Silly season 2021-2022-2023

[LHamilton]

If Albon and De Vries slots into vacant spots at Alfa and Williams, that's quite underwhelming. Especially if the Latifi rumours of him staying at Williams are true. If that were to be true, then I would say that it does put Jost Capito in a pretty bad light since he has come out and said that Williams doesn't need money anymore, whilst retaining their pay driver and getting the other driver, probably with some money tied to them since they would either come from Merc or RB, to drive for them in 2022.

[JordanMugen]

So it seems like the pieces will fall in to the following places:

Merc = Hamilton + Russell
Alfa = Bottas + Schumacher
Williams = Albon + De Vries

That leaves the empty seat at Haas...

Haas = Giovinazzi? + Mazepin

*shakes head* Latifi is not going anywhere, and there is no reason for Schumacher to switch from Haas to Alfa given he has a Haas contract.

Merc = Hamilton + Russell
Alfa = Bottas + De Vries or Illot or Pourchaire
Williams = Latifi + Albon or Zhou or De Vries or Piastri
Haas = Schumacher + Mazepin

Out of luck = Giovinazzi, Hulkenberg, Kvyat

The italic seats are the ones under question. The underlined candidate is the most likely.

I guess Williams are betting on the outside chance that Albon might be as good as Perez, but IMO Williams should just take the chance with Piastri! Perhaps Alfa Romeo likewise with Pourchaire or Illot.

[JordanMugen]

If Albon and De Vries slots into vacant spots at Alfa and Williams, that's quite underwhelming. Especially if the Latifi rumours of him staying at Williams are true. If that were to be true, then I would say that it does put Jost Capito in a pretty bad light since he has come out and said that Williams doesn't need money anymore, whilst retaining their pay driver and getting the other driver, probably with some money tied to them since they would either come from Merc or RB, to drive for them in 2022.

Which driver could Capito obtain who is clearly better than Albon?

Piastri would be a risk, while Hulkenberg is a solid driver but one of relatively senior years who previously rejected a HAAS drive at the rear of the field. Magnussen and Grosjean are already contracted elsewhere, though it could be possible to obtain the services of Vandoorne or Kvyat. Again, it is unclear whether Kvyat is better than Albon, though Vandoorne might be.

Bottas would, likely, be Williams' first choice but has preferred to race for Sauber. It is, realistically, unclear whether Hulkenberg is at the same level as Bottas. Red Bull preferred Perez to Hulkenberg, and Williams will note this in their analysis.

Agreed on Alfa Romeo -- it would be illogical to select a relatively aging De Vries who took too long to win F2, when Pourchaire is in their driver academy and is a potential teenage superstar.

Edit -- Are you implying Williams should have increased their salary offer to make sure they could secure Bottas? Say if the offer was $7m USD, Williams should instead have offered $15m USD -- the tactic which was used effectively by Toyota to secure Ralf Schumacher's services or by Jaguar to secure Irvine's services. Paying inflated superstar salaries for an upper-midfield driver to ensure their signing of the contract?

---

Bizarrely, Canal+ are reporting the opposite rumour: Albon to Alfa Romeo and De Vries to Williams. Indeed, Sauber are already sponsored by Singha Beer so Albon to Sauber would make sense.

A line-up of Bottas + Albon would be a very solid Sauber line-up IMO. Unfortunately for Giovinazzi I don't remember a single notable drive of his, and it seems the F1 press and team managers don't either -- Albon of course had many notable drives in the Red Bull banging wheels with Hamilton.

I'm not convinced about De Vries. On other forums folks are arguing how Vandoorne did not have a fair chance and was reasonably close to Alonso, on that basis it would be logical that if a Mercedes junior (or not all that junior anymore) is placed at Williams, it should be Vandoorne IMO.

[Hoffman900]

I see Horner is blaming Mercedes for potentially blocking Albon to Williams.

Well no s**t. Lol. Let’s not forget it was Horner and Marko who put Albon in this position to begin with.

[politburo]

If Albon and De Vries slots into vacant spots at Alfa and Williams, that's quite underwhelming. Especially if the Latifi rumours of him staying at Williams are true. If that were to be true, then I would say that it does put Jost Capito in a pretty bad light since he has come out and said that Williams doesn't need money anymore, whilst retaining their pay driver and getting the other driver, probably with some money tied to them since they would either come from Merc or RB, to drive for them in 2022.

Which driver could Capito obtain who is clearly better than Albon?

