Motorsport Off Topic Thread

Mr Jack said:
Good video. Don't think I agree with him re: loyalty. Alpine had already badly let Piastri down by keeping on the benches this year and not making sure he was in their seat for next year was a double whammy. Alpine's failings here are as bad as anything Oscar did. Windsor says three years with Williams did Russell no harm - I can't agree. Look what Max and Leclerc managed in their first three years; I guarantee you that they learnt a lot more in those years than Russell did quite apart from the results they got and the money they earned. Oscar not wanting to go that route and instead take up a car at the front of the midfield is simply sensible. Had Alpine offered him the 2023 Alpine seat he deserves they'd have hung on to him.
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Have to say I agree with this, real f1 stars tend to be apparent straight away, and must be given a decent seat. George wasted 3 years.
 
Slam62 said:
Have to say I agree with this, real f1 stars tend to be apparent straight away, and must be given a decent seat. George wasted 3 years.
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I don't think George wasted 3 years, but without any shadow of a doubt he should have had Bottas's seat at the start of last season. With George and Lewis in last years Mercs, i don't think Max would have been anywhere near enough points wise to have even had a sniff at the WDC.
When George took Lewis's seat at Sakhir in 2020 and steamed ahead of Bottas it should have been obvious to Toto that George should have a seat in 2021. In my view, had Toto done that, Lewis would now be an 8 times WDC.
 
cuke2u said:
Neither do I, what else could he have done?
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George had limited options and, to be fair, at the time he signed that contract to race with Williams the depths of their weakness over the next three seasons was surely not a given. While they'd been bad in 2018, they'd at least got points, and in 2017 they'd come 5th in the WCC. But there's no doubt that Mercedes and Wolff put him in a bad position where he learned much less than drivers like Leclerc/Norris/Max did in their rookie years.
 
As has been said last season was the one you can't defend Merc from not promoting George up, he 100% should have been in the car in 2021. Suspect they wanted to keep the continuity of drivers driving the car for the last season of those regs but RB challenged them more than expected.
 
Psycho Ned said:
As has been said last season was the one you can't defend Merc from not promoting George up, he 100% should have been in the car in 2021. Suspect they wanted to keep the continuity of drivers driving the car for the last season of those regs but RB challenged them more than expected.
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As I understand it, Claire Williams refused to release him, and by the time the new owner was in place, contracts had been signed. So there wasn't a lot of choice. But that goes back to tying him to three years with Williams with no performance clauses on their side.
 
I despair at what alpines lineup might be next year.
Will struggle to watch it for sure.

Ocon and riccardo?
Ocon.. Who merc didn't want
Riccardo.. Who failed badly at mclaren.

Alpine Couldn't have got the alonso/piastri thing more wrong.

Still. I don't think it's a good decision from alonso.
 
If Ocon and Gasly didn't hate each other, I'd say trying to buy Pierre out of his contact was a good option.

Perhaps they could take a punt on Drugovich? Or De Vries?
 
Maybe De Vries (depends if he’s already signed for Williams I guess).

This years F2 class look bang average to me not sure I’d be giving any of them a go next year.
 
Psycho Ned said:
Maybe De Vries (depends if he’s already signed for Williams I guess).

This years F2 class look bang average to me not sure I’d be giving any of them a go next year.
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F2 do look fairly average this year maybe Pourchaire and Drugovich aside, plenty of drivers who might come on and improve next year though, my eyes on the likes of Doohan, Iwasa and Lawson.

I do wonder if Alpine might be happy with a "no 2" given they seem to think incredibly highly of Ocon, so either a junior (not sure they have any left actually!)... or someone who is likely to cause them little inter-team tension.

