Silly season 2021-2022-2023

[politburo]

Apparently RedBull have confirmed Perez for 2022. Talk about jumping the gun, they could have waited for Bottas/Russell.

Officially not apparently.

[Just_a_fan]

Apparently RedBull have confirmed Perez for 2022. Talk about jumping the gun, they could have waited for Bottas/Russell.

No great surprise. Perez is just fast enough to be capable of getting in Mercedes's way but not annoy Max.

[politburo]

Apparently RedBull have confirmed Perez for 2022. Talk about jumping the gun, they could have waited for Bottas/Russell.

No great surprise. Perez is just fast enough to be capable of getting in Mercedes's way but not annoy Max.

True but then he is quite a bit slower than Verstappen in the qualifying sessions, otherwise he'd be a true Valtteri Bottas/Mark Webber clone. Hopefully, it will be remedied by next year but on the current evidence, it probably will be more of the same, only with potentially larger consequences if the regulations achieve their intent of bringing teams closer.

[codetower]

Apparently RedBull have confirmed Perez for 2022. Talk about jumping the gun, they could have waited for Bottas/Russell.

I wouldn't be surprised if Mercedes are planning on keeping Bottas after all and they are just delaying the news to keep Russel away from their competitors. Alpine decided to sign Alonzo, RB to keep Perez... AlphaTauri still has two spots available so let's see what happens there. Probably won't hear news on Rus/Bot till after AlphaTauri sign theirs. I don't see Gasly going anywhere, but the 2nd seat is flexible (imo).

[Just_a_fan]

Apparently RedBull have confirmed Perez for 2022. Talk about jumping the gun, they could have waited for Bottas/Russell.

I wouldn't be surprised if Mercedes are planning on keeping Bottas after all and they are just delaying the news to keep Russel away from their competitors. Alpine decided to sign Alonzo, RB to keep Perez... AlphaTauri still has two spots available so let's see what happens there. Probably won't hear news on Rus/Bot till after AlphaTauri sign theirs. I don't see Gasly going anywhere, but the 2nd seat is flexible (imo).

Russell might not de being signed because he'd upset the current "top driver" in any of the teams, Mercedes and Red Bull included. No team wants a "Senna and Prost" season.

[214270]

None of the other top teams will be making a driver switch next year, I really hope Merc don’t handicap themselves unnecessarily. This isn’t the time for driver switching IMO, next year would be far better. I really don’t know how much RUS can help drive the car forward if he comes in. Next year is far too important to be experimenting; just follow the lead of RB - support driver in the 2nd seat, who can be counted on to help maximise the race car for the new regs.

Let’s not kid ourselves, RUS isn’t going anywhere; he’s 23 years old & still in prime position.

[hollus]

a very interesting conversation erupted here about future fuel and engine options. As requested by a user, those posts got moved to a more suitable home:

viewtopic.php?p=994106#p994106

Let's continue with the silly season here and with fuels there.

[adrianjordan]

Interesting comment from Capito after Quali:



Basically saying that if Toto hasn't made a decision, then this surely puts Russell in a Merc.

Either he's being very canny, or he actually doesn't know yet what Toto will decide!!

[Manoah2u]

Toto mentioned saying 'now we know what he's capable of'

I honestly can't imagine a scenario now where Russell is not going to be in the Mercedes.

I'm actually really bummed Max made Pole, because it took pole from George.
But dear lord what on Earth!

Bottas is out, if he isn't, then that is just the biggest unfairness.
If however Russell doesn't get a seat, I honestly hope Williams will have a fantastic car next year.

Either way, Russell completely owned saturday.
It's said many times rain is the great 'reset' and 'leveling' of the field, and George just shined.
Kudos to Williams too for having a fully working car - i think a great benefit is that topspeed matters much less in these conditions, even though Spa is still a fast track.

But looking at these circumstances, I would be inclined to say Russell is going to completely destroy Hamilton in the same car,
and I know our Dutch Max-fangirls are not wanting to hear this, but Russell is going to completely pulverize Verstappen if he keeps this up.

The only thing that remains though - and it's not insignificant at all offcourse - is George's race craft.
When he replaced Lewis last year i think he showed how great he was, under immense pressure, in a car where he never drove in, not built for him, not even having a correct size - remember his comments about his shoes and stuff fcol!
Either way, there are two things that are a bit of a thing with George.
He tends to lose a few hard-earned spots at the start as his starts and first corner results aren't the best. He also tends to become a bit more mellow or 'sterile' during the race, and at the same time tends to misjudge opportunities. I do hope he has learned from incidents before; the Bottas crash was unneccesary (BTW, why aren't the mad haters not hating on Russell and that he should pay for Bottas' damage back then?), i do hope that he has come to realize that being faster, better, and even having an opportunity - and perhaps even realizing that because it's him/bottas he got a harder wall - still can cost you everything.

Let's see what the race will bring.

Quite frankly, I really, really really want to see Russell win Spa.

[ringo]

I think there is an over reaction. See Hulkenberg in Brasil 2010 pole lap. He destroyed the field.
Reason? Tyre temperature.
Russel would have to run a completey convincing wet race to say he will be destroying anybody in a faster car. So far Latifi has the most points when it mattered and Russel had the whole of Hungary to try to be ahead of latifi at the checkered flag. Dont get me wrong, the kid is really talented.. but i think with how these tyres and cars work.. its hard to base anything on a qually with constantly changing conditions.