Piastri would be a risk, while Hulkenberg is a solid driver but one of relatively senior years who previously rejected a HAAS drive at the rear of the field. Magnussen and Grosjean are already contracted elsewhere, though it could be possible to obtain the services of Vandoorne or Kvyat. Again, it is unclear whether Kvyat is better than Albon, though Vandoorne might be.

Bottas would, likely, be Williams' first choice but has preferred to race for Sauber. It is, realistically, unclear whether Hulkenberg is at the same level as Bottas. Red Bull preferred Perez to Hulkenberg, and Williams will note this in their analysis.

Agreed on Alfa Romeo -- it would be illogical to select a relatively aging De Vries who took too long to win F2, when Pourchaire is in their driver academy and is a potential teenage superstar.

Edit -- Are you implying Williams should have increased their salary offer to make sure they could secure Bottas? Say if the offer was $7m USD, Williams should instead have offered $15m USD -- the tactic which was used effectively by Toyota to secure Ralf Schumacher's services or by Jaguar to secure Irvine's services. Paying inflated superstar salaries for an upper-midfield driver to ensure their signing of the contract?

---

Bizarrely, Canal+ are reporting the opposite rumour: Albon to Alfa Romeo and De Vries to Williams. Indeed, Sauber are already sponsored by Singha Beer so Albon to Sauber would make sense.

A line-up of Bottas + Albon would be a very solid Sauber line-up IMO. Unfortunately for Giovinazzi I don't remember a single notable drive of his, and it seems the F1 press and team managers don't either -- Albon of course had many notable drives in the Red Bull banging wheels with Hamilton.

I'm not convinced about De Vries. On other forums folks are arguing how Vandoorne did not have a fair chance and was reasonably close to Alonso, on that basis it would be logical that if a Mercedes junior (or not all that junior anymore) is placed at Williams, it should be Vandoorne IMO.

If it stays this way, Piastri will have won F3 and F2 in consecutive years and Formula Renault Eurocup (Now Formula Regional European by Alpine) in 2019. He is also the best qualifier and has most wins and podiums in F2 in a fairly stacked field with the likes of Vips, Lawson, Zhou, Ticktum, Shwartzman. But we all know there is no way Piastri gets a seat even if he wins, the opportunities are just not there despite his obvious talent. He might have to wait like Gasly or Giovinazzi did. Which is sad to say, if this sport is really about maintaining a meritocracy, then Piastri must be considered strongly despite the risks brought on by the rookie tag.

Otherwise I think I would even consider Kvyat similarly to Albon, they are both just decent midfield drivers. But there are other options, surely Alfa-Romeo go for Botttas-Ilott and Williams go for Latifi-De Vries or Kyvat-De Vries, surely.

[politburo]

I see Horner is blaming Mercedes for potentially blocking Albon to Williams.

Well no s**t. Lol. Let’s not forget it was Horner and Marko who put Albon in this position to begin with.

Really Albon never showered himself in glory with his many poor performances - Imola, Turkey just to mention a couple. He did not even score half of the points Verstappen did with a full 2020 season let alone the half season he had the year prior, and only Vettel and Kvyat faired worse in those regards in 2020. Marko just showed him the door, which was only right given their ambitions at the time. It is a brutal business.

[Hoffman900]

I see Horner is blaming Mercedes for potentially blocking Albon to Williams.

Well no s**t. Lol. Let’s not forget it was Horner and Marko who put Albon in this position to begin with.

Really Albon never showered himself in glory with his many poor performances - Imola, Turkey just to mention a couple. He did not even score half of the points Verstappen did with a full 2020 season let alone the half season he had the year prior, and only Vettel and Kvyat faired worse in those regards in 2020. Marko just showed him the door, which was only right given their ambitions at the time. It is a brutal business.

Right, but that isn’t Toto’s problem.

[aMessageToCharlie]

I see Horner is blaming Mercedes for potentially blocking Albon to Williams.

Well no s**t. Lol. Let’s not forget it was Horner and Marko who put Albon in this position to begin with.

Really Albon never showered himself in glory with his many poor performances - Imola, Turkey just to mention a couple. He did not even score half of the points Verstappen did with a full 2020 season let alone the half season he had the year prior, and only Vettel and Kvyat faired worse in those regards in 2020. Marko just showed him the door, which was only right given their ambitions at the time. It is a brutal business.

Current driver standings

VER: 199.5 pts
PER: 104 pts

[LHamilton]

If Albon and De Vries slots into vacant spots at Alfa and Williams, that's quite underwhelming. Especially if the Latifi rumours of him staying at Williams are true. If that were to be true, then I would say that it does put Jost Capito in a pretty bad light since he has come out and said that Williams doesn't need money anymore, whilst retaining their pay driver and getting the other driver, probably with some money tied to them since they would either come from Merc or RB, to drive for them in 2022.

