The F1 thread

stickyfiddle

I just don't see what's in a move to AM for DannyRic. I don't think he wants to stay in F1 just to make up the numbers. If he's going backwards then what's the point?

euan

He is slowly progressing to the Kimi stage of life. 

I can see Zak getting him to take a run at the Indy 500

Brio

20 million a year is a bit tempting to stay…

stickyfiddle

Brio said:

20 million a year is a bit tempting to stay…

Will anyone offer him that after his last couple of seasons? 

He's a star in the US from DTS. I could see them swapping him and Pato O'Ward if they all want to save face...

Boromedic

He's defo got the right personality for Indy or NASCAR, I wish him all the best whatever happens and kind of hope he stays tbh. He's definitely a character and the sport is better for it. It's a shame the stars never aligned as he could've been a champion, he has the skills. 

Fretwired

stickyfiddle said:

I just don't see what's in a move to AM for DannyRic. I don't think he wants to stay in F1 just to make up the numbers. If he's going backwards then what's the point?

Agreed. There are some talented young drivers looking for an F1 seat. I can see a big clearout at some point with DannyRic, Vettel, Alonso and even Hamilton leaving F1 along with some of the underperformers like Schumacher and Latifi.

I'd love to see Norris replace Hamilton at Mercedes. He'd give Verstappen a hard time if he had a fast Mercedes - I think Norris is the better driver.

euan

Brawn, though, understands Hamilton is compromising his own races to gather data for Mercedes and find solutions for their problems, while Russell has then been free to follow a “more conventional path”.

“These first few races he’s been looking for the solutions and in doing so, he’s been ping-ponging around with different set-ups on the car, trying to reach the solutions,” said Brawn of Hamilton’s strategy.

“He’s probably sacrificing the races in a way to try to get the information and data the team can use to solve the problem.

“That’s the feedback I get from the team, while George is following a more conventional path…and Lewis is trying to set out to solve the problem.

“That’s why I think people saying George has outqualified and outraced him in the last few races can’t see the bigger picture.”

https://www.planetf1.com/news/ross-brawn-lewis-hamilton-staying-f1/

The thing with Ricciardo is that he has a load of outside interests from F1, I'd question how committed he has been to resolving the issues he has had with the McLaren.

Cols

euan said:

The thing with Ricciardo is that he has a load of outside interests from F1, I'd question how committed he has been to resolving the issues he has had with the McLaren.

Despite the fliptop smile and the sunny personality, Ricciardo is as ruthlessly ambitious as any driver out there.  I don't believe for one second that the issues remain for want of effort on his part.  He just doesn't have an answer, and time is running out.

Ultimately, it's a year and a half into the partnership - that should have been enough time to get used to handling peculiarities (understeer apparently, which Norris seems able to deal with more effectively).  If one driver is able to achieve results in the car, the team is naturally going to expect the other driver to adapt and match, rather than to modify the car development to suit the driver who's lagging.

Emiel

Ricciardo is a year and a half into his contract, but he still has a year and a half left. I'm actually surprised that he can't seem to get the car to his liking. The future doesn't look bright for him if he doesn't improve. He needs to step up or else he might end up losing his seat.

For business interest, F1 needs an American in a competitive car and later this year Indycar star Colton Herta is conducting a McLaren test. If that goes well, I wouldn't be surprised if Herta will join the team in 2024...

Cols

Emiel said:

Ricciardo is a year and a half into his contract, but he still has a year and a half left. I'm actually surprised that he can't seem to get the car to his liking. The future doesn't look bright for him if he doesn't improve. He needs to step up or else he might end up losing his seat.

For business interest, F1 needs an American in a competitive car and later this year Indycar star Colton Herta is conducting a McLaren test. If that goes well, I wouldn't be surprised if Herta will join the team in 2024...

That's true; details are sketchy, but apparently Ricciardo’s contract is either solid up to end of 2023, or for two years with an option in his favour for a one-year extension through to the end of the 2023 season.  So it would be tricky for McLaren to ease him out if he didn't want to go.

Having said that, there's certainly form here.  McLaren terminated Alonso's contract at the end of 2007, with 2 years left to run on it.

chillidoggy

I’d be surprised if there aren’t performance clauses in the contracts, which cut both ways. Which might involve stumping up some cash either way. I recall Button had to buy himself out of Williams to go to Honda?

