Silly Season 2016/2017

[WaikeCU]

"Force India have a strong record of working with young drivers and have again shown courage and vision to take Esteban under their wing."

No, they have a habit of hiring on F1 merit they just changed with Ocon. Let's see:
- Sutil - yes, kind of but not exactly (incomparable situation - 4th best team now, paying driver, later kept and rehired instead of some 'young talent')
- Fisichella - no
- Perez - no
- Hulkeneberg - no
- Di Resta - yes. Where is this 'strong record' Mr. Wolff?

You forgot a few:

Esteban Ocon
Pascal Wehrlein
Alfonso Celis Jr.
Paul Di Resta
Adrian Sutil
Nikita Mazepin
Jules Bianchi
James Calado
Max Chilton
Luiz Razia

[PlatinumZealot]

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/palme ... 17-847909/
Is this April the 1st ?
- Renault chose worse of the two drivers
- ...and the one with less potential
- after a season he showed nothing to justify keeping him and plenty to justify mid-season firing
- I guess it's Palmer and not Magnussen that is 'future world champion' now?

- they're wasting three seasons on Palmer and you wonder why they fail season after season?
- at least autosport will not whine about 'French structure' for a while

Driver choices in F1 are an outright joke. Kvyat, Palmer, Stroll, Raikkonen etc.

Edit: So Ocon didn't impress enough after all ? They all always impress no one in particular before getting into cars. Why not put him in GP2 for a season? If he's that good he should be fine against Gasly etc. and develop basics. If he's not why waste time?

Iotar. Don't you know Enstone is in England; and to keep the team morale high in these time of change you have to keep the English driver on board. It is a pure strategic decision. Not politics or financial.. just a strategic team decision.

[Vladimir]

I agree with that strategic decision,because they are still team in bild up. In 2017. they will not go for wins.
But,recepie with youg extra talented driver, who will grow up with the team, is the better solution, for me. Like the Alonso's exemple.

[iotar__]

Iotar. Don't you know Enstone is in England; and to keep the team morale high in these time of change you have to keep the English driver on board. It is a pure strategic decision. Not politics or financial.. just a strategic team decision.

What strategy is that? Without Palmer's emotional support they won't be able to add downforce ? No, the only variable is money and on the other side performance or rather lack thereof. It's as if they haven't learned anything from '16 and their drivers problems: current (they can't be sure where the car is) and potential (those refusing them).

You can see why all the delays and chaos, it's because people like Stoll are making decisions. No one knowledgeable about F1 would pursue Sainz that way which resulted in Red Bull mocking them, only then they turned attention to Perez (as if he wasn't around last season) and so on.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/3466 ... -decision/

Manor driver Pascal Wehrlein says he is eager to understand why team-mate and fellow Mercedes protégé Esteban Ocon was selected for the vacant Force India seat for 2017.
Toto [Wolff] called me and told me that Force India had decided so. Sure, I would like to learn from it, what went wrong and what was the reason for it."

Hey at least Toto gave them choice out of the two. Mercedes don't buy seats they have whole team for that (Manor) and engine customers. Susi Wolff for example was Williams' first choice to test on merit and trumph of talent over money and connections. The part when they get holier than thou is the worst.

[iotar__]

"Force India have a strong record of working with young drivers and have again shown courage and vision to take Esteban under their wing."

No, they have a habit of hiring on F1 merit they just changed with Ocon. Let's see:
- Sutil - yes, kind of but not exactly (incomparable situation - 4th best team now, paying driver, later kept and rehired instead of some 'young talent')
- Fisichella - no
- Perez - no
- Hulkeneberg - no
- Di Resta - yes. Where is this 'strong record' Mr. Wolff?

You forgot a few:

Esteban Ocon
Pascal Wehrlein
Alfonso Celis Jr.
Paul Di Resta
Adrian Sutil
Nikita Mazepin
Jules Bianchi
James Calado
Max Chilton
Luiz Razia

I didn't forget anything. Sutil and Di Resta were included and the rest didn't drive for them. What exactly those names are proving, where are they now? If anything my point - they don't hire those pay drivers and Mercedes proteges. Until Ocon. maybe he's good but don't pretend Mercedes weren't pushing him on FI and it was all pure talent.

[langwadt]

Iotar. Don't you know Enstone is in England; and to keep the team morale high in these time of change you have to keep the English driver on board. It is a pure strategic decision. Not politics or financial.. just a strategic team decision.

