2021 Silly Season

Once the Japanese had him in custody there were no cheques, I suspect that the organisation was headless apart from the infighting between Renault and Nissan as to who actually runs the joint companies
 
Ruslan Until the scandal Ghosn was very much revered and respected for turning the fortunes and Renault and Nissan around under the alliance partnership within the car industry. He was the man who ultimately decides if Renault should be in F1 by out Genii Capital and running Team Enstone again and pass Formula E duties to Nissan. He seemed to have upsetted a few people within Nissan who were no doubt wanting to oust him and get Nissan back to the Japanese way of doing things
 
Last edited:
There are other suggestions that Ferrari have lined up 3 replacements for Vettel

Ricciardo
Sainz
Giovinazzi

Now seeing Ferrari have made Le Clerc their future it would be hard for Vettel to justify his salary which is near $40m or so

Anyone joining Ferrari would not be commanding Vettel's salary unless you happen to be the world champion
 
Il_leone i remember hearing on 1 of these lockdown skype interviews, that featured will buxton. he said that he fancied Sainz to Ferrari a couple of weeks ago. it does make sense & is the big favourite out of them. because giovinazzi is good for alfa but not further. Riccardo i think boat mayve past him.

but sainz is still young, great potential with plenty of experience with 102 races & 2019 B race world champion,
 
I think going for Sainz is a very bold but it is also a statement about Ferrari's intentions to launch a full assault on the drivers title with the best drivers available

Going with Giovinazzi - the safest option though highly rated I feel he has to thrash Kimi to put in his case. I feel like he's being promoted so they can accomodate Schumacher somewhat. I think he may need another season at Alfa

Ricciardo - I would love to see him in a Ferrari and be the bold racer we've missed which would endear him to the Tifosi . I would make sure his agent is ringing up Ferrari constantly now
 
All the above is all well and good but I count the number of times in the last 35 years Ferrari had two even matched drivers free to go for the drivers title on one hand - and none of those resulted in them winning any drivers titles. The team has always worked best when it has one show pony and one worker horse. Unless LeClerc suddenly drops off (if we ever go racing again) then the show horse is him.

I've never heard anyone praise Giovanazi's set up and development skills but if Ferrari think he has them then I would suggest they'll pick him to work like a Barrichello Irvine role. They don't care if his career has not been glittering. Let's remember Massa was rubbish at Sauber and they still promoted him.

If Giovanazi doesn't fit the bill then I think they are more likely to lure Sainz than Riccardo (Dan has pinned his flag to Renault) but I think it will result in Carlos having a fair few years of Mansell style 'he's treated like a number 2 but we don't admit it in public' frustration.
 
i agree thats a great point RasputinLives & that ferrari dont do equal status they had to be almost railroaded into making the correct & common sense decision into replacing kimqi as much i love him

but younger generation are very different to that because the drivers might go in as number 2 but they fight to get into a position of number 1. look at Verstappen joined as the number 2 as future to more senior Riccardio. got that equal rights within a yr. then look at Leclerc was publicly put in the Irvine & Barrichello role & within 5 months we are talking about a 4 time world champions retirement
 
Verstappen never went in as a number 2. Verstappen went in as the paid up show pony that was going to push the other show pony out the paddock. He was a show pony that had such a good PR machine the decision had already been made.

I appreciate every generation thinks it has a different attitude but I really don't see it. None of the teams winning races have had a an equal footing with their drivers. When they do start to become even or the team sudeenly start winning races there is trouble and one of them is soon on his way out. LeClerc/Vettel, Riccardo/Vertsapen, Hamilton/Rosberg being the examples.

I think we're kidding ourselves if we believe otherwise.
 
yes Verstappen wasn't brought in as the defacto number 2 & he obviously going to be future leader , but considering how young he was at 18 when we were all unsure if he should've had a 2nd learning yr at Toro rosso considering that he was at red bull . he wasn't supposed to challenge riccardio straight away in the way he did. it wasn't a show pony just over 2 years after he had raced in a car for the 1st time. he only finished 30pts behind Riccardio finishing on the podium 7 times 4th further 3 times. he did with very little experience what many drivers couldnt do that was impress

yeah maybe on that but then it was the drivers that in 2 maybe 3 cases. that decided they were going to leave Rosberg because he knew he could repeat it & leave on a high, Riccardio was disillusioned, felt he was getting equal footing & left, hasn't ruled out returning. but don't teams now have to take it because of the lack of race winning seats. but I do know that you cant be friends & challenge for the championship. im sure sainz & Norris releationship would fall apart if they had the Mercedes 2014 & 2016 season
 
Well anyone thought Vettel and Ferrari would announce their divorce before the season started. The Maranello must be ringing loudly today when it was announced

Going back to Ferrari No 1 and No 2 from mid 70's
Ferrari's policy has usually been the No 2 eventually will become the No 1 unless of course your name is Eddie Irvine

