Things ... 2015 - 2016 Silly Season. The Drivers Market.

Lewis didn't do so bad against Alonso in his rookie year.

I think Magnussen deserves another chance I just don't think he is champion material. 55 points to 126 is a sound beating.
 
Il_leone said:
I think the Manor drive looks very promising now and whoever comes up with the biggest sponsors will get it probably

There is potential rumours that Verstappen could replace Kyvat at Red Bull
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Yes & I hope manor can keep stevens for a 2nd yr almost as a thank you for patience this yr but im expecting josh king in some capacity probably all fp1 sessions next season & "test" & reserve driver next season

Also I hope not because that would be so harsh on kyvat as hes done well when he had his few opportunities like Hungary & Singapore. Also verstappen needs time to develop I believe a 2nd yr at toro rosso would help even more, no pressure can keep doing his great overtakes where a 7th is great at STR & if he crashes 1 in 10 no harm
 
Greenlantern101 said:
Lewis didn't do so bad against Alonso in his rookie year.

I think Magnussen deserves another chance I just don't think he is champion material. 55 points to 126 is a sound beating.
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Different times ain't it?

Lewis probably got the best preparation any driver had coming in f1. Wasn't it like 300 hours in the
mclaren simulator? edit: Ron Dennis say Lewis had completed 1,000 hours in the McLaren race simulator before the start of the season.

Than also Mclaren had the best car of the field with a different points system. So apples and oranges.
 
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I would certainly disagree that the McLaren was the best car in 2007 given how well Massa and Raikkonen performed relative to Alonso, but I do agree that Magnussen deserves another shot based on talent alone.

But not Will Stevens. His junior career was dreadful and he hasn't done anything to suggest he is any better in F1 either.
 
Will Stevens done nothing apart from 4th 138 ahead of his teammate in the infamous 2013 fr3.5 yr when you had magnussen vandoorne & then (or might still be) Rb young driver de costa outqualified & always upto 1/2 sec in qualifying up on merhi
 
Bushi I don't want to turn this into a Hamilton vs Magnussen thread but I am sure Magnussen had more than enough time in the Sim. He was appointed In November 2013 giving him 5 months and 3 winter tests to get used to the car in the sim and on track. I am sure that equates to around the same hours Lewis put in and makes that fact rather irrelevant. I was also compairing team mates, Alonso vs Lewis and Kmag Vs Jenson. The performance of the Mclaren in 2007 vs 2014 is irrelevant.

Anyway like I said I think Kmag deserves another chance. He did win formula 3.5 after all in a 2013, beating Von Doom in the process.
 
He was in the mighty DAMS car though and had a full year of 3.5 behind him whilst Vandoorne was stepping up from the tiddly little Eurocup cars.

I'm not saying KMag wouldn't be a great addition to the F1 field but if there is one seat left then I'd go with Vandoorne any day of the week.
 
K-Mag must be wondering if he did a year in Indy at least that would have helped him because he's been an unfortunate victim of Mclaren's situation which is hurting his career

Anyone know if Oliver Rowland is under anyone's books as he is dominating 3.5 at the moment

Now Wehrlien its difficult to gage just how competitive DTM which he is leading. Apparently the last round there was a lot of race fixing where drivers representing the same marque moved over without racing to allow the lead driver to maximise when it was promised that they will all race hard
 
The performance of the car is not irrelevant Greenlantern101. If the Merc car was a few tents slower, than the gap between Hamilton and Rosberg would be bigger. And also the fact that Alonso came from running on Michelin tyres and switched teams probably had an impact. Don't get me wrong here, I don't think Magnussen has the potential of Lewis.

But if I had to choose I go with Vandoorne, even if Magnussen has a year of experience . Like I said before, if he isn't on the grid next season, I don't think i would be bothered to watch another season.
 
How things quickly change because up until last season Magnussen was talked about as having even greater potential than Hamilton judging his success and development at junior level

In one season where Van Doorne has managed to obliterate the opposition in GP2, he's suddenly talked up and Magnussen has nothing to argue his case because he's been on the fence
 
that is why I think Magnussen has been very fortunate this year that his momentum into F1 has been blocked and he has not got any opportunities to showcase his abilities be it in Indycar, World Endurance , DTM or even Formula E such was the stupidity in Mclaren delaying last year's driver line up


K Mag needs to seriously decide whether he leave the Mclaren set up possibly for good
 
I don't think I ever heard anyone say KMag had a greater potential than Lewis Hamilton outside of internet forums.

Bushi said:
If the Merc car was a few tents slower,
Click to expand

I think measuring the speed of cars in camping equipment is the way forward. 'The Mclaren is a whole caravan park and 2 sleeping bags slower than where they want to be'

Sorry Bushi I don't usually pick up on typos but that one made me laugh.
 
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F1Brits_90 said:
Will Stevens done nothing apart from 4th 138 ahead of his teammate in the infamous 2013 fr3.5 yr when you had magnussen vandoorne & then (or might still be) Rb young driver de costa outqualified & always upto 1/2 sec in qualifying up on merhi
Click to expand
That Formula Renault season is the only mildly impressive thing Stevens has to his name. By F1 standards his junior career was not good. We are talking Max Chilton levels of mediocrity, who also achieved a 4th place in GP2, which is a roughly equivalent category to FR 3.5.

Beating Merhi isn't worth much either. For one, the Manor chassis is overweight which is a significant handicap for the heavier driver - Merhi.
But how much did Stevens beat him by? Well he held a 7-3 advantage in qualifying, with a mean gap of 0.324 seconds and a median of 0.215, while in races he held a 4-3 advantage. Considering the point above about the weight, and considering that Merhi himself had a similarly poor junior career to Stevens, those results are nothing special.
 
Merhi is European F3 Champion and pushed Carlos Sainz for the 3.5 title last year. He may have finished behind Gasly on points in the end but that was due to his do or die stuff in the last round. Merhi's junior career and pedigree is massively superior to Stevens hence why he has been a little bit of a disappointment to me this year.
 
Will Stevens has done 3 seasons of GP2 and with a best of 4th considering he was racing against 3 drivers backed by established F1 teams and racing in the top teams in that category that was quite impressive and showed he was capable of racing with the best but probably not as consinstently
 
I may have been harsh comparing Merhi's career to Stevens', but I maintain the comparison to Chilton or maybe Maldonado is fairly accurate. Sticking around in a category for ages until a driver finally finds some success isn't very impressive. Maldonado won the GP2 title that way, and it is also how Merhi won the F3 Euro series.
 

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