2022 Silly season

thats fasinating FB. id didnt see Schumacher on departure list. he's isnt pulling up trees like Russell or Leclerc was but i thought that he having a alright season since monaco. abit like zhou's season

i wonder how that might affect things then. Zhou to Haas. if alfa do promote pourchaire that had an eye for couple of years
Sargent American driver for the American team
take the money of Drugovich who looking like the F2 champion elect. Drugovich a rarity a 2nd tier champion & 1st since leimer in 2013 not affiliated with anyone on the grid
 
Zhou to Haas no due to politics US vs China complications
Schumacher to Alfa maybe but they want Pouchaire eventually
Drugovich maybe FE as not sure what he will bring to Haas
 
I've been reading around the interweb a little bit, and little nuggets seem to be slipping out about what went on with the Alpine debacle. Much of this may be fantasy, but it goes something like this.

  • July - Alonso was secretly negotiating with Aston Martin, whilst telling Alpine that he had every intention of re-signing with them for 2023 (This would be in line with his actions in 2006, when he signed for McLaren for the following season)
    • At the same time, Vettel was discussing with Aston Martin about extending his deal, however...
    • Just before the Hungarian weekend, Aston Martin decided to sign with Alonso, and sacked Vettel. Vettel was given the chance to save face by announcing his retirement from the sport. This was to then act as a precursor to Alonso's signing (which was still secret outside of the team)
  • Piastri had signed a contract with Alpine, but there were some key dates whereby a race drive for 2023 had to be guaranteed. This date was 31st July. As the 31st July had been and gone, Piastri was under no obligation to race for Alpine in 2023, and could sign with McLaren
    • Alpine had been working under the assumption that Alonso, having told them that he was going to re-sign for them for 2023, would re-sign with them for 2023
    • Alpine thus gave Piastri the opportunity to meet with other teams.
  • Alonso's announcement on 1st August caught Alpine by surprise - they didn't even know that he was negotiating with Aston
    • Alpine panickedly tried to take advantage of the clause in Piastri's contract to promote him to the race team, but the deadline had already passed
    • Piastri had signed a pre-contract with McLaren to join them for 2023
 
I think where Alonso is concerned you immediately announce you are negotiating with him then every one knows where they are, if it's secret then a minimum of one party will get screwed probably more due to the chain effect, it's not illegal but not very nice, and I doubt really if anything changes if it was announced earlier, I'm sure every one involved knew privately their position, far too much game playing to just to massage ego's
 
I think where Alonso is concerned you immediately announce you are negotiating with him then every one knows where they are, if it's secret then a minimum of one party will get screwed probably more due to the chain effect, it's not illegal but not very nice, and I doubt really if anything changes if it was announced earlier, I'm sure every one involved knew privately their position, far too much game playing to just to massage ego's
Where Alonso is concerned, I'd not be surprised if everything is clouded in secrecy - he has form for this - in 2006, he shocked Renault (and the F1 world by announcing he was moving to McLaren for 2007). He has form for keeping things secret. Even if Alpine knew he was negotiating with Aston Martin, you can bet that Alonso had convinced them that it was just to allow him to negotiate with the corporate Renault board.

Personally, I wouldn't touch Alonso with a 90 foot pole if I was an F1 team boss. He sows too much discord, and disharmony, and has a press office that makes out that any positives are down to him, and any negatives are the team's fault.
 
Although it will be interesting to see how he gets on with Stroll senior
Well given Laurence wants to prove he is a successful businessman then he needs to accept telling Lance that Fernando is the better driver if his son is getting his ass whooped

Does anyone think Toto may have influenced or approved the signing then?

Think of it now Vettel started his f1 career 6 years later than Alonso that is nearly 100 races..I wonder if the same pattern is going to follow Verstappen in having too much success early in his career and burning out

I was thinking Alpine are in a real mess you have Alonso who stuck two fingers to you so do they dare to drop him now but Piastri might be driving now knowing he could be off to Mclaren?

If Alpine were ruthless they should drop Alonso and get Ricciardo into their team if the situation around Piastri was true asap. Ricciardo might get his revenge on Mclaren by helping Alpine get 4th in the constructors
 
Mick under pressure - https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/1226...jqOEynS8FfQlL9fpnWkmDZBsQLMerT-ld5plFOA_dKIOQ

I'm not sure he has done enough to justify keeping a seat. He was better than Mazepin, but I suspect Roscoe Hamilton probably would have done a better job than him. Maybe Williams will throw him a lifeline, but he will need to bring some cash

Maybe to be fair Schumacher was a vanity project by someone at Ferrari to exploit the marketing opportunities. Austria is a go kart track if he wants to show his skill then turn up at Spa and prove it . Assessment being harsh not really given Haas is a better car than last year and KMag has been out of F1 for 1 year
 
stranger things have happened in f1

Alpine were ruthless they should drop Alonso and get Ricciardo into their team if the situation around Piastri was true asap. Ricciardo might get his revenge on Mclaren by helping Alpine get 4th in the constructors
 
The Artist..... make sense as we thought Riccardo was a goner, as there was too smoke for there not to be a fire. piastri should be a real talent if i remember correctly i think its Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Leclerc & Russell are the only other 4 drivers to do win 2nd & 3rd tiers in consecutive years. so if he follows that trend he should be rather special
 
i was thinking this couldve been the year for alpha tauri to let gasly go. as let him go to alpine. to let another driver maybe Liam Lawson into the program & giving tsunoda a stay of execution

but at the moment i can only see jack Doohan in that seat. who looks a talent & deserves more points than he has in F2
 
i was thinking this couldve been the year for alpha tauri to let gasly go. as let him go to alpine. to let another driver maybe Liam Lawson into the program & giving tsunoda a stay of execution

but at the moment i can only see jack Doohan in that seat. who looks a talent & deserves more points than he has in F2
Tsunoda has not done much either he finished behind Latifi last race !
 

Looks like Ricciardo is out of Mclaren I said his future will be sorted by Monza.

I had not considered in this Piastri saga that if the CRB rule in favour of Alpine to make Piastri drove for them. Ricciardo is dead man walking at Mclaren they can still replace hi. with possibly Herta or Ward
 
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i was thinking this couldve been the year for alpha tauri to let gasly go. as let him go to alpine. to let another driver maybe Liam Lawson into the program & giving tsunoda a stay of execution

but at the moment i can only see jack Doohan in that seat. who looks a talent & deserves more points than he has in F2
Apparently Gasly has a clause to be released if a team above Alpha Tauri wants him so Alpine could fit the bill
 
Latest silly season rumour is that Alpine want Vettel to “un-retire”, and become Ocon‘a team-mate in 2023…

given how much he respects Nigel Mansell, this wouldn’t be a ridiculous call though!
 
I'd very much doubt Vettel would unretire given he wants to spend time with his family

But apparently the CRB have recognised that Piastri has a binding contract for 2023.....with


Mclaren

Also it was supposedly reserve driver but it seems clear now its race driver

Ricciardo is on his way out of Mclaren and will be paid off but it could be he does not drive for another team at all if he wants to be compensated


He is not interested in Indycar or Formula E and had been spoken to by 4 teams ..Williams, Alpine, Haas and Alfa you'd think


On a different note Schumacher apparently has left the Ferrari driver academy which weakens his position at Haas no doubt
 

Hmmm


Just confirm what I've seen on YouTube about this saga
 
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