At a team event at the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo, where the Italian car manufacturer celebrated their return to Formula One, the Sauber F1 team have announced their driver line-up for 2018. From behind a repainted Sauber in Alfa Romeo colours, Marcus Ericsson and Charles Leclerc were present to confirm their racing seats in 2018.
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Williams keen Massa stays but not committed to 2018 deal
“I don't see why not [Massa to stay], he's done such a great job this year,” Williams said. “We were very fortunate that he decided to come out of retirement – the shortest retirement ever – and help us out.
“We were really lucky with that and he has more than delivered this year on so many levels for us. Whether that be delivering the points haul that he has, supporting the other side of the garage and helping Lance, being a really strong team player and working with Paddy and looking at all the areas that can be improved with his level of experience that he has.
“I think as a driver, any driver needs to be motivated to continue in F1 and that's his decision whether he still has the motivation to continue, but seeing him this year, I don't doubt he has motivation at all.”
Despite Williams sounding settled on an unchanged driver line-up for 2018, Williams hasn't ruled out the possibility of negotiating with other drivers later in the season if required. When quizzed whether the team would still look at other drivers even if Massa said he wants to stay she responded:
“It's only July isn't it? It's only July. It's only July, that's my answer.”
When asked about the possibility of Alonso or Verstappen joining the team. Marchionne revealed, “Alonso may well have shown the desire to return, but he did not find the right response from our part. We’re not interested.”
Mercedes not interested, Ferrari not interested, Renault won't be winning any time soon, feeling really bad for Alonso, things were looking so rosy when he won his 2nd championship in 2006.
I hope he stays with Mclaren Honda, who knows maybe Honda will come good in 2 years. A 3rd world title will be better than Indy or le mans.
What is he a malnourished child from some 3ird world country ? Feel sorry for a guy that makes that kind of money and has the sweetest honey on his arm?????
I like him but he made his choices. Now he has to live with them. If he leaves McLaren (another dumb move) so be it.
He's another guy that some times should just shut up and drive. Let you manager do the work.
lol why u hating tho?
isn't reasoning like that enough reason not to watch F1 alltogether? "all the kids starving in Africa would be saved if money in F1 went there". which brings me the question why on earth comment like that?
"Explain the ending to F1 in football terms"
"Hamilton was beating Verstappen 7-0, then the ref decided F%$& rules, next goal wins
while also sending off 4 Hamilton players to make it more interesting"
In my opinion Alonso is ready to go Renault. Why?
1) In Renault desperately need a good and experienced driver. Palmer --- and Hulky nothing special at all.
2) in 2018 Renault engine is expected for important jump in improovement and will surely be very near to Merc/Ferraris; but most important renault Engine will surely be better than Honda in 2018 also.
3) Renault has no other choice since Verstappen Riciardo Hamilton Vettel will never accept to move to Renault because they are fine where they are.
4) Renault chassis will improve more in 2018 and in 2019 will be ready to compete for victories , otherwise Renault would never have entered back in F1.
Finally Renault/Alonso is prooved to be good deal and since Alonso is not talking about that means is really best option by now.
5) Do you really beleave Honda will get 50 HP with good reliability and no fuel consumption problems in 3-4 months time? are u living on Mars?
6) Very difficoult Ferrari and Mercedes will take alonso in 2018, since Bottas is doing not bad and Hamilton will want to stay in Mercedes. There is little possibility Redbull will takethe Spaniard if Verstappy goes Ferrari; why not! would be a nice surprise
"Are you living on Mars" .
I could say the same (and could add a couple of things to it as well).
"Hulky nothing special at all"
"Renault chassis will improve more in 2018 and in 2019 will be ready to compete for victories , otherwise Renault would never have entered back in F1."
"in 2018 Renault engine is expected for important jump in improovement and will surely be very near to Merc/Ferraris; but most important renault Engine will surely be better than Honda in 2018 also."
I am 100% sure that Alonso won't leave McLaren for Renault.
