2016 Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team - Mercedes

[Shakeman]

Button is available? Or maybe Alonso?

Not much point in having a young drivers' programme if you're going to drag retirees back into the car.

A lot of sick drivers who signed deals earlier in the season.

[WaikeCU]

Button is available? Or maybe Alonso?

Or even Kimi, he only has a 1 year contract extension, which he can buyout easily?

[i70q7m7ghw]

Button is available? Or maybe Alonso?

Not much point in having a young drivers' programme if you're going to drag retirees back into the car.

A lot of sick drivers who signed deals earlier in the season.

Throwing Werhlien in would be foolhardy, he's clearly not ready. Who else do they have? So late in the day, an experienced dependable is what they need. I imagine Alonso's management is already banging on the door.

[vinuneuro]

If I were Alonso I'd offer to drive for free. He has all the money in the world, but only two titles.

[santos]

Alonso is still under the contract with Mclaren, can he just leave? That would be very interesting. Alonso and Hamilton in the same team... again.

[Shakeman]

If I were Alonso I'd offer to drive for free. He has all the money in the world, but only two titles.

Surely the über cautious Merc wouldn't want Alonso/Hamilton Part Deux even if Alonso was free?

I can't see them going there.

Werhlien is my bet.

[turbof1]

We are going to centralize the discussion into one thread. Currently the retirement of Rosberg is being discussed in 4 different threads, which seems quite overboard. Let's say we do it in the separate retirement thread:
http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... =1&t=25508

-Discussion about possible replacements can go in the silly season thread:
http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... =1&t=24041

-Discussion about the title continues in the dumpster thread:
http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... =1&t=25483

[astracrazy]

I'd be curious now to see how Merc approach this now. After the last few years of trying to manage two number 1 drivers , which I would guess they have found difficult when you consider all the problems they have had with it, do you think they will go down a different route now and make Lewis a clear number 1 driver and bring Werhlien in as a clear number 2?

Or would they continue with how they are running now?

[vinuneuro]

If Merc don't have this kind of advantage going into the next regulation cycle as widely suspected, they will need a strong driver in the other seat. In 2008 McLaren might have won the WCC if they had a better driver than Kovalainen. Wehrlein is second rate and Ocon is a rookie.

[astracrazy]

That's true regarding 2008. I guess it comes down to what Toto etc are prepared to try and handle.

[Shakeman]

I bet Merc are in fits of rage over Rosberg's resignation because it leaves them with piss poor options that they're not in control of. It seems a shitty thing to do to your team.

[Manoah2u]

Trollking Rosberg.

[Jolle]

I bet Merc are in fits of rage over Rosberg's resignation because it leaves them with piss poor options that they're not in control of. It seems a shitty thing to do to your team.

Well... management wise, Wolff/Mercedes is Briatorresque in the amount of drivers he/they have under contract. Bottas, Ocon and Wehrlein. Plus there is a good chance that drivers like Hulk and Perez have clauses in their contract that they can leave if a works team wants them (perhaps with a "small" fee).

Because the amount of marketing value that the team has to generate for Daimler vs the cost of the team and/or a specific driver, money really isn't an object.

[TAG]

Throwing Werhlien in would be foolhardy, he's clearly not ready. Who else do they have? So late in the day, an experienced dependable is what they need.

I'd like to understand what makes a driver "clearly not ready" the last time we heard that Kimi was signed and Jules died. What's the difference between Verstappen being ready for Red Bull but Wehrlein not being ready for Mercedes with effectively the same level of experience? He's been driving well for Mannor, achieving the impossible. Has loads of talent clearly as he consistently drove the car to it's maximum at circuits where loads of downforce wasn't a requirement. I'd go as far as to say that Werhlein seem to me to be considerably more mature behind the wheel than Verstappen is after two years of driving.

I'm not sure what makes Vandoorne qualified but Wehrlein not qualified. Hell, Hamilton came onto a championship contending team without experience, so what's this bar that's been set all of the sudden by some as to who is and who isn't qualified? Nothing more than conjecture IMO.

[Fifty]

Bernie said something interesting about Alonso and this whole open Merc slot.
Over the last few years, both at Ferrari and at Mclaren, there have been anonymous press gripes about Alonso being over rated and unable to help progress the car and just a whiny premadonna...

Bernie just mentioned that Alonso wants to leave Mclaren and that Mclaren would be happy to get rid of him....

...I doubt Toto, let alone Niki would bother with Alonso except for press... I bet it will be someone in the Aces management group, probably werlein as he was their go to at Spain as well as Hami's replacement when he walked out of tire testing...er I mean "got sick"...