Which driver could Capito obtain who is clearly better than Albon?

Piastri would be a risk, while Hulkenberg is a solid driver but one of relatively senior years who previously rejected a HAAS drive at the rear of the field. Magnussen and Grosjean are already contracted elsewhere, though it could be possible to obtain the services of Vandoorne or Kvyat. Again, it is unclear whether Kvyat is better than Albon, though Vandoorne might be.

Bottas would, likely, be Williams' first choice but has preferred to race for Sauber. It is, realistically, unclear whether Hulkenberg is at the same level as Bottas. Red Bull preferred Perez to Hulkenberg, and Williams will note this in their analysis.

Agreed on Alfa Romeo -- it would be illogical to select a relatively aging De Vries who took too long to win F2, when Pourchaire is in their driver academy and is a potential teenage superstar.

Edit -- Are you implying Williams should have increased their salary offer to make sure they could secure Bottas? Say if the offer was $7m USD, Williams should instead have offered $15m USD -- the tactic which was used effectively by Toyota to secure Ralf Schumacher's services or by Jaguar to secure Irvine's services. Paying inflated superstar salaries for an upper-midfield driver to ensure their signing of the contract?

---

Bizarrely, Canal+ are reporting the opposite rumour: Albon to Alfa Romeo and De Vries to Williams. Indeed, Sauber are already sponsored by Singha Beer so Albon to Sauber would make sense.

A line-up of Bottas + Albon would be a very solid Sauber line-up IMO. Unfortunately for Giovinazzi I don't remember a single notable drive of his, and it seems the F1 press and team managers don't either -- Albon of course had many notable drives in the Red Bull banging wheels with Hamilton.

I'm not convinced about De Vries. On other forums folks are arguing how Vandoorne did not have a fair chance and was reasonably close to Alonso, on that basis it would be logical that if a Mercedes junior (or not all that junior anymore) is placed at Williams, it should be Vandoorne IMO.

It's not that I'm against Albon, but the pairing. Any pairing of Albon/De Vries/Latifi seems a bit lackluster. However, if you pair Albon with someone like Bottas, as you have mentioned, I'm for it. And Williams could go for some experience in Hulkenberg for instance, and a rookie beside him, like Piastri. If not Hulkenberg, then perhaps Shwartzman who I think have a higher upside than De Vries, Latifi and probably even Albon.

In terms of Pourchaire, I think it's highly likely he does another year in F2 and after that is a shoe in for Sauber (Alfa).

For Hulkenberg, I don't know why he isn't considered more. If it's economics, then perhaps Hulkenberg should lower his demand if he has an interest of being in F1. I think he is more likely to be willing to go to a "lower end team" going into 2022 since it's all up in the air of what the pecking order will look like. I actually think that Hulkenberg is faster than half of the grid. More prone to make mistakes probably, but still. It's just that people are so blinded by podiums almost like gold that they lose sight of anything BUT that. You could give most people a pile of dung covered in gold and people would still be like "It's good that!".

But yeah, in my world, probably Hulk/Piastri in Williams and Bottas/Albon in Alfa. I think that looks good. But then again, when it comes to picking drivers, F1 seems to be inept of picking visely.

[Big Tea]

If Albon and De Vries slots into vacant spots at Alfa and Williams, that's quite underwhelming. Especially if the Latifi rumours of him staying at Williams are true. If that were to be true, then I would say that it does put Jost Capito in a pretty bad light since he has come out and said that Williams doesn't need money anymore, whilst retaining their pay driver and getting the other driver, probably with some money tied to them since they would either come from Merc or RB, to drive for them in 2022.

Which driver could Capito obtain who is clearly better than Albon?

Piastri would be a risk, while Hulkenberg is a solid driver but one of relatively senior years who previously rejected a HAAS drive at the rear of the field. Magnussen and Grosjean are already contracted elsewhere, though it could be possible to obtain the services of Vandoorne or Kvyat. Again, it is unclear whether Kvyat is better than Albon, though Vandoorne might be.

Bottas would, likely, be Williams' first choice but has preferred to race for Sauber. It is, realistically, unclear whether Hulkenberg is at the same level as Bottas. Red Bull preferred Perez to Hulkenberg, and Williams will note this in their analysis.

Agreed on Alfa Romeo -- it would be illogical to select a relatively aging De Vries who took too long to win F2, when Pourchaire is in their driver academy and is a potential teenage superstar.

