Silly Season 2020/2021 (starting with silliness in 2019)

[Big Tea]

George will be told he is number 2, learn all you can and help Lewis in his last year or 2. The payback is being number 1 and a new team mate to help him win Championships for himself.

He'd show great maturity if he'd be able to reign it in like that, but I've yet to see a future top driver behave like this. If he smells that he can take Lewis on, he'll absolutely do it. The chance of becoming an all-time great by taking down the "old king" is too great to pass up.

I don't think its a good thing for a driver to be told to play second fiddle, on matter whats in it for them.
Once they take on an acceptance of not racing as fast and as good as they possibly can, do they lose an edge? like going back to work after a holiday. Either they are doing their best or they are not. If they are told that come last lap, they will have to be behind the leader, is it worth the effort of fighting to be there in the first place?

If the team believes they are not quite as good as the leader and say to him that some times he wil have to make sacrifices for thr team good, that is a different thing to starting the season knowing you can not win or even beat your team mate

[Jolle]

they could make a little movie... "formula one in the eighties revisited". Alonso can take the part of Lauda, Hamilton is the perfect Prost and Verstappen as the young Senna at Lotus. Ricciardo as Mansell (a moustage would look good on him) and a nice combo of Newey and Vettel playing Murrey and Piquet.

Edit: I forgot of course that Toto will be starring in the role of Ron Dennis.

[Manoah2u]

They would be silly to drop Bottas as long as Lewis is there.

Sure, but something to think about too is that if Lewis gets his 7th title this season,
then they have managed another historic milestone, but as for the following season,
i think the battle 'Bottas-Hamilton' is worn off and really not that exciting anymore,
and right now it hardly is to be honest.

Also, in the end, i'm 100% sure that when it comes down to it, Mercedes will rather see
a German win the championship over a Finnish 'nr 2 driver'. It would also be much, much more
spectacular to see a battle between Vettel and Hamilton. Hamilton for his 8th tile, and Vettel
for his 5th title with a 'German' team. Certainly, Vettel vs Hamilton will be much more exciting
than Bottas vs Hamilton.

The thing is, Ferrari is by no means in a threatening position for Mercedes now, so they can actually
'take it easy' there. Their only threat is RedBull but they are still falling short too, and to be fair,
the only threat there is Verstappen.

I would argue that it would make RedBull stronger to have Vettel aboard, and i'm 100% sure that the combo
Vettel-Verstappen is actually pretty threatening to Hamilton-Bottas.
Hamilton-Bottas to me is more or less 'similar' to Verstappen-Albon and quite frankly i hold Bottas a step higher
than Albon. So if the odds were even, Merc would still be a bit on top.
Instead, if the odds were even and the combo would be as above, I think Vettel-Verstappen would come out on top, as i sincerely hold Vettel higher than Bottas.

That means that it would be a 'strategic' move too by Mercedes to have Vettel aboard instead of seeing him go to RedBull and possibly become a threat there.

The 'victims' here are Bottas and Albon, but to be fair, i think they're more of a 'Renault' or 'Alpha Tauri' class of drivers. They're both like a Heineken 0.0, but what you want is the real deal. And that's neither of them.

[Big Tea]

I don't know what conclusion to come to, but I was thinking about why RBR are there. Obviously they are there to win races, but with the end result of what?
They do not make cars, you can not have a fast red bull etc, what is in it for them?

My conclusion, right or wrong is to attach an image to a brand name.

What image do they want? This should govern who they go for as a driver. They seem to favour cool young trendy etc, and Vettel does not fit into that picture as Max does.
Gasley did, Albon does, with the eastern connection, which other driver is good enough to do the drive and fill the role. It seems anyone over 25 is not eligible so that's half the field out.
Lando Russel and Leclerc are contracted so who is left?

[Jolle]

I don't know what conclusion to come to, but I was thinking about why RBR are there. Obviously they are there to win races, but with the end result of what?
They do not make cars, you can not have a fast red bull etc, what is in it for them?

My conclusion, right or wrong is to attach an image to a brand name.

What image do they want? This should govern who they go for as a driver. They seem to favour cool young trendy etc, and Vettel does not fit into that picture as Max does.
Gasley did, Albon does, with the eastern connection, which other driver is good enough to do the drive and fill the role. It seems anyone over 25 is not eligible so that's half the field out.
Lando Russel and Leclerc are contracted so who is left?

Good opportunity to market a special "stay awake as a young parent" beverage

[PlatinumZealot]

Quick question: what makes everyone think that Vettel will perform much better than albon?

After all, he was beaten by Ricciardo, who was made to look very ordinary by Max towards the end of them racing together.

Because of how Ricciardo was close to Max. Vettel vs Ricciardo was also close.

[PlatinumZealot]

Do you guys think Red Bull would ever recall Daniil Kvyat? after all their young drivers have been either moved on or destroyed by Max, their young driver academy is very thin now and kvyat is probably the only one capable of getting close to Max.

