The 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix Chat and Predictions

Wonder if it's a mix up somewhere. Was just fp1 last I heard

 

Nope, he's replacing Kvyat for potentially the rest of the season!

Not that I'm surprised with Red Bull being cut throat with their junior drivers. But are they then going to pair Kvyat with Gasly next season? Or admit their pipeline is broken and bring in an outside driver?

 

Seems strange to take Kvyat out the car if you plan on retaining him next season.

 

And if it is true that the Stroll family has blocked Kubica from a test with Williams, I hope Lance never finishes another race. I think the is downright nasty, and they would lose a lot of good input from Kubica because he is very knowledgable and could give great feedback on improving the car. If the Strolls are afraid of good competition, then they should stay away from facing...go opening a business that there is no competition. Have no respect for clowns like that who feel they could use their money to keep back others who are much better in the craft than their son will ever be. He could learn a lot from Kubica

 

BBC Sport's chief F1 writer Andrew Benson:

Daniil Kvyat's F1 career has been on borrowed time ever since he was demoted from the Red Bull senior team back to junior outfit Toro Rosso in May last year to make way for Max Verstappen.

Only an exceptional performance could have saved him and he hasn't provided it, out-shone by team-mate Carlos Sainz these last 18 months.

Beyond that, this move has some interesting ramifications.

First, it can now be assumed that Jolyon Palmer will see out the season with Renault. The French team have secured Sainz on loan for 2018 and had hoped to bring the Spaniard over early for the final races of this season in place of Palmer.

Had that happened, Gasly would have replaced Sainz. The fact the Frenchman is now in for the dropped Kvyat almost certainly means Sainz will stay at Toro Rosso to the end of the year - and therefore Palmer has won his fight to force Renault to honour his contract.

Second, it raises an interesting question about who will be in the second Toro Rosso in 2018.

One expects Gasly will stay, and that Kvyat will surely not come back.

The hot tip is Japanese Nobuharu Matsushita. The Formula Two race-winner is a protege of Honda, whose engines Toro Rosso will have next year.

 

I agree , if it's true it's disgusting . I Like Lance , my bigger concern though is that if Lawrence has blocked Williams from allowing Kubica to test , then they must be totally dependant on his money , Can you imagine Sir Frank or Sir Patrick allowing this to happen ?

Sad reflection on the sport IMHO .

 

It's a very unsubstantiated rumour, 'might be pressuring' sounds a bit like conjecture, they have pretty much linked every driver that is available with the seat because it's very much the silly season, Palmer, Kubica, Massa Di Resta, maybe even Kvyatt will make that list, and each will bring their own financial package. The other rumour in the article I read said Kubica has to pass one more test for Williams and the seat is his, he was a great driver, but is he still? I hope so, it's a good story of triumph over adversity.

Truth is, it's always been this way for the smaller teams, which is what Williams have become over the last decade or so. You may get lucky and hire a pay-driver with real talent but, with the advent of the junior driver program, the chances of that happening have dropped considerably, though with only 1 true junior team you can get to hire some of those. Personally I think we have a very strong field of drivers, the only one I can think of that really doesn't belong is Ericsson

 

Shouldn't the Strolls be happy with their son going up against a man who was, and still is, highly rated in Formula 1? In the event that he beats Kubica, wouldn't Lance's ratings go up...even if Kubica isn't at 100 per cent like he was before? I prefer and respect any driver who relish taking on the best in the sport. If you don't want competition why take part in anything. Every business has competition, so what is the Stroll family playing here. Even if he is beaten by Kubica, I am sure in the end he would have learnt a lot. Come on daddy Stroll, let you son develop the right way, not as some spoil brat that believes he has to pay to get his competition go away.

 

no business wants competition, every single one of them wants a monopoly, and this is merely a rumour completely unsubstantiated. If it were true then I would say the thinking behind it would be that Lance will learn far more off a team-mate that's been in F1 for years than one that's not been in it years, so they'd probably push for Massa, former team-mate of Schumcher, Raikonen and Alonso,

 

I believe Kubica with his handicap would still beat Massa in the same car hands down, even though he hasn't raced In while.

 

I believe he wont have enough licence points if he finishes below 3rd. He is currently 6th

That would give him
(2017)6th 10pts
(2016)11th 0pts
(2015)9th 3pts

a whopping 13pts! although we could have fun with his surname

 

Given there was rumours earlier in the season that Daddy Stroll was prepared to pay Alonso's wages for Williams, so his son could learn from the best, I'm not sure what to make of this latest rumour. Where has it been reported? Of course both/neither could have basis in reality.

