Silly Season 2018/2019

[NathanOlder]

Bottas to Ferrari is more likely than Danny to Ferrari.
Riciardo may do one more year at redbull then Join Hamilton at Mercedes.
I don't see max going beyond his current contract in Redbull, he has shown too many weakness, and most of all he doesn't learn very well from his mistakes, meaning he may just slow in terms of development and drivers like Ocon and Leclerc and Gasley may catch up to him.

Unless he is 'released' I don't see Bottas going to Ferrari. If you are in a car finishing second with occasional wins, why go to a car that will be finishing 4th with occasional podiums?
Things happen, but in most 'normal' races the 2 mercs and one Ferrari will be the podium.

What if Bottas thinks, 'I may not be able to beat Lewis, but I fancy my chances against Vettel'

[Big Tea]

Bottas to Ferrari is more likely than Danny to Ferrari.
Riciardo may do one more year at redbull then Join Hamilton at Mercedes.
I don't see max going beyond his current contract in Redbull, he has shown too many weakness, and most of all he doesn't learn very well from his mistakes, meaning he may just slow in terms of development and drivers like Ocon and Leclerc and Gasley may catch up to him.

Unless he is 'released' I don't see Bottas going to Ferrari. If you are in a car finishing second with occasional wins, why go to a car that will be finishing 4th with occasional podiums?
Things happen, but in most 'normal' races the 2 mercs and one Ferrari will be the podium.

What if Bottas thinks, 'I may not be able to beat Lewis, but I fancy my chances against Vettel'

He is better placed where he is to beat Seb. If there is a team orders in Ferrari, as there usually is, then he will not pass if Seb is in a podium position. Even if he lets Hamilton by, he is still capable of second step, and (supposedly, but lets not go there) allowed to fight for the top step.

The mind is a funny thing though, and who knows how he looks at it. It Could even boil down to cash

[Manoah2u]

What if Bottas thinks, 'I may not be able to beat Lewis, but I fancy my chances against Vettel'

let me correct that for you

What if Mercedes dumps Bottas in favor of Ocon / Alonso,
And Ferrari hires Bottas for less money than Kimi costs, and Bottas will do the exact same job @ Mercedes,
but get paid more than he gets at Mercedes right now, and gets to wear Red, and Ferrari would welcome some Mercedes intel.......

Bottas >> Ferrari (Kimi out, RETIREMENT)
Ocon >> Mercedes (Bottas out)

[NathanOlder]

Unless he is 'released' I don't see Bottas going to Ferrari. If you are in a car finishing second with occasional wins, why go to a car that will be finishing 4th with occasional podiums?
Things happen, but in most 'normal' races the 2 mercs and one Ferrari will be the podium.

What if Bottas thinks, 'I may not be able to beat Lewis, but I fancy my chances against Vettel'

He is better placed where he is to beat Seb. If there is a team orders in Ferrari, as there usually is, then he will not pass if Seb is in a podium position. Even if he lets Hamilton by, he is still capable of second step, and (supposedly, but lets not go there) allowed to fight for the top step.

The mind is a funny thing though, and who knows how he looks at it. It Could even boil down to cash

I didnt mean it that way, I meant that he could look at it in a way with ambition of being the champion. If he cant beat Lewis, then he can never win it as team mates. If he can beat Seb as team mates he has more chance to win the championship IF (big if) Ferrari come up with the best car over a whole season.

Genuine question to all,

If you were Bottas, would you rather be Seb's team mate in a dominant Ferrari or
Hamiltons team mate in a dominant Mercedes.

[Phil]

Why in god name would they dump Bottas for Alonso? They could have signed Alonso last year, but they had zero interest. Why would that change? Ocon might be going to Mercedes one day, but why the rush? He isnt exactly a hugely wanted driver by other teams, in other words, there’s no point in rushing him to the big team.

[AJI]

...If you were Bottas, would you rather be Seb's team mate in a dominant Ferrari or
Hamiltons team mate in a dominant Mercedes.

Let's not fool ourselves here. All Bottas has really proven is that Mercedes make the best car.
He's a good driver, but he's not a great driver. He'll either stay at Mercedes as a firm #2 driver entirely to support Lewis' title fight, or he'll end up back at Williams, or possibly at FI.

[Manoah2u]

Why in god name would they dump Bottas for Alonso? They could have signed Alonso last year, but they had zero interest. Why would that change? Ocon might be going to Mercedes one day, but why the rush? He isnt exactly a hugely wanted driver by other teams, in other words, there’s no point in rushing him to the big team.

