Formula 1 2018: General Discussion Thread

pjohnson

With Kvyat off to Toro Rosso and Giovinazzi joining Sauber could Ericsson not just move to the Senior Ferrari Test/Development Role (replacing Kvyat)?He's not gunna find an actual drive so he might just stay with Ferrari . I guess probably Alesi Jnr. will be replacing Giovinazzi as the Younger Test/Development driver?

Apparently Ericssons just gunna be Sauber Test Driver.

kopite386

I'm delighted to see Giovannzi has been promoted. I've only be asking as to when he will get a seat for the last year. F1 has an exciting future I think with Leclerc, Gasly, Giovannzi, Norris

chicorytip

Harika wrote:

Great news with more new talent joining F1 next year. Hopefully Russell also gets in somewhere

kopite386 wrote:

I'm delighted to see Giovannzi has been promoted. I've only be asking as to when he will get a seat for the last year. F1 has an exciting future I think with Leclerc, Gasly, Giovannzi, Norris

He can hardly be described as either new or particularly talented. Sauber has considerably weakened it's prospects for next year with these driver appointments.

AMKC

kopite386 wrote: »

I'm delighted to see Giovannzi has been promoted. I've only be asking as to when he will get a seat for the last year. F1 has an exciting future I think with Leclerc, Gasly, Giovannzi, Norris

I think Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly will have the two best cars of them four cars next year with Giovannazi in the 3rd best of them and poor Londo Norris will be starting off in one of the worst cars on the grid unless a miracle happens at Mclaren over the winter.

ayux4rj6zql2ph

chicorytip wrote: »

He can hardly be described as either new or particularly talented. Sauber has considerably weakened it's prospects for next year with these driver appointments.

Appointing Raikkonen is weakening their prospects? Kimi's signing alone will add sponsors as he is a popular guy, more money means more development, they are thinking long term on the financial side far beyond his 2 year contract.

pjohnson

Addyson Gray Glue wrote: »

Appointing Raikkonen is weakening their prospects? Kimi's signing alone will add sponsors as he is a popular guy, more money means more development, they are thinking long term on the financial side far beyond his 2 year contract.

Yeah thats just completly bizarre statement. But I'm also pretty sure this poster (as in Chicorytip not Deckard) said Grosjean deserved the Ferrari drive over Leclerc so not suprised I guess.

ayux4rj6zql2ph

pjohnson wrote: »

Yeah thats just completly bizarre statement. But I'm also pretty sure this poster said Grosjean deserved the Ferrari drive over Leclerc so not suprised I guess.

Nope wasn't me at all.

pjohnson

Addyson Gray Glue wrote: »

Nope wasn't me at all.

No. Not you haha. I mean the lad saying Sauber are weaker now!

Haha I did word it arséways

ayux4rj6zql2ph

pjohnson wrote: »

No. Not you haha. I mean the lad saying Sauber are weaker now!

Haha I did word it arséways

I’m extremely exhausted here so I may have read it incorrectly, my apologies if that’s the case.

El_Duderino 09

Leclerc is better prospect than Kimi. Gio is a better prospect than Ericsson. I’d say they’re breaking even.

ayux4rj6zql2ph

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Leclerc is better prospect than Kimi. Gio is a better prospect than Ericsson. I’d say they’re breaking even.

Next season will be interesting, while i'm not in favour of Leclerc being promoted so soon, the gamble might pay off in the same way as Kimi from Sauber to McLaren did, on the flip side if he can't handle the pressure he is fcuked and Arrivabene with him.

What i'm looking forward to of it all is Vettel, we all know what happened when another rooster last entered his hen house, he jumped ship the same year.

vectra

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Leclerc is better prospect than Kimi. Gio is a better prospect than Ericsson. I’d say they’re breaking even.

Speculation,
You have no idea how he is going to fit in the team, Who's to say Vettel wont do another Alonso on Vandoorne?

Kimi got on 100% with Vettel,
LeClerc is going to try beat Vettel which will in turn cause friction in the team

As for Vettel doing a Legger again?
I doubt it, Wasn't a lot of his problems at Red bull not strictly Dani, but the loss of Blown diffuser or whatever he had for the years prior?
Car just didn't suit him, whereas this Ferrari does.

Really anxious to see how Kimi goes in Sauber, hopefully a repeat of Lotus days.

ayux4rj6zql2ph

vectra wrote: »

Speculation,
You have no idea how he is going to fit in the team, Who's to say Vettel wont do another Alonso on Vandoorne?

