The F1 Thread

[flyingscot]

15 hours ago, Mr. Brightside said:

Struggling to understand the folk saying De Vries was hard done by. Probably the same folk that were raging Ricciardo was punted by McLaren despite being absolute garbage.

I have sympathy with De Vries. I get he's not hit the ground running but he wasn't woeful like some in recent years and 10 races isn't a lot to get settled. Getting beaten by Tsunoda isn't good, but the car seems poor. Helmut Marko's comments regarding Horner's 'warning' and yellow card were brutal so that combined with Red Bull's history and his slow start makes it's not surprising.

It would make more sense to me if it was to promote a young and promising Red Bull driver, rather than Ricciardo, given his results at McLaren. He'll probably make me eat my words now with a series of great drives!. With Vips gone and Lawson in a Super Formula title battle guess there wasn't really an option there. 

Perez struggling won't have helped the situation, a closer season might have seen them have a constructors battle. I wonder if this is an eye on seeing if Ricciardo could get a seat there. 

1 hour ago, Mackie The Staggie said:

Nick is a good driver whose not really got it going as fast as he needed to, the days of a Taki Inoue or Ricardo Rosset are long gone now and being at the back of the F1 grid doesn't mean you are a terrible driver. 

I agree, but it was probably the wrong team for him to choose in hindsight. I suspect had he gone to Williams he might have lasted the season at least. 

[MP_MFC]

 

 

That's quite something

[flyingscot]

53 minutes ago, MP_MFC said:

That's quite something

Great laps Daniel. Now get out of that car and try it with the slowest car out. 

[Mackie The Staggie]

59 minutes ago, MP_MFC said:

That's quite something

Helmut Marko by name.....Helmet by nature.

[CityDave94]

Daniel Ricciardo is a marketing dream worth millions in potential sponsorship, not many outside single seater racing have heard of Nyck de Vries. Once Red Bull signed Ricciardo as the third driver this was always on the cards.

De Vries in hindsight should have taken the Williams drive. Might still get a chance next season if a bigger team snap up Albon.

I would not be surprised if De Vries goes back to Williams as third driver for the rest of this season.

[Mr. Brightside]

The biggest mistake Marko made was putting De Vries in the car to start with.

[Sortmeout]

NDV isn’t good enough. He hasn’t shown a single sign that he’s going to ever be good enough. 
 

Think Riccardo will perform well and get the number 2 seat at RB next year. Wouldn’t even surprise me to see them offer Checo an AT drive.

[The Golden God]

Marko might be the biggest p***k in F1 and that is saying something. He gets results and is ruthless but comes across as an absolute c**t. Giving Ricciardo the seat is so boring, hope Yuki destroys him and gets the RB drive next year. 

[CityDave94]

8 hours ago, Sortmeout said:

NDV isn’t good enough. He hasn’t shown a single sign that he’s going to ever be good enough. 
 

Think Riccardo will perform well and get the number 2 seat at RB next year. Wouldn’t even surprise me to see them offer Checo an AT drive.

If this happens then its maybe time for Tsunoda to move elsewhere if he gets passed over for a driver who is coming towards the end of his career in F1.

[afc_36_0]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cuhw0YfNRCC/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
The resemblance is uncanny

[The Moonster]

Has F1 always been as cut-throat with its drivers? I'm probably the most casual fan out here but it feels a bit like EPL managers in that a few bad races has everyone talking about you getting the chop. 

I know very little of Albons time in the RB seat but he looks a terrific driver to me right now. Would RB be much worse off right now if they'd given him time in the second seat? Likewise, how much better off will AT be in 2 or 3 years having binned a young guy NDV and gone with an aging Danny Ric? 

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

Just now, The Moonster said:

Has F1 always been as cut-throat with its drivers? I'm probably the most casual fan out here but it feels a bit like EPL managers in that a few bad races has everyone talking about you getting the chop. 

I know very little of Albons time in the RB seat but he looks a terrific driver to me right now. Would RB be much worse off right now if they'd given him time in the second seat? Likewise, how much better off will AT be in 2 or 3 years having binned a young guy NDV and gone with an aging Danny Ric? 

I think outwith the Red Bull setup, most teams at least give their drivers the whole season. I can't remember the last time a driver was sacked during a season by a non Red Bull team.

[The Golden God]

Marko might be the biggest arse hole in the sport and that’s saying something 

[The Moonster]

5 minutes ago, Sherrif John Bunnell said:

I think outwith the Red Bull setup, most teams at least give their drivers the whole season. I can't remember the last time a driver was sacked during a season by a non Red Bull team.

I suppose Mazepin is one, if for reportedly different reasons than his driving. It's maybe just the perception media is giving me, there's always talk of this guy replacing that but I suppose you're right it tends to happen at the end of each season. 

[Iminavest]

29 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

Has F1 always been as cut-throat with its drivers? I'm probably the most casual fan out here but it feels a bit like EPL managers in that a few bad races has everyone talking about you getting the chop. 

I know very little of Albons time in the RB seat but he looks a terrific driver to me right now. Would RB be much worse off right now if they'd given him time in the second seat? Likewise, how much better off will AT be in 2 or 3 years having binned a young guy NDV and gone with an aging Danny Ric? 

NDV is 28! Giving him the drive over a genuine up and coming talent was always a mad decision. 