He is having a very long run in Formula 1 and still hasn't proven anything more than being a slightly quick driver. If Hulk can drop out of F1, I have no tears to shed for Kvyat.

[PlatinumZealot]

The biggest question thus remains: IF they (want to) replace Bottas, which would be best? 4 time GERMAN WDC Vettel aboard alongside 6 or perhaps 7-time WDC Hamilton, carrying 13 titles together and would definately be the strongest team out there. Is Verstappen faster than Vettel? I'm inclined to think so, and i'm inclined to think he could give Lewis a bigger run for his money than Seb would, BUT would Mercedes actually want that?

end conclusion:

Vettel will be confirmed before the season is over at either Mercedes, or RedBull.

Two words:

George Russel

[PlatinumZealot]

I don't know what conclusion to come to, but I was thinking about why RBR are there. Obviously they are there to win races, but with the end result of what?
They do not make cars, you can not have a fast red bull etc, what is in it for them?

My conclusion, right or wrong is to attach an image to a brand name.

What image do they want? This should govern who they go for as a driver. They seem to favour cool young trendy etc, and Vettel does not fit into that picture as Max does.
Gasley did, Albon does, with the eastern connection, which other driver is good enough to do the drive and fill the role. It seems anyone over 25 is not eligible so that's half the field out.
Lando Russel and Leclerc are contracted so who is left?

Speaking of Image.Red Bull is owned 51% by the Thailand family that invented the recipe. Alex Albon's family is from Thailand. Him driving in the RedBull is sort of locked in for a time it seems.

[nacho]

If Albon continues to be half a second slower per lap to Verstappen, he's not gonna stay in Red Bull, maybe he will be put back to the b-team.

[DChemTech]

The biggest question thus remains: IF they (want to) replace Bottas, which would be best? 4 time GERMAN WDC Vettel aboard alongside 6 or perhaps 7-time WDC Hamilton, carrying 13 titles together and would definately be the strongest team out there. Is Verstappen faster than Vettel? I'm inclined to think so, and i'm inclined to think he could give Lewis a bigger run for his money than Seb would, BUT would Mercedes actually want that?

end conclusion:

Vettel will be confirmed before the season is over at either Mercedes, or RedBull.

Two words:

George Russel

In any case, I don't understand all the calls here to replace Bottas. Sure, some people may have wet dreams about 13 titles in one team, but Mercedes has a perfect no. 2 driver in Bottas. Fast enough to pick up the race if Hamilton does not perform fully, modest enough not to complain if Hamilton does. He's better than, say, Barichello - the former ultimate no. 2 driver. The only reason to replace Bottas is because his commercial attractiveness may not be as large as for other drivers, but on the performance level, there seems to be very, very little reason.

Russell may be the new Hamilton in the eyes of Mercedes. But then, in due time, he should replace Hamilton - not Bottas.

[holeindalip]

Do you guys think Red Bull would ever recall Daniil Kvyat? after all their young drivers have been either moved on or destroyed by Max, their young driver academy is very thin now and kvyat is probably the only one capable of getting close to Max.

He is having a very long run in Formula 1 and still hasn't proven anything more than being a slightly quick driver. If Hulk can drop out of F1, I have no tears to shed for Kvyat.

I understand that, he had some bad run ins with the ferraris back when he was in the Bull, but he is a lot quicker than Albon and can drive the Red Bull as he was up there a bouts with the honey badger. They are either going to have to tough it out with Albon or put kvyat back in because the young driver program is extremely thin right now. I don’t think they would hire outside of the team but hulkenburg would be a great matching for max though....

[Jolle]

Do you guys think Red Bull would ever recall Daniil Kvyat? after all their young drivers have been either moved on or destroyed by Max, their young driver academy is very thin now and kvyat is probably the only one capable of getting close to Max.

He is having a very long run in Formula 1 and still hasn't proven anything more than being a slightly quick driver. If Hulk can drop out of F1, I have no tears to shed for Kvyat.

I understand that, he had some bad run ins with the ferraris back when he was in the Bull, but he is a lot quicker than Albon and can drive the Red Bull as he was up there a bouts with the honey badger. They are either going to have to tough it out with Albon or put kvyat back in because the young driver program is extremely thin right now. I don’t think they would hire outside of the team but hulkenburg would be a great matching for max though....

All those young drivers, feels more like throwing them into the ring as a sparring partner, to be dragged out within a round. They need a Bottas, who just goes from his own strengths and keeps his chin up. Not many of them in F1 left. Let’s see how Sainz will do this season next to Norris and next year with Leclerc, who can be a wrecker like Verstappen too I think.

[Moore77]

BREAKING: Bottas is continuing in Mercedes for 2021. Seems like Hamilton has signed the extension!

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/bott ... n=widget-1

[PlatinumZealot]

Yeah no surprise there. Kalenius already suggested as much.

The whole stereotype type of German efficiency and particality huh.. Lewis and Bottas are working perfect.. No reason to dump Bottas especially for emotional reasons