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Formula 1 2018: General Discussion Thread

boardsuser1

Probably time to open a new thread for the 2018 season?

Silly season is still in full swing as we all know with Williams and Sauber not having confirmed their line ups as yet.

What are people's opinions on the Halo and Alfa Romeo for 2018?

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PukkaStukka

Somehow I doubt this is true, but I'll PMSL if it is!!

https://thesportsrush.com/mercedes-might-not-have-their-upgrade-ready-for-the-french-gp/

Cool_CM

That would be hilarious -Vettel, Danny Ric and Kvyat all at Ferrari and all products of the Red Bull young driver programme.

skipper_G

The biggest obstacle to a potential move for Ricciardo to Ferarri isn't Vettel, it's Leclerc. He is increasingly impressive and if Ferrari aren't thinking about him for 2019 they will be for 2020. One more year for Kimi and Leclerc to the big seat the year after would be a more likely scenario imo

Infoanon

skipper_G wrote: »

The biggest obstacle to a potential move for Ricciardo to Ferarri isn't Vettel, it's Leclerc. He is increasingly impressive and if Ferrari aren't thinking about him for 2019 they will be for 2020. One more year for Kimi and Leclerc to the big seat the year after would be a more likely scenario imo

Agree - it's starting to look like no movement between the top 3 - there's an article behind a pay wall on autosport that compares the moto gp rider movements to the lack of movement in F1 and why this is so - in summary Ricciardo has no where really to move unless he wants to take a backward step to a team that at best can fight for 7th

Harika

Infoanon wrote: »

Agree - it's starting to look like no movement between the top 3 - there's an article behind a pay wall on autosport that compares the moto gp rider movements to the lack of movement in F1 and why this is so - in summary Ricciardo has no where really to move unless he wants to take a backward step to a team that at best can fight for 7th

And McLaren now offered him 20 Million a year, what would bring him up to Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso.

skipper_G

Infoanon wrote: »

Agree - it's starting to look like no movement between the top 3 - there's an article behind a pay wall on autosport that compares the moto gp rider movements to the lack of movement in F1 and why this is so - in summary Ricciardo has no where really to move unless he wants to take a backward step to a team that at best can fight for 7th

I read that and it's spot on, if you want a chance to win races or a championship there's only 3 teams in the fight

rock22

Harika wrote: »

And McLaren now offered him 20 Million a year, what would bring him up to Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso.

I can't see Riciardo moving to a team like McLaren, at least not until they prove that they really do have the best chassis.

He is waiting for Hamilton to sign. If Hamilton feel Mercedes are on backfoot then he may move back to McLaren for very big money. That leave an opening for Riciardo at Mercedes .

meeeeh

mickdw wrote: »

You don't think seb would baulk at having ricciardo as team mate?
He ran away from his last team where he was a 4 time champ when ricciardo jumped in and embarrassed him.

Don't be ridiculous. Do you think a German driver who idolises Schumacher would skip the opportunity to join Ferrari and stay with Red Bull? After 4 titles and at the time when Adrian Newey was taking step back. I'm not sure Vettel would welcome Ricciardo in Ferrari but him leaving Red Bull had nothing to do with it.

Frank Bullitt

skipper_G wrote: »

I read that and it's spot on, if you want a chance to win races or a championship there's only 3 teams in the fight

I fear that will be 2 teams next year

El_Duderino 09

chicorytip wrote: »

Kimi, sadly, is living on borrowed time. I don't think Seb would baulk at the idea of having Ricciardo as a team mate. He still has the ability and self belief to outperform everybody on the grid. I like Grosjean and think he would make the perfect number two at Ferrari. Erratic at times but has great ability and is always fast when it counts.

Kimi always seems to be on borrowed time. Yet he always seems to pull it around.

He’s on a rich vein of form at the moment. He tends to have a couple of highs and lows in a season. His form is good enough now to justify another season.

chicorytip

skipper_G wrote:

The biggest obstacle to a potential move for Ricciardo to Ferarri isn't Vettel, it's Leclerc. He is increasingly impressive and if Ferrari aren't thinking about him for 2019 they will be for 2020. One more year for Kimi and Leclerc to the big seat the year after would be a more likely scenario imo

Harika wrote:

And McLaren now offered him 20 Million a year, what would bring him up to Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso.

Kimi ought to retire at the end of the season. Ferrari need somebody with greater pace and stamina. Twenty million is probably less than half of the annual salaries of each of those three.

chicorytip

El_Duderino 09 wrote:

Kimi always seems to be on borrowed time. Yet he always seems to pull it around.

El_Duderino 09 wrote:

Heâ€™s on a rich vein of form at the moment. He tends to have a couple of highs and lows in a season. His form is good enough now to justify another season.

There's still too big a gap to Vettel in terms of overall performance.

mickdw

meeeeh wrote: »

Don't be ridiculous. Do you think a German driver who idolises Schumacher would skip the opportunity to join Ferrari and stay with Red Bull? After 4 titles and at the time when Adrian Newey was taking step back. I'm not sure Vettel would welcome Ricciardo in Ferrari but him leaving Red Bull had nothing to do with it.

