2014 / 2015 Silly Season. Drivers Market.

[Greenlantern101]

Batman I think if Alonso can't get Merc or Mclaren he will go to Porsche WEC.

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Well Grosjean's all but confirmed at Lotus so the seats are diminishing. Is Perez confirmed too?

 

[FB]

Is Perez confirmed too?

As a good, Catholic boy I'm sure he is.

I'll get me coat...

 

[Mephistopheles]

Perez doesn't drive for Lotus

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

It's been a long day... Of course, the other guy is already confirmed

 

[Mephistopheles]

Confirmed by spondoolies not talent...

 

[P1]

Only barely more likely than if you replace the word Lotus with Caterham or Marussia in your post.

The difference is that Lotus is his former team (former Renault) and with mercedes power they won't be a back marker team. But it seems no space. He should go to McLaren. I doubt a Mercedes drive will open up - HAM won't leave and pairing HAM with ALO may be worse than the team infighting with ROS.

 

[RasputinLives]

So who do we think will have the caterham drives?

Oh.

Never mind.

 

[sushifiesta]

Batman I also think it's unlikely that he'll get a Mercedes seat in either 2015 or 2016, but Lotus would be a huge step down and offer virtually no chance of an improvement over Ferrari. Many of their key people have already abandoned ship and finances are tight so there's not much scope for the chassis to improve a lot. The Mercedes engine will help make them a bit more competitive, although it's more likely that the difference between engines will be less next year and I doubt Alonso wants to accept a season like what McLaren or Force India have had this year.

Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren are the only teams who can have realistic aspirations to win a championship any time soon. McLaren's his only option out of those for 2015 (and I personally think it's more than likely that they would be his only option in 2016 as well unless Hamilton decides to move elsewhere), so for me he either takes the risk with them or he's out of F1 for 2015 and possibly for good, which would be a great shame.

 

[Mephistopheles]

So what looks like the demise of two teams does this mean some teams will be fielding three cars next year and how does this affect the drivers market, will Alonso be driving the third merc next year and does this throw Jenson a life line for his F1 career.

Also if some teams field three cars and other don't due to cost how does this affect the points system WCC wise as the teams with three cars would have an advantage..

 

[cider_and_toast]

I think it would throw the WCC points all over the shop.

The only way to solve it would be to score the best two cars of each team for the WCC alone. That of course could lead to all sorts of problems with how the third car is used to support the lead two cars.

For it to work it has to be all with three or not at all.

To that end, the only real solution is customer cars.

 

[Il_leone]

the problem with 3rd cars has been the principal about them acting as mobile chicanes for their teammates

I would like 3rd cars to be fielded by rookies / inexperienced drivers - less than 3 seasons of f1 or less than 50 race starts that way would help develop young drivers and stop big teams simply fielding all the top drivers and dominating

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

There's aspects of the 3-car teams I find quite intriguing and would be curious to see how it works. The 'mobile chicane' problem is a very real one though, and particularly if rookie drivers are allowed a drive! (though that's a great idea too). The reduction in actual teams and variety that gives troubles me deeply though.

 

[Jen]

If F1 was to become a 3 car team event, shouldn't the information be public by now?

 

[teabagyokel]

I suspect it can/will only happen when reduced to 8 teams.

 

[RasputinLives]

Bernie says the 'three car' clause in the contract is not what its being suggested. Apparently if the grid dips below 18 runners the other teams are obliged to give one of the teams struggling financially one of their cars for them to runs as their own. Cue Sauber getting their own Merc to play with. Sounds silly doesn't it?

Anyways I don't think we'll end up with a full grid of 3 car teams next year just some 2 car teams and four 3 car teams (Red Bull, Ferrari, Merc, Mclaren) which even with the 9 teams (Sauber will survive) will take us up to a 22 car grid. Maybe even 24 if Red Bull run 3 Toro Rosso cars.

I think Carterham are doomed but I'm holding out hope that if Marussia can last until the end of the year in administration the cash boost from finishing 9th will take them out of it and they might survive.

Anyways drivers wise I'm going for:

Merc: Ham, Alo, Ros
Red Bull: Ric, Kyv, Max V
Ferrari: Vet, Rai, Gro
Mclaren: But, Mag, Vandoorne
Williams: Bott, Mas
Force I: Hul, Juncadella
Enstone: JEV, Mal
Torro R: Sainz, Lynn (Gasly if its 3)
Sau: Sirotkin, Gutt.

EDIT: Changed my mind Gutt will be out and Perez will be in. That way they can keep the mexican sponsorship and get a better driver.

 

[sushifiesta]

How long would Force India, Lotus and Sauber survive if their TV coverage (proportionally compared to the others) is reduced and it's made much more difficult for them to score points? Not very long I reckon and that's why I think 3 car teams would be really bad news.

 

[Titch]

F1 cannot go down the three car route. We will the be left with only the big boys. What sort of fun is that. Corporate racing. An extension of paint balling.

 

[FB]

Teams have run three cars in the past and it's been quite interesting - Ferrari, McLaren & Alfa Romeo are three who spring to mind instantly and if McLaren hadn't run 3 cars on occasions we wouldn't have seen Gilles Villeneuve quite as soon as we did in F1.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Didn't Ferrari run 3 cars in 76 after Lauda returned from his accident? What happened with the constructor points then?