This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
Things moving pretty quickly at Mercedes. It's almost as if Toto has given this quite a bit of thought over the last few months.
Motorsport -Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, Wolff set out the options the German marque has – but said that trying to lure a top driver away from a rival team was not his favoured course of action.
“We have three roads that we can follow,” said Wolff. “The first is to think about having a number one and a number two, a bit like Ferrari at the time of [Michael] Schumacher and [Felipe] Massa. We can take a driver who can guarantee us points in the constructors’ championship.
“The second school of thought is to make use of our junior drivers, Ocon or Wehrlein. After all, other teams have taken a chance on guys like [Max] Verstappen or [Stoffel] Vandoorne.
“The third path is to go on the market for a top driver.”
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Asked specifically whether Vettel was under consideration, Wolff added: “It’s not my intention to interfere with internal matters at Ferrari, and I don’t even know if Sebastian has a real desire to come to us.
“What would Ferrari or McLaren do without Vettel or Alonso in December? Or Williams without Bottas? The third path I mentioned is the one I like least.”
Diesel wrote:Throwing Werhlien in would be foolhardy, he's clearly not ready. Who else do they have? So late in the day, an experienced dependable is what they need.
I'd like to understand what makes a driver "clearly not ready"
I think it is internet forum code for "I don't like him."
After having gone through painful experience of managing two No.1 drivers in the team and facing media and fan backlash, every time there was an incident, Toto and Co. must have grown frustrated and it would be too much to imagine that they want to go back into the same situation. After all, they have given it to the fans and the sport for 3 years and now would want to have some peace in their management process. Hence, there is no way that they will add another top of the line driver to the team.
New bee to partner Lewis
I remember, some time back Dr Zetsche mentioning Wherlein as the future of Mercedes. I strongly feel this is the way Mercedes is going to go. If that happens, it would be a cake walk for Lewis to beat Wherlein. In the recent tyre testing itself, there was some rumored discussion between Lauda and Lewis about Mercedes wanting Lewis to do the testing because he was "8 tenths faster than Wherlein". It could be primarily because of Wherlein's lack of understanding of the current car to the extent that Lewis knows. Still, expecting Wherlein to compete the way Nico was doing, is slightly too far fetched.
If Wherlein doesn't live up to the expectation, they can still replace him with Ocon and try.
No.1 and No.2 arrangement:
Who on the grid today would want to be a No.2 to Lewis?
- No Red Bull drivers (neither Senior, nor Junior team members).
- Perez, Grosjean and Bottas are the next level, competitive drivers who might just want to get that seat, even if they had to agree for being No.2. They would hope that, they can put their best display in the first year to then have some equality for the following years.
- I don't see anyone else, on potential or on competitive basis.
With a big unknown of next year's performance levels between different top teams, Mercedes are in difficult situation to balance their driver choice. If they end up making wrong choice and the competition has caught up to Mercedes this winter, they would have to say good bye to the WCC next year.
I think, it would be between Wherlein, Perez and Bottas. If they think Wherlein is a risk for next year, they can swap him with Perez and offer discount to FI for 2017 Engines. FI has never blocked their driver's growth path, so they might just agree to it. If FI feels nervous, then a swap between Wherlein and Bottas is also a good possibility. Williams having lost 4th to FI, are going to be down on budget and if they could get some discount from Mercs, they would be in good position to develop their car for next year, with those big bucks from Stroll.
Diesel wrote:Throwing Werhlien in would be foolhardy, he's clearly not ready. Who else do they have? So late in the day, an experienced dependable is what they need.
I'd like to understand what makes a driver "clearly not ready"
I think it is internet forum code for "I don't like him."
Results. When Ocon arrived on the scene he instantly started matching & beating Wehrlein. Ocon has been signed by a midfield team after completing less than half a season, whereas Wehrlein is without a contract.
Would Williams want the extra cash to develop a car when they would have 2 drivers averaging 20 yrs old and averaging 10.5 races between them. I dont think they would use the extra cash well. Williams would only agree to something like this if they had Jenson or Felipe.M for 2017. IMO.