 

It's a list dating from January, but that's the latest I can find of those eligible to race in F1 via superlicense points...

Sebastien Buemi
Andre Lotterer
Lucas di Grassi
Will Power
Neel Jani
Marc Lieb
Romain Dumas
Antonio Giovinazzi
Sergey Sirotkin
Pierre Gasly
Marcel Fassler
Benoit Treluyer
Scott Dixon
Kazuki Nakajima
Loic Duval
Helio Castroneves
Oliver Rowland
Brendon Hartley
Mark Webber
Timo Bernhard
Anthony Davidson
Louis Deletraz
Simon Pagenaud
Charles Leclerc
Alex Lynn
Nyck De Vries
Jose Maria Lopez
Felix Rosenqvist
Juan Pablo Montoya
Stephane Sarrazin
Alexander Rossi
Tom Dillmann
Nelson Piquet Jnr

Some interesting names there! For me, I'd like Toro Rosso to give Felix Rosenqvist a shot.

 

Helio needs a job.

 

Firstly, I agree that if they are doing that then it sucks.

However, what can he really learn from Kubica? He's been out of the sport for so long, has only test experience of the turbo cars and the rules have changed massively. Will he still have those reactions and sensations that differentiate a bog standard F1 driver from the elite?

I think too much time has passed for Kubica to make a successful comeback.

If Williams do hire Kubica, surely it has to be a publicity stunt as much as thinking he is going to do the business, otherwise why have Renault not already put him in the car to displace Palmer if they thought he was going to be that good? Something in Renault's data from the tests he has done must suggest that he is certainly no better than what Palmer can do, and could still be a risk in other areas?

 

The Renault thing is strange, they've made their decision on Palmer which was expected and hopefully are looking forward to future talent. Sainz is obviously a 1 year deal but they must have the intention of trying to keep him beyond this, and whilst he will obviously want to keep his options open for a seat in the RB senior team, I don't think he would race alongside Max. The question is, what is their long term vision? Is it Alonso and Ocon in a competitive car in 2019/2020? Maybe they would have only considered the other driver on a 1 year deal and if I recall correctly, Kubica requested to be released from whatever Renault agreement was in place.

In relation to Kubica's performance at the test, we simply don't know the data. Norris hit the headlines, but we are talking about a driver who is racing most weekends and in the McLaren simulator the other weekends. Kubica did 2 simulator sessions, a shakedown in an out of date of car and then went into the hungry test and seemed to be equal to Palmer. In isolation that is impressive if you compare Di Resta's performance (who must be in the simulator regularly) and as the 3rd driver is at every race weekend has in depth knowledge of the equipment and race data - which is half the battle in this formula.

 

The article I read said that Daddy Strolls contract allowed them to have the 2014 carS, test with them, when and where they wanted. It appeared to me that Williams wanted to piggy back on a Stroll funded and contracted test. The Strolls decided to have the cars moved to an alternative track. This meant that Williams did not have any available 2014 cars for Kubica to test in.

So while I understand Stroll giving his kid the best opportunities I believe Williams are really at fault here. They signed the contract with the Strolls that didn't give them the rights to have a driver of their choice use a 2014 car!

F1 is business and Williams dropped the ball, they should have known better. As has been said many times the paddock is full of sharks!

I would like to see Kubica back in a F1 car but without a decent test, and that goes for newcomers as well, how does Williams base millions on the 'hope' that Kubica or any new driver is going to be their best bet for points.

Maybe this is more of an FIA created problem that needs addressing. Maybe Friday mornings are only for drivers not competing in the championship i.e. the old 3rd drivers/test drivers. So teams can use it for driver and component development?

 

He's not that old and I don't think you lose your overall 'feel' unless you take a bit of a head injury. For me the question mark isn't so much the wrist causing problems with the steering, but the 'IT work' the hands have to do on the steering wheel, if that isn't a problem than I can see him being pretty much the driver he was before.

 

Schuey wasn't the same when he came back after his absence. Rosberg was regularly beating him. I'm sure 98% of his talent remains, but its that last little bit that means you'll be ultra competitive rather than someone who can just do a good job.

Just looking up at the superlicenced drivers, Kubica is not on there. Does he automatically qualify as a previous F1 driver, or because of his absence and lack of results in WRC, has he lost the required points he needs?

 

Schuey was almost a decade older when he returned than Kubica will, and was already in decline when he left the first time. Lauda left for a few years and was older than Kubica will be, he won a WDC with Prost as a team-mate.
I imagine he has one, or will find it fairly easy to get one.

Button, Kamui or Di Resta aren't on it either, and they all have one.