that (in my opinion anyway) Russel will be desperate to finish the race (and therefore quali) in a respectable position, not necessarily a dominant one. In other words, careful not to over cook things.

He can afford to drop a few tenths, but will not want to make himself look bad or stupid.
I think it will be a finish at all costs race rather than show em how good you are. That may come next race if needed.