Lauda/ Regazzoni - Niki made it his team despite Clay finishing 2nd in 1974

Reutemann/ Lauda - a shameful episode forcing out Lauda for throwing away the 76 title

Villeneuve/Scheckter - maybe Gilles integrity and lack of ruthlessness was the reason they got on

Villeneuve/ Pironi - Didier took advantage of this and probably it led to Gilles' death when the Ferrari was the best car

Tambay/ Arnoux - there was only 9 pts between them in 1983 but Patrick was ruthlessly shown the door

Berger/ Alesi - there was no No1 and No2 whether this meant Ferrari were not making progress as much as is up to debate because Gerhard was a wily old fox and shrewd in managing politics at Maranello and Jean was too temperamental and lacked the discipline to get the team fully behind him

Schumacher years - Ferrari's most successful period - Irvine knew what he signed onto as No2 , Barrichello must have been drunk when he signed the paper and not realising Michael was benefitting from his set up abilities.

Massa/ Raikkonen -Both evenly matched in 2007 but Felipe turned out to be the better driver despite not highly regarded within Maranello due to his association with Todt

Alonso/ Raikkonen - Fernando saw it as invasion when Ferrari signed Kimi and was not hospitable to him returning to the team.

Vettel/ LeClerc - I will go back to the time in the press conference when Vettel had Ricciardo and Verstappen either side of him and he referenced Giovinazzi and LeClerc as talented drivers Ferrari had in their junior programme.

Backed up by Binotto insisting he was No 1 , LeClerc gave him a rude awakening from the first race and clearly showed he was more than a No 2 driver which unsettled him.

For me the the writing was on the wall at Sochi for his refusal to move over
 
For me the the writing was on the wall at Sochi for his refusal to move over

good point, on the other hand Vettel had a #1 contract with Ferrari and was faster on track than his team mate, letting pass Lelerc would have been demeaning and would have finished him as a driver. sochi is one of the reasons why I believe that Ferrari mismanaged their drivers (both IMHO capable of winning the WDC)
 
oh yes Il_leone the sochi incident. when the team had to "punish" & make sure that leclerc jumped him in the pits when he defied team orders (not 1st or multi 21st time) was always go leave Ferrari with trust issues

we will never know but vettel may never do a "beyond the grid" interview where we can go in depth. i wonder if Sochi was out of desperation, insecurity or some way were he trying to salvage his career. because we were just coming off the back of 4 consecutive poles for leclerc (the 1st time for ferrari in 18yrs) what shouldve been 3 consecutive victories. seeing leclerc becoming the darling of the tifosi, winning ferraris 1st Italian GP for 9yrs. & coming off a Singapore GP where people are saying that ferrari gave vettel the win out of sympathy
 
Monza where Leclerc won and Vettel drove like a learner and he would have been in for savage condemnation was probably too much for Seb to take

Then Singapore where Leclerc was screwed as well .. Vettel just could not face the fact that he would have been relegated to No 2 support driver had what should have been 4 in a row victories for Leclerc

Well the silly season has really kicked off with Sainz expected to go to Ferrari and Ricciardo at McLaren freeing up a seat at Renault for potentially Alonso has been suggested

I think Sainz will fit in well at Ferrari not to be a No2 but a competitive teammate to Leclerc and they will push each other hard

Someone suggested it would be funny if Carlos becomes world champion before Max given Red Bull have always preferred Max over him
 
McLaren Racing announced today that it has signed Daniel Ricciardo to a multi-year agreement to race for the team in the Formula One World Championship from 2021.

Ricciardo, 30, from Perth, Australia, will join Britain’s Lando Norris, 20, who will start his third season at McLaren in 2021. Carlos Sainz will leave the team at the end of the 2020 season after two years with McLaren.

Zak Brown, CEO, McLaren Racing, commented:

“Signing Daniel is another step forward in our long-term plan and will bring an exciting new dimension to the team, alongside Lando. This is good news for our team, partners and of course our fans.

“I also want to pay tribute to Carlos for the excellent job he has been doing for McLaren in helping our performance recovery plan. He is a real team player and we wish him well for his future beyond McLaren.”

Andreas Seidl, Team Principal, McLaren F1, commented:

“Daniel is a proven race-winner and his experience, commitment and energy will be a valuable addition to McLaren and our mission to return to the front of the field. With Daniel and Lando as teammates, I believe we have two racers who will continue to excite our fans and help the team grow.

“Carlos is a true professional, a pleasure to work with and we will continue to enjoy going racing with him this year. We all wish him good luck for the next stage in his career when he leaves McLaren.”
 
Screenshot_20200514-104016_Facebook.jpg
 
That's a brave move by Danny Ric. McLaren showed signs of heading in the right direction in 2019 but the big question will be if they can sustain that development.

Renault signing Vettel would be a huge coupe for them but incredibly unlikely.

I think RasputinLives may be right regarding Sebs next move.
 
Back
Top Bottom