Silly season 2024-2025

[gshevlin]

Events in F1 in the past show that any contractual issue can be made to disappear by the application of significant sums of money.
If another team was willing to pay (say) $10m to have Adrian Newey's notice period shortened, I am sure that detailed discussions would instantly occur.

[TeamKoolGreen]

I gotta laugh at the boys from The Race podcast. They were questioning if Hulkenberg was better than Bottas. Hulk has as decorated of a jr career as anyone in the field. Including a rookie F2 title win. And he out qualified everyone including Max at least once last year. He is better than Bottas.

[Xyz22]

I gotta laugh at the boys from The Race podcast. They were questioning if Hulkenberg was better than Bottas. Hulk has as decorated of a jr career as anyone in the field. Including a rookie F2 title win. And he out qualified everyone including Max at least once last year. He is better than Bottas.

The argument doesn't make sense as well. Hulkenberg is replacing Zhou, while Sainz will replace Bottas which will make the new line up way better than the previous as Zhou is one of the slowest driver in F1.

[dialtone]

It’s hard to take anything for granted with the Newey situation.

Contracts usually include non-disparaging clauses for example, when Horner said that Newey doesn’t matter as much, it may have given AN grounds for a good discussion about contracts.

People in here keep saying that AN isn’t an employee but works via his own company. This is another aspect to keep in mind as it changes dynamic.

Ultimately with the nonsense that went on with Horner, having this separation not bring even more nonsense would be seen as a goal, and while I don’t see AN doing this, I also don’t know him.

Newey reportedly last rejected Ferrari because Domenicali didn’t receive him in person at the airport to discuss contract.

We will know soon enough what happens, saying that he’s retiring for sure just because he’s bought a boat is ridiculous. James Hamilton, the equivalent of AN for cloud computing at AWS also an absolutely fantastic person to chat with, famously lives on a boat and travels around the world all the time. If you think being on a boat means being unable to work you are deeply mistaken, or thinking that it means that for 4-5 years he’ll be out of reach… are some folks here in posession of his travel plans now?

[organic]

Toto when discussing max joining mercedes mentions their 2026 seat being vacant separately from next year.. maybe they are considering making a 2026 offer for Verstappen, given that a move from RB for 2025 seems like a poor choice with the W15 as it is

“We have a seat available in 2025 and 2026,” he said. “But Max will drive where there is the fastest car, and today that is the Red Bull.”

[CHT]

Toto when discussing max joining mercedes mentions their 2026 seat being vacant separately from next year.. maybe they are considering making a 2026 offer for Verstappen, given that a move from RB for 2025 seems like a poor choice with the W15 as it is

“We have a seat available in 2025 and 2026,” he said. “But Max will drive where there is the fastest car, and today that is the Red Bull.”

For Max should remain in RBR till 2026 earliest to get a clearer picture of pecking order before deciding his future. If RB22 turn out to be a rocket, there is really no reason for him to switch team.

[Jdn1327]

I think the only logical choice would be to get rid of Bottas, it's harsh but Zhou has far more market appeal in terms of sponsorship. I mean the Chinese Market is huge. So yeah its tough choice but it seems the only right one.

Audi is angling for Sainz + Hulk lineup. If Sainz doesn't play ball, I think Audi could very easily drop Zhou and keep Bottas.

Sainz/Hulk is a very good combination. 2 very experienced and consistent drivers is what a new team needs. Sainz is experienced and young as well.

[selvam_e2002]

Max will not go to Mercedes in 2027. He will move to AM in 2027 once Alonso retired. This is mostly expected.
Also it is make sense that Newly will join Aston instead of Ferrari. i.e. in 2026 he will re-unit with Honda in 2027 with Max. This is going to happen...This is my prediction.

[Tiny73]

One thing that’s possibly being overlooked in the Newey situation is him “coming out of retirement” to work with another team rather than going there directly. I used to work in a very small industry and a colleague at a competitor company moved from one company to an NGO for about 3 months then went to the direct competitor, thereby getting around his non-compete. Whilst the lawyers probably have that sewn up in exit clauses it remains a possibility.

[Stu]

One thing that’s possibly being overlooked in the Newey situation is him “coming out of retirement” to work with another team rather than going there directly. I used to work in a very small industry and a colleague at a competitor company moved from one company to an NGO for about 3 months then went to the direct competitor, thereby getting around his non-compete. Whilst the lawyers probably have that sewn up in exit clauses it remains a possibility.

