silly season 2018 - F1 driver line up

Soldato
Joined
27 Dec 2006
Posts
3,092
Location
Dark Forest
Last update 22/01/2018

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team

Lewis Hamilton
Valtteri Bottas


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Red Bull Racing
Daniel Ricciardio
Max Verstappen


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scuderia Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel
Kimi Raikkonen


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sahara Force India F1 Team
Sergio Perez
Esteban Ocon


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

McLaren Renault
Fernando Alonso
Stoffell Vandoorne


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Williams Martini Racing
Lance Stroll
Sergey Sirotkin

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Haas F1 Team
Romain Grosjean
Kevin Magnussen


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scuderia Toro Rosso * Honda powered
Pierre Gasly
Brendon Hartley


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Renault Sport Formula One Team
Nico Hulkenberg
Carlos Sainz


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team
Charles Leclerc
Marcus Ericsson


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Current F1 drivers whose F1 future is uncertain
- J. Palmer, P. Wehrlein



Green - Has contract
Yellow - TBC likely
Red - Unknown
 
Last edited:
Soldato
OP
Joined
27 Dec 2006
Posts
3,092
Location
Dark Forest
Is kvyat really confirmed at toro rosso? Unbelievable

Agree it's unbelievable, but it was basically confirmed back in july https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/130651/kvyat-set-to-stay-at-toro-rosso-in-2018

With recent engine move, maybe they will reconsider and put Matsushita and ditch Kvyat. But it's not like Matsushita has set the GP2 world on fire, and Gasly did better in GP2 as well as being a Red Bull stableboy.

Believe it or not, but they kind of need the F1 experience Kvyat brings. 2 rookies is unlikely imo. Personally I dont rate Kvyat. But F1 isnt always fair. Just ask Werhlein or Jean Eric Vergne !!!

Surley pascal will continue at sauber?

Maybe. No drivers are confirmed at sauber, but Ericsson has close ties to the owners. The engine supplier, Ferrari, seem keen to get Leclerc a F1 seat in a junior team. Giovinazzi will probably be a reserve driver for Sauber or Haas, since he is clearly not as good as Leclerc.

Werhlein has done well esp vs Ericsson, but he is a Mercedes boy and out of luck at a Sauber Ferrari team. It seems that Ocon is the driver Mercerdes rate more for the future, esp with great results so far.

Unfortunately for Wehrlein, there are not many Mercedes powered seats left for him unless Wiliams ditch Stroll or Force India drop Perez, which i find hard to believe. He will probably be a reserve driver at a Merc team or go to DTM. If Ocon and Perez continue to tangle, maybe FI may decide to go Werhlein and Ocon, and Perez would move to Williams and replace Massa, but I doubt Perez would do this unless no other choice.

We will have to wait and see.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
OP
Joined
27 Dec 2006
Posts
3,092
Location
Dark Forest
Last edited:
Transmission breaker
Don
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
16,793
Location
In a house
PDR is one of those drivers who I always thought just needed to hang about long enough to get a decent car. His racing record is not poor, and I think he would do a solid job at Williams.

Kubica/PDR. Either is a good shout for me. But with Rosberg jumping into Kubica's stable, it smells of a done deal, testing performance withstanding.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
27 Dec 2006
Posts
3,092
Location
Dark Forest
I have to say, I think Kubica at Williams is a great fit. He will be cheap, has huge media interest, and an undoubted talent.

I like Kubica and think he was a really promising driver back when he was in F1. I rate him a lot more than Di Resta who did well in DTM, but ultimately failed to impress in F1.

My 2 cents
 
Last edited:
Caporegime
Joined
17 Jul 2010
Posts
25,658
Barring some incredible miracle in the last few F2 races Matsushita won't have enough Superlicence points to make the move into F1. That means Kvyat and Gasly will likely be in the TR Honda next season.

There's talk that Marchionne wants a lot more exposure for Alfa Romeo as a sporting brand around the world so has been in discussion with Sauber owners and Ericsson sponsors Longbow about getting Leclerc and possibly Giovanazzi in at Sauber and rebranding the Ferrari engines as Alfa Romeo. Of course being sound businessmen, if the sums make it financially better to rebrand and drop Ericsson they'll do it without hesitation.

Lance Stroll has been jetting around the world testing an old Williams at just about every track they can hire, all paid for by Stroll senior. When Williams asked of Kubica could also test Senior refused to pay any more for extra time so Robert can test. Personally I don't think Robert will get a full time seat next year, if at all and PDR will likely get the seat at Williams. He will be relatively cheap, a known quantity and so very, very consistent. At the end of the season points make prize money and Williams would love scoring points every race.
 
Caporegime
Joined
19 May 2004
Posts
31,386
Location
Nordfriesland, Germany
I think his test with Renault highlighted some 'issues' that may make his return difficult. Williams are a real engineering company though so who knows. I still hope PDR gets the Williams seat, he's a much better racer than commentator.
Andi.

I don't have huge expectations of his success but I'd still love to see him get the chance.
 
Transmission breaker
Don
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
16,793
Location
In a house
@MissChief - I was fairly sure, the "appendix L" still applied:

Under exceptional circumstances Appendix L also allows the FIA to award a Super Licence to a driver who does not meet the normal criteria if a vote reveals unanimous agreement by the members, and provided that the driver has completed 300 kilometres of testing at racing speeds in a current car.

Has he done the 300km required testing? If so, then he can apply to get the license regardless of points.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Sep 2005
Posts
6,493
Location
Grundisburgh
Thank you, I try. Yet when I post anything remotely sensible on the F1 Reddit sub it gets down voted into oblivion or some rubbish complete fantasy land post like 'Kubica to Ferrari and WDC in 2018!' Gets hundreds of up votes. The bandwagon is strong there and it frustrates me.
Ah yes I know places like that ;)
Andi.
 
Back
Top Bottom