Silly Season 2016/2017

[bauc]

Guys I know this thread is called Silly Season, but to quote TheSun as a source ?

[ctdrftna]

Im biased, but i think Jenson is their best choice if they want someone to keep the points coming with minimal drama, his contract will surely be easier to negotiate then every one but Pascal and Esteban. This choice would be the least disruptive to the grid.

[djos]

Im biased, but i think Jenson is their best choice if they want someone to keep the points coming with minimal drama, his contract will surely be easier to negotiate then every one but Pascal and Esteban. This choice would be the least disruptive to the grid.

I'm not a Jensen fan boi but I agree, he's a safe pair of hands to help bag another WCC.

[hemichromis]

Agreed, Jenson is a good racer like Bottas but would not leave another team without a senior driver.

I would think Jenson could face racing next year if it was Mercedes!

[namao]

As Toto said, Mercedes has 3 choices:

1. Have a number 1 and number 2 driver (Schumacher-Massa style)
2. Give opportunity to young drivers. Red Bull did that (Verstappen), McLaren (Vandoorne) and Williams (Stroll).
3. Choose a top driver.

Option 3 is not going to happen: Alonso wants to be in McLaren, Vettel in Ferrari and Red Bull drivers also. Including Sainz.
Option 1 will be Bottas (difficult because Williams will not let him go so easily)
Option 2 will be Werhlein.

....Werhlein, welcome to Mercedes.

[hemichromis]

Werhlein has been less than impressive and even now has an attitude problem.

Only if he's the only option!

[namao]

Werhlein has been less than impressive and even now has an attitude problem.

Only if he's the only option!

I think that is not a problem for Mercedes, Werhlein wants to drive for them and he will do anything for that. Mercedes could make a strong number 2 driver contract for him. If he complains, bye then.

[WaikeCU]

It's reported Alonso has a £23 million UK pounds buyout price @ Mclaren.
One might wonder whether that buyout is actually mentionable since the chance is he has a good enough clause to walk out for free.

but if it isnt, that means Mercedes has to pay that £23m to 'snatch' Alonso away.

knowing Nico's 2-year deal on '17 and '18

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/formula-1/20 ... h-lewis-h/

Rosberg will earn £18 million a year if he wins all his bonuses, including the world championship

So, let's say Mercedes would have to pay 18 million anyway, so 'all' they have to do is pay an additional 6 million to 'aquire' Alonso.

Offcourse this is without actual payment for Alonso.
However, whereas Rosberg is a rather grey and boring figure [ lets be honest here, no disrespect, just the truth ], Alonso is HUGELY
marketable.

Alonso alongside Hamilton on posters, brands, BOSS, etc etc etc. Jackpot!
In other words, Alonso will make up that money 'lost' with the biggest of ease.

So really, there is little doubt that Alonso would be the very best option there is to choose from. There won't be a next chance to get such a high-profile driver
in the near future.

At this point only Alonso and Hamilton are the 'big boys' left, with Vettel right behind them, but lets'face it, Vettel is on the decline unless he gets a strong 2017 performance out.
Even if someone like Max would be 'the next thing', he isnt yet there and he's locked at RedBull for the coming years anyway.

easy choise. for real.

I'm with you on this. I don't think it will be a repeat of 2007 and to be honest 2007 was Mclaren's season until Lewis broke down early in the final race in Brazil. If that didn't happen, Lewis and Mclaren would have been champions. Eventually both drivers ended on the same amount of points. So in a way, they are both equally good. Back then we had two quite young drivers. One was proven, the other debuted in F1. Too be honest, I think both drivers respect each other more on track. Both drivers are better racers and won't cause situations like Lewis and Nico did in Spain and Austria this season. For me that's the ugly side of Nico's way of racing. Something I don't see in Fernando's race craft. It's not like Fernando holds a grudge against Lewis either. Otherwise he wouldn't have gone back to Mclaren. Lewis doesn't mind anybody in that second seat. The only thing he wants, is that it's a strong driver. Both drivers respect each other after 2007 and have mentioned each other highly multiple times. Both drivers can drive, both have matured, both drivers are marketable and both drivers are superstars. I can't think of a better combo at the moment tbh.

[Pany]

it will be one between Bottas, Perez, Wehrlen and Alonso. The first two for a safe and secure choice; Wehrlen and Alonso are more risky for Mercedes decision, one is too young and Alonso ....... who knows what would happen together with Lewis.
So is only a strategic Mercedes decision with a vision for the future; Money and contracts are not probles at all. In case Mercedes bosses decide only and exclusively for their german interest, so will be Bottas or Perez.
In case Mercedes will decide for the benefit of the whole F1 circus and give a generous present to all supporters, should give opportunity to Alonso (a real duel between him and Lewis many paople are waiting since 10 years) or Wehrlein ( this way there will be next year 3 strong young talents, i.e. Wandoorn Verstappen Wehrlein, against the experienced drivers with new technical regulations: very interesting too)
My personal opinion is that ALonso and Perez arebest decisions; both are very strong and capable to fight with Lewis; Bottas is not

[ALO_Power]

