Needed to be somewhere in the Middle East that late in the year really.
Motorsport Off Topic Thread
- Thread starter Shimmy
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Soldato
Kimi (Räikkönen) just announced this is to be his last season (https://www.instagram.com/p/CTSUHnoDG4L/); shame to see him go but i guess it's been on the cards for a while and Alfa no doubt want someone fresh for the reg changes.
No news on who's to replace him though.
No news on who's to replace him though.
Caporegime
Honestly I think it's time. Frees up a much needed seat for one of the many promising young drivers too.
Bottas to take his seat? I think so.
Bottas to take his seat? I think so.
Soldato
Makes a lot of sense, I reckon Bottas will flourish comparatively in the Alfa without the comparison to Hamilton. He's a safe pair of hands and should bring some decent knowledge to the team.
Russell in the Merc I'm not keen on, he's proven a little hot headed and the push to beat Lewis might break him but we'll see, should be entertaining to watch in any case.
That's presuming there's still the same status quo in 2022 and Merc are still at the sharp end with only one team to compete against. If wins are more difficult due to more competition we might see him able to take the lead if he has track position at any point. Looking forward to the change at any rate. Just hope McLaren and Norris are up there next year at the very least.
Kimi will be missed as a "personality" but it's a much needed seat on the grid now we've a lot of genuine young talent on the rise.
Soldato
Rumours are Albon to Williams.
He deserves another chance IMO.
He deserves another chance IMO.
Caporegime
From the "famously reliable" sources in the Italian media, I believe. Albon got a fantastic chance already, while he's a thoroughly likeable chap I'd much rather see one of the younger talents who hasn't had a chance get the seat.
With Piastri looking like he's going to win back-back Eurocup, F3, and F2 seasons, I really hope he doesn't end up without a seat.
Man of Honour
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That would make sense.
This, imo he didn't deserve the toro rosso seat when he was promoted after an average f2 season with so many mistakes and had chance enough at RBR. If de vries is in will be good to see what he can do as he won(dominated) f2 the wrong year. Proper racer too and can win from behind. Hopefully mick Schumacher won't be with haas forever.
Man of Honour
I note that Haas haven't confirmed Schumacher yet despite being seemingly all but certainly before the summer break; Bottas and Mick at Alfa?
Soldato
Albon's girfriend has started following the Willimas F1 team, the only team she follows. So there's a good chance it's true.
Caporegime
I'm seeing rumours that Albon will get the seat and Piastri is going to have his career wasted by a year as Williams' test driver. Latifi vs. Albon could be interesting, they both had their first year in F2 in 2017 and Latifi finished 5th to Albon's 10th, although things were reversed the next year when Latifi dropped to 9th while Albon rose to 3rd. With Latifi embedded in the team and Albon having a year out, it seems foolish to assume that Albon will be the driver on top.
Soldato
I think Latifi's doing OK given the car. He's obviously a long way behind Mr Saturday in qualifying, but he's often on par with him on race pace. I don't know who that says more about though. It's enough for some questions to linger over just how good Russell is on a Sunday.
He did well in Bahrain when substituting for Hamilton, but that was a very unique track and Bottas was catching quickly until the safety car madness started. I'd have loved to have seen him in Abu Dhabi too to see whether that form could have carried through.
He did well in Bahrain when substituting for Hamilton, but that was a very unique track and Bottas was catching quickly until the safety car madness started. I'd have loved to have seen him in Abu Dhabi too to see whether that form could have carried through.
Man of Honour
I think there's a huge amount of pressure on Russell next year if he's confirmed at Merc; he wouldn't be the first young driver to find themselves promoted too early to a top team; we've already seen him crack under pressure at Williams in the past; that'll be even higher if he's trying to prove himself alongside Hamilton.
Agree there seems to be little between Russell and Latifi on a Sunday generally and I don't think many consider Latifi to be more than a journeyman really.
Seems Giovinazzi is heavily rumoured to be out at Alfa too; with De Vryes and Piastri linked; I know that Sauber say they pick their drivers but Ferrari surely would be ****** if there isn't an academy driver there surely?
Soldato
About time Gio was booted. I don't rate him at all. At least he's no longer the complete liability in races that he was in his first two attempts. All the defence I've seen of him seem to quote the fact that he's gained the most positions on an opening lap over the last couple of seasons. I'd argue that generally tends to happen when you qualify worse than you should and you've got at least 3/4s of the grid in front of you.
I think De Vries deserves a chance. He's had some great results since winning F2. He was doomed to miss out on F1 simply because he won F2 in a year when the competition wasn't great, so he got overlooked completely.
Caporegime
I don't know where this myth comes from. Russell is consistently faster than Latifi on a Sunday, as much as anyone else on the grid except perhaps Max over Pérez or Mick over Mazepin, and has beaten him in almost every race. It's not the dramatic difference seen on a Saturday but with the constant need for tyre management and fuel management it's surely unreasonable to expect otherwise.
Bottas was not catching quickly at any point. The only point he was even a little faster was when he was on tyres 4 laps younger.
Man of Honour
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Russell never seemed under threat at any point before the screwup, but on a circuit with only a handful of low demand corners it wasn’t exactly conclusive. Not terrible either and I was rooting for him, but not particularly representative of most tracks.
On this note, I wish they’d use that track config again.
Caporegime
I mean, it's one race, and one race is only one race and he just passed Bottas off the line and driven to victory it'd be impressive but I wouldn't read much into it. It was Russell's ability to carve back through the field and keep his head after his golden chance got binned with a huge Mercedes mistake and a dose of bad luck that really impressed me. And he did that in a car he was unfamiliar with (remember him getting on the radio asking how to do stuff?) and that didn't even fit him. Sure, the Mercedes was utterly mighty last year but how often did we see Bottas fail to get through traffic in that car?