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Right! it will be one between Bottas, Perez, Wehrlen and Alonso. The first two for a safe and secure choice; Wehrlen and Alonso are more risky for Mercedes decision, one is too young and Alonso ....... who knows what would happen together with Lewis.
So is only a strategic Mercedes decision with a vision for the future. In case Mercedes bosses decide only and exclusively for their german interest, so will be Bottas or Perez.
In case Mercedes will decide for the benefit of the whole F1 circus and give a generous present to all supporters, should give opportunity to Alonso (a real duel between him and Lewis many paople are waiting since 10 years) or Wehrlein ( this way there will be next year 3 strong young talents, i.e. Wandoorn Verstappen Wehrlein, against the experienced drivers with new technical regulations: very interesting too)
My personal opinion is that ALonso and Perez arebest decisions; both are very strong and capable to fight with Lewis; Bottas is not
TAG wrote:
I'd like to understand what makes a driver "clearly not ready"
I think it is internet forum code for "I don't like him."
Results. When Ocon arrived on the scene he instantly started matching & beating Wehrlein.
...and by instantly you mean the 5th race since the first two races were a DNF for Werhlein. Werlein wiped the floor with him in Q with a overall gap of 3~5 tenths.
[color=#0000FF]Lauda[/color] wrote:“What annoys me the most is that now Nico is telling the world that he would have continued had he not won the world championship.”
“We gave him the opportunity to become world champion in a fantastic car — and then he tells us he wants to retire,”
[color=#0000FF]Rosberg[/color] wrote:“But to say I deserted the team? Well, not really. I can’t only drive because of the team. And on top of that, Niki quit during a race weekend in 1979 in the middle of the season and he was younger than me.”
“Maybe he forgot about that,” added Rosberg in reference to Lauda quitting the Brabham team during practice for the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix, walking away from the sport because he was tired of “driving around in circles.”
Could you please refrain from using caps that much? Just like somebody shouting in my ears, caps equivelantly can hurt one's eyes.
Well first of all this throwing of mud is really unneeded and quite unwanted actually. Mercedes already has to deal with the fact they will loose marketing value because of reduced exploitation of the WDC.
Second, Rosberg really should have been more careful with that statement. This is a guy who had very challenging competitors and had his whole body burned. Lauda had to face a lot more stress in terms of being motivated. Rosberg did not really show respect to the context and background (and let us also not forget that Lauda did return to the grid a few years later).
[color=#0000FF]Rosberg[/color] wrote:“But to say I deserted the team? Well, not really. I can’t only drive because of the team. And on top of that, Niki quit during a race weekend in 1979 in the middle of the season and he was younger than me.”
“Maybe he forgot about that,” added Rosberg in reference to Lauda quitting the Brabham team during practice for the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix, walking away from the sport because he was tired of “driving around in circles.”
Lauda who had won two titles, was terribly burnt, returned and got back in the car in 6 weeks, decided to retire. He returned and won a third title.
So Lauda and Rosberg are so comparable. Sheesh, Rosberg is so off the mark there. He really needs to look at himself before he makes such statements. He is rather showing his true colours there. And they are not attractive.
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.
[color=#0000FF]Rosberg[/color] wrote:“But to say I deserted the team? Well, not really. I can’t only drive because of the team. And on top of that, Niki quit during a race weekend in 1979 in the middle of the season and he was younger than me.”
“Maybe he forgot about that,” added Rosberg in reference to Lauda quitting the Brabham team during practice for the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix, walking away from the sport because he was tired of “driving around in circles.”
Can someone find the source of this?
I can find only a bunch of website linking each other ...
[color=#0000FF]Rosberg[/color] wrote:“But to say I deserted the team? Well, not really. I can’t only drive because of the team. And on top of that, Niki quit during a race weekend in 1979 in the middle of the season and he was younger than me.”
“Maybe he forgot about that,” added Rosberg in reference to Lauda quitting the Brabham team during practice for the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix, walking away from the sport because he was tired of “driving around in circles.”
Can someone find the source of this?
I can find only a bunch of website linking each other ...