Most of the things many people throw here about Alonso are outdated junk and out of reality. 2007 is a different story, Alonso was younger and a fresh 2 time world champion while Hamilton was at his rookie year with very high rating and whole McLaren obviously (come on we all know it!) favoring him by sabotaging Alonso. But still even in this fiery year, when did they actually crash ??? (and they scored same points) Now, in 2016 things are 100% different. Alonso is the most experienced, mature and complete package on the paddock. He has proven his talent and he knows exactly what he's doing. Hamilton, as well, is much more mature now, and proven also with his 3 titles. Meanwhile, they have decent relationship with Alonso. So, all of this bullsh@t that it will destroy Mercedes are pure nonsense. RedBull has 2 top drivers and EXTREMELY fiery ones, Ricciardo and Verstappen (both with 0 titles, extremely talented and 100% hungry and aggressive to get their title). If RedBull will be on a title fight next year you will see 10x more fire than 2007, because we have 2 huge talents and 1 of them extremely aggressive that wanna take their title. Alonso can only push Mercedes further with his experience and also having 2 of the best drivers in the world (Alonso and Hamilton) will help since they will push each other to go even faster (motivation really high). They together will drag Mercedes even higher. I expect just epic interest, super fast driving and awesome/healthy battles. That's the only way Mercedes can challenge Red Bull if they're going to be better! Alonso has proven that even with a 2nd-3rd car can challenge the 1st team and together with Hamilton they can achieve great stuff ! If Mercedes lets Alonso go away then it will be the worst move to do. The only bad thing that will happen if Alonso goes to Mercedes is that McLaren-Honda will not make it, probably.

(no need to mention how Mercedes will see their marketing and fame launch to the moon even more together with Formula1 itself... It will be a modern day Senna-Prost but in a healthy way as we've seen from both drivers )

[Manoah2u]

Indeed, the 2007 nonsense is just that, nonsense.
It's a long time ago (9 years fcol), and things have changed.

One might even argue whether the 'tense' situation ever really was - personally - between Alonso and Hamilton,
or perhaps rather a classic case of extreme mismanagement and things spiraling out of control out of unfair dealings.

Alonso and Hamilton always took positive about eachother afterwards, and quite frankly, one could wonder if it indeed might have really been Mclaren's mistake
and not the drivers. Hamilton was their big pride, meant to get them WDCs. I really wonder whether Alonso was simply hired by Mclaren to 'turn him' or 'force him'
into a nr2 role - which clearly, and fairly , did not settle well with Fernando.
It was NOT hamilton that 'screwed over' Alonso's setup, tires, etcetera. It was Mclaren, to be honest. All in an environment where Mclaren really was doing 'evil' things
with the Spygate affair. All things concidered, the only guitly party ever was Mclaren if you analyse things.

I also cannot ever remember Alonso or Hamilton afterwards having any anomisty or 'unfinished business'. On the contrary, when I look at now-retired Massa, if i ever
were to imagine a lethal combination, it would be Massa-Hamilton. And funny enough, Massa-Alonso proved to indeed be a very tense combination.
From all people, you'd expect a german to be the 'coolest', level-headed character in the world, but instead, Rosberg - Hamilton is an explosive mixture,
and it's clear for all to see that Vettel is a very explosive character too. The only reason we haven't seen a spat between Vettel and Raikkonen is simply because the Ferrari
sucks b*lls and there is really nothing to fight about. IF the ferrari next year suddenly is a title contender, expect blood and murder between the two.

Also, Alonso and Hamilton are wise 'veterans' that respect eachother. With all do respect, but I never got the feeling Rosberg respected anybody but Rosberg. Not that Lewis
seemed to respect Rosberg, but that only happened after Monaco '14.

And to be really fair, I am without doubt that Alonso is hell of a better racer - much much faster - than Rosberg ever could be. Which really means that Alonso does not need
to make dirty moves and tricks on the competition to 'make it'. All those negative things that were in Rosberg are not present in Alonso. I dare to say that Alonso is a much safer
and calmer choice than 'Britney' Rosberg ever could have been.

We MIGHT even see Alonso completely pulverise Lewis.
Theoretically, that would even be something to 'expect' - If Nico proved to be quite the chunk to handle against Lewis, and Alonso is MILES better than Nico, then Alonso should
completely own Lewis.

I relish that challenge. I want it. I need it.

If i could, i'd sneak into Mercedes and sign it for them.

[Wynters]

Unless Mercedes are sure they've got a large edge on Red Bull then they need two top drivers. If they put all their eggs in the Hamilton basket and he suffers mechanical issues (always likely during the first season of a large rules change) then they lose their best chance at winning the race, fall behind in the WCC and lose marketing opportunities. If Alonso is in the other car then that's far less of a problem.

Mercedes give Alonso a one year contract (so they can let it expire if there are significant problems...although I don't think there would be), he'd jump at it as it's a potential WDC seat. It's win-win.

Even if it does go badly between the two drivers, whenever I think of Prost vs Senna in my mind's eye both of them are in a McLaren car. If Mercedes are looking for long term brand-boosting Alonso/Hamilton is the pairing to go for.

[nokivasara]

Can you imagine the position Alonso is in right now, he has pretty much always made the wrong decision when swapping teams in the past. Will McHonda ever get their sh*t together? Will it happen 2017? How is Merc goint to fare during the new era?
We all know that contracts mean nothing in F1, money always trumps a signature so that's not a big hurdle for Mercedes if they want Alonso.

I still think that it will be Bottas or Wehrlein. But I and probably the whole F1 world surely hopes that it will be Alonso. That sure would be awesome!

[Facts Only]

"99% Sure it will be Alonso"

What planet are people lving on? Well the same planet where they were sure that Gene Haas was just having a laugh and would never actually get a team on the grid I suppose.

[turbof1]

"99% Sure it will be Alonso"

What planet are people lving on? Well the same planet where they were sure that Gene Haas was just having a laugh and would never actually get a team on the grid I suppose.

People like to excagerate. I mean it's theoritically not impossible (highly, highly improbable though) he could go to Mercedes. But I would take that 99% with a 100% pinch of salt.