Official line is they wanted a multi-year driver and Merc wouldn't guarantee them any more than a year of Ocon.
So they hired a 34 year old with one hand. Futureproof.
Official line is they wanted a multi-year driver and Merc wouldn't guarantee them any more than a year of Ocon.
So they hired a 34 year old with one hand. Futureproof.
Ocon possibly taking a smart but calculated gamble to build himself up as the prince across the water for someone to take in 2020 (or even mid 2019). Guess he just has to hope Valtteri keeps locking up into every turn 13 on the calendar.
Are they only ones left with an empty seat? You'd have thought they could have shopped around a bit before taking a punt like this.
Judging by the nationalistic fervour that Polish Twitter seems to have around him, I'm guessing there's some money there as well. Maybe from those revolting sausage things you see in the ethnic aisle at Sainsbury's.
There's definitely money, otherwise picking up a guy that hasn't been fast enough for at least three teams over the past couple of years would be even more mental. My point is that they could, presumably, have gotten more had they waited for a few more interested parties to crawl out of the woodwork. There can be no shortage of Strolls and Sirotkins that would have been interested in outbidding Special K.
That would assume anyone at Williams has the first idea what they're doing.
I hope he does well but I have absolutely no expectations from him. As for available seats, we have 'two'. One at Torro Rosso and another at Four Sindia. Assuming they find funding.
Last edited by Shindig; 22-11-2018 at 07:48 PM.
Albon and Stroll.
And you have to be in the Helmut Youth to get the TR seat.
Any Verstappenesque characters coming onto the scene next year? The man is a joy to watch.
Lando Norris, probs. He's going to be a star of one kind or another.
Fully expect LeClerc to dare to be insubordinate to Seb too, which should spice things up.
It's all kicking off in Abu Dhabi.
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Merry Christmas.
It's hypnotic.
First formula milk float race of the season is about to start, it's on the BBC but also YT for those without a license.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9DZ24Azy5E
I haven't watched one of these live so I'll give it a go.
Hang on, Saudi Arabia?
Piquet, Massa and J'EV. I'm sure I saw Di Grassi and D'Ambrosio. What more do you want?
It's like a who's who of F1 rejects. As if Nelson Piquet jr is still driving.
The cars are absolutely shit as a spectacle. I'm not normally a noise junky (except for the mid 90s V10s) but combined with the bleak desert backdrop, this reminds me of the pod racers from the Phantom Menace.
I don't know whether the circle is going around because their Youtube stream is broken or if it's because of licencing.
Oh, wow. They really did record 'sad face' graphics for when they crash.
They've gone and fucked Formula E.
I don't think he was all that good, even in CART. Zanardi was way better but had to deal with a shit car in his short second F1 stint.
Which reminds me, the CART years were absolutely superb.
Really? He was obviously a good driver in the wrong place at the wrong time, as happens to many in F1, only the very best succeed.
If you want me to slate the Americans then I will do so by saying they haven't produced a good single seater driver since him, probably, as everyone goes into the easy life of NASCAR.
I do like the idea of his car being nerfed from the pits just for the lols.
Nah, I totally buy the idea that Ron Dennis, faced with a massive contract for Senna, decided to sabotage Michael's race days and the subsequent potential prize money.
It would be nice if active suspension/aero were given another shot.
If you watched Williams through the 90's then you've already seen it, Red Bull and their flexing wings were also looking for the same effect it was just that much harder to hide it from the FIA.
On Andretti, he was certainly unfortunate and I'm sure he fell victim to whatever politics were going on behind the scenes (as drivers do every season, it goes with the territory) and the turmoil at Mclaren in 93 is well known. But, if everyone who says Ron Dennis turned their engine down was telling the truth Mclaren wouldn't have finished a lot of races let alone be one of the most successful teams in the sport. Plus if he was that good someone else would have picked him up, it doesn't matter how strong CART was at the time no-one with a serious offer was choosing it over F1.
I think the thing with Ron was he knew how to be successful and he really didn't care who he fucked off in order to achieve that, which left a lot of broken hearts along the way.
The one person who had a shitter there who you never hear complain about it/him was Martin Brundle, although I suppose if you'd turned one of those Peugeot engines down it would have had negative horsepower and started going backwards.
He managed several Mclaren drivers (Coulthard & Blundell among them) which may have something to do with it.
How did I miss Eddie Irvine being this wrong about so many things.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/46927041
Christ, what a tour de force that is. I thought he'd peaked by suggesting Senna copied his cornering technique, but the final blindside of 'manufacturers shouldn't be allowed in F1' won the day.
I feel like if a guy has as many championships as you have wins you probably shouldn't speak on them
What a read. Just when you think that he has said the most stupid thing possible, he goes ahead and outdoes himself. Pure art.
It seems Sauber are rebranding as Alfa Romeo. I can't wait for another crap/plain livery from them as well.
I'm watching a Formula E practice session, I think I need an intervention.
I tried the first race but it's basically like watching a CCTV feed from your local Tesco car park.
I ran through my backlog of Super Trucks and I also need vindication on Vandoorne.
He really should have been good in F1 by any reasonable measure. Shame he joined McLaren-Vauxhall at that particular point.
I'm still waiting to be proved right about Antonio Felix da Costa, and perhaps more fruitlessly, Esteban Gutierrez.
SuperTrucks was much more exciting in my head when I thought it was 18 wheelers.
Lorry racing really should be more popular, is it even shown anywhere these days?
Very little motorsport is shown anywhere these days except for American bollocks, and the big series that get subbed by the FIA. There's no money for it.
Oh my god the noise.
This is what I imagine an abattoir to sound like.
And half of the field ended up running out of batteries on the last lap.
I'll never get over how the Tesla GT car's power output and range is effected by the weather.