Gasly you would think would be an excellent shout given he's French and fast but he seems to have receeded a little this year and I think and Ocon/Gasly partnership might be one of the more tense driver combos!
 
chrismscotland said:
F2 do look fairly average this year maybe Pourchaire and Drugovich aside, plenty of drivers who might come on and improve next year though, my eyes on the likes of Doohan, Iwasa and Lawson.
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Drugovich I think is relatively ordinary, a third season winner doesn't impress so much. Pourchaire is very impressive, remember that he's still only 18 - his driving has been extraordinary from such a young driver even if it's taken him a season and a half to really find his feet in F2 and I won't be at all surprised if he passes Drugovich to win the season. For me, Logan Sargeant is also much more impressive that the drivers you named. He'd have beaten Piastri for the F3 crown without some awful luck in the final race, and he's coming on strong in the second half of his rookie season.

However, Sargeant is tied to Williams and Pourchaire to Sauber/Alfa so I don't think either of them are strong options for Alpine unless they're willing to lay down enough money to buy them out and even then I'm not sure either team would be keen. Drugovich, however, isn't tied so if they wanted to chance a rookie he'd be an option. The other thing I think might happen is that they take Zhou if Alfa want to promote Pourchaire.

Gasly you would think would be an excellent shout given he's French and fast but he seems to have receeded a little this year and I think and Ocon/Gasly partnership might be one of the more tense driver combos!
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I wouldn't be too surprised if Ocon's contract forbids Alpine from taking Gasly.
 
For what seemed like such a hectic week, we've not really had many actual confirmed changes, have we?

Seb gone.
Fernando to Aston Martin.

Then we have the reports that Oscar Piastri is going to McLaren which would leave Danny Ric without a drive but I don't think that's even been confirmed, has it?

Have I missed anything?
 
In all the rush they confirmed Albon on a multi-year deal at Williams.

Still no confirmation on Latifi (Williams hoping for Piastri), Zhou (expecting further sponsorship or another academy driver?), Tsunoda (RB have a stable full of juniors in F2, but Honda re-signed to help manage RBPT), Schumacher (risk of being poached by another team diminishing) then there's whoever doesn't want the Alpine seat.
 
But yeah not much solid came out after all that.

Rumours that the contract recognition lawyers have 'accepted' a contract for Piastri at McLaren and that Ricciardo has been told to sod off/pick a number.

Part of me hopes, given the way this went down, that Alpine are right and that they have a contract with/for Piastri and either block the move or get a chunk of cash and also that they go for Schumacher. I think that'd be a good fit although you could definitely argue he hasn't shown 'that' much at Haas, sure he beat Mazepin but that's no great achievement, against Magnussen he hasn't really shined.
 
Feek said:
For what seemed like such a hectic week, we've not really had many actual confirmed changes, have we?
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Apparently McLaren aren't going to make any announcements until Ricciardo has secured his position for next year. Out of respect, or something.

Steeps said:
Still no confirmation on Latifi (Williams hoping for Piastri), Zhou (expecting further sponsorship or another academy driver?), Tsunoda (RB have a stable full of juniors in F2, but Honda re-signed to help manage RBPT), Schumacher (risk of being poached by another team diminishing) then there's whoever doesn't want the Alpine seat.
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Given Williams usually announce both drivers together I think Latifi is out of luck. I think they'll go for Sargeant or Zhou. With what Vasseur is saying you'd think Zhou is safe but with Pourchaire in the wings surely they won't repeat Alpine's mistake, so my guess is he'll lose that spot. Tsunoda I think is secure, largely because the RB juniors are all underperforming in F2. So that'll leave Schumacher and Zhou fighting over the remaining seat at Haas, maybe Williams.

That's assuming Alpine take Ricciardo.

(As an aside, if Pourchaire does get a seat, we'll have 4 of the 6 youngest drivers ever to have started in F1 on the grid at the same time).
 
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englishpremier said:
Why not Ricciardo? He completely smashed Ocon 15-2 and 119-62 points in their last season together. Both he and Alonso are easily better drivers than Ocon.
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I sometimes think Ocon is over-rated - he's been more consistent than Alonso this year but hasn't suffered the same poor luck with reliability and issues hence him being in front points wise
 
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