[alexx_88]

I think there is an over reaction. See Hulkenberg in Brasil 2010 pole lap. He destroyed the field.
Reason? Tyre temperature.
Russel would have to run a completey convincing wet race to say he will be destroying anybody in a faster car. So far Latifi has the most points when it mattered and Russel had the whole of Hungary to try to be ahead of latifi at the checkered flag. Dont get me wrong, the kid is really talented.. but i think with how these tyres and cars work.. its hard to base anything on a qually with constantly changing conditions.

Bingo! This is not the first wet race / qualy he took part in and he didn't blow people's minds before. Let's be realistic, if yesterday would've been on driver skill alone, Mercedes would've put him in a car a long time ago. He's very good, but not a few tenths faster than Hamilton in the wet (I embedded a car difference)

[Ryar]

I think there is an over reaction. See Hulkenberg in Brasil 2010 pole lap. He destroyed the field.
Reason? Tyre temperature.
Russel would have to run a completey convincing wet race to say he will be destroying anybody in a faster car. So far Latifi has the most points when it mattered and Russel had the whole of Hungary to try to be ahead of latifi at the checkered flag. Dont get me wrong, the kid is really talented.. but i think with how these tyres and cars work.. its hard to base anything on a qually with constantly changing conditions.

Having a car that is country mile ahead helped some drivers to create that mirage. It can help George too. Big deal.

[adrianjordan]

Toto mentioned saying 'now we know what he's capable of'

I honestly can't imagine a scenario now where Russell is not going to be in the Mercedes.

I'm actually really bummed Max made Pole, because it took pole from George.
But dear lord what on Earth!

Bottas is out, if he isn't, then that is just the biggest unfairness.
If however Russell doesn't get a seat, I honestly hope Williams will have a fantastic car next year.

Either way, Russell completely owned saturday.
It's said many times rain is the great 'reset' and 'leveling' of the field, and George just shined.
Kudos to Williams too for having a fully working car - i think a great benefit is that topspeed matters much less in these conditions, even though Spa is still a fast track.

But looking at these circumstances, I would be inclined to say Russell is going to completely destroy Hamilton in the same car,
and I know our Dutch Max-fangirls are not wanting to hear this, but Russell is going to completely pulverize Verstappen if he keeps this up.

The only thing that remains though - and it's not insignificant at all offcourse - is George's race craft.
When he replaced Lewis last year i think he showed how great he was, under immense pressure, in a car where he never drove in, not built for him, not even having a correct size - remember his comments about his shoes and stuff fcol!
Either way, there are two things that are a bit of a thing with George.
He tends to lose a few hard-earned spots at the start as his starts and first corner results aren't the best. He also tends to become a bit more mellow or 'sterile' during the race, and at the same time tends to misjudge opportunities. I do hope he has learned from incidents before; the Bottas crash was unneccesary (BTW, why aren't the mad haters not hating on Russell and that he should pay for Bottas' damage back then?), i do hope that he has come to realize that being faster, better, and even having an opportunity - and perhaps even realizing that because it's him/bottas he got a harder wall - still can cost you everything.

Let's see what the race will bring.

Quite frankly, I really, really really want to see Russell win Spa.

Look, I'm as big a fan of George as anyone and would love to see him in the Merc. Frankly I don't see any really good argument for not putting him in that car. I also think that, was it not George in the seat, we'd have seen an announcement this weekend. It was Bottas' birthday and what better birthday present for him!

The argument of Merc wanting to make sure the other driver has a drive lined up makes me think it's Bottas needing to find a new drive. I mean George would just stay at Williams or we'd have seen some negotiating and George land an Aston Martin seat. Also it doesn't hurt George really if they announce Battas is staying. The only reason you delay, until the driver not getting the seat has a deal confirmed elsewhere, is when that driver is the incumbent and is being let go.

Anyway, that wasn't what I was meaning to say. Where was I? Oh yes, George.

Look, George is good, very good. Possibly on the same level as Max, Lewis and Charles (and Lando ) but he's not going to destroy, pulverise or annihilate anyone. He's not THAT much better than the current top drivers. If he was then he'd regularly have been putting the Williams in the points!!

[adrianjordan]

I think there is an over reaction. See Hulkenberg in Brasil 2010 pole lap. He destroyed the field.
Reason? Tyre temperature.
Russel would have to run a completey convincing wet race to say he will be destroying anybody in a faster car. So far Latifi has the most points when it mattered and Russel had the whole of Hungary to try to be ahead of latifi at the checkered flag. Dont get me wrong, the kid is really talented.. but i think with how these tyres and cars work.. its hard to base anything on a qually with constantly changing conditions.

Really? You're using Hungary to claim that Latiffi is better?

A weekend where Russell set a faster lap time in every session? On a circuit that is second only to Monaco in terms of overtaking difficultily? In a race where an accident created a freak set of results and where George told the team to compromise his race if it helped his teammate?

That race was an outlier and does not represent the true balance of performance between those teammates.

[214270]

I think there is an over reaction. See Hulkenberg in Brasil 2010 pole lap. He destroyed the field.
Reason? Tyre temperature.
Russel would have to run a completey convincing wet race to say he will be destroying anybody in a faster car. So far Latifi has the most points when it mattered and Russel had the whole of Hungary to try to be ahead of latifi at the checkered flag. Dont get me wrong, the kid is really talented.. but i think with how these tyres and cars work.. its hard to base anything on a qually with constantly changing conditions.

Barn door rear-wing as well on the Williams in quali.