The F1 thread

Cols

Minardi probably has as much inside knowledge as any of us, but I reckon he might have something.  Daimler is trying to cut costs left and right, and an expensive F1 operation doesn’t fit well with that global vision.

That said, Daimler don’t actually have to contribute much to the team budget; about $40-50 million, which probably just covers Hamilton’s salary.  The rest comes from prize money and sponsorship.  When the budget cap comes in it should be self-sustaining; maybe even profitable.

The real money goes on engine development, which Merc can’t easily extricate themselves from on account of supplying 40% of the grid. 

Fretwired

Cols said:

Minardi probably has as much inside knowledge as any of us, but I reckon he might have something.  Daimler is trying to cut costs left and right, and an expensive F1 operation doesn’t fit well with that global vision.

That said, Daimler don’t actually have to contribute much to the team budget; about $40-50 million, which probably just covers Hamilton’s salary.  The rest comes from prize money and sponsorship.  When the budget cap comes in it should be self-sustaining; maybe even profitable.

The real money goes on engine development, which Merc can’t easily extricate themselves from on account of supplying 40% of the grid. 

But Mercedes and co have no income at the moment - Daimler Benz will have to bail them out this year. Then there's the post COVID-19 economic landscape - as the boss at Daimler has said, electric cars are the future. Governments will look to kickstart their economies and green initiatives are seen as a way to boost demand. The move to electric cars will accelerate. F1 is exciting, but old fossil fuel tech.

Could explain why Bottas is looking for an exit and Ham is down in the dumps - he said today that he'd given up training. Looked pretty depressed to me.

Majorscale

Fretwired said:

 Ham is down in the dumps - he said today that he'd given up training. Looked pretty depressed to me.

Source?

Fretwired

Majorscale said:

Fretwired said:

 Ham is down in the dumps - he said today that he'd given up training. Looked pretty depressed to me.

Source?

Twitter.

Fretwired

Sorry it's the Sun but this is broadly what was in the Tweet video. The video link in the article is a different one - the photo in the article is from the vid I saw - doesn't look happy. He has said in the past he suffers from mental health issues.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/11701472/lewis-hamilton-formula-one-coronavirus-lockdown/

prowla

Fretwired said:

Sorry it's the Sun but this is broadly what was in the Tweet video. The video link in the article is a different one - the photo in the article is from the vid I saw - doesn't look happy. He has said in the past he suffers from mental health issues.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/11701472/lewis-hamilton-formula-one-coronavirus-lockdown/

It seems like pretty normal introspection to me, as opposed to something drastic.

sinbaadi

Haven't we all had a bit of existential mind-wandering during all of this madness?  There's nothing like a bit of time doing nothing to make you think about what you are actually doing when not doing nothing.

Fretwired

sinbaadi said:

Haven't we all had a bit of existential mind-wandering during all of this madness?  There's nothing like a bit of time doing nothing to make you think about what you are actually doing when not doing nothing.

Good point ... however he does struggle with mental health issues. He went through the I want quit thing in 2019.

He's been training for an action film ... he wants a film career after F1 ... a bit short for James Bond but he could fill Tom Cruises shoes. I meant to add he's learning to fire guns.

fretmeister

Fretwired said:

sinbaadi said:

Haven't we all had a bit of existential mind-wandering during all of this madness?  There's nothing like a bit of time doing nothing to make you think about what you are actually doing when not doing nothing.

Good point ... however he does struggle with mental health issues. He went through the I want quit thing in 2019.

He's been training for an action film ... he wants a film career after F1 ... a bit short for James Bond but he could fill Tom Cruises shoes. I meant to add he's learning to fire guns.

Learning to fire guns while having mental health issues does not seem sensible to me.

Fretwired

fretmeister said:

Fretwired said:

sinbaadi said:

Haven't we all had a bit of existential mind-wandering during all of this madness?  There's nothing like a bit of time doing nothing to make you think about what you are actually doing when not doing nothing.

Good point ... however he does struggle with mental health issues. He went through the I want quit thing in 2019.

He's been training for an action film ... he wants a film career after F1 ... a bit short for James Bond but he could fill Tom Cruises shoes. I meant to add he's learning to fire guns.

