Nobody in it currently will qualify for a superlicense. They could try and lure Vergne back, but I'm not sure he'd do it for a TR seat. It looks like Ricciardo will leave, and Sainz may or may not return for the RB seat. Otherwise Gasly is there only option, and they've somehow got to fill two seats. Marko's rapid hiring and firing is going to leave them really struggling if they want to use their own talent. It wouldn't surprise me if the Japanese Honda junior (can't remember his name) gets fast-tracked.
yeah, I think they'd already decided he wasn't going to make the grade in F1 a few years ago, otherwise he would've been in it years ago, he's 28 now, older than Jaime Alguersuari, JEV, Kvyat, and older than when vettel joined Ferrari, not quite 'Junior' material. He's had 10 races and, to be perfectly honest, he's shown absolutely nothing. I wanted the guy to do well, but he doesn't look F1 material, he's been trounced by Gasly so far yeah, JEV would be good call, he held his own against Ricciardo when they were team-mates and he should've had their best results of that season, but he's not very good at luck management. I think he'd jump at the chance to race in F1 again
He knew Suzuka so well, I think it made him a little overconfident. It felt like every season he'd be pulling overtakes in places he had no right to.
McLaren 1.4s slower than RBR and nearly a second off Renault. That is poor from the team that kept claiming to have the best chassis last year, and now the driver who has proclaimed himself as one of the greats.............. Ego's writing cheques etc etc?
Their last excuse is that they had to integrate the Renault engine relatively late in the development process for the 2018 car...but that's wearing a bit thin. They are nowhere near competitive, Alonso has hugely outperformed the car (plus poor luck for others) to be 7th in the championship at the moment. If they can't even convincingly claim to be "best of the rest" by the end of the season, that's truly shocking for a team of their size. It could have been worse for them had Grosjean's engine not failed, he would have likely made Q2 in place of a Mclaren. Incredibly poor performance. Leclerc becomes the first Sauber driver to make Q2 for 4 consecutive races since Sutil in 2011, very good effort.
I'll be honest and say I'm not a huge fan of McLaren. I used to think it was because of Ron Dennis, but I've still not warmed up to them even after he's gone. They have always come across as arrogant but even I'm beginning to worry about McLaren, that they'll end up like Williams. I know they have massively rich backers, but how many seasons will they fund, with a sponserless looking car, before they get fed up with it all.
It's good to see Sauber consistently being better these days. I (and I feel a fair few others) have a soft spot for Sauber, it was tarnished a little by recent going ons with how the team was run but it is good to see all round improvement. On the other hand it's at the expense of Williams, which I am less happy about.
Breaks my heart to see Williams where they are now* , but yes , Always had a soft spot for Sauber . Peter Sauber in Particular . When BMW pulled out , he stepped in and saved the team . Years ago at track testing day's when you could wander round the pit lane , they and Jordan , were the most friendly . In Motor racing terms , on the grand scale of things that REALLY matter in my life , it's not that big a deal .
Just watched Ted Kravitz note book on Sky . Toto is Ocon's manager . I'm sure it's not the only example , but it doesn't sit comfortably with me . Anyone else have an opinion ?
The more you dig the more you see, from TV 'personalities' managing the drivers they commentate on to team bosses managing other teams drivers. Heck look at Briatore's life and drivers.
Shame sauber also have the worst driver on the grid. Though his campaign of making Grosjean look worse has worked well. I'm pretty sure he was following him yesterday when his engine blew
Toto managed Bottas before him move to Mercedes too. There really should be a rule to reduce these conflicts of interest.
I feel like I should apologise in advance to Ferrari fans. I voted Vettel and I've yet to get a point this season. Sorry!
I'm also liking Red Bulls strategy here, let Max do his thing at the start, take everyone out, Ricciardo wins, job done
