Silly season 2021-2022-2023

[Tizz]

It's going to go down between De Vries/Zhou/Giovanazzi.

i think Gio is out, and this is reasonably confirmed by Mazepin's inappropriate insta post.
De Vries has been mentioned before, and only lately Zhou, but Zhou is Alpine-connected, not Ferrari/Mercedes.

Likely De Vries.

Nyck would be insane to join Alfa Romeo. He has a top seat in FE. Why would he give that up for Alfa ?

it was rumoured months ago he actually already signed, and could be leased. I don't see how he'd skip a chance in F1.
AFAIK Mercedes has pulled back from Formula E, wouldn't that mean he actually is without a drive coming FE season?

The quote "I don't just participate, I want to be in the race, if you know what I mean." tells it all in my opinion.

Allthough he never expressed it it explicitly, from his interviews in dutch you could tell he was most of all interested in Williams and seemed genuinely disapointed when Albon was signed. He has firmly denied he has signed any F1 contract.

[NL_Fer]

Zhou is in his 3rd year F2, maybe still not becoming champion. Never impressed me, also in 2 years of F3 he wasn’t competing for championship.

Shwarzmann is strugling in his second year F2 in a Prema. Armstrong is even worse. They had a fierce battle in F3, but probably they both weren’t that special.

Better they save a seat for guys like Martins, Pourchere or Piastri.

Completely agree - but he brings in 30 million of sponsorship, and most others don't...

They can name him Yuan Yu Zhou than?

[Marty_Y]

It's going to go down between De Vries/Zhou/Giovanazzi.

i think Gio is out, and this is reasonably confirmed by Mazepin's inappropriate insta post.
De Vries has been mentioned before, and only lately Zhou, but Zhou is Alpine-connected, not Ferrari/Mercedes.

Likely De Vries.

Nyck would be insane to join Alfa Romeo. He has a top seat in FE. Why would he give that up for Alfa ?

it was rumoured months ago he actually already signed, and could be leased. I don't see how he'd skip a chance in F1.
AFAIK Mercedes has pulled back from Formula E, wouldn't that mean he actually is without a drive coming FE season?

AFAIK Mercedes are leaving FE after next season, so he would still have a Mercedes FE seat for one more season.

[codetower]

I'm putting my bets on Zhou. No connection with Mercedes, and more importantly, big money

My money is on Zhou as well. They won't pass up the 30 mil.

Shame, I liked Gio. I think in a better car he could be a solid #2 driver.

[Tizz]

Nyck would be insane to join Alfa Romeo. He has a top seat in FE. Why would he give that up for Alfa ?

it was rumoured months ago he actually already signed, and could be leased. I don't see how he'd skip a chance in F1.
AFAIK Mercedes has pulled back from Formula E, wouldn't that mean he actually is without a drive coming FE season?

AFAIK Mercedes are leaving FE after next season, so he would still have a Mercedes FE seat for one more season.

That is also my understanding. And he does endurance every now and then...

[Manoah2u]

To be fair, he can 'demand' all that he want's but it's not like there are so many options, and Alfa is not a bad place to start at all, especially 2022 and even more if it turns out they're gonna get Merc engines as a deal with it. If he grabs a seat @ Alfa for 2022, he'll have a year of learning and improving at a seat with a different mix of people, drive without any pressure on his shoulders, and if he does well enough, there's room to get a boost up to either Mercedes, Aston Martin or Mclaren - assuming Williams will not be a step upwards but rather sideways.

Truth is he got lucky too with the Formula E championship, so i don't think he should be too 'c%$ky' about his demands, because quite frankly, it's either that, or no F1 at all.

[Tizz]

To be fair, he can 'demand' all that he want's but it's not like there are so many options, and Alfa is not a bad place to start at all, especially 2022 and even more if it turns out they're gonna get Merc engines as a deal with it. If he grabs a seat @ Alfa for 2022, he'll have a year of learning and improving at a seat with a different mix of people, drive without any pressure on his shoulders, and if he does well enough, there's room to get a boost up to either Mercedes, Aston Martin or Mclaren - assuming Williams will not be a step upwards but rather sideways.

Truth is he got lucky too with the Formula E championship, so i don't think he should be too 'c%$ky' about his demands, because quite frankly, it's either that, or no F1 at all.

Where did you get the notion he has demands ? He simply seems to choose not to strive for a seat at Alfa. As he is doing it for a living and you don't and a manager assisting him in these matters, maybe we should trust his judgement over yours. Whether or not he has many options is beyond our knowledge but he has the firm support of Toto Wolff and Mercedes and built up a solid reputation. In contrast with your statement that Mercedes has withdrawn, he will be racing racing FE until the end of next season.
The original statement by molina was: "Any FE driver would exchange the seat for an F1 seat given the opportunity". I think I showed that this is not the case. Nyck will probably not take the Alfa seat given the opportunity.

