silly season 2018 - F1 driver line up

Not sure the times and tyre choices make Kubica's times all that representative.
I am sure he did a great job, but it does not look like a slam dunk speed wise....
I don't think it's anywhere near certain he will get the drive.
 
At the Q&A last night, Button said that the biggest issue Kubica will face is being able to get out of the car with Halo fitted as part of the safety test, saying that they're both relatively tall drivers and that he himself struggled with full use of both hands.
 
IIRC his sponsors are family friends with the new owners of Sauber. He may not be fast but he doesn't crash often, which seems important to a financially struggling team. All Gio did in his couple of races were spin or ding it.

Sauber have also released a sneak peak at next year's livery with Alfa sponsorship:

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andicole0 said:
Ericsson and Leclerc for Alfa Romeo Sauber! What did Marcus do to keep that seat?
Andi.
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Clearly not deserved, but money had the final say. To be fair it's not like Giovinazzi deserved the drive either, but being Italian was an advantage with Ferrari the puppet master. However it is unfortunate for Wehrlein who gets left out in the cold.
 
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The_Abyss said:
And it seems that Wehrlein is no longer favoured at Mercedes, and so is unlikely to he parachuted into Williams.
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I think a lot of teams fell out of love with Wehrlein after he continued to race the Manor car when the team told him to shut the engine off. he never really got rid of that stigma. a bit hypocritical, considering Vettel and Hamilton never really suffered from not listening to team orders.
 
Even the general team people don't really know what is happening. Paddy and Co are keeping their cards very close to their chests. There is a lot of warm feeling for Kubica though.
I would expect a decision shortly though, probably by end of next week.
I do think it is relevant that Kubica has been at the factory a lot though. I expect he has been spending a lot of time in the Sim. He is very much in the running.
I think he testing results have to be taken with a heavy dose of realism. It will take time to get used to the car, the tyres and also the procedures/menus. So to be even close to the pace is a positive.
 
Moses said:
I find that hard to believe. Surely they're confident he'll be able to do that... they can test his ability to get out of a car quickly, even with a mock halo fitted... and surely they've checked that before letting him test. Otherwise they've potentially wasted a significant amount of testing time on him (obviously they get car data etc, but in terms of other drivers etc).
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I'm just repeating what Button said. Due to his height, he found it a challenge to get out in the time required (5 seconds?) and that was with the full use of both hands.
 
As I sit and think about things. If I were Williams, I would have tested him with a heavy car, fully fueled, on the premise that it would be the hardest possible test. With that in mind, his testing times would be very competitive. If they were as good as I think, then he will be a sure-fire signing.

Delays in announcing will probably be purely contractual/marketing and simply milking the exposure it is giving Williams at the moment. Unless, perhaps, they have to wait for a Halo test with the FIA before they announce?

Sky Sports' latest from Paddy is clearly hinting at the fuel loads and times meaning it's hard to see his true performance outside of the crew.
 
Malt_Vinegar said:
As I sit and think about things. If I were Williams, I would have tested him with a heavy car, fully fueled, on the premise that it would be the hardest possible test. With that in mind, his testing times would be very competitive. If they were as good as I think, then he will be a sure-fire signing.

Delays in announcing will probably be purely contractual/marketing and simply milking the exposure it is giving Williams at the moment. Unless, perhaps, they have to wait for a Halo test with the FIA before they announce?

Sky Sports' latest from Paddy is clearly hinting at the fuel loads and times meaning it's hard to see his true performance outside of the crew.
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Because it was a tyre test Pirelli would likely have mandated the fuel loads for each run so they can test as many permutations as possible.
 
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