Edit -- Are you implying Williams should have increased their salary offer to make sure they could secure Bottas? Say if the offer was $7m USD, Williams should instead have offered $15m USD -- the tactic which was used effectively by Toyota to secure Ralf Schumacher's services or by Jaguar to secure Irvine's services. Paying inflated superstar salaries for an upper-midfield driver to ensure their signing of the contract?

---

Bizarrely, Canal+ are reporting the opposite rumour: Albon to Alfa Romeo and De Vries to Williams. Indeed, Sauber are already sponsored by Singha Beer so Albon to Sauber would make sense.

A line-up of Bottas + Albon would be a very solid Sauber line-up IMO. Unfortunately for Giovinazzi I don't remember a single notable drive of his, and it seems the F1 press and team managers don't either -- Albon of course had many notable drives in the Red Bull banging wheels with Hamilton.

I'm not convinced about De Vries. On other forums folks are arguing how Vandoorne did not have a fair chance and was reasonably close to Alonso, on that basis it would be logical that if a Mercedes junior (or not all that junior anymore) is placed at Williams, it should be Vandoorne IMO.

It's not that I'm against Albon, but the pairing. Any pairing of Albon/De Vries/Latifi seems a bit lackluster. However, if you pair Albon with someone like Bottas, as you have mentioned, I'm for it. And Williams could go for some experience in Hulkenberg for instance, and a rookie beside him, like Piastri. If not Hulkenberg, then perhaps Shwartzman who I think have a higher upside than De Vries, Latifi and probably even Albon.

In terms of Pourchaire, I think it's highly likely he does another year in F2 and after that is a shoe in for Sauber (Alfa).

For Hulkenberg, I don't know why he isn't considered more. If it's economics, then perhaps Hulkenberg should lower his demand if he has an interest of being in F1. I think he is more likely to be willing to go to a "lower end team" going into 2022 since it's all up in the air of what the pecking order will look like. I actually think that Hulkenberg is faster than half of the grid. More prone to make mistakes probably, but still. It's just that people are so blinded by podiums almost like gold that they lose sight of anything BUT that. You could give most people a pile of dung covered in gold and people would still be like "It's good that!".

But yeah, in my world, probably Hulk/Piastri in Williams and Bottas/Albon in Alfa. I think that looks good. But then again, when it comes to picking drivers, F1 seems to be inept of picking visely.

Would you have said the same about Gasly if he had not returned to STR/AT?

Albon is in a similar position without having had a seat to go back to. If he is as good as Gasly, and I am not saying he is, but he could be, would he not be a good option for Williams as Gasly was for STR?

If it is a meritocracy, then that does not mean 'move over for the latest hyped guy who has never driven an F1 car', it means the driver performing best gets the seat until proven otherwise.

[Zynerji]

RBR should just buy HAAS to put more juniors in, and supply powertrain and listed parts like the Alpha Tauri deal...

I believe that the cost cap has opened this type of thinking up, as there is no "put all the money in one team to win" anymore!

[LHamilton]

Which driver could Capito obtain who is clearly better than Albon?

Piastri would be a risk, while Hulkenberg is a solid driver but one of relatively senior years who previously rejected a HAAS drive at the rear of the field. Magnussen and Grosjean are already contracted elsewhere, though it could be possible to obtain the services of Vandoorne or Kvyat. Again, it is unclear whether Kvyat is better than Albon, though Vandoorne might be.

Bottas would, likely, be Williams' first choice but has preferred to race for Sauber. It is, realistically, unclear whether Hulkenberg is at the same level as Bottas. Red Bull preferred Perez to Hulkenberg, and Williams will note this in their analysis.

Agreed on Alfa Romeo -- it would be illogical to select a relatively aging De Vries who took too long to win F2, when Pourchaire is in their driver academy and is a potential teenage superstar.

Edit -- Are you implying Williams should have increased their salary offer to make sure they could secure Bottas? Say if the offer was $7m USD, Williams should instead have offered $15m USD -- the tactic which was used effectively by Toyota to secure Ralf Schumacher's services or by Jaguar to secure Irvine's services. Paying inflated superstar salaries for an upper-midfield driver to ensure their signing of the contract?

---

Bizarrely, Canal+ are reporting the opposite rumour: Albon to Alfa Romeo and De Vries to Williams. Indeed, Sauber are already sponsored by Singha Beer so Albon to Sauber would make sense.

A line-up of Bottas + Albon would be a very solid Sauber line-up IMO. Unfortunately for Giovinazzi I don't remember a single notable drive of his, and it seems the F1 press and team managers don't either -- Albon of course had many notable drives in the Red Bull banging wheels with Hamilton.

