Whos getting BOTTAS' seat next year ?

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Albon's bigger problem was a lack of talent. But George has been in F1 for 3 years, if he's not ready now, when is he?

Re Albon: Lack of talent... or, just ran out of talent.

At least GR has served his apprenticeship & has done a ‘Senna’... ringing the proverbial neck out of a rear ender... Respect
(Just a pity Spa was a fiasco...it would have been interesting to see him race from the front...again).
 
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Albon's bigger problem was a lack of talent.
The difference being that Albon was incredibly poor.

I'm not entirely sure Albon was given a fair chance given that he spent only half a season in low/mid-field team and then thrusted in to a top team and told to keep up with their number one; i think a lot of new drivers would have crumbled under the same situation and pressure.

Either way, it's just a feeling that GR is being promoted too early but time will tell....
 
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Anyone else think GR at Merc could end up like an Albon situation - promoted too early, underperformed against all the pressure from the top, then dumped without being able to learn/develop/grow like most drivers?

Arguably Merc aren't RB and GR has shown a lot of skill but it does feel GR could become stunted by this.

He immediatly performed in his one Merc race - in a car that really wasn't made to fit him.
 
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I'm glad it has been confirmed at last.
Going to now add bit's of my thoughts to all the others. RB were very strong at the end of the last season, they were always going to be strong this season as well. Merc knew that as most of us did. Merc though made the decision to not develop this years car and concentrate on next years car. Obviously RB have developed this years car, just how much time and effort that has taken only RB know. But one thing we all know for certain is that RB's engine next year will be a solo effort, Mercs engine will be completely new and had a year of development. Now when you look at the fact that Lewis signed a 2 year contract, it says to me that he wants that 8th title but isn't sure he can get it this year, so hedging his bets to get it next year with the rule changes. I would lay money on it that Lewis has a 1 year get out clause in his contract so that he can walk away at the end of next year. That would have allowed enough time for George to push him to the limit, let him get the 8th WDC, walk away and then let George grab his first WDC. Possibly with Lando as his number 2.
 
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George whupped Lando in F2.... I do rate Lando VERY highly but I dont think George is over-rated... But the future of F1 looks good driver-wise with current crop but not hugely impressed with the F2/F3 pool, bar Piastri....
 
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There's certainly an argument to be made that it's something to do with the team, personal or car that causes all the problems for the second seat at Red Bull. Especially given how well drivers have done before Red Bull or, in the case of Kvyat but more so Gasly, they have done since leaving. However, I'm not convinced Albon is a top tier driver but I suppose that isn't necessarily what Williams need currently. He should be a reasonably safe pair of hands especially as it's unlikely Williams and Merc will be on the same piece of track too often.
 
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There's certainly an argument to be made that it's something to do with the team, personal or car that causes all the problems for the second seat at Red Bull. Especially given how well drivers have done before Red Bull or, in the case of Kvyat but more so Gasly, they have done since leaving. However, I'm not convinced Albon is a top tier driver but I suppose that isn't necessarily what Williams need currently. He should be a reasonably safe pair of hands especially as it's unlikely Williams and Merc will be on the same piece of track too often.
RB problem is they have simply built a car around Max, Max's feedback and driving style, nearly all the second drivers could never light up the back end properly out of corners and in general didn't seem to be able to drive the car well.
I have a bad Feeling for RB next year, they seem to have sunk their resources into this years car, while Merc seem to fully understand that if you dont get the chasis right for the reg changes, you are screwed up with it for 5 years.
If RB dont have a good car next year then I can see Max looking out of them.
 
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George whupped Lando in F2.... I do rate Lando VERY highly but I dont think George is over-rated... But the future of F1 looks good driver-wise with current crop but not hugely impressed with the F2/F3 pool, bar Piastri....

That reminds me of Lando talking on his Twitch channel. He said once him and Albon were standing at a race and they were like, oh look there's George that really quick guy. They honestly sounded like fan girls. :D But that must give an idea of how much he's rated when its his peers doing the rating.
 
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RB problem is they have simply built a car around Max, Max's feedback and driving style, nearly all the second drivers could never light up the back end properly out of corners and in general didn't seem to be able to drive the car well.
I have a bad Feeling for RB next year, they seem to have sunk their resources into this years car, while Merc seem to fully understand that if you dont get the chasis right for the reg changes, you are screwed up with it for 5 years.
If RB dont have a good car next year then I can see Max looking out of them.

I think the issue for any driver coming into the team is that even if the car isn't necessarily tailored to Max, he's still had years in it to get used to all its quirks. (And is seemingly a beast of a driver regardless. The ones that can get that last few percent from a car like Hamilton, Alonso etc.) I really hope Max moves elsewhere as i find it hard to like anyone at Red Bull... :D
 
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I think the issue for any driver coming into the team is that even if the car isn't necessarily tailored to Max, he's still had years in it to get used to all its quirks. (And is seemingly a beast of a driver regardless. The ones that can get that last few percent from a car like Hamilton, Alonso etc.) I really hope Max moves elsewhere as i find it hard to like anyone at Red Bull... :D

Yeah, kinda like McLaren, it's not really designed around Norris but Ricciardo has/is clearly struggled with it... I imagine Verstappen is the same, except Gasly/Albon/Perez aren't as good as Ricciardo (imo) and Verstappen is quite possibly better than Norris (although Norris is very good, again imo).

I think Albon is a good choice for Williams, should be some sponsorship from Thai backers and/or Red Bull, and a reasonably decent driver really, probably better than Latifi.
 
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RB problem is they have simply built a car around Max, Max's feedback and driving style, nearly all the second drivers could never light up the back end properly out of corners and in general didn't seem to be able to drive the car well.

I don't think it's that it has been built for Max, it's more that Newey has designed a ridiculously hard to drive car and is totally uncompromising about it. Max is simply the only driver since DR left who's been good enough to get the best out of it.
 
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Interesting that Bottas is saying that he chose to leave Mercedes because he was done with one year contracts. That feels a bit jump-before-you're-pushed to me, but it also has something of a ring of truth to it after Bottas' comments in recent years about one year contracts, and I imagine it probably made Wolff's decision easier.
 
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Interesting that Bottas is saying that he chose to leave Mercedes because he was done with one year contracts. That feels a bit jump-before-you're-pushed to me, but it also has something of a ring of truth to it after Bottas' comments in recent years about one year contracts, and I imagine it probably made Wolff's decision easier.

Surely that would mean he was offered a one year contract and turned it down? i doubt that tbh.. he jumped ;)
 
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I saw this tweet a couple of days ago and it blew me away:


It shows how much Hamilton has had to raise his game to try to keep up with Verstappen, while Bottas simply hasn't had that extra capacity (and/or he knew he was out of the door months ago and his motivation dropped accordingly, which is equally likely given Wolff blamed him for a mechanic not fitting a wheel nut correctly in Monaco).
 
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What was the correct translation? If I read it at the time then I've forgotten since.

It was a description of what happened, he didn't blame Bottas. He just said he was a few inches off his line and the gun came in at an angle and failed to bind. There wasn't any implication that Bottas had done anything wrong or had caused it by making a mistake.
 
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My relative works for the Mercedes F1...
VB is really well liked & makes an effort to get to know everybody... very sociable.
They will miss him.

LH & GR... Luke warm

( But they all enjoy the generous bonuses received for Drivers & Manufactures Championships).

But as they say... points makes prizes.
 
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