Kimi got on 100% with Vettel,
LeClerc is going to try beat Vettel which will in turn cause friction in the team

As for Vettel doing a Legger again?
I doubt it, Wasn't a lot of his problems at Red bull not strictly Dani, but the loss of Blown diffuser or whatever he had for the years prior?
Car just didn't suit him, whereas this Ferrari does.

Really anxious to see how Kimi goes in Sauber, hopefully a repeat of Lotus days.

Vettel is being taken out of his comfort zone in 2019, will be interesting to see as I doubt Leclerc will play the number 2 role.

I would hope for one last final Ferrari victory from Kimi, the only way it might happen is if the championship is wrapped up soon and Vettel moves over for him as a 'passing gift' like what Senna did for Berger in Japan.

A repeat of the Lotus days would be good, but is that Sauber capable of a podium? with added investment from Ferrari I don't see why not., but not a victory.

recyclebin

Looks like the sale of Force India is under investigation and an appeal will go court in UK. It looks like the FIA may have interfered in the sale process too. Interesting times ahead!

https://www.pitpass.com/62988/Force-India-administrators-facing-legal-action

ayux4rj6zql2ph

recyclebin wrote: »

Looks like the sale of Force India is under investigation and an appeal will go court in UK. It looks like the FIA may have interfered in the sale process too. Interesting times ahead!

https://www.pitpass.com/62988/Force-India-administrators-facing-legal-action

Is this the reason why Stroll hasn't left Williams yet?

El_Duderino 09

vectra wrote: »

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Leclerc is better prospect than Kimi. Gio is a better prospect than Ericsson. I’d say they’re breaking even.

Speculation,
You have no idea how he is going to fit in the team, Who's to say Vettel wont do another Alonso on Vandoorne?

Really anxious to see how Kimi goes in Sauber, hopefully a repeat of Lotus days.

It’s very likely that Vettel will comfortably beat Leclerc- like Kimi has been comfortably beaten by his Ferrari team mates over the last few years.

You’re going a long way into the history books for the lotus days when Kimi was very fast. He’s middling-average at the moment and he’s getting older. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ferrari dropped him at the right moment.

Leclerc is a rookie, nobody expected ta him to beat 4 time world championship in his second season in f1

H3llR4iser

vectra wrote: »

As for Vettel doing a Legger again?
I doubt it, Wasn't a lot of his problems at Red bull not strictly Dani, but the loss of Blown diffuser or whatever he had for the years prior?
Car just didn't suit him, whereas this Ferrari does.

People also forget that Red Bull, more than the other two top teams, has shown time and again to have a "darling driver" and a "there just because we need two cars driver" approach - it happened to Webber when Vettel joined, to Vettel when Ricciardo was promoted and now to Daniel due to Verstappen being there. For an established, sought-after driver it literally makes no sense being "the other Red Bull driver", as Ricciardo's move to Renault proves further.

For all they've done bringing new talent to the grid, RB's wider driver policy has a lot of skeletons in the closet between burning out drivers way before time (Alguersuari, Kvyat, Vergne) and suddenly casting aside the likes of Vettel and Ricciardo when the "new young thing" showed up...

Addyson Gray Glue wrote: »

A repeat of the Lotus days would be good, but is that Sauber capable of a podium? with added investment from Ferrari I don't see why not., but not a victory.

Never say never, Perez came within inches of winning a race in a Sauber (some claim, possibly with reason, that it was a Ferrari "niet!" that prevented that from happening as Alonso was leading and eventually won that race), but the odd podium could be possible.

The current car is probably a better chassis than the results suggest, just a royal b1tch to setup - especially when input has to come from a rookie and a pay driver; The fluctuating performances compared to the field point to that, making Q3 one race and then bringing up the rear at the next one. Likely, with Kimi's expert and extremely high rated insight and feedback (he's considered the best on the grid at that) and the Ferrari PU, they might get a car capable of leading the midfield next season.

skipper_G

recyclebin wrote: »

Looks like the sale of Force India is under investigation and an appeal will go court in UK. It looks like the FIA may have interfered in the sale process too. Interesting times ahead!

https://www.pitpass.com/62988/Force-India-administrators-facing-legal-action

Sour grapes from Mazepin, he wanted to buy the team for his son to play with and lost out. On a serious note, he believed if he threw a big pile of questionable cash at it they would sell to him. Astonishingly the administrators placed more emphasis on having an actual business plan behind the bag of cash.

