F1 2019 SEASON: NEWS - RUMOURS

Anyone else get the feeling ahead of this weekend that the circus is desperate to make out the title is not over. Maybe the worry is viewership even further in the tank.

Anyway... 6 to go.. death by a thousand cuts now cos even if vettel somehow manages to win all 6 races.. 6x7 = 42...

Raikkonen has hardly taken a point off hamilton all year barring issues for hamilton so in a stright race I can't see ferrari doing anyhting but make more stupid mistakes.

Only an engine blow out will put life back in this title race now.

 

Just noticed red bull and torro rosso are basically out of this race form a sharp end conversation.

 

McLaren once again propping up the timesheets. How the mighty have fallen.

I think the title is still doable for Vettel, but if Hamilton beats Vettel this weekend then it becomes very unlikely.

 

Kvyat confirmed. They will drop him if verstappen needs a win.

 

I hope he dies well , and wipes the floor with Pascal if that's his team mate .

 

Well that escalated quickly.

 

Bit gruesome

 

Sorry .

 

Sorry

 

Wehrlein is widely expected to turn up in Formula E for the Valencia testing, and be announced as a Mahindra driver. They've entered 2 cars into testing with #64 and #94. 94 is still Wehrlein's F1 race number. 64 has been announced as Jerome d'Ambrosio today.

Not sure if I've seen it posted here that Vandoorne has been confirmed at HWA for Formula E Season 5. HWA will become the Merc works team the following season.

 

Confirmed now so that must mean he hasn't got the STR seat. So who has?

 

Rumours that Williams are looking at Ocon next year. A recovery may be on, McLaren better watch out.

 

Is this from the Autosport article? The quotes from Claire Williams (translation by a reddit user of a Polish journalist...) make it sound like Ocon demanded a $4m/year salary. Based on the below, it sounds like Ocon has no chance and it's almost like Kubica stands a better chance. Below is all C&P'd:



Robert is an integral part of our team. He is intelligent, really helps our engineers with car development and works with Lance and Sergey. He is on our list. I will wait with the decision about our second seat.



Sergey had a hard year, we had a hard year. We are taking with him to see if we are going in the same direction.



We worked hard on our budget for 2019 because we wanted to choose the driver based on talent [about Russell]. With our second seat, we don’t have this possibility. We work hard to keep Esteban in F1.

He also posted some kind of summary of information that he has which is interesting:



It's funny that the media form the UK post big title that Williams has a plan to hire Ocon. Esteban wants 4mln per year (which surprised Williams) because he didn't want to drive there. Russell brings engines for free and a private sponsor. It's getting fun

 

The more I think about it the more I doubt. They've made this all very public and late enough in the day so it's the last seat going. I fear they're simply trying to bump up the value of the seat for a pay driver.

 

I hope they are not . If Ocon is really demanding that sort of money , then he is daft imho , that’s if he wants a seat in F1 next year . If he’s prepared to sit it out as Merc’s 3rd driver , then fair enough .

 

Much as I like / support Williams .

I am the only one who thinks C Williams is either .

A - a bare faced Liar .

B - Living in cloud cuckoo land .

C - Telling the truth and Money is NOT a major consideration ( Getting money from Williams Tech which I think is doing VERY well ) .

If C is the case , how long can you rob Peter to pay Paul ?

 

It must be really difficult for all the team principals when they know the truth but can't say it in public. They can't say nothing, well unless you are Ferrari, as that doesn't go down well, they can't tell the truth due to negotiations, so what can they do but try and give vague and untruthful answers?
Claire has had a very difficult few years. Much as I love the private teams, times have changed and Williams are trying to stay truthful to their origins in constructing as much as they can in house.
Lets face it money does help teams get faster. So during negotiations they can't give anything away or they lose the upper hand.
It would be good to see Ocon in a seat next year then again Kubica would be nice to see drive F1 again as long as he is still relatively quick.

 

I agree .

Problem is , as far I can tell .

A _ When ( not if ) Merc RBR Renault get tired and pull out , what happens to the b teams then ?

B - This is I think the death knell as people like me ( 53 ) know the sport .

Forget the noise , the breakdowns , the innovation .

They will be gone soon enough , and the sport as I loved it , will die .

 

Willams are a pay-driver team now, that's what happens when you are at the back, won;t be long before they're fighting with McLaren for the racers with the deepest pockets.

 

I get the feeling that the likes of Mercedes will stick around a bit longer, but come 2021 and the new regs they'll start pushing heavily for the next regulation set to be electric, or at least significantly less fossil fuel based.

We're kind of in a limbo at the moment, petrol/diesel etc is going out of fashion, but the technology to replace it isn't quite there yet. Maybe some of the oil companies will stop blocking it with pointless copyrights... not that they'd ever do such a thing (insert allegedly wherever my legal team suggests)