Silly season 2024-2025

[djos]

Honestly, I think any big team with a serious junior driver program would leap at the opportunity to sign a quality female driver. RedBull IMO would see this as a marketing bonanza. I imagine Mercedes would too.

[mclaren111]

Are there any female drivers with enough points?

The bigger question is, are there any female drivers with enough talent.

And no, I'm not trying to be sexist or controversial - I simply have not seen any evidence that there are any F1 quality female drivers in any of the F1 feeder series. An F1 version of Michelle Mouton would be incredible for the sport, and great fun to see battling against Max, Charles, Lando etc (it would be enough to get my 12 year old daughter to watch F1 with me again).

Lucky... My daugther don't even care about cars leave alone motorsport...

[djos]

Are there any female drivers with enough points?

The bigger question is, are there any female drivers with enough talent.

And no, I'm not trying to be sexist or controversial - I simply have not seen any evidence that there are any F1 quality female drivers in any of the F1 feeder series. An F1 version of Michelle Mouton would be incredible for the sport, and great fun to see battling against Max, Charles, Lando etc (it would be enough to get my 12 year old daughter to watch F1 with me again).

Lucky... My daugther don't even care about cars leave alone motorsport...

When she was much younger (up till ~3 ish), she used to sit on the couch or on my lap and watch it with me.

Good times, I miss those days.

[Just_a_fan]

Good points here everyone. Great thread.

IMO, RB will never take Lewis. Ever. No chance. They’ve got a good deal going with Max and there are plenty, plenty of willling #2’s at 1/10th the price with no whining, entitlement baggage, or public washing of complaints to worry about.

They've already got a swearing, entitled, whiner so they wouldn't need another, certainly.

[organic]

Honestly, I think any big team with a serious junior driver program would leap at the opportunity to sign a quality female driver. RedBull IMO would see this as a marketing bonanza. I imagine Mercedes would too.

Definitely. But the grass roots need to produce the quality before they can be signed

[Cs98]

Lewis to RB makes little to no sense for either party. RB don't need him, and Lewis has a better chance at nr 8 staying put and hoping Merc finds some mighty form.

[Big Tea]

Lewis to RB makes little to no sense for either party. RB don't need him, and Lewis has a better chance at nr 8 staying put and hoping Merc finds some mighty form.

The greatest benefit would be Red Bull denying him to the competition. Max is handling things alone, so any sort of back up driver could fill the seat...unless they suspect Max of leaving.

[djos]

Honestly, I think any big team with a serious junior driver program would leap at the opportunity to sign a quality female driver. RedBull IMO would see this as a marketing bonanza. I imagine Mercedes would too.

Definitely. But the grass roots need to produce the quality before they can be signed

True. One of the issues is the small numbers of female drivers who get started racing to begin with.

[mclaren111]

Good points here everyone. Great thread.

IMO, RB will never take Lewis. Ever. No chance. They’ve got a good deal going with Max and there are plenty, plenty of willling #2’s at 1/10th the price with no whining, entitlement baggage, or public washing of complaints to worry about.

They've already got a swearing, entitled, whiner so they wouldn't need another, certainly.

[FW17]

Only chance of seeing Alex Palou in F1 now would be if Williams take a chance of dropping Sargent for rest of season and slotting him in for the Singapore GP.

[Chuckjr]

Good points here everyone. Great thread.

IMO, RB will never take Lewis. Ever. No chance. They’ve got a good deal going with Max and there are plenty, plenty of willling #2’s at 1/10th the price with no whining, entitlement baggage, or public washing of complaints to worry about.

They've already got a swearing, entitled, whiner so they wouldn't need another, certainly.

Certainly true. Whatever happened to drivers with class like Senna and Barichello? The brutish approach renders a lack of artistry, and the entitlement devalues the sport.

[Stu]

We shall revisit this.

It is the silly season thread, so quite reasonable to post

Please do indicate which team is most likely to compete, Mr Mod.

Realistically, there are 4 (maybe 5) teams that could challenge (any that are within 1%) of the race pace of the RB19.
In no particular order…
- Mercedes - getting closer as the season continues, but need to start each year with a better package AND understand how to get it working.
- McLaren - made a big jump in the last few races, indicating an understanding of what is required, also seem to have a pretty good grasp on operating the package.
- Aston Martin - made a big jump this year. After a strong start, development seems to be faltering. Need to get on top of the operating window to develop the package.
- Ferrari - strategically poor (still), but there is the possibility that they get tyre life sorted. If they can get over the need to underperform, which seems to be driven by management pressure, the performance is often ‘almost’ there.
- Sauber - the dark horse, already with Audi ‘management’ in place.

I don’t see Haas at the sharp end (Ferrari issues always seem to be turned up to 11!). Alpha Tauri/Boss F1 (or whatever the Jnr RB team will be called) will realistically not be allowed to compete with the main team.
Williams do not seem to have the facilities, but will continue to improve under the guidance of James Vowles.
Alpine seem to be content in underperforming and creating the perfect cocktail to do so.

[Henri]

Ferrari ceo wants ham at ferrari.. i know ham always dreamed of driving the red.. i think he will sigm for them in 2025 fpr the new regs

[ME4ME]

Just watching F1TV and reading general F1 media there are some voices about Sergeant and now Zhou not getting a contract extension. While neither has been spectacular they haven't been that bad in my opinion. Sergeant shows flashes of pace against a hyped up Albon. Zhou is matching Bottas, who admittedly isn't very deserving of an F1 seat himself anymore.

But thinking about it, who can either Williams or Sauber hire that would be an instant clear improvement. Seems to me that there are plenty of drivers in the same "mediocre" league, but no real top talents or good experienced drivers available at the moment. What's the point of replacing the current drivers?

Maybe a team could go for the left-over driver from Red Bull so either Yuki, Daniel, Checo or Lawson.

[Stu]

Tsunoda is they key, will Williams jump ship for Honda PU’s in 2026? Assuming the Stroll Jnr doesn’t flounce off to be a professional tennis player, Honda will want him on ‘their’ team. I think that Perez has probably got the rest of this season to save himself at RedBull.
I keep hearing “Mick Schumacher to Williams”, but really cannot get my head around it - he looked mediocre (at best) in the Haas against Magnusson last year, unless his salary is paid in free PU supply by Mercedes I cannot see what they would gain from it.

If Sainz goes to Audi/Sauberit will open the driver market totally!!