[The Moonster]

Just now, Iminavest said:

NDV is 28! Giving him the drive over a genuine up and coming talent was always a mad decision. 

I did not realise that

Fair enough.

[Mr. Brightside]

That was his biggest issue and probably why he's been punted already. He had to come in and show pace, former Formula E champion and with a good performance in Monza last year, but being 28 you're not going to get given much scope for fucking up, which he has done, a lot.

[Mackie The Staggie]

1 hour ago, The Moonster said:

Has F1 always been as cut-throat with its drivers? I'm probably the most casual fan out here but it feels a bit like EPL managers in that a few bad races has everyone talking about you getting the chop. 

I know very little of Albons time in the RB seat but he looks a terrific driver to me right now. Would RB be much worse off right now if they'd given him time in the second seat? Likewise, how much better off will AT be in 2 or 3 years having binned a young guy NDV and gone with an aging Danny Ric? 

Off the top of the head I can only think of 3 drivers who got replaced midseason, (excluding the RBR connected drivers/teams).  Teams tend to be more ruthless once a season has finished,

Jolyen Palmer was sacked by Renault in 2017 (?), with Palmer finding out by social media before the team even spoke with him.  IIRC he was replaced by Sainz when Sainz was start to see that RedBull was going to focus more on Max then him. (Sainz taking a lesson from the Alonso book in how to chose teams poorly)

Nelson Piquet Junior was sacked by mad Flavio Briatore midway through the 2009 season, ironically replacing one deliberate crasher with a constant crasher in Romain Grosjean.  Pretty sure this was the catalyst event which lead to Piquet confessing his sins and lead to Flav's ban from the sport. 

Then Heinz-Harald Frentzen got dropped by the mad rumour mill generating machine that is Eddie Jordon.  By all accounts there was a frank and open discussion about how bad the car was after Silverstone, which result in Frentzen calling Eddie names, and Eddie promptly ripping up the contract and telling him to piss off days before Heinz's home GP. 

[CityDave94]

Judging a driver on one performance could should how much of a mess Red Bull are on driver selection and have been for years. Doesn't give any confidence to the Red Bull Juniors set up either, Liam Lawson who is top of the heap at the moment has now been passed over twice to drivers who were outsiders. There's a couple of potential F1 drivers there at RBJ but no one that looks right now like the next Verstappen or even the next Carlos Sainz Jr.

So if Ricciardo turns out to be level or behind Tsunoda for the rest of the year and Perez continues to spiral downwards where do they go for someone to team up with Verstappen at Red Bull in 2024? Are they going to backtrack and ask Alex Albon to come back yet again or going to pay millions to another team like Ferrari or McLaren to take Leclerc or Norris in which I can't see either being happy at the potential to end up number 2 in that team so can't see it? Maybe Sainz, maybe Ocon from Alpine.

 

[CityDave94]

Some non Red Bull connected and performance related sackings during the season.

In 2011 Nick Heidfeld got the push from Lotus Renault after Round 11 Hungary for what was said to be something like a reluctance or failure to take on the role of a strong leader (too quiet or lazy) and was replaced by Bruno Senna. Never mind, they signed the more assertive Kimi Raikkonen the next season. Bwoah!

In 2006 the injury to Jacques Villeneuve from the previous race gave Robert Kubica at the Hungarian GP a chance to impress and he did just that, getting the Sauber through to Q3 and impressing in difficult conditions to take 7th but was disqualified for the car being underweight. BMW Sauber looking forward to the following season as a proper go at moving up the grid decided on releasing Villeneuve from his contract, as they had very likely proved evidence what they already knew that Kubica was faster and better value, plus suddenly the other driver Nick Heidfeld had upt his game with the BMW team's first podium in that same race in Hungary.

Jan Magnusson got a generous season and a half at Stewart GP without doing anything of note on the track and was easily and completely out performed by Rubens Barrichello. Magnusson's form during 1997 in F1 had to be one of the biggest surprises for all the wrong reasons. Super fast and dominating races in the junior formulas with raw speed he was even compared to Ayrton Senna. Came to F1 and was a complete waste of a seat and was replaced after the 1998 Canadian Grand Prix by Jos Verstappen.

Binning drivers for poor performance did seem to be more common back in the 90's and 80's, usually meant the team either took on Robert Moreno or binned Robert Moreno. One of the most famous was at Benetton where Nelson Piquet's sidekick was punted to make way for Michael Schumacher, with Moreno joining Jordan. Moreno's very angry reaction in his first race at Monza was to better both Benettons in Q1, handing Eddie Jordan the excuse to rip the piss out of Flavio Briatore. Sort of wished Moreno had got angry more often.

Remember Andrea Moda? sacked both drivers the experienced Alex Caffi and the occasionally useful Enricio Bertaggia after they criticised the team's set up after 2 race meetings and were replaced by Roberto 'I'll drive absolutely anything to be in F1 or Champcar' Moreno and The Stig.

Struggling Brabham in 1992 signed Giovanna Amati in the hope that they might get some positive publicity for hiring a female racing driver. Amati looked completely out of her depth in F3000 (5 seasons, no points and lots of DNQ) would repeat this form in the three races entered and if I remember was a good 3 seconds slower than her team mate Eric Van der Poele over one lap. Imagine that gap between team mates now? So she was sacked after three races and replaced by some random F3000 midfield jobber who had a famous racing dad.