2016-17 Silly Season. Drivers Market

[Il_leone]

F1Brits_90 That is interesting to see because what if Vandoorne starts outpacing Wehrlein and then how much influence Mercedes will start to impose on Manor if they see their development driver being thrashed by the Mclaren development driver

 

[Il_leone]

With talk of a Jenson Button return to Williams in 2017 still rife in the paddock, the team's technical director Pat Symonds has admitted "there's still quite a lot of affection" for the McLaren driver.

It looks like Button could be without a team at the end of the season with Stoffel Vandoorne primed to step up for the Woking team.

And Symonds said: “I think Jenson’s a great driver and of course he started his career at Williams so there’s quite a lot of affection for him.

"As a person I regard him as someone I've been friendly with for many years. He drove for us at Benetton when I was there.

"He’s a great driver and he’s still showing to be very strong. I hope he’s in Formula 1 next year, whether that be with Williams or elsewhere."

 

[Il_leone]

I find this interesting given VJ says he is under contract but Sergio seems to state it does not mean anything as he has powerful backers to buy out the contract and look for better opportunities


Sergio Perez insists he would be able to leave Force India at the end of the season if he wanted to, despite Vijay Mallya's insistence the Mexican is signed up for 2017. Nonetheless, the Mexican hopes his F1 future can be resolved over the summer break.

"It's up to me and the group of sponsors what to do. The decision is not only down to me," Perez said.

"I'm a very lucky to have such support and if we're moving around teams we take the decision together. That decision has not been taken.

"I hope I can come back after the summer break knowing what the future holds for me. But you never know in this business. My deals are not so simple, I have a lot of sponsors who have to do deals, so it takes longer than if I was just a driver going into another team or doing a deal with Force India."

 

[Il_leone]

Renault F1 reserve Ocon sure he is ready for race opportunity

This is against what history says about DTm drivers into F1 and interestingly that would put him against Wehrlein the other Mercedes backed driver ... a shoot out for 2018/2019 Mercedes?

 

[Dartman]

I don't see the sense in replacing Massa with Button unless it's to do with development, the rules are new, the Williams engineers are experienced and a young quick driver would be cheaper, However if Williams have done a deal on the quiet with Honda/McLaren then it makes perfect sense, they are up against three teams with their own engines ( Red Bull being a semi works team engine wise, they have enough money to call the shots)

 

[Il_leone]

Massa has had another poor race and really the combination of Massa and Bottas aint bringing any fresh impetus to the Williams team

Next season if it does not work out for Bottas he will want to move surely

Button showed today he is still a class act and outraced Alonso as well opportunistic overtook Bottas just to remind Williams. The fact he is an ex world champion is something that does add marketing value for Williams with its sponsors

If he was racing away with GP2 I would vouch for Alex Lynn to be in F1 next season ..at the moment he's been a bit inconsistent.. if Williams want to play it safe like they always do in picking journeyman drivers then they have Paul Di Resta already as their development driver

I just don't see Massa staying at Williams nor do I see Nasr replacing him to please the Brazilian sponsors given he's had an awful season and really has not done that much better than Ericsson who is nothing special

Williams have shareholders to appease so a few years of underperformance they need something to keep them happy and judging by the way they've been talking about Button. They need to back this up with car development

 

[Dartman]

I don't disagree with your thoughts ll_leone Button is still quick and there is nothing between him and Alonso as to a better bet, if you want a car bought home undamaged guaranteed one place back for a finish or a 50/50 chance of a place then Button is the way to go. At the present Alonso is ahead on points by one lucky race where attrition was high and Button had mechanical failure. Certainly Alonso hasn't shown any of this legendary superior all round driver, in fact he really hasn't shown it for some years except for some lightning starts with Ferrari that gave him grid position. The old adage " to win you need to finish" makes Button the preferred driver

 

[Il_leone]

that is why I am astounded Raikkonen is still in f1 surely if Button was in the other car he would do a lot better job and not just this season alone

 

[Spinodontosaurus]

^Button is probably in the Top 6-7 best currently active drivers, so he would do a better job than most of the grid not just Raikkonen. It isn't as if Vettel is blowing Raikkonen away this year either.

At the present Alonso is ahead on points by one lucky race where attrition was high and Button had mechanical failure.

This is untrue. Alonso has scored points at only 5 races over his 1.5 seasons at McLaren, at 3 of them Button also finished in the points. That leaves one race where Button was taken out on Lap 1 (and Alonso finished just 10th) and the other where Button was the single non-finisher.
Alonso is ahead on points due to his ability to drag big results out of the car that it shouldn't be achieving, which is what he has been doing for years now (remember how he almost won a race in the dreadful 2014 Ferrari?).

That said Button is once again demonstrating how bizarrely underrated he is by running Alonso very close; excluding races/qualifying where either suffered a mechanical failure Alonso leads the overall battle 15-9 in qualifying, 8-7 in races and 35-33 in points (although Alonso has suffered 10 mechanical DNFs vs. 8 for Button, and did not attended a further 2 races on top of that).