How attractive would Bottas be for Ferrari? Would Bottas have a good understanding of what Mercedes are doing, car wise? Engine wise?
Think about it - if they want a good driver to pair Vettel, Bottas might just fit that bill nicely, especially if he can take some intimate knowledge with him. That's of course assuming Mercedes takes too long in retaining him or decides not to. If Ferrari does show interest in him for these reasons, this may make Bottas more attractive to Mercedes.
Not for nothing, Rosberg's Championship is the only thing that lends credibility to Hamilton's recent success. Otherwise, he'd just be the guy who's had the best car. — bhall II #Team44 supporter
beacuse Alonso decisions will strongly affect MCLaren team future
Then post when Alonso make any decision. Meanwhile speculation about drivers future belongs to silly season thread
edit: btw, it´s funny how you accuse people from living on Mars because of assuming Honda will improve, while you assume yourself Renault will compete for victories soon, all in the very same post
I think if Renault doesn't take Kubica, and Mercedes doesn't opt for Bottas, he'll go for Renault, there was some speculation he'd go to Renault, which would make some sense.
Then again, he's doing pretty good, is putting himself back into the WDC battle, is putting MER in front of FER in the WCC battle, and is a good calm teammate.
if he manages to keep this up , and keep stable in it all, not crack under pressure, and HAM would not move to Ferrari, then Alonso might have nowhere to go anyway.
Something interesting though is his signing mostly because of Wihuri said Toto iirc. I think that's rather a political answer to not bash in the motivation of Wehrlein,
but it could be interesting and putting Bottas firm into the seat of Petronas really decides to step out of F1 as has been suggested by some with their contract coming
to an end. Then again, i don't think Petronas will step out as a title sponsor as they get enough revenue from the results and exposition, especially since their oil makes
a huge difference in power for the merc engine - supposedly that is.
"Explain the ending to F1 in football terms"
"Hamilton was beating Verstappen 7-0, then the ref decided F%$& rules, next goal wins
while also sending off 4 Hamilton players to make it more interesting"
Williams keen Massa stays but not committed to 2018 deal
Pascal Wehrlein?
With Sauber stepping over into Honda engines, I see no reason for him to stay.
But he isn't good enough to replace Massa, of that i'm sure. Wehrlein could easily fade back into
a test driver role. Matter of fact, i think Wehrlein's career is not gonna last at all.
"Explain the ending to F1 in football terms"
"Hamilton was beating Verstappen 7-0, then the ref decided F%$& rules, next goal wins
while also sending off 4 Hamilton players to make it more interesting"
Williams keen Massa stays but not committed to 2018 deal
Pascal Wehrlein?
With Sauber stepping over into Honda engines, I see no reason for him to stay.
But he isn't good enough to replace Massa, of that i'm sure. Wehrlein could easily fade back into
a test driver role. Matter of fact, i think Wehrlein's career is not gonna last at all.
he deserves his seat on pure pace compared to Marcus. staying at Sauber does seem pointless if honda don't improve. they are really falling away this season from where they started with a year old engine (most likely as good as honda atm) and poor aero development show no good signs for next year.
most people would surly agree for a Williams drive if he can bring a cost reduction down on engines he would at least be as good as Stroll if not faster so he might be in the long term a better option than Massa
Honda supposedly is bringing engine discount - free engines, rather, and some money to the team.
That means there is no point in focusing on the engine, which is surely why Sauber decided to use old Ferrari engines for this year, they knew darn well they were aiming at a Honda partnership as of 2018, so why bother paying extra for a year. So the focus should be on the chassis - then again, this chassis is built fresh for the new rules and incorporates an old ferrari engine. I'm confident next year's sauber will look different.
Kaltenborn was b*tching to the technical side of the team that they werent bringing enough to the table. Im sure that was another part of why the team was fed up with the old hag,
as there really is absolutely zero use of bothering with this car in any way as they'll incorporate a honda engine next year. Longbow came aboard and brings money. it's not like when they signed last year or early this year that that would achieve a miracle change, that takes time.