Somebody mentioned the other day about the possibility of him joining the FIA, there has historically been a revolving door between senior team personnel & the FIA. It really does seem like a potential good fit.

[CaribouBread]

Somebody mentioned the other day about the possibility of him joining the FIA, there has historically been a revolving door between senior team personnel & the FIA. It really does seem like a potential good fit.

Newey doesn't strike me as a Brawn figure, he's had complaints about the regulations forever, and I don't think he'd enjoy working around team concerns, manufacturer concerns, FOM concerns and FIA concerns. I think he'd rather retire or go design boats if any F1 positions aren't feasible.

[langedweil]

One thing that’s possibly being overlooked in the Newey situation is him “coming out of retirement” to work with another team rather than going there directly. I used to work in a very small industry and a colleague at a competitor company moved from one company to an NGO for about 3 months then went to the direct competitor, thereby getting around his non-compete. Whilst the lawyers probably have that sewn up in exit clauses it remains a possibility.

Somebody mentioned the other day about the possibility of him joining the FIA, there has historically been a revolving door between senior team personnel & the FIA. It really does seem like a potential good fit.

It absolutely wouldn't hurt the sport as a whole if ever he becomes part of the FIA visionary team.

Based on really nothing I don't feel like he'll be joining Ferrari. I'd say if he jumps ship it'll be AMR; there's money to run the team on a high level, he could have about the same freedoms as within RBR, there's brand new infrastructure, there's Honda & Alonso, and if Lawrence drops el nino into some others series there might even be Max.
Ferrari otoh feels kinda set too much in stone, with weird internal ego's and structures. I mean someone like Vigna will never 'bend the knee'.
Somehow I don't think AN can be steered by heaps of money, i.e. look at the Domenicali example ..

But most likely he will just take a sailing-leave and after that he might decide to step into another team or maybe maybe maybe indeed FIA (although that doesn't seem to be a proper fit somehow).

Anyway, who are we to know ...

[dialtone]

One thing that’s possibly being overlooked in the Newey situation is him “coming out of retirement” to work with another team rather than going there directly. I used to work in a very small industry and a colleague at a competitor company moved from one company to an NGO for about 3 months then went to the direct competitor, thereby getting around his non-compete. Whilst the lawyers probably have that sewn up in exit clauses it remains a possibility.

Somebody mentioned the other day about the possibility of him joining the FIA, there has historically been a revolving door between senior team personnel & the FIA. It really does seem like a potential good fit.

It absolutely wouldn't hurt the sport as a whole if ever he becomes part of the FIA visionary team.

Based on really nothing I don't feel like he'll be joining Ferrari. I'd say if he jumps ship it'll be AMR; there's money to run the team on a high level, he could have about the same freedoms as within RBR, there's brand new infrastructure, there's Honda & Alonso, and if Lawrence drops el nino into some others series there might even be Max.
Ferrari otoh feels kinda set too much in stone, with weird internal ego's and structures. I mean someone like Vigna will never 'bend the knee'.
Somehow I don't think AN can be steered by heaps of money, i.e. look at the Domenicali example ..

But most likely he will just take a sailing-leave and after that he might decide to step into another team or maybe maybe maybe indeed FIA (although that doesn't seem to be a proper fit somehow).

Anyway, who are we to know ...

Vigna hasn’t been to a race in months. He was basically moved off by Elkann, timing wise it seems to coincide with when Vasseur joined.

Since Vasseur joining the politking and egos seem largely gone and the results speak for themselves.

[Mogster]

Somebody mentioned the other day about the possibility of him joining the FIA, there has historically been a revolving door between senior team personnel & the FIA. It really does seem like a potential good fit.

Newey doesn't strike me as a Brawn figure, he's had complaints about the regulations forever, and I don't think he'd enjoy working around team concerns, manufacturer concerns, FOM concerns and FIA concerns. I think he'd rather retire or go design boats if any F1 positions aren't feasible.

Not that he says much but he’s never appeared interested in management just technical stuff. His occasional comments on the future of the sport have been along the lines of “bring back V10s” and other whimsical rather than practical stuff. I don’t see him being a target of the FIA technical team.

[organic]

Marko

Helmut Marko reveals details of Carlos Sainz’s Audi offer:

“I think he has a very great three-year offer from Audi.”

“But he has to make a decision relatively soon.”

“We, on the other hand, won't make a decision soon. We won't let things like that put us under pressure.”