Silly season 2021-2022-2023

[ringo]

Russell has no points this year.
When he gets a few points then we can have a discussion about replacing Bottas.
Bottas is multiple race winner, many podiums, and not just mercedes.. podium and points in a Williams against a known quantity like Massa. Something Russell is still hoping to acheive.
Russel should go to a midfield team before mercedes. He is too much of an unknown and risk for mercedes. He is yet to complete a strong race. The "almost made it to Q3 and almost score points" gimmick gets old and is not enough for him to get a top drive.

[adrianjordan]

An obvious way to go around the salary cap, is to pay a driver a few million for his licence and insurance and then hire him for a off season DTM race for an exuberant amount of money.

And even easier one is to have the parent company, be that Daimler, Red Bull Drinks, Philip Morris etc pay the driver for image rights "separate" from their driver contract... Or have the title sponsor pay the driver a sum direct.

So easy to circumvent and I'm not even a lawyer lol.

[Manoah2u]

Russell has no points this year.
When he gets a few points then we can have a discussion about replacing Bottas.
Bottas is multiple race winner, many podiums, and not just mercedes.. podium and points in a Williams against a known quantity like Massa. Something Russell is still hoping to acheive.
Russel should go to a midfield team before mercedes. He is too much of an unknown and risk for mercedes. He is yet to complete a strong race. The "almost made it to Q3 and almost score points" gimmick gets old and is not enough for him to get a top drive.

he's in a dog of a Williams, such a bad car Bottas never even driven. what on earth are you on about?
Bottas is a failure first class, Russell will completely demolish Bottas in the same car. Where Bottas is a race winner at BEST, and he doesn't even manage that as he should, he is NO WDC driver. Russell most certainly IS.

[El Scorchio]

Russell has no points this year.
When he gets a few points then we can have a discussion about replacing Bottas.
Bottas is multiple race winner, many podiums, and not just mercedes.. podium and points in a Williams against a known quantity like Massa. Something Russell is still hoping to acheive.
Russel should go to a midfield team before mercedes. He is too much of an unknown and risk for mercedes. He is yet to complete a strong race. The "almost made it to Q3 and almost score points" gimmick gets old and is not enough for him to get a top drive.

he's in a dog of a Williams, such a bad car Bottas never even driven. what on earth are you on about?
Bottas is a failure first class, Russell will completely demolish Bottas in the same car. Where Bottas is a race winner at BEST, and he doesn't even manage that as he should, he is NO WDC driver. Russell most certainly IS.

Yup. He's an F1 driver for a top team travelling the world, living a great life and earning 11 million dollars a year. What a failure!

If that's failure, then give me a slice of it please.

[nzjrs]

An obvious way to go around the salary cap, is to pay a driver a few million for his licence and insurance and then hire him for a off season DTM race for an exuberant amount of money.

And even easier one is to have the parent company, be that Daimler, Red Bull Drinks, Philip Morris etc pay the driver for image rights "separate" from their driver contract... Or have the title sponsor pay the driver a sum direct.

So easy to circumvent and I'm not even a lawyer lol.

I made this point once before, but it's worth repeating. People smarter than us have already thought through a great variety of loopholes, smarter than everything listed above. Forensic-accountants who are the equivalent of F1-level drivers will comb through company accounts looking for transgressions.

And on top of that, the statute of limitations on this is long, 5 years or more from memory (correct me if I am wrong).

Personnel movement, harsh penalties, a long statute of limitations, and whistleblower protection are all part of the enforcement toolkit.

[Big Tea]

An obvious way to go around the salary cap, is to pay a driver a few million for his licence and insurance and then hire him for a off season DTM race for an exuberant amount of money.

And even easier one is to have the parent company, be that Daimler, Red Bull Drinks, Philip Morris etc pay the driver for image rights "separate" from their driver contract... Or have the title sponsor pay the driver a sum direct.

So easy to circumvent and I'm not even a lawyer lol.

I made this point once before, but it's worth repeating. People smarter than us have already thought through a great variety of loopholes, smarter than everything listed above. Forensic-accountants who are the equivalent of F1-level drivers will comb through company accounts looking for transgressions.

And on top of that, the statute of limitations on this is long, 5 years or more from memory (correct me if I am wrong).

Personnel movement, harsh penalties, a long statute of limitations, and whistleblower protection are all part of the enforcement toolkit.