Sauber financially , through longbow no doubt, will have saved money to put into next year's car so they can have a good as chassis as possible for the new honda engine, hoping offcourse that it won't be a disgrace as it was at the start of the year. Truth is though, it seems its starting to clear up, and just a few upgrades left and the Honda engine is competitive enough to actually race. Not enough for Mclaren to win, but probably enough to have a shot at the midfield. Thus, good enough for Sauber at this point, especially if they improve next year, which in all honesty, they have no option but to.
So the Sauber drive won't neccesarily be that bad at all. The only bad thing Sauber will have is Ericsson. that is the biggest flaw in the team left, now that Kaltentrash is gone.
I'm pretty sure Honda will plant their own test/development driver (Matsushisha or something like that) which will only benefit their development, and that includes Mclaren, should they still run with Honda next year - which i think they will in the end.
The point is, Wehrlein is a Mercedes driver, and there is no room for him with Honda there. So where can he go? Force India said they didn't want him, so that's rather painful and closed. Perhaps if Perez gets a drive for another team, he might have a minute chance, still, i think the team really don't want him for whatever reason that may beyond what has been said before.
So outside of Sauber, where can he go? Magnussen is doing good enough at Haas imho, and Grosjean surely is. Not sure if Grosjean is intending to stay, but then Haas still would like an experienced driver - more than Magnussen either way - so no room there either. The conflicting Ferrari partnership there wouldn't help either.
So yes, Williams is the only option left, as there is no way in life he's going to the mothership yet. He wouldn't be able to handle the pressure and it remains a big, big question mark if he's even good enough. I hold bottas far higher than him, and bottas is doing pretty well to be honest, but in the end, bottas brings a load of Wihuri money, has been Wolff's golden boy, and is a welcome friendly guy in the team, whereas Wehrlein supposedly is a hothead diva. So again, Williams, but then Williams has Stroll there, bringing in looooaads of moneyyy, so for Williams, that means money is not the driving force behind their other driver signing. Performance must be one, and experience the other as Stroll is a rookie and needs to gain much experience still and setting up a car is no easy task. Massa is very experienced, seems pretty good at that, and is actually still blazingly fast and competitive, and also very motivated, AND good to work with.
So this can only lead me to the following conclusion; Williams is no option either.
So again - where does that leave Wehrlein? Nowhere, his ONLY chance is still Sauber, but i don't see Honda keeping him over their own driver, and i don't see Sauber replacing ericsson with him either.
"Explain the ending to F1 in football terms"
"Hamilton was beating Verstappen 7-0, then the ref decided F%$& rules, next goal wins
while also sending off 4 Hamilton players to make it more interesting"
With Sauber stepping over into Honda engines, I see no reason for him to stay.
But he isn't good enough to replace Massa, of that i'm sure. Wehrlein could easily fade back into
a test driver role. Matter of fact, i think Wehrlein's career is not gonna last at all.
he deserves his seat on pure pace compared to Marcus. staying at Sauber does seem pointless if honda don't improve. they are really falling away this season from where they started with a year old engine (most likely as good as honda atm) and poor aero development show no good signs for next year.
most people would surly agree for a Williams drive if he can bring a cost reduction down on engines he would at least be as good as Stroll if not faster so he might be in the long term a better option than Massa
Wehrleins driving skills are indeed impressive. What he has been able to do with the Manor reminded me of Alonso during his early days at Minardi. It long surprised me why the (sub)top teams weren't standing in line.
I do hear persistent rumors that Wehrlein has a reputation of creating friction within a team with fellow drivers, management, mechanics and sponsors, and that that was the reason he was passed for a Force Indiaseat, while for most it would have been an obvous choice.
I seen little to substantiate that but it would explain why he has such difficulties getting to a better team despite being a DTM champion with Mercedes backing
Williams can't take Pascal for the same reason they couldn't this year; Martini wants a driver over 25 to market.
As long as Stroll is there, and given his uptick in form he surely will be, Williams need an older head. Whether that's Massa, a returning Bottas or someone else is up for debate, but it won't be Pascal.
