2016-17 Silly Season. Drivers Market

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives

Its unthinkable but it just seems every race a radio rant from Vettel is expected now and he's being remembered for these then his race performances

and Ferrari do not treat drivers lightly who dare to speak out about their incompetencies and failings

-

Kimi coming good but still not good enough to get Ferrari forward - he did not do enough to win in Barcelona and I guess Ferrari are run by a bunch of muppets because someone ought to work out the amount of money Kimi has been paid by Ferrari and the return they've got out of him is less than Schumacher or Alonso


Massa beating Bottas or Bottas not as good as we think ? Massa is praying on the team's Brazilian sponsors to influence the decision but he did admit this could be his last season

- Williams have to drop one of the drivers because they aint going anywhere forward

 

[RasputinLives]

Vettel has not ranted on the radio about Ferrari though so your logic is extremely off.

 

[Bill Boddy]

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

How long ago was it that people were saying that Alonso had been pulling Ferrari down and that Vettel was making them great again?

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives He did in quali at Monaco saying the car aint working

You forget Ferrari don't always make the most logical decisions if great drivers like Prost and Alonso can get fired by Ferrari so why not Vettel?

I should say it can't stay this bad for Ferrari there must some improvement from Vettel where he will outclass Raikkonen in the races not just quali as well eventually otherwise his value will seriously plummet

 

[Il_leone]

Spinodontosaurus

You can blame Kimi because he is not close enough to Vettel's pace. He's only ahead because of duffed strategy calls and Vettel was punted out by Kyvat in Russia

For the amount of money he's paid he's been a big disappointment and lucky he's still driving for Ferrari. He's had 5 years at Ferrari in 2 spells. so its not like he does not know what happens at Ferrari to make them tick

Like I said he's not a man who can lead a team through crisis

He crashed at just about the slowest corner on the track and the only one -how embarrassing. He's never been good in the wet but it was comical he tried to defend and shove Grosjean

 

[Wombcat]

I don't remember Alonso getting fired by Ferrari. It was pretty much a mutual decision, it was probably more Alonso who made it than Ferrari.

 

[RasputinLives]

Il_leone as much as its a wet dream to see Vettel sacked saying the car ain't working is not actually a criticism of the team and in actual fact we've heard much worse criticism of teams on radio messages this weekend. It's not like he called them a bunch of idiots is it?

Has it occurred to you that maybe the car wasn't working and that's why he said it?

 

[The Pits]

I think this season Ferrari has created more issues than Vettel. And not sure he could do much about Russia. Raikkonen is doing better than last season, but I still don't think he is on the same level. Besides, Ferrari over the last few seasons have had a superstar and a b+ driver, and I don't see them changing that any time soon.

I think that the main change next season will be at Williams and McLaren. Jenson will make way for Vandoorne, move to Williams for a final year, and nurture a newcomer. Masa will retire, and Bottas will trust his luck to the driver merry go round, but possibly a I've to Haas would be on the cards.

The way i see it, Merc will be as they are, red bull promote from within, Ferrari don't really deal with rookies directly, McLaren already have a succession plan in place, FI I am neve sure about. Saucer and Manor are not really a team that a current driver would aspire to, and toro Rosso are in lockdown with red bull.

 

[cider_and_toast]

The trouble with Ferrari is that the so called "B driver" doesn't actually realise he has that status until about half way through a race, when their radio comes on.

 

[vintly]

If Grosjean can really shine at Haas this year, might he have a shot at taking Raikkonen's place at Ferrari?

I don't buy into the idea that Vettel may leave and don't see who else they might want.

 

[Spinodontosaurus]

You can blame Kimi because he is not close enough to Vettel's pace.

No you can't, because Ferrari's problems this season have not been due to Raikkonen's lack of pace. Their problem has been lack of pace in the car at certain tracks in addition to poor reliability and poor strategy decisions.