Because contract, because then-still confidence in bottas, because hamilton still firm back then, because new f1 format.

now, hamilton might be heading off in the future, bottas is underwhelming, ricciardo might make ferrari stronger, next year redbull might be stronger. points more important, hamilton's title hunger without any, absolutely any doubt, is much less, and bottas still is just as well - grey and unmoved versus a vastly experienced, charismatic alonso, another big celebrity versus 'nobody' bottas (not meaning that as harsh as it sounds though), and somebody with title hunger whom will surely also motivate hamilton to up his game to have a fair fight against 'nando and not get squashed. a double-win for mercedes, really. 2 big celebs @ mercedes.
bottas is far from rosberg's level, and thus doesn't push hamilton even in the tiniest amount.
Alonso would immediately make hamilton get much more motivated. he would surely also go for a multi-year deal, and then when hamilton (who definately wont go for multiple year deals anymore) leaves Merc, they can put Ocon alongside Alonso to see Vettel go to Mercedes when Alonso leaves.

something like that.

[Jolle]

Why in god name would they dump Bottas for Alonso? They could have signed Alonso last year, but they had zero interest. Why would that change? Ocon might be going to Mercedes one day, but why the rush? He isnt exactly a hugely wanted driver by other teams, in other words, there’s no point in rushing him to the big team.

Because contract, because then-still confidence in bottas, because hamilton still firm back then, because new f1 format.

now, hamilton might be heading off in the future, bottas is underwhelming, ricciardo might make ferrari stronger, next year redbull might be stronger. points more important, hamilton's title hunger without any, absolutely any doubt, is much less, and bottas still is just as well - grey and unmoved versus a vastly experienced, charismatic alonso, another big celebrity versus 'nobody' bottas (not meaning that as harsh as it sounds though), and somebody with title hunger whom will surely also motivate hamilton to up his game to have a fair fight against 'nando and not get squashed. a double-win for mercedes, really. 2 big celebs @ mercedes.
bottas is far from rosberg's level, and thus doesn't push hamilton even in the tiniest amount.
Alonso would immediately make hamilton get much more motivated. he would surely also go for a multi-year deal, and then when hamilton (who definately wont go for multiple year deals anymore) leaves Merc, they can put Ocon alongside Alonso to see Vettel go to Mercedes when Alonso leaves.

something like that.

And loose the championship like they did in 2007.

RIC has all advantages like you said, minus the sketchy past with Mercedes and more years in him.

[Manoah2u]

Why in god name would they dump Bottas for Alonso? They could have signed Alonso last year, but they had zero interest. Why would that change? Ocon might be going to Mercedes one day, but why the rush? He isnt exactly a hugely wanted driver by other teams, in other words, there’s no point in rushing him to the big team.

Because contract, because then-still confidence in bottas, because hamilton still firm back then, because new f1 format.

now, hamilton might be heading off in the future, bottas is underwhelming, ricciardo might make ferrari stronger, next year redbull might be stronger. points more important, hamilton's title hunger without any, absolutely any doubt, is much less, and bottas still is just as well - grey and unmoved versus a vastly experienced, charismatic alonso, another big celebrity versus 'nobody' bottas (not meaning that as harsh as it sounds though), and somebody with title hunger whom will surely also motivate hamilton to up his game to have a fair fight against 'nando and not get squashed. a double-win for mercedes, really. 2 big celebs @ mercedes.
bottas is far from rosberg's level, and thus doesn't push hamilton even in the tiniest amount.
Alonso would immediately make hamilton get much more motivated. he would surely also go for a multi-year deal, and then when hamilton (who definately wont go for multiple year deals anymore) leaves Merc, they can put Ocon alongside Alonso to see Vettel go to Mercedes when Alonso leaves.

something like that.

And loose the championship like they did in 2007.

RIC has all advantages like you said, minus the sketchy past with Mercedes and more years in him.

As if 2007 will get a repeat, come on.
Rosberg-Hamilton was far worse than Hamilton-Alonso ever was

Mclaren was the team itself that played a dirty game and treated Alonso unfair in comparison to Lewis.
Alonso finally had enough from it and flexed his muscles.

Funny also how Alonso is given the bad eye by a lot of supposed 'fans', and quite some around here too,
whilst Alonso never was responsible for SpyGate. Alonso was in the midst of all that shady stuff going on.

The only eyebrow you could really raise towards Alonso was crashgate with piquet, but it's still entirely plausible that he actually never knew about how they really planned to execute that. even then - hamilton has lied, schumacher has rammed his car into opponents, Senna was quite the character too in all honesty, piquet actually punched a guy in the face (helmet)......

And as for losing the title in 2007 - if Kovalainen for example was there instead of Alonso, yes perhaps or probably Lewis would have had much more points than his teammate. Instead, where would Alonso have been? Ferrari? Renault still? how many points would he have caught and how much would that have cost hamilton? would Kimi still have won the WDC? would Hamilton still lost the WDC? would Alonso be in front of behind him?

2007 is being blown way out of proportions imho.

Again, just look at Lewis-Nico. Max-Sainz. Webber-Vettel.

Alonso-Lewis would definately be a far better combo than Lewis-Bottas.

