F1 2019 - Teams and Drivers - Who goes where?!

Soldato
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Merc just confirmed Bottas for another year with the option to extend for another year.

I was really hoping for Danny Ric to get the Merc seat if I'm being honest. That would've been an incredible team line-up; personally I think he's the person(who could've got the seat) who'd push Lewis closest in the same car :(
 
Man of Honour
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Ahh a shame. Bottas hasn't been very good. When he's not had reliability issues, he's just been off the pace. He's very Kimi like, in more ways than one. At least Rosberg had the pace to actually make the Mercedes battles interesting.
 
Soldato
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Ahh a shame. Bottas hasn't been very good. When he's not had reliability issues, he's just been off the pace. He's very Kimi like, in more ways than one. At least Rosberg had the pace to actually make the Mercedes battles interesting.
Bottas has out-performed Hamilton in four races, finished ahead of him in three and would have won in Baku if it wasn't for Magnussen.

He'd still be well in the title hunt if it wasn't for his Q3 crash in Melbourne, Vettel crashing into him at Paul Ricard and the aforementioned puncture in Baku.
 
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Bottas has out-performed Hamilton in four races, finished ahead of him in three and would have won in Baku if it wasn't for Magnussen.

He'd still be well in the title hunt if it wasn't for his Q3 crash in Melbourne, Vettel crashing into him at Paul Ricard and the aforementioned puncture in Baku.

Both Ham and Vettel have lost points due to bad luck too, you cant really count those, it's the same for everyone.

How often do we see Ham or Vettel steaming out in front and Bottas just mulling around in P3/4 a second off the pace? Far too often. Last year was bad. Very doubt we'd see similar cruising around casually like that from Ric or someone like Alonso.
 
Soldato
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People just have a different way to go about racing. Look at Prost, very much the smooth, elegant, calculated driver versus Senna's all-out ballsy "my way is how it will be" approach. Senna destroyed Prost many times, but that doesn't make Prost poor - he didn't win 4 titles through luck (one in the same car as Senna). Hill versus Schumacher wasn't too different either, or Hill versus Villeneuve, or Scheckter versus Villeneueve. The list goes on.

Of course I'm not comparing Bottas to Prost or Hill, but just because he doesn't have the same approach as Hamilton or Vettel doesn't necessarily make him undeserving of the seat. Of course we'd all love to see Ricciardo or Alonso (or Vettel or Verstappen for that matter) as teammate to Hamilton and the resulting fireworks, but that's exactly why Mercedes haven't done so; he and Hamilton seem to work well together.

Bottas is never going to be a tier-1 driver, he'll probably never win a title, but taking other factors out (team mistakes, reliability, crashes and driver error) and leaving only bad luck, without Bottas's puncture at Baku I have the gap between him and Hamilton at only 27 points, he would have been third in the championship and still in championship contention.
 
Caporegime
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For Renault I'd like the hulk to keep the seat.

As for the second seat..
Sainz has been good, but not so much of late. Ocon wouldnt be a bad choice.
Leclerc would be awesome but I know that won' happen

Dont think there is anyone else worth taking.


Riccardo sure seems to be stuffed. RBR can pretty much call the shots on his contract now!
 
Soldato
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As much as I'd love to see Vettel v Alonso at Ferrari I just can't see it happening. Ferrari haven't had two absolute top-class drivers since the mid-90s, and that's being generous to both Alesi and Berger who both had entire race weekends where they would be anonymous. Alonso also seems very disillusioned with F1 this season, admittedly having a good car which can win championships let alone races, could bring his attention back. I'm expecting him to announce his retirement sometime around the summer break.
 
Associate
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Ricciardo to Renault !?

Motorsport-Magazin.com - Bounce on the Formula 1 driver market: Daniel Ricciardo will leave Red Bull at the end of the 2018 season. Confirmed Red Bull Motorsport Advisor Helmut Marko opposite Motorsport-Magazin.com . "He called me on Thursday and told me his decision," says Marko.
 
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