The records will not change though. once it is announced as a result I think it is 24hrs, as bookmakers have to pay out etc. Once its 'in the books' it will not be changed as it would cause too much of a problem.
All the teams in the points for those races will want regrading and the mess of payments that go from there.

If they are 'caught' it can be no more than a fine, which they may consider worth paying.

[DChemTech]

In any case, it may reflect on ones reputation if one participates in such schemes. Whether one cares about that is another point, of course.

[adrianjordan]

I'm not suggesting it would be against the rules. More a way around them. Nothing to stop less well funded teams doing likewise.

[ringo]

It is rumoured that Russel has signed a 2 year deal with Mercedes for 2022..
This may be sensational fake news.

Looking at the Riciardo Norris pairing. Some said he would destroy Noris. I knew it was to be the opposite. If Norris continues to beat up on Daniel.. will Daniel stay in Mclaren? will he retire from F1? He has been in the sport a long time and his results have diluted.

He is a part of the forgotten generation in the lower mid thirties.

[El Scorchio]

It is rumoured that Russel has signed a 2 year deal with Mercedes for 2022..
This may be sensational fake news.

Looking at the Riciardo Norris pairing. Some said he would destroy Noris. I knew it was to be the opposite. If Norris continues to beat up on Daniel.. will Daniel stay in Mclaren? will he retire from F1? He has been in the sport a long time and his results have diluted.

He is a part of the forgotten generation in the lower mid thirties.

I feel very sorry for him at how his career has turned out. If it's not Russell for some reason, then Ricciardo could be a good shout for that other Mercedes seat as Norris is out of the equasion, unless Mercedes were prepared to give some terrific compensation. I think he'd be seen as a very trusted pair of hands.

I do think he'll get better with that McLaren through the season though.

[the EDGE]

It is rumoured that Russel has signed a 2 year deal with Mercedes for 2022..
This may be sensational fake news.

Looking at the Riciardo Norris pairing. Some said he would destroy Noris. I knew it was to be the opposite. If Norris continues to beat up on Daniel.. will Daniel stay in Mclaren? will he retire from F1? He has been in the sport a long time and his results have diluted.

He is a part of the forgotten generation in the lower mid thirties.

I feel very sorry for him at how his career has turned out. If it's not Russell for some reason, then Ricciardo could be a good shout for that other Mercedes seat as Norris is out of the equasion, unless Mercedes were prepared to give some terrific compensation. I think he'd be seen as a very trusted pair of hands.

I do think he'll get better with that McLaren through the season though.

Danny signed a 3 year contract so he’s out of the equation too

[Big Tea]

It is rumoured that Russel has signed a 2 year deal with Mercedes for 2022..
This may be sensational fake news.

Looking at the Riciardo Norris pairing. Some said he would destroy Noris. I knew it was to be the opposite. If Norris continues to beat up on Daniel.. will Daniel stay in Mclaren? will he retire from F1? He has been in the sport a long time and his results have diluted.

He is a part of the forgotten generation in the lower mid thirties.

Don't wright him off yet, the car is (supposedly) very different and could take some time to come to terms with.
How ever I hope Lando keeps up the style.

Danny Ric is (was?) judged by his performance against what Vettel's perceived performance was.
The way it looks now though, Sebs good showing in the Bull was due to it and him being a perfect match rather than Vettel's outstanding ability.

But, the same works in reverse, so don't discount either making a comeback if they find a match again

[ringo]

Well his inability to drive that car well was the litmus test for his talent. He isn't tier 1 for that reason alone. He is now a tier 2 driver. His hand is definitely weakened in any future negotiations. A driver of his caliber shouldn't be struggling after so long. Perez has a harder job to do and is getting respectable results.

[214270]

All is not lost even if things don’t pick up for RIC, the actual real litmus test is next year.

He’ll reassert himself when the new cars are intro’d. Whilst it doesn’t make any sense to me there’s obviously something he’s struggling to master in the 35M.

[El Scorchio]

All is not lost even if things don’t pick up for RIC, the actual real litmus test is next year.

He’ll reassert himself when the new cars are intro’d. Whilst it doesn’t make any sense to me there’s obviously something he’s struggling to master in the 35M.

That is a very good point. I wonder if we will see some drivers fail to adapt well to the new cars, or some unexpected high performers.