The king is dead, long live the king.
With the 2024 season done and dusted and lots of chatter now about drivers and how they will perform for the 2025 season, thought it would be no harm to start a 2025 season thread.
Go!
Hard to not imagine Oakes walking was anything other then to do with Doohan’s demotion, Alpine at best can get a couple points at best in a race with no DNFs, not sure Collapinto is going to do much better than Jack. A seat for 5 races also? Absolute madness. Should have given both lads half a season each and evaluate in the summer, talk about a sh!tshow of a team.
that would be more to do with that he owns part of the team.
Hehe
Would this mean Carlos Junior would have to leave motor sports owing to a conflict of interests? I remember a couple of months ago it was reported that Susie Wolff was considering going forward but it would have meant that Toto would have to sell his stake in Mercedes Benz and leave the team.
Carlos Sainz Sr is considering running for FIA president. Hope he does run, Ben Sulayem needs to be gotten rid of.
I never understand any of the decisions these teams make. I know they have the "data," but from my external perspective, three of the first six races have been on street circuits, and two weekends have featured sprint races. In my opinion, you really cannot test new parts or learn the limits at a street circuit. There are no run-off areas; there is only the punishment of the wall. The skill of driving them is great, but for rookies, it has to be difficult when a slight push too far results in hitting the wall and causing expensive damage. The fine margins between clean and fast are even smaller.
I felt Red Bull chose poorly in giving the seat to Lawson, and they made another poor decision by demoting him. Yuki also seems to have been judged way too quickly in the RB; that car is difficult to drive, let alone having to compete with his teammate.
Doohan hasn't really been given enough time either, and Flavio is beyond a con-artist.
Even drivers who change teams need more time. Sainz is kind of different here, as he has driven pretty much everything (TR powered by Ferrari, Renault powered, Mercedes powered with McLaren, Ferrari, and now back to Mercedes with Williams). He does look like he has progressed quicker than others
anyway , ramble over .
I read that Flavio is Doohans manager which makes thing even more mental
Ridiculous carry on. So Colapinto has an axe over his head, the same as Doohan. Flavio likes to rule by fear apparently. Despite it never being proven a good motivator.
Set up for failure. If they want to sell the team they're going about it exactly the wrong way.
5 races initially for Colapinto. What a shambles Alpine are showing themselves to be right now...
It was fairly clear from Drive to Survive that Flavio is the top dog. He got to call Doohan in and tell him he is getting the seat for 2025. He was featured more than the team principle. He calls the shots. So how can you be someone's boss while also working under them? It was always the plan.
Confirmation
Supposedly theres been leaks in France that Colapinto's promotion is for 6 races after which point he may be switched with Doohan again if he hasn't done enough to secure more races.
Dropping the Renault PU was a clear sign they wanted fully rid of it.
I wonder it Oakes wanted to improve the team whereas you could see Flavio's role being to sell the team. Renault are clearly lacking interest...
Give Flavio or Colapinto the season? Oakes seemed like a decent chap and fair play if he resigned on principal over Doohan getting dropped. Alpine are a **** show of a team, their own worst enemy.
It's a clown show. Flavio in charge.... hard to know. He is no fool but he is probably beyond a proper hands on management role.
Where Flavio goes, chaos will soon follow. I hope they give him the season
I always found it odd that such a level headed team principal could work under Briatore. Looks like the old guard are back at the top now. Much like Red bull it will become a cut throat team from here on out.
My soft spot for Alpine is hardening as we speak!
What a **** show of a team. They need better owners at Enstone.
Jesus, Alpine provide more excitement off the track than on it.
Flavio at the top now.
Wasn't he banned for life?
Just looked it up, You can't be banned for life under French law.
Another Alpine team principle gone I see :(
And for Alpine to cash in on the South American market
Seems like Alpine think Colapinto is the next big thing and a better long term prospect. They are trying to make amends for losing Piastri. Doohan was only a stop gap.
I think Doohan is going to become Alpine's reserve driver literally just swapping with Colapinto, not being fired/sacked.
I thought Colapinto might get a free practice session. If swapped and underperforming then Alpine has to pay off Doohan for what exactly?
Have to feel for Doohan, Alpine really are ruthless when it comes to a lot of this, especially with Flavio being there again.
When the announced Doohan they hadn't yet signed Colapinto who was being bandied about as possibly joining the RedBull/RacingBulls family.
When none of that happened and Colapinto was still free Alpine then snapped him up. If they hadn't already put Doohan in the seat Colapinto would have got it straight away at that point. Hes been lurking in Doohans shadow the moment he signed the Alpine contract.
By all accounts it looks like we just have to get the official announcement from Alpine. Doohan was up against from the start but it's probably the correct decision
Without the rain the sprint would have been fairly meh, and in the race we got good racing in the opening laps. After that, the entertaining part was the Ferrari radio chatter.
