As much as I'd love to see JEV come back taking someone outside the current grid would be a big risk, Bottas and Grosjean are the two logical choices as they're both decent and plausibly available.
As much as I'd love to see JEV come back taking someone outside the current grid would be a big risk, Bottas and Grosjean are the two logical choices as they're both decent and plausibly available.
I don't think he'll want a clear number 2, the ideal scenario for them is this year's affair where it's all about Merc, which it won't be if someone's dumping it in 6th every other week.
Bottas would be ideal if they can get him out of Williams. Grosjean slightly too hot and cold perhaps.
My concern with Bottas would be that he hasn't exactly blown Massa out of the water this year, still he's probably the best fit given the existing Merc relationship with Williams. The big unknown is how much the extra aero closes up the grid.
Ralf Schumacher.
He probably hasn't been arsed the last year or two, put him in a car with Hamilton and the fire should be lit.Originally Posted by Disco
Does history suggest that extra aero closes up the grid? My main concern if you're Merc is that history mainly suggests that extra aero causes Adrian Newey to win.
It's not a given but as you say Adrian Newey is the best at it and he works for the current second quickest team.
Sky F1 Race Control.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38282791
It's all happening.
Williams driver Valtteri Bottas is Mercedes' first choice to replace Nico Rosberg as Lewis Hamilton's team-mate, BBC Sport has learned.
But Williams have rejected an initial offer to release Finn Bottas from his 2017 contract.
In a separate development, Mercedes technical boss Paddy Lowe is close to finalising a deal to join Williams.
Lowe is set to be replaced at the world champions by former Ferrari technical director James Allison.
I read both Williams and Ferrari were after Lowe. Andrew Benson is awful though, so until I read from another source I don't consider it confirmed.
Bottas makes sense what with Wolff being connected to him.
Frank wants nice cheap engines I suspect, plus Williams now need someone vaguely experienced to set their cars up every weekend. Outside chance of Stroll Snr putting his foot (and money) down to keep Bottas so little Lance has someone to learn from.
Can they not drag Marc Gene or someone in to run the car on Fridays?
This is the problem with drivers ending up on the woodpile if they haven't mangled a team mate by 23, you end up with a grid full of children. I still think Gutierrez is worth a go.
Lack of testing doesn't help, these days the only people who ever get to drive the cars are the twenty guys on the grid and they do comparatively little of it. In ye olde days of yore you could just send the young shavers off to Silverstone with the T car and let them loose.
God, Crashtor coming back would be fun, until he kills someone at least.
I think the most surprising thing about that article is that he suggested he doesn't have a chance with Mercedes. The man has some sense of sanity.
I only read the first line, I assumed it was a joke after seeing that.
Imagine the scenes and seething from Hamilton if and when Pascal makes a dirty move by wiping him out every single race.
Pascal would probably have the drivers championship in his hands after Bahrain if he did that.
http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38335169
And so it begins. Apparently the two stumbling blocks to Bottas leaving according to F1 savant Joe Saward are;
Martini want a driver in a credible age range for their products and Stroll Sr. has insisted his son be paired with an experienced driver (so that his son won't be upstaged by another young rookie)
However Benson has suggested their option would be to convince Massa to stay on for another year who only retired because he couldn't see another competitive seat opening up at the time.
Alonso in a Williams would be a decent thing.
Can't they get Grosjean or someone in the Williams? Sainz, even. Sainz is never going to get the full Red Bull drive unless Danny Ric has a meltdown and goes to Ferrari.
All these drives Hulkenberg could be in, and he's stuck in a pigshite French piece of yellow rust.
I doubt Williams could afford to get Sainz out of his contract even if he Red Bull were to agree to such a thing.
Stroll Sr would block it anyway. He doesn't want a young driver potentially upstaging his son and according to Saward, Stroll's contract stipulates that the other driver needs to be experienced (i.e. older)
Sainz is an experienced driver now. 40 Grands Prix and has done well in them. I think a stipulation like that would mean they don't want a second rookie tyro in there because losing to a similarly rated team mate is career doom in modern F1, as Kvyat is quickly finding out.
I was going to lol at this but what else are they realistically going to do?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38384982
One of them should be getting Sainz out of Red Bull, unless I've got the wrong impression about how good he is.
Massa can do another farewell tour.
RB wouldn't release him unless it was for stupid money and that wouldn't happen at this stage. Selling drivers out of the feeder team goes against all their established principles, even if they don't really have anything to do with him at the moment.
I'm surprised they haven't put Gasly in for Kvyat in the other TR seat, to be honest, particularly with Renault on board and a French GP on the horizon. Maybe that's for when Helmut Marko gets bored after about 4 races like he usually does.
I assume it's one of three things:
- They think he'll be better of where he is for another year.
- They don't think he's good enough or at least not sufficiently good enough to risk replacing Kvyat.
- They think Kvyat could still come good.
It's all a bit of a lolfest really.
Pat Symonds gone and Massa doing a Schumacher in a space of a month. What happens now? Rosberg to Williams?
Paddy Lowe to Williams is great for the sport, probably. I'm surprised Toto was happy to let him go at least without a gap.
Massa coming back is kind of shitty I mean he's done the whole pre-retirement period and now he stays. Stroll and his $$$ apparently required an expert driver next to him and Martini needs an older driver for their sponsorship, so I get why this happened but still.
I really thought Wehrlein performed well enough at Manor to be brought into a bigger team, I guess it will be another year before that can happen. I honestly would have taken the punt and given him the Merc seat but what do I know.
They obviously have Bottas down as a safer option. Wehrlein moving to a Merc from the back of the grid might be too much of a shock to him. If they still did testing, this wouldn't be a problem.
They're fucking huge.
Just for funsies, someone should try to crowbar them onto a six-wheeled Tyrell.
They look straight outta 1985. Nostalgia. While we're at it, let's massively relax the safety legislation and put 12 dogshit Italians on the grid.
I'm sure it's just the picture and the ultras and wets aren't wider than the rest.
Presumably we'll see quicker laps on these over last year.
Lowe to WIlliams then. That should be the final piece in the Bottas to Mercedes jigsaw.
At which point they'll convince Massa to come back for a year, considering he only really retired because Stroll was coming in and he couldn't see any competitive seats elsewhere.
Yep, I'd be more shocked if we don't see Massa in a Williams this year.
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