The F1 thread

Fretwired

Bottas to replace Raikkonen? I don't see it myself - if Raikkonen retires (as is rumoured) wouldn't Alfa take a young Ferrari Academy driver?

https://bit.ly/2UBpXfa

stickyfiddle

Yeah, I saw that rumour but don’t see how it helps anyone. Too slow a team for Valtero and far more likely Ferrari would put Mick in an Alfa seat if one becomes available. Unless Gio is also out then I can see they’d want a proven winner alongside their young upcoming guy

Cols

Fretwired said:

Bottas to replace Raikkonen? I don't see it myself - if Raikkonen retires (as is rumoured) wouldn't Alfa take a young Ferrari Academy driver?

https://bit.ly/2UBpXfa

IIRC, the agreement as part of the Alfa Romeo sponsorship is that the second seat (currently Giovinazzi) is at the disposal of Ferrari.  The second seat is dictated by the team.

I have a vague memory that Kimi took a stake in Sauber as part of his transfer from Ferrari, so it could be that he has some clout in driver selection and would like to see the seat go to a fellow Finn.  Aside from that, I believe the majority owners are a Scandinavian investment firm (which explains why Ericsson had such a long stint there).

Fretwired

Cols said:

Fretwired said:

Bottas to replace Raikkonen? I don't see it myself - if Raikkonen retires (as is rumoured) wouldn't Alfa take a young Ferrari Academy driver?

https://bit.ly/2UBpXfa

IIRC, the agreement as part of the Alfa Romeo sponsorship is that the second seat (currently Giovinazzi) is at the disposal of Ferrari.  The second seat is dictated by the team.

I have a vague memory that Kimi took a stake in Sauber as part of his transfer from Ferrari, so it could be that he has some clout in driver selection and would like to see the seat go to a fellow Finn.  Aside from that, I believe the majority owners are a Scandinavian investment firm (which explains why Ericsson had such a long stint there).

Interesting. I didn't know that!

poopot

chillidoggy

Bottas and Kimi at the post-race interview. That'll be riveting.

boogieman

chillidoggy said:

Bottas and Kimi at the post-race interview. That'll be riveting.

Meeyah. 

For sure

Mwah, meeyah

Yeah, absolutely. For sure 

dazzajl

I think that Alfa would be a good fit for Valtteri but I'd rather see him star in another series than fizzle out further in F1.

stickyfiddle

dazzajl said:

I think that Alfa would be a good fit for Valtteri but I'd rather see him star in another series than fizzle out further in F1.

Totally agree. He’d be great in WEC or GT racing. I’d bet he’d do really well in Indy too.

I don’t dislike the guy but I’d rather see those sorts of seats going to upcoming drivers - Callum Illot is probably better than Mick and Tsunoda so I’d really like to see him given a shot next year 

Fretwired

Hamilton seriously damaged his car which is why he went backwards in Austria. Stay away from the sausage kerbs ..

https://www.gpfans.com/en/f1-news/67189/mercedes-reveal-hamilton-damage-time-loss/?fbclid=IwAR2WgQZjcJ2r2f6TpqIamGeFlmVHiKRwzP7F7YsQm_1Be6yzpHhpHacUqx0

chillidoggy

What do we think of Mick? He’s not exactly setting the world on fire, is he?

Fretwired

chillidoggy said:

What do we think of Mick? He’s not exactly setting the world on fire, is he?

Looks like Kimi is going to announce his retirement - let's see if Mick replaces him at Alfa.

stickyfiddle

chillidoggy said:

What do we think of Mick? He’s not exactly setting the world on fire, is he?

He’s good, but probably not great. It’s impossible to tell in that dog of a car, but in F2 he was more Ralf than Michael. 

Against weaker competition he would do well, but with the next decade set to be a mix of Max, Lando, Leclerc, Sainz and Russell he’s not going to get a look-in, realistically 

thumpingrug

chillidoggy said:

What do we think of Mick? He’s not exactly setting the world on fire, is he?

He's not his dad.  Frankly I see that as a positive.  

Would be nice to see if he could mix it with the bigger boys in a half decent car.

skunkwerx

Edited… thought Silverstone was tomorrow(later today) lol

Cols

chillidoggy said:

What do we think of Mick? He’s not exactly setting the world on fire, is he?

Difficult to gauge.

He’s in a car which hasn’t been developed since last year beyond the bare minimum to make it compliant with 2021 regs, and which won’t get any updates this year.  Points or qualifying higher than the last row of the grid would require an enormous amount of good fortune.

He’s consistently outqualified and outraced Mazepin, which isn’t exactly an impressive feat.  Realistically, he needs to be put up against a more challenging teammate to see what he’s made of.

Emiel

[…]

He’s consistently outqualified and outraced Mazepin, which isn’t exactly an impressive feat.  Realistically, he needs to be put up against a more challenging teammate to see what he’s made of.

Sounds just like Russell… 

Cols

Russell had the highly rated Kubica as teammate in his debut season.

stickyfiddle

Emiel said:

[…]

He’s consistently outqualified and outraced Mazepin, which isn’t exactly an impressive feat.  Realistically, he needs to be put up against a more challenging teammate to see what he’s made of.

Sounds just like Russell… 

True, but Russell has a couple of extra points in his favour: 1) he smashed Lando and Albon and Latifi in F2 in 2018 having done similar in GP3 the year before, and 2) he smashed Bottas in Bahrain last year (granted not in the results but not his fault) in a car he'd never driven wearing boots a size too small. 

He jumped in and immediately got up to speed in a way that Ricciardo, Alonso and Sainz have all struggled to do this year. Granted the 2020 Merc is clearly an easier car to drive than theirs, but that's serious talent.

PC_Dave

Apparently Lando was mugged after the football at Wembley and had his watch stolen!