Even if Ferrari were to drop Raikkonen, who would replace him? Raikkonen himself has actually been much closer to Vettel this season, the qualifying deficit is only half what it was last year and the luck-corrected points tally sits at 93-67 in Vettel's favour, with Raikkonen having 72% of Vettel's points compared to just 54% last year. His improved performance combined with his enormously large global fanbase and close friendship with Vettel suggests to me he is probably going to retain his seat.

In fact I would probably rate Raikkonen this season behind Alonso, Ricciardo, Rosberg, Hamilton, Vettel, Button and presumably Verstappen, but that's it. I mean you could argue that being merely the 8th best driver of the season isn't anything to write home about for a former champion and you would be right, but non of those drivers are realistic options to replace him to begin with.

 

[NJB13]

Hi all

Kimi's in the twilight of his career, so fairly soon Ferrari will need to replace him.

Personally, being a Tifoso and an Aussie of Italian heritage from Perth I be really happy to see Dan get a drive at Ferrari

 

[teabagyokel]

We can be very sure that there are two shortlists for the two different seats.

 

[RasputinLives]

Welcome to the site NJB13 have a complimentary moustache

I think Danny Ric is in an odd situation in being a driver very much on form but already getting the impression his team are backing another horse. I Don't think moving to Ferrari will solve problems though. I think he needs to stay at Red Bull and beat Max hands down.

 

[Olivier]

For me, in order of likelihood, the answer of who's going to race for Ferrari next year along Vettel (we should have a poll)

Raikkonen to stay (boring but likely ...)
Rosberg to replace KM (specially if he can't beat Hamilton this year)
Bottas to replace KM (but he's been beaten by Massa whois on his way out of F1)
Pérez to replace KM (all of the sudden a hot commodity?)
Grosjean to replace KM (but Kimi got the better of him when they raced together, so ...)
Riccardo to replace KM (has a contract, he realizes Vettel is #1 at Ferrari, Vettel probably veto him and honestly RB is faster than Ferrari at the moment)
Verstappen to replace KM (RedBull won't release their young prince as easily and Ferrari may not be as interested, for now)
Riccardo and Vettel swap! what? (the WTF choice, not gonna happen but intriguing nonetheless)

 

[Dartman]

Why not just swap Ricciardo and Vettel solves all the problems and would make Christian and Marko happy

 

[Il_leone]

Spinodontosaurus If you are talking about poor strategy then Vettel actually suffered the worse of the strategy decisions

There are these drivers queueing to replace Kimi

Perez - he is a lot better now than back in 2013 and Ferrari are backed by Mexican sponsors so he has a good case to be
considered

Grosjean - he's driving for Haas who have Ferrari engineers who are studying him and no doubt would feedback to the main team he is a good. Again he is a better driver than he was partnering Kimi in 2012 and 2013.

Carlos Sainz - young and got high potential and well grounded unlike the volatile Max Verstappen. He's as good as Max Verstappen and the last few races without having to fight Verstappen in house constantly he's actually a lot better

Rosberg - denies he's interested in joining Ferrari but an offer would be too good to turn down unless matched by Mercedes

Ricciardo - the best driver after Hamilton at this moment and despite the contract situation. Anymore Red Bull screw ups would tip him to move

Button - Still proves he can hold his own and is much closer to Alonso than Raikkonen was as teammates

Alonso - no chance

Hamilton - that depends on his relations within the team with Rosberg to determine whether he stays or moves

there is no point being Vettel's lackey if the results that Ferrari want aint being delivered

I should add some of the drivers I've mentioned above would command a wage less than Kimi and do a much better job

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives

Just don't say the car is a dump truck or he needs a better car

Yes I understand Vettel might air his views that the car was not working but it was more the manner he said it

 

[gethinceri]

Olivier Kevin Magnessen?

 

[Olivier]

Wow, I must be in drugs gethinceri, of course it's KR. KM may be Ferrari material after a couple of years at Renault