2016-17 Silly Season. Drivers Market

Well Ferrari want to expand into the American market which is how they wooed the Mexican sponsors

So seeing Mexico now has a top F1 driver it makes sense for Ferrari to hire him plus he is not going to ruffle Vettel's feathers too aggressively
 
So both Prost and Salo call for Ferrari to stick with Raikkonen

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Slightly misleading statement and headlines methinks. If you read the articles neither are doing anything of the sort. They're merely being factual..
 
well hardly a surprise :whistle:seeing the bosses are desperate for a German world champion in a German car

Was it ever in doubt apart from money and longevity of the contract
 
I don't get this 'bosses are desperate for a German champ in a German car' thing. If they were that desperate they wouldn't give the prospective German champ the current best driver in the world to beat to fulfil their wishes.
 
Speaking as a Aussie (home town of Perth) with pure Italian heritage (so no BIAS cough cough there) AFAIC this is awesome good news :D

Autosport said:

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo says he knows he is on Ferrari's list of potential replacements for Kimi Raikkonen if the team decides not to renew the Finn's Formula 1 deal.
Ferrari is still considering whether to keep Raikkonen for a fourth season or find an alternative team-mate for Sebastian Vettel.
Ricciardo, who has a deal with Red Bull for next season, is one of the names that has been linked with the seat.
"It's like last year, I understand if they were to make a change I'm a driver on their list," Ricciardo told Autosport.
"Am I the only driver on that list? Probably not. Am I their top pick? I don't know.
"They haven't made anything clear to me.
Ferrari must drop Raikkonen if it's serious
"There haven't been any calls saying 'we 're going to get rid of Kimi, we want you, can you do it with your contract?' this or that.
"I'm aware they'd be interested, I don't blame them!
"But other than what's been said in the media there's been nothing else, honestly."
If he were to join Vettel Ferrari, it would reignite their partnership of 2014, when Ricciardo overshadowed the then defending champion at Red Bull.
On the potential of Ricciardo joining Ferrari, Vettel recently said: "I don't mind him, I like him, he's a strong guy."
When asked for his view by Autosport, Ricciardo said he would not be afraid of partnering Vettel again - but would want a car that could fight for the title.
"Yeah of course, I wouldn't turn it down," he said.
"But the only reason I would jump ship and go up against him again would be to fight for a world title.
"Otherwise, if it's just to have a [different] team-mate, I would rather try against a Lewis [Hamilton] or Fernando [Alonso] or something different."
Ricciardo admitted that he was a bit cautious before first teaming up with Vettel, given the difficulties his countryman Mark Webber faced alongside the German.
"With his relationship with Mark before I got there, I was...cautious, with my approach with him as a team-mate," said Ricciardo.
"But he was solid and we actually got on well and obviously the season went better for me than it did for him.
"He never really made excuses and if I beat him he shook my hand like a man and said "good race", so he was a good team-mate.
"He is quick and I would expect if we were to be team-mates again one day I'm sure he would put up a fight and it would be a good rivalry.
"It's like a fighter, if they lose a fight they want to clean their record and get that guy again.
"So I can see his curiosity to maybe have another crack at it."
 
cider_and_toast You do realise Mercedes dropped they could easily have signed the reigning world champion Button back for 2010 but instead decided they wanted to a German world champion and Dieter Zitsche admitted they were thinking about Schumacher when they bought out Branw

When that did not work they had to replace him with someone of similar calibur and reputation and that was Hamilton and just look at who Mercedes have lined up to be promoted in their team - Wehrlein who they have been talking about with glowing reference

I don't think Bottas will get promoted to the Mercedes team despite his association with Toto unless they've exhausted all other options

Whilst its one thing they are winning with Hamilton ...ultimately they would like to see a German world champion in their car. It was the same with BMW and Toyota (although the latter were clueless in their decision making in signing Schumacher but the wrong one !)
 
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