 

[gethinceri]

Great post Spinodontosaurus, I have liked it but have docked you the accompanying emoji due to your failure to call Jenson a "Lovely Boy".
#The Lovely Boy.

 

[RasputinLives]

The problem I think we all have on this thread when we talk about what driver line ups teams should have is that, as motor racing fans, we look at it from driver talent. The teams do not. Drivers do have to have a certain amount of talent but they also have to have great PR.

Sponsors know who Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa are. They've seen them in countless adverts and they have a mass following. If sponsors are going to put money in that's what they want. The guy doing the deal doesn't want to go back to their board of directors to say they've invested 50 million quid into something but it's OK because they can use Alex Lynn as the face of their product. They'd lose their jobs.

We only have 3 race winners who have made their debut this decade and only 2 of them have really broken into the Illuminati of top drivers. Ricciardo and Verstappen have the distinct advantage though of driving for a team which is it's own main sponsor, however the secret of their own success is actually the X Factor root. Just like in all those talent shows they have a back story. Ricciardo was the young Aussie who was following in the footsteps of Mark Webber in order to try and do what his 'mentor' could not by beating Vettel. Max Verstappen was the son of an F1 driver who is the youngest man to do everything ever. To be honest Verstappen is the Tony Blair of F1, I've never seen such a professional PR marketing push to get him in a top drive. Even from team Hamilton.

So the secret for the likes of Vandoorne, Rowland, Ocon and Co to getting a good drive is to be in the media, maybe with a sob story. Maybe lose a finger or something or have a relative that dies. I am joking but it is going that way.

Meanwhile the F1 Illuminati will make hay whilst the sun shines. They aren't invincible. Webber went a few years ago and Massa may go now but the rest will be around fora while yet.

Sorry. Rant. Prob needed it's own topic.

 

[gethinceri]

Nice post, I don't agree with it all though.
A new thread might be in order, as you say, perhaps a resumé of each driver's previous 2 seasons to their first F1 drive, the management structure behind them and then the sponsorship they brought combined with the endorsements they provided in first 2 seasons.
I don't recall any of the current drivers' sponsors from their first year.

 

[RasputinLives]

To paraphrase Bobby Brown; that is your prerogative good sir

(Bobby Brown prob would have not said the good sir bit. He'd prob have stopped after prerogative and slapped Whitney in the face)

 

[RasputinLives]

I don't recall any of the current drivers' sponsors from their first year.

It was a different time then when F1 was not as bloated and when it was widely watched. However Jenson came in on the back of the whole youngest driver ra ra with industry contacts. Lewis with the whole youngster from working class background and was feature it tons of adverts racing Alonso tp lifts and things. Kimi was Milka's apprentice and Alonso had Flav. Plus all the big names had gone because careers were much shorter then.

 

[gethinceri]

Kimi was Milka's apprentice

Mmmmm, chocolate.

 

[Il_leone]

Whilst the silly season has died down a lot the next best seats appear to be Williams and Renault.

Now at Renault despite being near the back might have two seats available and expectation is they will eventually get up to the front and there is a lot of young drivers that could form part of its future and be a top contender

With Williams they appear to be more or less driven by what Mclaren will do with their drivers

It is not inconceivable that Bottas may not have a drive next season which would be a spectacular fall given he was close to being a Ferrari driver

What is the odds on Alonso retiring at the end of the season because this seems to have gone a lot quiet now than the constant rumours last season every race

 

[Il_leone]

Well a day after I post Williams come out and pretty much have said take it or leave it Jenson judging by this article and pretty muc

Williams: We won’t wait around for Jenson Button

Incidentally Williams mention they would not risk an unknown driver (like Lynn) just as RasputinLives said so it appears they are looking for proven quality drivers

Kommentti: Bottaksella jopa varaa valita – pöydällä toinenkin tarjous

Apparently Bottas has an offer from Renault as his way out of WIlliams . For him probably the right move because another season adds no value to his career and losing to Button if he is his teammate would be the end of his f1 career in a top team

 

[RasputinLives]

The Bottas to Renault is an interesting one. Certainly you would suggest Renault might ditch both their drivers at the end of the year (frankly I'm dissapointed in KMag) and would want at least one experienced driver in the team. For Bottas it might be a long term smart move as you would think Renault would move past Williams in the next few years. He's been at Williams since he was a kid though so I think he'll stay in the end.

 

[FB]

Is Bottas really that good? I've been underwhelmed by his performances over the last couple of years, accepting that the Williams wasn't/isn't a great car.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Bottas is managing to convince me he is a solid midfielder and not a world champion. That said any solid midfielder can be world champion if given the best car. I put him in the same bracket as Hulkenberg & Perez as quality drivers you would like in your team. Maybe not if you have a top team, then there are better choices.