[Phil]

Alonso to Mercedes is never gonna happen. It’s just a nice fairytale, no more or less. A team such as Mercedes wants continuation. Rosberg was brilliant, especially technically, and his sudden departure did mean a new set of challenges. Alonso is far too old to invest into a new future, especially with the young prospects Mercedes already has. The reality is, Alonso has been available. And yet, no team wanted him. He was never in contention 1.5 years ago after Rosberg left, nor last year when they gave Bottas another 1 year deal and neither would he be now for next year. It wont happen.

[Jolle]

Because contract, because then-still confidence in bottas, because hamilton still firm back then, because new f1 format.

now, hamilton might be heading off in the future, bottas is underwhelming, ricciardo might make ferrari stronger, next year redbull might be stronger. points more important, hamilton's title hunger without any, absolutely any doubt, is much less, and bottas still is just as well - grey and unmoved versus a vastly experienced, charismatic alonso, another big celebrity versus 'nobody' bottas (not meaning that as harsh as it sounds though), and somebody with title hunger whom will surely also motivate hamilton to up his game to have a fair fight against 'nando and not get squashed. a double-win for mercedes, really. 2 big celebs @ mercedes.
bottas is far from rosberg's level, and thus doesn't push hamilton even in the tiniest amount.
Alonso would immediately make hamilton get much more motivated. he would surely also go for a multi-year deal, and then when hamilton (who definately wont go for multiple year deals anymore) leaves Merc, they can put Ocon alongside Alonso to see Vettel go to Mercedes when Alonso leaves.

something like that.

And loose the championship like they did in 2007.

RIC has all advantages like you said, minus the sketchy past with Mercedes and more years in him.

As if 2007 will get a repeat, come on.
Rosberg-Hamilton was far worse than Hamilton-Alonso ever was

Mclaren was the team itself that played a dirty game and treated Alonso unfair in comparison to Lewis.
Alonso finally had enough from it and flexed his muscles.

Funny also how Alonso is given the bad eye by a lot of supposed 'fans', and quite some around here too,
whilst Alonso never was responsible for SpyGate. Alonso was in the midst of all that shady stuff going on.

The only eyebrow you could really raise towards Alonso was crashgate with piquet, but it's still entirely plausible that he actually never knew about how they really planned to execute that. even then - hamilton has lied, schumacher has rammed his car into opponents, Senna was quite the character too in all honesty, piquet actually punched a guy in the face (helmet)......

And as for losing the title in 2007 - if Kovalainen for example was there instead of Alonso, yes perhaps or probably Lewis would have had much more points than his teammate. Instead, where would Alonso have been? Ferrari? Renault still? how many points would he have caught and how much would that have cost hamilton? would Kimi still have won the WDC? would Hamilton still lost the WDC? would Alonso be in front of behind him?

2007 is being blown way out of proportions imho.

Again, just look at Lewis-Nico. Max-Sainz. Webber-Vettel.

Alonso-Lewis would definately be a far better combo than Lewis-Bottas.

McLaren was owend by Mercedes at the time and Alonso’s testimony and him handing over his emails was a big part of the 100 mln fine they got.

[hemichromis]

If Mercedes are so happy with a no 2 driver, why did they only give bottas another 1 year contract?
I wonder if (hope) that they were waiting for Ricciardo!

[AJI]

If Mercedes are so happy with a no 2 driver, why did they only give bottas another 1 year contract?
I wonder if (hope) that they were waiting for Ricciardo!

They're waiting for another Rosberg, whoever that is..? RIC is just a bit too charismatic (probably quicker than Rosberg too?)

[Phil]

If Mercedes are so happy with a no 2 driver, why did they only give bottas another 1 year contract?
I wonder if (hope) that they were waiting for Ricciardo!

If i am not mistaken, when Bottas got his renewal, it was clear that both Ricciardo and Verstappens contract were set to run out by end of 2019. Vettel had just resigned earlier showing his commitment with Ferrari too.

They gave Bottas the 1 year extension shortly after that. Then another month later, Max resigned with RedBull a year early and committed himself beyond 2019 at RedBull.

I think the story here is simply Mercedes keeping their options open. When they resigned Valtteri, it looked like both Daniel and Max becoming available by end of 2019. Why commit longer than you need to? It’s not as if Bottas is hugely wanted by the other top teams. He had a solid first year and thus many reasons to continue with him.

Of course, Max then committed to RedBull, so now only Dan is set to be available. Apparently, they are not talking to him though, so i am doubtful they want him and are probably most inclined to renew with Bottas.

My bet though is, is that securing Hamilton is their priority. Once that is done, they will be thinking about that 2nd seat. It would be interesting though to speculate what Mercedes will do if they cant get Hamilton to resign and how that cascades into other drivers for both seats...

[AJI]

....It would be interesting though to speculate what Mercedes will do if they cant get Hamilton to resign and how that cascades into other drivers for both seats...

Interesting to speculate, but HAM is a Mercedes boy. He started his career with them, and he'll finish his career with them.

The 2019 driver line-up is based on the movements of RIC and BOT and RAI. Everything else is just a consequence