2022 - Silly Season

[Tazio]

At least Felipe came close to the WDC in a Ferrari, just like Fernando did. But Fernando and Felipe took the same number of WDC wins for Ferrari. And Felipe and Kimi managed a couple WCC's with Ferrari as well. Maybe they should have just never hired Alonso!





McLaren now seem to be admitting they have released Danny Ric, but no real word on who is taking what spot as it appears McLaren want to secure him a seat and avoid buying out his contract. Haas has announced they are postponing any contract talks with Mick, and though some don't agree they might want a chance to grab Ricciardo if the price is right. It's fairly save to assume that Piastri will be with McLaren.... but maybe not.

Fred freakin' destroyed Felipe when they shared the "scud". They weren't even close my man


I'll repeat:
Cut it out.......air'

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[airshifter]

Fred freakin' destroyed Felipe when they shared the "scud". They weren't even close my man


I'll repeat:
Cut it out.......air'

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

It's all good Taz. I know you were always one to "Hail Ceasar" and I'm surprised we haven't seen the photo yet!

An interesting move for Fred. I guess he has faith that AM will at least make progress while he is there, as I can't seem him wanting to take a step down long term since his days as the "old man of F1" are no doubt numbered. I thought he was enjoying hassling faster cars in the Alpine, but I guess not enough to risk being shorted in a contract deal.

One thing we can count on when it comes to F1 seats is to never think we know what is going to happen.

[Bagwan]

Sounds like Otmar may get the "double burn" on McLaren , as they may be forced to buy out both the Piastri contract , and make Danny Ric happy about leaving as well .
Or , perhaps a "triple burn" , by taking the Honey Badger back to Alpine , where he might have stayed , had he known how hard the Mac was to drive .

[F1nKS]

Haas has stopped their negotiations with Schumacher as they feel he has nowhere else to go and there is no urgency to sign him. I could see this going bad for them if silly season gets a little more crazy. If Gasly would move to Alpine, it possible that Marko (based on some recent comments) that they might bring Schumacher in to Alpha Tauri. Williams might even be a possibility.

[airshifter]

Until we see some contract details, it's hard to say who has the upper hand really. All we know for sure is that Piastri has a valid contract with McLaren for 2023. I'm assuming they have a buy out clause for Ricciardo, but haven't seen anyone verify that yet. They might just be trying to help his bargaining power in finding another seat. Often if the driver takes another seat the releasing team doesn't have to pay them, or at least not pay them the full amount. But here and there some drivers have been paid well to not race in F1 as well, opting to sit it out and collect the money.

Either way I hope Ricciardo lands on his feet and gets a ride, in hopes that he could get back his form. If he can't do that, it seems his career will be short, since so far Lando has adapted to the car and made Danny Ric look average. But I think given the right car, he has the ability to be that late braking demon we have seen in past years. And who doesn't want to see another Shoey or two?

[Bagwan]

I recall reading a story about the Honey Badger going to see Sainz , after signing for Mac , asking him why he didn't warn him about the characteristics of the car being so difficult to manage .

It wasn't specific at all about what those specific issues were , but it is something with which Lando can cope , but obviously Daniel cannot .

In the last race , where he said he braked early , but still knew he would slide wide into Stroll as he went around the outside , it pointed to braking , his perrennial strong point , as the culprit .

[airshifter]

It still isn't anywhere close to being worked out.

Now Gasly's name is even coming into the picture, and the contract recognition board is going to look at the Alpine stuff in more detail and make a decision. They claim they have Piastri "ownership" but from what I've seen I don't think so. The only thing we know for sure is that the Honey Badger isn't going to be driving at McLaren. I hope he finds a seat and makes it work.

[lmmjvss]

Piastri must be thinking "Oh, damn. A manufacturer team can develop more and get better. McLaren have been strugling for year and this will continue" haha

And someone said Alpha Tauri is talking about Colton Herta..?? Weird. Colton would not be my pick from the Indycar grid. O'ward is a better driver IMO.

[airshifter]

Between McLaren and the other teams, it seems like several of the Indy drivers have been mentioned. I'm really not sure why Herta keeps coming up so much. He's not a bad driver, but I think there are other better drivers to pick from if you want to move one of them to an F1 seat.

[Bagwan]

So , it looks like Piastri gets the Mac seat .
I sure hope he knows what he's doing , coming into a team that has a difficult car , with a team-mate who is pretty handy at getting around the car's foibles .
The Badger isn't slow , but has been made to look so by both the car and Lando , so L'il Oscar had better be pretty handy .

Putting Pierre with Esteban sounds like a bad idea as they have been enemies since they were both 11 years old .
And , Ocon seems to have a hard time obeying orders already , with friction between team-mates common on his resume .

I think it's more likely that he's a pawn in the Danny Ric scenario . Renault , oops , I mean Alpine , do that .

And , perhaps the Badger is being used the same way as Gasly , as a pawn in the Mick business .
I hope so , for Mick's sake . I'd still like to see him do well .