The long and short of it is he left the team and had been well beaten by D Ric.
Fair enough he may have wanted to join Ferrari anyway but my post was in response to poster who said that vettel wouldn't might Ricciardo as a team mate at Ferrari. Ya right. It would be career ending for vettel if ricciardo went to Ferrari and did same to him as he did at redbull.

vectra

chicorytip wrote: »

Kimi ought to retire at the end of the season. Ferrari need somebody with greater pace and stamina. Twenty million is probably less than half of the annual salaries of each of those three.

Apparently Kimi is on 7 mil plus bonuses to a maximum of 10 mil PA,

AMKC

rock22 wrote: »

I can't see Riciardo moving to a team like McLaren, at least not until they prove that they really do have the best chassis.

He is waiting for Hamilton to sign. If Hamilton feel Mercedes are on backfoot then he may move back to McLaren for very big money. That leave an opening for Riciardo at Mercedes .

Even if Mercedes were on a backfoot I really do not see Hamilton moving back to Mclaren. Even been on the backfoot Mercedes still have the best engine and are still way ahead of Mclaren. I can not see Hamilton been happy with anything but fighting at the front most of the time except for the odd time wen he is not on form. If he moved to Mclaren he would at best be in the midfield. While that might be ok the odd time I think he would get very bored been there all the time. He would also have to learn and get used to the Renault PU and the team. I can see Hamilton retiring and DJ aying sooner than going back to Mclaren in there current form.

meeeeh

mickdw wrote: »

The long and short of it is he left the team and had been well beaten by D Ric.
Fair enough he may have wanted to join Ferrari anyway but my post was in response to poster who said that vettel wouldn't might Ricciardo as a team mate at Ferrari. Ya right. It would be career ending for vettel if ricciardo went to Ferrari and did same to him as he did at redbull.

Alonso was beaten by a rookie, Hamilton was beaten by Rosberg and Button. Kimi is part of the furniture in Ferrari and being beaten every year by just anybody. Button was beaten by half of his teammates. Even Schumacher was beaten by Rosberg when he returned from retirement. And yet Vettel would be finished.

There is a good chance Vettel prefers someone else than Ricciardo. Hamilton doesn't seem too excited to have him in the team instead of Bottas. No driver actually wants overly challenging team mate but there is no need to exaggerate.

flazio

vectra wrote: »

Apparently Kimi is on 7 mil plus bonuses to a maximum of 10 mil PA,

I was about to ask what is it exactly that's keeping Kimi around but now I don't need to.

ayux4rj6zql2ph

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skipper_G

Prisoner 6753 wrote: »

Looks like Kimi is heading for retirement from F1

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferrari-ready-to-replace-raikkonen-with-leclerc-1047195/

I'm a massive fan of Leclerc, would love to see it. I can’t help thinking Ferarri won't have the guts to do it even though they should

PukkaStukka

This story I posted about last night concerning Mercedes' latest engine upgrade potentially being in trouble seems to have some element of truth to it

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/136900/mercedes-drivers-hint-at-further-engine-delay

Cool_CM

That's a ballsy move by Ferrari - would save them a shedload of money too!

AMKC

Cool_CM wrote: »

That's a ballsy move by Ferrari - would save them a shedload of money too!

Ah sure what would Ferrari do with all that money they save? Develop another road car maybe.

PopePalpatine

Maybe give Kimi a great send-off at Le Mans? :pac:

ayux4rj6zql2ph

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ayux4rj6zql2ph

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meeeeh

Prisoner 6753 wrote: »

Who was the last big name to make such a move from minnows to the big time after their first season? Was it Raikkonen himself from Sauber to McLaren in 2001/2002?

I wouldn’t count Alonso going from Minardi to Renault as he sat out the 2002 season.

Ricciardo and Hamilton went straight to a top team. Vettel and Max needed a bit more than a season. It's not that unusual but what would be extremely unusual is young driver landing Ferrari seat straight away.

I think Leclerc has great potential and would love to see him in Ferrari. I like Ricciardo too but he doesn't excite me as much. I know he beat Vettel once but that year Vettel was more preoccupied squabbling with Alonso on the track than actually competing for anything. So Leclerc for me.

ayux4rj6zql2ph

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meeeeh

Prisoner 6753 wrote: »

Ricciardo started out at HRT and then moved to Toro Rosso until 2014 when he beat Vettel at Red Bull

Hamilton went straight in at the deep end. I wonder does Ron Dennis regret it now after saying he (Hamilton) would regret leaving McLaren.

You are right about Ricciardo, I completely forgot about his previous years. I even completely forgot about HRT. That being said I always thought the years Red Bull dominated were the most boring. Hekki Kovalainen is another driver who moved to McLaren after a year. That didn't go too well.

Infoanon

Cool_CM wrote: »

That's a ballsy move by Ferrari - would save them a shedload of money too!

Philip Morris still pay for the drivers afaik - open to correction

Frank Bullitt

PopePalpatine wrote: »

Maybe give Kimi a great send-off at Le Mans? :pac:

Not out of the realms of possibility really, the 2020 rules for LPM1 are so the hypercars can be used by manufactures, and Ferrari have the LaFerrari as a base.

I think its the right time for Kimi to go, he still kinda has it but also not really. I'd hate to see him go the route of Barrichello or Coulthard. Just bow out while you are on top (or in a top team).

Its mad that we might not have Alonso or Kimi next year, big changes!