I'm not convinced about De Vries. On other forums folks are arguing how Vandoorne did not have a fair chance and was reasonably close to Alonso, on that basis it would be logical that if a Mercedes junior (or not all that junior anymore) is placed at Williams, it should be Vandoorne IMO.

It's not that I'm against Albon, but the pairing. Any pairing of Albon/De Vries/Latifi seems a bit lackluster. However, if you pair Albon with someone like Bottas, as you have mentioned, I'm for it. And Williams could go for some experience in Hulkenberg for instance, and a rookie beside him, like Piastri. If not Hulkenberg, then perhaps Shwartzman who I think have a higher upside than De Vries, Latifi and probably even Albon.

In terms of Pourchaire, I think it's highly likely he does another year in F2 and after that is a shoe in for Sauber (Alfa).

For Hulkenberg, I don't know why he isn't considered more. If it's economics, then perhaps Hulkenberg should lower his demand if he has an interest of being in F1. I think he is more likely to be willing to go to a "lower end team" going into 2022 since it's all up in the air of what the pecking order will look like. I actually think that Hulkenberg is faster than half of the grid. More prone to make mistakes probably, but still. It's just that people are so blinded by podiums almost like gold that they lose sight of anything BUT that. You could give most people a pile of dung covered in gold and people would still be like "It's good that!".

But yeah, in my world, probably Hulk/Piastri in Williams and Bottas/Albon in Alfa. I think that looks good. But then again, when it comes to picking drivers, F1 seems to be inept of picking visely.

Would you have said the same about Gasly if he had not returned to STR/AT?

Albon is in a similar position without having had a seat to go back to. If he is as good as Gasly, and I am not saying he is, but he could be, would he not be a good option for Williams as Gasly was for STR?

If it is a meritocracy, then that does not mean 'move over for the latest hyped guy who has never driven an F1 car', it means the driver performing best gets the seat until proven otherwise.

I'm actually not as sold on Gasly as most people are. That's not to say that he isn't as good as people deem him to be. But for me, he has to go up against a more known quantity. His rookie season in 2018 is hard to judge since both himself and his teammate were rookies that year. Promoted into RB in 2019, was so-so against Max and looked better against Kvyat. Kvyat is someone who I felt was a bit mediocre. Sure, had that 2015 season against Ricciardo, but everything else seems a bit bland, to be honest.

So for me, Gasly is a bit hard to judge, which is why I somewhat reserve my judgement on him, but for now isn't as high as most people have him. People tend to go crazy because he gets good results. But do we know how good the car is?

Would I have said the same for Gasly as I would have for Albon? The difference between them is their junior/single seater careers. Albon, like Perez, hasn't really won anything in single seaters (not counting karting) whereas Gasly has. So he has a little bit more to lean on. So thus, you would think because of that he would've had a little bit of a higher chance of getting a seat, in a hypothetical scenario. But I would probably have put him, similar to Albon, as a "second driver" since he would in this hypothetical scenario not have shown as much. (Because we are talking about Gasly mid 2019, as he was dropped from RB).

[politburo]

I see Horner is blaming Mercedes for potentially blocking Albon to Williams.

Well no s**t. Lol. Let’s not forget it was Horner and Marko who put Albon in this position to begin with.

Really Albon never showered himself in glory with his many poor performances - Imola, Turkey just to mention a couple. He did not even score half of the points Verstappen did with a full 2020 season let alone the half season he had the year prior, and only Vettel and Kvyat faired worse in those regards in 2020. Marko just showed him the door, which was only right given their ambitions at the time. It is a brutal business.

Current driver standings

VER: 199.5 pts
PER: 104 pts

I don't rate Perez either. You can look at my posts, I think both Perez and Albon are just decent midfield drivers but just do not have the raw pace to do anything at the top of field, Perez is only slightly better than Albon even the quali data shows it and is often fighting with cars a good 4 or 5 tenths slower. RB should've waited for Bottas-Russell sweepstakes, Bottas has at least proven to have the 1 lap pace to start at the front on a consistent basis, and be a good support driver. Thus he would support RedBull in their abitions to win a WCC once again. The caveat being his mediocre pace in wet conditions ofcourse.

[Zynerji]

I still think Hartley was the better pick for RBR in 2019...

[SmallSoldier]

I see Horner is blaming Mercedes for potentially blocking Albon to Williams.

Well no s**t. Lol. Let’s not forget it was Horner and Marko who put Albon in this position to begin with.

Surprising too that Albon isn’t an option for AT… It isn’t like Tsunoda has showed much in his first half season… He hasn’t impressed so far after all the hype at the beginning of the year.