Addyson Gray Glue wrote: »

Is this the reason why Stroll hasn't left Williams yet?

No, this was never likely to happen for two reasons. They need to pay Williams to get out of a contract and Stroll wants to do a normal pre season approach to get miles in the car anyway. If he jumped mid season he'd be at a massive disadvantage versus Perez, why do that and make himself look bad. Especially when most people are waiting for him to mess up so they can drone on about how he doesn't deserve to be there, Daddy's money etc;

Harika

skipper_G wrote: »

No, this was never likely to happen for two reasons. They need to pay Williams to get out of a contract and Stroll wants to do a normal pre season approach to get miles in the car anyway. If he jumped mid season he'd be at a massive disadvantage versus Perez, why do that and make himself look bad. Especially when most people are waiting for him to mess up so they can drone on about how he doesn't deserve to be there, Daddy's money etc;

They also told Daddy Stroll that Ocon or Perez will make your points than his son, so for next year this will be hard needed cash.
Also the sale was done on some business deal without the agreement of the debtors, so the sale is not 100% sure and could still be disputed. Might have gotten that wrong, too much law issues in it.

pjohnson

Ocon has said he is in talks with Williams for next year.

ayux4rj6zql2ph

pjohnson wrote: »

Ocon has said he is in talks with Williams for next year.

Seen that. Free engines for Williams in return I wonder? There’s another Russian after the seat though, Putin would probably have more power than Mercedes any day

skipper_G

Harika wrote: »

They also told Daddy Stroll that Ocon or Perez will make your points than his son, so for next year this will be hard needed cash.
Also the sale was done on some business deal without the agreement of the debtors, so the sale is not 100% sure and could still be disputed. Might have gotten that wrong, too much law issues in it.

No the sale is final, the minute the company went into administration the decision was taken out of the hands of the shareholders. The administrators act in the interests of the creditors all of whom were paid in full. There's nothing to contest, the business has changed hands and new company in place. Mazepin's legal issues are with the administrator, he's going to lose anyway.

Frank Bullitt

vectra wrote: »

Speculation,
You have no idea how he is going to fit in the team, Who's to say Vettel wont do another Alonso on Vandoorne?

Kimi got on 100% with Vettel,
LeClerc is going to try beat Vettel which will in turn cause friction in the team

As for Vettel doing a Legger again?
I doubt it, Wasn't a lot of his problems at Red bull not strictly Dani, but the loss of Blown diffuser or whatever he had for the years prior?
Car just didn't suit him, whereas this Ferrari does.

Really anxious to see how Kimi goes in Sauber, hopefully a repeat of Lotus days.

Its not really speculation to say that Leclerc is a better prospect than Kimi. One is at the beginning of his career and has shown serious speed in a slower car, the other is off to that slower car.

LollipopJimmy

Can't wait for Sunday the 7th, the McGregor fight will be just finishing and then it will be lights out (and away we go :rolleyes: ) at Suzuka

Inviere

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

Can't wait for Sunday the 7th, the McGregor fight will be just finishing and then it will be lights out (and away we go :rolleyes: ) at Suzuka

Lights out in the octagon, lights out at the track

Have C4 got Suzuka?

ayux4rj6zql2ph

Isn't Brundle missing from Russia & Japan?

vectra

Gintonious wrote: »

Its not really speculation to say that Leclerc is a better prospect than Kimi. One is at the beginning of his career and has shown serious speed in a slower car, the other is off to that slower car.

Lets wait and see how that pans out.;)

Frank Bullitt

vectra wrote: »

Lets wait and see how that pans out.;)

Of course, I'll hedge my bets that Ferrari know what they are doing.

ayux4rj6zql2ph

Gintonious wrote: »

Of course, I'll hedge my bets that Ferrari know what they are doing.

They were utterly clueless in 2009 after the Hungarian Grand Prix, both Badoer & Fisichella couldn't score a point between them, fine Badoer was absent for 10 years, but Fisichella surprised me by not getting even 1 point for Ferrari.

Frank Bullitt

Addyson Gray Glue wrote: »

They were utterly clueless in 2009 after the Hungarian Grand Prix, both Badoer & Fisichella couldn't score a point between them, fine Badoer was absent for 10 years, but Fisichella surprised me by not getting even 1 point for Ferrari.

A lot more to it though than the drivers, the car wasn't great either. That skips over the last 2-3 years where the Ferrari car has been somewhat fast and competitive, maybe 2016 aside.