What strategy is that? Without Palmer's emotional support they won't be able to add downforce ? No, the only variable is money and on the other side performance or rather lack thereof. It's as if they haven't learned anything from '16 and their drivers problems: current (they can't be sure where the car is) and potential (those refusing them).

afaiu they offered KMag the seat but he declined, it was only one year and he didn't feel they would be very committed
when it was only after they tried to get pretty every other driver

[Vladimir]

It is fair to say that RF1 gave some future in F1, for both Kevin and Jo.Shame for KMag, because Haas would probably be the Manor chasers next year.

[WaikeCU]

I didn't forget anything. Sutil and Di Resta were included and the rest didn't drive for them. What exactly those names are proving, where are they now? If anything my point - they don't hire those pay drivers and Mercedes proteges. Until Ocon. maybe he's good but don't pretend Mercedes weren't pushing him on FI and it was all pure talent.

They do, iotar. Get your facts straight. If they are offered to drive the car, then they are working with them. It doesn't have to be a race. A test day also counts as working with those young drivers.

[PlatinumZealot]

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/3466 ... -decision/

Manor driver Pascal Wehrlein says he is eager to understand why team-mate and fellow Mercedes protégé Esteban Ocon was selected for the vacant Force India seat for 2017.
Toto [Wolff] called me and told me that Force India had decided so. Sure, I would like to learn from it, what went wrong and what was the reason for it."

Hey at least Toto gave them choice out of the two. Mercedes don't buy seats they have whole team for that (Manor) and engine customers. Susi Wolff for example was Williams' first choice to test on merit and trumph of talent over money and connections. The part when they get holier than thou is the worst.

Poor wherlein doesnt even realize that he gave away all his chances to join force india when he was disobedient to his engineer in gAustin. Vijay is one especially that does not take kindly to primadonnas.

I cant speak to what money or connections ocon brings either but it is quite possible that Vijay has exhausted his German connections already with Hulkenberg and on the othe hand the french connection is new exciting teritory.

[Vasconia]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/126994

Esteban Ocon closing In on Force India deal.

So Ocon is the favourite Mercedes son then. A car that can fight for podiums when Poor old Werlien is stuck in the Manor.

Wow, Wehrlein must be angry and fustrated. I dont understand this.

And what about Palmer cotinuing in Renault? he has improved but I guess they will retain him because Magnussen will leave and hopefully Sainz could come in 2018!!.

[Cold Fussion]

So Renault essentially is begging fo rmoney without being able to offer anything reasonable. LOL

If NASR to FINDIA, then maybe Manor full scale Merc- B team with same drivers : )

MAG stays Renault and Haas???

For me, with all information that I have read and received:

Nasr to Force India
Magnussen stays with Renault
Werhlein to Haas
Ocon stays with Manor
Giovinazzi or Haryanto to Manor
Palmer or Gutierrez to Sauber

So when you say with the information you have received, where did this information come from? Is this more spaghetti on the wall nonsense that like the which we see from a certain other member? It seems implausible this could have been correct 5 days ago and almost completely wrong 3 or 4 days later.

[Racer X]

Well the Manor should be stronger next season the way Wehrlein makes it sound is that he rather continue in that team. So that he can run the Manor to its full development potential. How ever a car developed by Hulk/Perez should be better than anything made by Manor. Just simply because at the end of the day the input given from the drivers. Still needs to developed and used by the engineering team's and designers back at the Factory and Force India has the better design team as well as factory. So I give an edge to Force Indía even if the car isn't developed for you it would still be a better car than the best car developed by Manor. At least for the 2017 season. But then again if he can beat HAAS Sauber and maybe one other manufacturer in the Manor it would boost his image as apposed to being expected to place 4th or 5th in the constructors championship at Force India. There is a bigger yield for success as Manor then Force India if he can help them beat 2 or 3 teams As Constructors . Even if you only end up scoring 8th to 10th it's a bigger statement then 4th -10th at Force India. Only a podium can be considered impressive at Force India. Or very consistent 4th-6th place constant finishes.

I think for the 2017 season both Manor and Force India provide the Mercedes-Benz talent appropriate places to be properly rated. I'm sure Mercedes will look at each driver with the consideration of each drivers team in mind. I would prefer The driver in the Manor scoring 10th then the driver in the Force India scoring 9th. So let's see how it works out.

[NAPI10]

It would be interesting to know the reason for FI choosing Ocon over Wehrlein

[FrukostScones]

It would be interesting to know the reason for FI choosing Ocon over Wehrlein

they wanted the one with the best height to weight ratio.

[PlatinumZealot]

Hulk wasn't exactly light or short though and the car was OK. It can't be that simple.