2020 Silly Season

Ok that literally made my eyebrows go up. I'm kind of pleased because Ticktum deserved to be banned for life a few years back anyway but also stunned as Red Bull have invested so much time in him. Sending him out to do Honda's Super Formula as well. Crazy.

Guess we know why Pato O'Ward has suddenly been chucked into the F2 mix then!,
 
There must be more to this than meets the eye. That, or Red Bull driver management is even more bizarre than I ever thought possible.
 
If the Ticktum news is true (and I have no reason to question it's not) then a few drivers are smelling blood in the water. Vips, the Estonian Red Bull junior, absolutely bossed the F3 feature race today. I still think it's too early for him to be bumped up to F1 but it's no unheard of. Kvyat went straight from GP3 to F1 and he was third in line for that seat when the year began.

Speaking of F3, which has been great this year and seems to have far more talent in it than this year's F2 line up, I'd like to throw Ferrari junior Marcus Armstrong's name in the mix for the Alfa Romeo drive.
 
ticktum is correct they had horner on sky f1 on Friday & they said that because of his poor perfomances in super formula with 8th DNF 15th. they didn't believe he was good enough for the future so got rid of him & his super forumula seat. which is ironic considering what gasly currently do. that they keep 1 but got rid of another
 
Helmut Marko has apparently decided that Gasly performances aren't good enough and he's got until the summer break to sort himself out or else according to what I just read. If he does go, which Toro Rosso driver will get the nod though and who will replace them?
 
well that puts a end to potential rumours of performance clause for Verstappen, with a race win. mayve just guaranteed bottas 2020 seat & does Verstappen victory help gasly getting lapped by his teammate go quietly under the radar
 
I was wondering about this page

Mercedes - Hamilton for sure. I think the way Bottas has dropped in the last few races means the seat is probably up for grabs again. Verstappen apparently due to his clauses was a consideration until his win yesterday. An outside shot for Ocon which will depend on how far Bottas drops off. Vettel might be sniffing for a seat if things keep going badly at Ferrari

Ferrari - Le Clerc for sure, Vettel is under pressure so it depends how things are by the summer because Ferrari do not have any options unless they would consider buying out Ricciardo from Renault or take a punt on Hulkenberg. Hamilton and Verstappen would be very expensive. Giovinazzi has not done enough to be promoted.
I don;t think Grosjean has done enough and not sure if K Mag has many fans to push his seat

Red Bull - Verstappen plus either Gasly/Albon or Kyvat

Gasly drove another poor race and he is basically in Formula 1.5 at the moment in relation to the top 5 and the rest. Kyvat - Tost has said Red Bull are not afraid to let Kyvat have another go for 2020 if that is the case. Albon- the guy is seriously fast - no doubt and just needs polishing . If he can keep this up he will get promoted

It looks like the rumours around Hulkenberg has died down now

Toro Rosso - Ticktum has been sacked which means its a lottery for any one to get at least 1 seat see above. Its not inconceivable Gasly will be dropped back to here

Haas - The team is in no man's land and I don't see the point with sticking with both drivers especially Grosjean. Both drivers going nowhere with their careers if they stay with the team. Perhaps Perez might replace one of the drivers

Racing Point - Stroll is a useless qualifier but Daddy will never sack him . So Perez will have to make way for probably a Merc junior which looks like Russell all the way with the engine influence

Mclaren - Norris and Sainz - Don;t see Alonso coming back given the two are bring MClaren back to the front. In Norris Mclaren have a potential world champion no doubt. De Vries is unlikely to get a seat in the team and is now an Audi sport driver. Nor will Camarra will get a seat

Renault - Ricciardo and Ocon. Hulkenberg is out of contract and Vasseur have said the team are looking at other options which probably means Ocon. Ricciardo has a contract for another season.

Unlikely that Jack Aitken will get a seat

Williams - Kubica will be dropped no doubt , Russell might be asked to do one more season alongisde Mazepin or Latifi
 
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Il_leone Hubert is a Renault junior and has a super licence so might be an option if Renault want to go home grown and French. He was great in GP3 and is coming to the front in what is not the best car in GP2. Never been a massive supporter but he has been growing on me.
 
What about Gasly to Renault because he is French. I don't think Vergne or Buemi would come back to F1 if they were offered a Renault seat?

Oliver Rowland too said he did not want to be in F1 to make up numbers so if Renault came calling for him would he turn his back as well?
 
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Apparently Verstappen might have conned himself out of potentially going to Merc by winning the race on Sunday due to meeting one of the two performance clauses

Also it is not inconceivable that Red Bull would re-sign Sainz from Mclaren to replace Gasly- the partnership they wanted to avoid :whistle:which meat Ocon could go to Mclaren apparently
 
Sainz has looked pretty average at McLaren so far from what I can tell. So if the call did come for him I'd say he's a lucky boy.
 
I thought sainz is actually doing quite well after a terrible season at Renault. regaining his form & repuation back at toro rosso Verstappen when he was potentially the only 1 who could compete with him

Ocon I really don't know where he would fit in 2020, because I just don't see a space next yr at suitable cars & as someone said at the start of the season. Russell is seriously impressing, beating Kubica maybe his injuries are affecting his pace but russell constantly going beyond that austria 3 tenths, france 1/2 sec, Canada 7 tenths, Monaco 3 tenths, Spain 1.2 secs & I think could jump the queue for 2020

& without incurring the wrath of RasputinLives as something in back of my mind says he said this before. could matsushita take the 2nd seat at toro rosso if gasly is bombed out completely. he is honda & with only o'ward in red bull academy feasible.
 
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See I was going to say Lando Norris is doing way better than Sainz right now, when a rookie comes in and is beating you I always think that's not good for any drivers career.

The I had a look at my results so far for this season and Sainz isn't doing as badly as I thought actually. Maybe it's my perception because a lot has been made of how well Norris is doing and I've not heard much about Sainz. My bad. Forget I spoke :whistle::embarrassed:
 
Sainz versus Norris (through Austria):

Qualifying: 3-6
Race Results: 3-1
Points: 30-22

The career killer is Norris' qualifying: Last three races 5 vs 19, 5 vs 6, 8 vs 11. That kind of makes a statement.

I fear that Sainz is one of those drivers that is very good, but not really quite good enough. Sort of like Vergne (or even Hulkenberg, who beat him soundly when they were teammates). I strongly suspect that the McLaren line-up for 2020 will be the same. They cannot be unhappy with Sainz, but they have got to be really pleased with the decision to hire Norris. Come 2021....with the car improving and budget cap in place (which only affects Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull)...they might want bring in a first tier driver to partner with Norris.
 
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