2024 F1 General Discussion Thread

Just found this in my attic.

Not sure Sainz would want to play second fiddle to Verstappen. I reckon he feels he could out-perform Russell or anyone else who will be in the AM second seat.

He'll end up either at Merc or AM

If he goes to AM, Wouldn't shock me to see Vettell with Merc for 2 years

Alonso, he is some lad.

Could also mean that the Red Bull seat is pretty set as well.

Am seeing word Carlos Sainz has signed for Mercedes,

announcement to come out shortly.

for 2025 and 2026 season.

Link lad, you can't just say that and head off.

I remember saying it wasn't a good idea to come back to F1 as he was late 30s and would probably go off the boil on his return*. Delighted to admit I was wrong. Still an excellent driver. Long may he remain so.

*Schumacher had lost the edge and Kimi was phoning it in late in his career so I thought alonso wouldn't cut it when he came back.

I mean, look at the community note...

Not sure if people are interested in f1 podcasts, but the race recently launched a new history podcast called And Colossally That's History. It's excellent. If you like bring back v10s (which is also excellent) it's well worth a listen.

OK…more silly season ... Its rumoured Verstappen has had a chat with Mercedes for the 2026 season, apperantly with the blessing of Marco. Its one of the reasons Mercedes is still looking for a driver for next year only. Sainz would have want a multi year deal which is complicating things.

They both have reasons for wanting move team. Hamilton is at the end of his career and is getting hundreds of millions from Ferrari for his driver programme. So that's about his legacy.

Verstappen has years to go in his career and has a totally different set of priorities. I don't pretend to know what his priorities are but he has time to work with a team to become the top dog where Hamilton doesn't.

Plus, the Red Bull team doesn't seem like a nice place to work (not made better by his family) but Mercedes seems like a good work environment by comparison.

I wish they made all cars equal in performance and let the drivers make the difference. Otherwise it makes for a rather boring season again. Not to mention the drivers taking a gamble on switching teams in case their car isnt top performer.

I think I already agreed with you on Hamilton moving to Ferrari making sense.

But Verstappen moving to Merc to build up a team…again, I dont think he wants that. He wants to win, and he wants to keep winning until he gets 8 titles. I dont think taking a break from winning titles for a couple of years to gamble on him building a team up is part of his plans.

Admittedly the new regs in 2026 is an unknown, so could be a deciding factor, but nobody will know which team got it right or wrong until its too late. Staying at Redbull could prove a mistake too.

What you are suggesting would make things boring... what makes F1 interesting is the different concepts and approach to the rules each team is doing.. And it's only a couple of drivers that would even be considered capable of moving teams due to their track record ... other drivers should be gratefull they even have a seat

They already have this in America…

I dont see Max in F1 long term, doubt he will stick around long enough to get even a 7th title.