F1 2015 - Teams and Drivers - Who goes where?!

It's funny, Eric Boullier was quoted mid way through the season saying "we want the best two available drivers in 2015" ....

Well it's obvious that Button is the better driver so that was a load of bull.

That was actually an interview I watched on Sky as well, not just something made up.
 
dannyjo22 said:
Yep and Williams did the right thing, farmed him out and carry on with the best available at that time. Big teams don't need to worry about the future and bringing drivers along. They build the best cars, pay the required wages and the best drivers come to them.

Of course we don't know what he want's wage wise or how insulting an offer Mclaren might be making to get rid of him but being able to say he turned them down. If mclaren build a mega car over the next two years they can just hire whoever they like, they don't need a long term plan to replace Button or Alonso.

Lastly you don't build a driver by pairing him with Alonso. We used to hear that BS all the time with Schumachers team mates, one for the future to learn from the master. In truth they are little more than whipping boys that tow the line. Getting beaten soundly by button then Alonso for a couple of years is hardly going to see us with the next world champion. Alonso will retire and they will just go with another top driver.
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Exactly, and if Kevin got trounced on this year by Button (126 to 55 points is a complete and utter spanking), especially when Jenson started behind him in 50 percent of races, and considering that penalties and DNFs adjusted Button actually beat him 18-1 in races.... what the heck is Alonso (who is widedly regarded as better than Jenson) going to do to him ?

End his career is what. It's a no win for Magnusson, if he stays it'll destroy him, and if he goes he won't have a drive.
 
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I'm no Button fanboy, but I'd pick him for a year or two too - if they can keep Magnussen happy with a test/sim role with the promise of race seat for 2016, or farmed out to a lower team.

McLaren are putting everything into getting back to the top, and there's no two ways about it - you'd expect Button to get you more points than Magnussen in 2015. Yes Magnussen is the future prospect and a rookie, but he's made too many errors this season, and if they're serious about next season (rather than just building for 2016), then they should be looking at Button in my opinion.

But Ron does love a young up-and-coming driver, and it seems everything is pointing towards Magnussen.

It is a shame for both of them that they've been left dangling, especially for a world champion who's possibly left without a seat when the music stops. Button's getting on in F1 terms, but he's only 5 years older than the new champion....
 
Maybe McLaren are waiting to see if Lewis extends his contract. Honda + McLaren is something he would fancy considering his love of anything senna. but I think he is more in love with winning wdc.
 
elmuzzy66. said:
Maybe McLaren are waiting to see if Lewis extends his contract. Honda + McLaren is something he would fancy considering his love of anything senna.
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I think that's so over stated. He would be happy driving a mclaren daewoo if it was 1 second faster than the rest of the grid. Negotiations must have been interesting this year for them both. Mercedes have no need to give Hamilton anymore money and Mclaren hold most of the cards against Alonso.

Neither driver really has anywhere to go and Merc can use the threat of Alonso. If I was Mercedes there's no way wages would be going up and Mclaren have no real need to pay Alonso a huge wage.
 
smr said:
That's my point, it's a no brainer. Button's ruthlessly destroyed Magnusson this year and thanks to him and him only have saved themselves a lot of money, literally millions upon millions of pounds by staying ahead of Force India.
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Button is worth a seat in F1 but he isn't the future of McLaren.

Where would McLaren be if you took Magnussons points off the total?
 
OldCoals said:
Button is worth a seat in F1 but he isn't the future of McLaren.

Where would McLaren be if you took Magnussons points off the total?
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He's got a couple more years in him imo, at least.

A better question would be, where would Mclaren have ended this year had they kept Perez or had Hulkenberg? 4th in the WCC = more money, most likely.
 
Coming with a completely new engine package next year, I'd of thought they would want two Very experienced drivers in the car to develop it for 2016. If it shows promise next year, they could approach a fair few drivers in 2016 if needed.
 
McLarens issue is that they have too many drivers, 4 if you include Vandoorne who seems a real talent...

Ideal world they could maybe have Alonso/Button for a year or two and keep Magnussen and Vandoorne in a lower car but that would cost McLaren a fair bit of money to have two WDCs on the books and be paying for 2 youngsters to drive... Something McLaren don't seem to be in a position to do, especially now there aren't really any seats left! Another option would be to pay for them to be in GP2, but it'd still cost.
 
Slam62 said:
Alonso is beginning to look a bit over the hill. Past his prime so to speak.

As for Kimi, he's forgotten where he left his prime
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Kimi is certainly not a bad driver.
It just so happens that he arrived to drive a terrible car - that Ferrari is terrible.
In Alonso's hands its still a potent weapon but as we saw, even in Kimi's hands, its a terrible car.

Heads are currently rolling at Ferrari BTW.
Today, their top man was sacked.
In Italy the Tifosi are saying that Ferrari had the best driver in F1 and he finished nowhere in the title race. Ferrari are taking a lot of flack right now. Some people dont realise the stature of Ferrari. If Ferrari dont win a single race in a season, this is huge news and thats what has just transpired.

McLaren (in particular Honda) are desperate to start winning.
They told McLaren that they wanted the best driver in F1.
They identified this to be Alonso.
And despite McLaren previous rocky relationship with Alonso (Alonso was not on talking terms with management in the final part of 2007), McLaren want to win and are going to hire Alonso.

You may believe he is over the hill, but the stats show that he has obliterated every team-mate he has driven with in the last few years. No other driver can boast this.
 
Well Kimi has been nowhere this year and we will probably never know if Alonso's drives were fantastic or not as he hasn't had decent competition. In fact last year, Massa wasn't always a million miles away from him.

In reality Alonso does not like a decent team mate.

Alonso is good, but all this god like admiration in the f1 world is beginning to grate .

His two wdcs were a long time ago.

Personally I think is big error was not passing Petrov in 2010. Would have put a whole new complexion on the era.
 
OldCoals said:
Why is Vettel better?
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Maybe I was a little rash in that statement.
Vettel and Hamilton are probably about equal.
The differences in their performance levels are really small.

If Hamilton wins 4 WDC then this would obviously count in his favour.
And if Vettel continues getting spanked by his team-mate, his star will gradually fall.

I wont forget the 4 titles in a row and winning 9 races in a row. These 2 things are particularly difficult.
 
The fact that neither McLaren driver are scheduled to drive the McLaren Honda this week is interesting. It's gone to Stoffel Vandoorne.

Get him some F1 mileage, see what he can do. Lining him up for a seat next to Alonso perhaps?
 
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