Mercedes recently committed to F1 until 2025. Mind you that might be without Toto. I’m sure every time he leaves Suzie and his kid there’s a thought of ‘why do I walk away for days at a time, so often?’
Poll: Brazilian Grand Prix 2019, São Paulo - Race 20/21
- Thread starter Shimmy
- Start date
Soldato
Yes...São Paulo being the city where the Interlagos track is. So it's Interlagos next year, and a possible/probable (depending on your level of confidence) move thereafter.
Man of Honour
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Soldato
Dumb decision to switch to slicks.
Soldato
Surprise surprise, Kubica stacks it again. He's always been prone to a crash even in his first stint as a driver.
Soldato
I suspect that kubica spun on the water dragged on to the track by the has. The William's has a reputation for being a difficult car to drive evident by the manner in which it snapped out.
Soldato
He was one of the most consistent drivers on the grid. So much so he was in the running for the 2008 driver's championship and might well have won it had BMW not decided to put all of their effort into the 2009 car from a very early stage (indeed at the half way point he was only two points behind Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen).
Indeed in his 77 starts between his debut in 2006 and his final season in 2010 he retired from a race only three times due to accident damage. You can add a fourth with his clash with Vettel in Melbourne in 2009 if you like (though he was still classified).
By comparison the world champions in the same period had six retirements from crashes each for Alonso and Hamilton. Vettel did six fewer races and had nine retirements from crashes while Raikkonen had four crashes though only raced in 58 of those races.
Soldato
Some more rumours
"Rumour: Penske in talks to buy Mercedes works F1 team"
http://www.insideracing.com/index.p...penske-in-talks-to-buy-mercedes-works-f1-team
and here
https://www.grandprix247.com/2019/11/16/penske-and-mazepin-line-up-to-buy-mercedes-f1-team/
"Auto Bild said Mercedes has told McLaren, Force India, Williams and – interestingly – also Red Bull that it can continue to supply engines beyond 2020."
Penske is on a buying spree at the moment.
"Rumour: Penske in talks to buy Mercedes works F1 team"
http://www.insideracing.com/index.p...penske-in-talks-to-buy-mercedes-works-f1-team
and here
https://www.grandprix247.com/2019/11/16/penske-and-mazepin-line-up-to-buy-mercedes-f1-team/
"Auto Bild said Mercedes has told McLaren, Force India, Williams and – interestingly – also Red Bull that it can continue to supply engines beyond 2020."
Penske is on a buying spree at the moment.
Man of Honour
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Ferrari were indeed cheating then.
Who will max crash into tomorrow?
Who will max crash into tomorrow?
Hamilton won't want to be part of a Penske team regardless of Mercedes Power. F1 is vastly different and many magnitudes more complex and expensive than NASCAR or Indycar. Penske will be another Haas.
Wouldn't be surprised if merc got out.
With budget cap particularly the only way is down.
They can just sell engines to everyone and be done with it.
Qualifying. No comments really
Albon isn't doing that well
The lack of forum activity is not helping my interest waning
With budget cap particularly the only way is down.
They can just sell engines to everyone and be done with it.
Qualifying. No comments really
Albon isn't doing that well
The lack of forum activity is not helping my interest waning
Man of Honour
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Now the championship is decided on can’t say I’m too fussed about watching really. Not sure if I’m alone on this?
Soldato
Glad it's not just me thinking this. All the talk is about how well he's doing and how he deserves the seat. He's still *miles* off Verstappen. I get that he's outscored Max in the races they've been team mates, but Max has DNFd in two of them, and had a race-ruining puncture in another! Every race he's been a (relatively distant) last of the leading 6 cars, only beating Leclerc and Verstappen when they had issues, and was beaten by both Renaults in Italy. He's done better than Gasly did in the start of the season, but that wasn't exactly a high bar to beat.
I'd put good money that he'll be back in a Toro Rosso by mid season next year.
Soldato
Not a RedBull driver and older than they normally do for, but they should give Hulk a test until the youngsters are ready. That put Kvyat back in the car. He wasn't thaaaaat bad and although Ricciardo had more DNFs in 2015 Kvyat did have the better finishes. Saying that, he's not exactly setting Torro Rosso on fire. Did we ever see any figures from him when he was a Ferrari test driver?
I don't think it's because the championship is done, I mean I think that was done a long time ago. More that I don't really have anyone to talk about it to. It all feels a bit stale. Today I haven't got much planned and would have watched race live, but not being free to air I can't. So all the chat (what little There is now) is all over by time I catch up.
Its now more 'something to do' than something I have to watch.
Races have actually been ok this year too.
Also, it does suck supporting a lower team. You know best you can do is behind the rest. The gulf between the tier 1 and 2 is just not great.
F1 directors always missing lower end action is also frustrating
Either vestappen is really good (I think he is) or his team mates have just been lacking. Gasley seems to be doing much better in TR!
Would have lived to have seen hulk in there really. Bit disappointed he's gone
Caporegime
Gasly, meanwhile, has been making the best of his position in Toro Rosso, and delivered a number of solid performances.
Replaced by whom? Red Bull have apparently brought Kvyat back just to keep a seat warm at Toro Rosso and won't return him to Red Bull; Gasly is no better than Albon. Red Bull are desperate to keep recruiting from within, so who are they going to put in that seat to replace him? I'm pretty sure Albon will trundle round all season, returning the lowest respectable result for the car he's in. More than Gasly was managing, but a disappointing waste of a top race seat.