2014 / 2015 Silly Season. Drivers Market.

teabagyokel said:
Yes. But he shouldn't be in a position where he's left to chance the possibility of being behind those two.
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We are getting somewhere. We have already found the cause of problem, the teams strategies. This means he is being brought into the position were he is behind those two. The Williams has not always been the second fastest car nor the third fastest, otherwise I would have much higher expectations towards Massa. The way it has been, means the margins to the other cars on track have been small and errors in strategies leave the driver affected in a bad position.

Williams are trying to play it smart but looking as silly as Ferrari back in the day by doing so.
 
I never said he is better than Bottas and I previously stated Bottas is affected too, that should also be clear from last sentence in my last previous post as I named the team and not just Massas strategy.

Massa is not as bad as you trying to make out. He won't be fighting for podiums as often as Bottas with a better strategy but certainly more often than he has been.

Personally, I would in fact rather have Button in the Williams than Massa before I am accused of being biased but as I said I don't believe Massa is worse than Button.
 
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Martin Brundle is today pushing the idea that Alonso is hoping for a Merc drive in 2016 and will only commit to a 1 year contract which he has been told by Ron that Mclaren Honda are NOT interested in which could leave Fernando having a sabatical for a year waiting for Lewis and Nico to vacate the seat.

Seems odd but Brundle is usually more in the know than most. He was having dinner with Christian Horner on Friday when Vettel told him he was leaving for instance.

On a lesser note I'm a bit gutted that Red Bull have not taken a chance on JEV in the A team as I think he's just as good as Danny Ric. Kvyat is good but I think he could do with another year in the midfield pack with less pressure first.

As for the Toro Rosso drive you have to put Sainz as the favourite but they have to be taking a close look at Alex Lynn too who has been just as good in their young driver programme. Another curve ball is Stofel Vandorne as he was offered the Toro Rosso seat last year but turned it down to stay with Mclaren.
 
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RasputinLives Both EJ and MB know more about what's happening in the paddock then some people seem to rubbish them for . EJ most of the time seems to get it spot on about his predictions on driver market - Schumacher coming back, Hulkenberg to Force India , etc

I think it is just bad timing for JEV that the driver market has suddenly come alive and he has missed the boat which is a great shame. It seems like Red Bull want to promote drivers under 21 to Toro Rosso and by 24 years old they've got to be ready for Red Bull

Carlos Sainz Jnr should win WSR 3.5 in his home race - his record on podium finishes is all wins barring an almighty cock-up he should seal it

Alex Lynn off course that would be great for British interest that another British is on the grid and should be better than Max Wilson if they want to think about the next British world champion post Hamilton. He's leading GP3 through consistency over his rivals

Vandorne - things have gone quiet about his future F1 prospects with Mclaren and I don't see how they want a rookie in their first year with Honda. It would be a slap in the face of the other Red Bull junior drivers if it happened.


So I think Carlos Sainz Jnr should get the STR seat
 
RasputinLives Alonso doing a "Prost" he has less bargaining power given the way he has left Ferrari and Red Bull quickly cut off any chances by promoting Kyvat

Niki Lauda has already said No and really I dont think Mercedes want him unless one of their drivers is German which means Hamilton has to go and might actually find himself quite nicely welcomed back to Mclaren-Honda

Given last time Mclaren gave him a 3 year contract and he left after 1 year acrimonously and this time they want a driver committed with Honda for 3 years at least . Ron has every right to say No to his demands

Going sabbatical - the only that works is he signed a pre-existing contract with either team for 2016 to do that. I am surprised Williams has not been mentioned given his past relationship with Pat Symonds and he will get a Merc engine bolted to the back of the car
 
Today's race highlights two things about the Mclaren drivers

1) K Mag is one of the fastest drivers over 1 lap but still needs to improve his race craft... not sure if he had a problem but he was way off the pace and decided to race with the front runners and nearly took out Button which would have probably angered a lot of Mclaren people and get Honda worried


2) Button - may not be as fast but give him conditions like today his class shows and he is able to overcome the car deficiencies and still be a good team leader to any team
 
For McLaren to dismiss Button would be a huge mistake in my view, he has double the points haul of Kmag and he had double the points haul of Perez in totally shit cars, so how people can say he needs a good car to perform is beyond my intellect...
 
If Alonso winds up on a "one year sabbatical", I think his F1 career may well be over. Drivers are inevitably rusty after a year off, and his age will be an even larger issue than it is now. I believe that Rosberg is contracted beyond 2015, and I would think Hamilton will be as well, so his going to Mercedes seems unlikely to me.

The prospect of third cars on teams might be his best chance for a "come-back".
 
According to Niki Lauda in La Republicca Alonso signed a contract tying him to McLaren until 2019 last thursday.
I don't know whether I should post a link or not because it sounds a bit, well, tabloid-ish to me. Does anybody have any idea whether La Republicca is a half-decent publication?
 
A couple of foreign-speaking media have now picked up on that story but nothing in the english-speaking press yet... not sure whether to believe it or not. If there were any sort of validity to it the motor racing press would have been on the case like a fox on a chicken.
 
The italian press do often get the very early Ferrari stories correct. They outed Alonso leaving weeks ago. Maybe Alonsos manager takes back handers.
 
We don't even know who his manager is anymore?... Some publications quote Briatore as his managers and others say it's that spanish watisnameagain? bloke...
 
I have to admit I was surprised when I saw he'd picked 14 rather than 6/10 as his number, but I suppose it did say they had to be greater than 2.

Did it say they had to be integers though?
 

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