[JordanMugen]

The original statement by molina was: "Any FE driver would exchange the seat for an F1 seat given the opportunity". I think I showed that this is not the case. Nyck will probably not take the Alfa seat given the opportunity.

I don't understand why Sauber would prefer de Vries to the younger and more exciting Piastri or their own exciting teenage prodigy Pourchaire? It seems illogical.

Piastri's (likely) F2 champion in one season is just plain better than de Vries record of F2 champion in three seasons. Indeed, it's on par with Russell. It would be unusual for a rookie F2 champion to not be promoted to F1.

[DChemTech]

The original statement by molina was: "Any FE driver would exchange the seat for an F1 seat given the opportunity". I think I showed that this is not the case. Nyck will probably not take the Alfa seat given the opportunity.

I don't understand why Sauber would prefer de Vries to the younger and more exciting Piastri or their own exciting teenage prodigy Pourchaire? It seems illogical.

Piastri's (likely) F2 champion in one season is just plain better than de Vries record of F2 champion in three seasons. Indeed, it's on par with Russell. It would be unusual for a rookie F2 champion to not be promoted to F1.

It would anyhow be good if the F2 champion made it to F1 somehow.
With the rule change providing tighter regulations, for my part, let the FIA commission their prototype car and add it to the grid or something, with the seats reserved for the winner and runner-up of the F2 championship that year.

[Tizz]

The original statement by molina was: "Any FE driver would exchange the seat for an F1 seat given the opportunity". I think I showed that this is not the case. Nyck will probably not take the Alfa seat given the opportunity.

I don't understand why Sauber would prefer de Vries to the younger and more exciting Piastri or their own exciting teenage prodigy Pourchaire? It seems illogical.

Piastri's (likely) F2 champion in one season is just plain better than de Vries record of F2 champion in three seasons. Indeed, it's on par with Russell. It would be unusual for a rookie F2 champion to not be promoted to F1.

It seems illogical as Nyck has a firm Mercedes background and Sauber is tightly coupled to Ferrari. Judging his qualities simply based on the statistics from the series seems a bit odd as many factors come into play there. But I do not have the competence to judge his qualities and leave that to the teams.

[Tizz]

It would anyhow be good if the F2 champion made it to F1 somehow.
With the rule change providing tighter regulations, for my part, let the FIA commission their prototype car and add it to the grid or something, with the seats reserved for the winner and runner-up of the F2 championship that year.

I think the FIA was discussing the plan to oblige the teams to do one practice with a rookie. With 10 teams that will be 10 rookies. I like that very much as it opens up for drivers taking a different path to F1 because of the economics or otherwise. But you could wonder if there really are 10 rookies with the required level of skills.

[Big Tea]

It would anyhow be good if the F2 champion made it to F1 somehow.
With the rule change providing tighter regulations, for my part, let the FIA commission their prototype car and add it to the grid or something, with the seats reserved for the winner and runner-up of the F2 championship that year.

I think the FIA was discussing the plan to oblige the teams to do one practice with a rookie. With 10 teams that will be 10 rookies. I like that very much as it opens up for drivers taking a different path to F1 because of the economics or otherwise. But you could wonder if there really are 10 rookies with the required level of skills.

Or with the licence points

[NL_Fer]

2023 LMH vs LMDh will be insane, I think De Vries will be a wanted man by the teams there.

For Alfa Romeo, i think Vasseur want’s to prepare Pourchaire as a future driver and sign him as test/reserve or give him another year to take the F2 crown. Might as wel take the Chinese money in the mean time.

[Manoah2u]

2023 LMH vs LMDh will be insane, I think De Vries will be a wanted man by the teams there.

For Alfa Romeo, i think Vasseur want’s to prepare Pourchaire as a future driver and sign him as test/reserve or give him another year to take the F2 crown. Might as wel take the Chinese money in the mean time.

lmh vs lmdh??????????

[NL_Fer]

2023 LMH vs LMDh will be insane, I think De Vries will be a wanted man by the teams there.

For Alfa Romeo, i think Vasseur want’s to prepare Pourchaire as a future driver and sign him as test/reserve or give him another year to take the F2 crown. Might as wel take the Chinese money in the mean time.

lmh vs lmdh??????????

I was refering to all the manufactures, who will enter LMH or LMDh class the next years. They need at least 6 drivers each.