Learning to fire guns while having mental health issues does not seem sensible to me.

Can't disagree ....

Ricciardo to race at Bathurst 100?

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/motor-racing/formula1/daniel-ricciardo-mclaren-bathurst-1000-f1-news-a9532406.html

fretmeister

https://www.planetf1.com/news/toto-olff-wants-valtteri-bottas-to-move/

Apparently Toto wants Bottas to go to Renault.

It's a bit too much of "read between the lines" to me, but might be true nonetheless.

Fretwired

fretmeister said:

https://www.planetf1.com/news/toto-olff-wants-valtteri-bottas-to-move/

Apparently Toto wants Bottas to go to Renault.

It's a bit too much of "read between the lines" to me, but might be true nonetheless.

Vettel to Mercedes then? That would be entertaining ...

stickyfiddle

fretmeister said:

https://www.planetf1.com/news/toto-olff-wants-valtteri-bottas-to-move/

Apparently Toto wants Bottas to go to Renault.

It's a bit too much of "read between the lines" to me, but might be true nonetheless.

Or he wants Russell to get at least a year alongside Hamilton rather than end up with Russell and either Bottas or “someone else” when Hamilton retires

Fretwired

stickyfiddle said:

fretmeister said:

https://www.planetf1.com/news/toto-olff-wants-valtteri-bottas-to-move/

Apparently Toto wants Bottas to go to Renault.

It's a bit too much of "read between the lines" to me, but might be true nonetheless.

Or he wants Russell to get at least a year alongside Hamilton rather than end up with Russell and either Bottas or “someone else” when Hamilton retires

Or he wants Bottas to leave before Daimler pull the plug on the team and become an engine only supplier.

Cols

Fretwired said:

stickyfiddle said:

fretmeister said:

https://www.planetf1.com/news/toto-olff-wants-valtteri-bottas-to-move/

Apparently Toto wants Bottas to go to Renault.

It's a bit too much of "read between the lines" to me, but might be true nonetheless.

Or he wants Russell to get at least a year alongside Hamilton rather than end up with Russell and either Bottas or “someone else” when Hamilton retires

Or he wants Bottas to leave before Daimler pull the plug on the team and become an engine only supplier.

Which would leave Racing Point/Aston Martin in a bit of a pickle, seeing they’re buying as much of their car as possible from Merc as off-the-shelf parts.

Fretwired

Cols said:

Which would leave Racing Point/Aston Martin in a bit of a pickle, seeing they’re buying as much of their car as possible from Merc as off-the-shelf parts.

Not really - Daimler would probably sell the team and the regs going forward won't be changing too much due to the budget cap. The new owner could still supply parts.

It could be a good thing for F1 as it could attract some new blood. Long term the manufacturers, with the exception of Ferrari, will be focused on electric vehicles. Independent teams won't care about the fact F1 uses combustion engines.

Fretwired

Wow ... breaking .. Toto Wolff gone from Mercedes .... to be confirmed but I never saw that coming.

https://www.essentiallysports.com/f1-news-toto-wolff-stepping-down-as-team-principal-of-mercedes-f1-reports/

Could explain Hams downbeat interview on Twitter and Bottas talking to Renault.

prowla

Fretwired said:

Wow ... breaking .. Toto Wolff gone from Mercedes .... to be confirmed but I never saw that coming.

https://www.essentiallysports.com/f1-news-toto-wolff-stepping-down-as-team-principal-of-mercedes-f1-reports/

Could explain Hams downbeat interview on Twitter and Bottas talking to Renault.

I think there must've been internal rumblings, because Hamilton previously said he considered Wolff to be an essential part of the team.

There had been talk of Wolff taking on some F1 role, hadn't there?

stickyfiddle

I’ll believe it when I see a press release from Toto and/or Merc. 

But it wouldn’t surprise me if Daimler want Vettel more than they want Wolff, and someone like Stroll would use that as an opportunity to get a big offer in

Cols

Just a thought - if Daimler pull out of F1 as a constructor, does Stroll have enough money to buy the team and run it alongside Racing Point in a similar fashion to Red Bull/Toro Rosso?