2016-17 Silly Season. Drivers Market

[Il_leone]

After last year's disappointment in the silly season where Ferrari decided that Kimi was worth keeping on his overpaid wages

This season is probably going to be more intriguing given

Mercedes - Rosberg's contract is up at the end of the season whilst Toto appears to say that he would like to extend his contract.

There are plenty of promising drivers queueing up for the drive - Bottas, Ricciardo and Werhlein


Ferrari - after last year's bottling surely they aint going to keep on Kimi given the pool of younger drivers to choose from and its B team Haas

Renault - interestingly both drivers are only on 12 months contracts whilst the legendary name is aiming to revive its fortunes with Team Enstone once again


Williams - both drivers are out of contract and Toto is not going to have an influence seeing his sold his shares in the team. Bottas will looking to move if the team are not capable front runners whilst the evergreen Massa thinks he can go on

No doubt Nasr and Lynn will have one eye on securing one of the seats


Mclaren - after the debacle of last year where at one point they could have both drivers quitting the team ( just don't trust anything Daniel Johnson quotes). Button is no doubt going to face the speculation again at 36 years old being the most experienced driver with Van Doorn itching to for a drive in 2017

With Alonso - its anyone's guess if he has more days getting the deckchair out on Saturday afternoon


Red Bull /Toro Rosso- after threatening to quit they have 4 promising drivers which is creating a log jam BUT that does not mean Helmut will not ruthlessly dispense any one of them for poor performance

The general consensus is Verstappen will get promoted but at who's expense? Ricciardo has a contract until 2018 and is apparently too expensive to buy out and his reputation suffered a little whilst Kyvat has a contract but to what extent?

Force India having had their best season will no doubt find it difficult to keep their current two drivers

Sauber - Does anyone really want to drive for them seeing they are constantly fighting not to go bust?

Manor - Mercedes B Team - nuff said

 

[Slyboogy]

Red Bull /Toro Rosso- after threatening to quit they have 4 promising drivers which is creating a log jam BUT that does not mean Helmut will not ruthlessly dispense any one of them for poor performance

This is always the one that gets me, their drivers are recently from 2010 have usually been good enough but the Toro Rosso drivers get the drop.

Kvyat has done well against Ricciardo despite struggling at the start of the season. Sainz has been a match for Verstappen but has had more misfortunes that haven't been his fault.

I think Kvyat and Sainz will end up getting the drop and Verstappen getting promoted if it's the same as last season but with Ricciardo finishing ahead on points ahead of Kvyat.

 

[Il_leone]

Algarsuari did not do that badly in 2011 or 2012 but he got ruthlessly dropped

 

[Il_leone]

F1 Report: 'Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen under pressure in 2016'

 

[Bill Boddy]

They have a TV show that they need to promote, fact has little to do with that.

 

[Il_leone]

probably but this year's silly season should be more interesting than last year's . I'd go forward and say it will be more exciting than the driver's championship itself

 

[Il_leone]

Well it seems like Monaco the silly season has started to kick off for 2017

The key to the driver's market will be determined by both Raikkonen and Rosberg but a few other interesting developments along the way

Rosberg - Has denied that he will join Ferrari and wants to extend his stay at Mercedes which Lauda says it will be signed within the next month. Apparently one of the people negotiating for him is Gerhard Berger who was a savvy contract negotiator in his day and it seems the disagreement is over the length of the contract

Raikkonen - His position is somewhat more secure now that Verstappen is committed to Red Bull and Bottas not really making any impressions but still under threat from the likes of Grosjean, Sainz , Button and Ricciardo

Button - It seems like noises are being made that Vandoorne needs to be promoted to Mclaren next season to stop other teams snapping him up. Jenson could consider possible long shots at either Ferrari or Mercedes but it appears Williams seems to be a likely destination

Massa - Apart from pleasing the team's Brazilian sponsors Felipe is on borrowed time due to his age and has admitted this could be his last season in F1 due to the rumours about Button and possibly Lynn replacing him

Perez - his stock would have risen due his podium at Monaco and the fact that he is Mexican is a plus for teams with Mexican sponsors

 

[Titch]

Williams need a fire cracker to join the team, not a steady Eddie. IMO

 

[Il_leone]

Williams have shareholders and need a big name driver . They can't afford any of the top driver wages and Button can deliver the results and is a world champion who still has a good reputation so it makes sense to have him

 

[Il_leone]

i should add

Sainz - It appears now that Max Verstappen has moved to Red Bull , he is allowed to develop at Toro Rosso without the team's resources being spent on the infighting between the two . He's certainly now delivering the results

Carlos had made noises he's ready to move up to the big team but could Ferrari consider him seeing he was very close to Verstappen's pace and would probably be able to handle the situation between without creating a scene

Vandoorne - it seems like Mclaren have started a hands off he's our man to other teams so he seems almost certain to be on the grid next season at Mclaren and one of their current drivers will go

Alonso - he will be glad to see Mclaren Honda are making improvements and getting there but still a lot of work to do for 2017 to mount a challenge.

Would he be interested if Rosberg's contract talk stalls and the seat is available at Mercedes?

 

[Olivier]

As I said before If Ferrari finally lets Raikkonen go, Riccardo would be their first option and they would be willing to pay off the contract penalty. But if Vettel has some sort of veto, maybe the red team can convince Rosberg to leave Mercedes and join the Scuderia. Sainz would be RedBull first option to replace Riccardo if the former happens and Wehrlein would replace Rosberg in Mercedes if it is the latter.

 

[Dartman]

Perhaps RB want Vettel back, Ricciardo chased him away, and there is a a love in with Horner, perhaps a swap now the Renault engine is better than the Ferrari package RB are not endearing themselves to Ricciardo, ( did Max crash before or after the disastrous pit stop?)

 

[gethinceri]

Jean Todt & Carlos Sainz very big pals, so Carlos Jnr to Ferrari is a very real possibility in my eyes.

 

[Greenlantern101]

I think kimi is doing much better this year. I can see them offering him another year.

 

[Il_leone]

Greenlantern101 Doing better than last year yes but Ferrari are going backwards this year with him as one of the drivers

 

[Bill Boddy]

Il_leone Ferrari are going backwards with Vettel as one of the drivers. And he is not happy.

 

[Il_leone]

Bill Boddy I agree it seems like every race he's moaning about something. At this rate Seb will probably be sacked at the end of year

But Raikkonen is not improving enough either to move them forward

I bet Alonso is laughing because he knows what's going on at Ferrari

 

[Spinodontosaurus]

I can't possibly see how you can blame Ferrari's terrible season so far on Raikkonen, that's just plain ridiculous. He has 1 bad race and suddenly the 5 previous races where he was much closer to Vettel than last season are completely forgotten. He's never been good in wet weather.

 

[Olivier]

Raikkonen is having a decent season but this highlights even more Vettel's struggles. The Finn is there because it's Seb's choice but Vettel and Ferrari's honeymoon ended long time ago and the Italians are now well know for their patience. They probably want to bring someone to challenge Vettel to produce results ...

I bet Alonso is laughing because he knows what's going on at Ferrari

You're probably right

 

[RasputinLives]

At this rate Seb will probably be sacked at the end of year

Only in your fondest of dreams.

Kimi has come good again this year....at contract time. Odd that.

Massa is suddenly beating Bottas too.....also at contract time.

Hmmm.