I can see McLaren giving him the boot this year, he’s been shown up by Lando big time.

stickyfiddle

A contract can always be dissolved if both parties agree. I can't imagine DR is happy waddling about in 15th while his younger teammate is knocking on the top 6 most races. If he sees a better option I wouldn't be surprised if he took it. It's not like he needs more money

stickyfiddle

Horner whinging that some teams may run out of budget under the cap and miss up to 4 races?!?

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/teams-could-miss-races-budget-cap/10310359/

I can accept some equitable allowances being made for budget increases due to freight costs (I'd actually move those costs outside the cap and tell every team they get $Xmillion "free" for standard freight and if they want to bring more people and kit it's their cost).

But Horner is fairly clearly missing the point of the budget cap - you have to prioritise and it's the same for everyone. If you're over budget you can either skip a race, spend less on R&D, or lose some headcount (I'm sure a resurgent Haas and Williams would be keen to hoover up some good RB people). 

chillidoggy

Horner's probably only saying what others are thinking.

It's not a gradual rise that team budgets will have taken into account. Take a look around at the bigger picture, it's not just freight, it's everything, costs are spiraling skywards early in the season with no signs of easing.

Boromedic

Fuck Horner, he needs to balance the books so he doesn't spunk all his budget on upgrades, same as any business/household. A lot of the smaller teams are actually okay with it as they "have" to operate that way, and that's the point of the cap, equity. He knows he will lose out to Ferrari as he's already spent quite a bit getting RB on equal terms. 

stickyfiddle

Yeah, I can happily file other inflation concerns under "I don't care" (at least for F1 team budgets and cost caps, not the rest of the world, obvs). It's the same for everyone so they can suck it. It's important to remember they aren't running out of money, they're just running out of the specific pot they're allowed to spend on racing. He just needs to reallocate spending away from car development. Simple! 

Force India used to get podiums on a relative shoestring.

Cols

It's reasonable to expect the budget cap to be adjusted in line with inflation - all of the teams are paying more than they would have anticipated on energy, raw materials and, apparently, freight.

Or it could be kept at what it is.  The cap was brought in for a reason - there simply wasn't enough money to go round for everybody and make the sport sustainable.  And as we all know, the spiraling inflation doesn't mean there's more income for the teams.

The financial constraints are much like our own household situations writ large.  All of us have massively increased energy bills and fuel and food costs.  Many of us are having to adjust how we're spending in order to balance that particular kick in the teeth; perhaps no family holiday this year, or no nights out anymore.  Some of us are having to make a decision between buying food or heating the house.

The more fortunate ones with a comfortable financial cushion aren't really affected.  And this can be applied to F1.

Costs have gone up, but Horner can just go and ask Uncle Dietrich for an extra $20 million.  He won't mind.  Haas, on the other end of the spectrum, have already had a financial kick in the teeth by losing Mazepin and his Uruk-Hai sponsorship.  Uncle Gene has already bailed them out and won't be in the mood to do so again.  

As @boromedic has indicated, Horner should balance his increased freight costs by cutting back on the nice treats like development budget.  Same as the rest of us.

stickyfiddle

He could also turn the engines down so they're less likely to blow up, right?

Fretwired

stickyfiddle said:

He could also turn the engines down so they're less likely to blow up, right?

I think you are on to something. The Red Bulls have been unreliable this year - the Mercedes, whilst slow and bouncing along like Zebedee, have been reliable. In a long season with a budget cap reliability and finishing in the points are crucial to winning the constructors and drivers titles. Horner could be worried about what may happen towards the end of the season if he needs more bits for his cars.

Mercedes seem confident about Monaco - I thought they had problems going around corners. I guess we'll see at the year's most boring race. I be happy to see it scrapped in favour of a real race track.

Boromedic

stickyfiddle said:

He could also turn the engines down so they're less likely to blow up, right?

Yeah Christian, it's like hearing Rishi saying he can't buy the £100million yacht now, he's had to get the £75million one as his heating bill has gone up. I hope they miss 4 races and Ferrari turn up and get a few points running in 6-7 or something, but enough to take the title. 

I proper hate Red Bull and Horner in particular, real see you next Tuesday's. That being said, he's just trying to put pressure where it's needed to win, but obviously Masi is no longer there so he needs to find someone else to turn.