2014/15 Silly Season

[Sasha]

The the major point to Alonso signing with Mclaren Honda isn't Ron Dennis,Eric Boullier runs the team but the Honda PU.

Honda was not happy with the rumor story from Autosprint and they used the former F1 driver Taki Inoue,who has a good Twitter following in Japan and the Autosport World to break the Honda PU before the GP Weekend and the photoshop picture of Alonso to bring up why the Italian Autosprint wrote that rumor piece.

All you need to know is Alonso knows the truth about the Honda PU.

[Andres125sx]

That´s what the spanish radio La Cope said tonight

http://www.marca.com/2014/10/03/motor/f ... 88520.html

I´m not sure if that will be a good move... but I guess watching Massa perfomance outside Ferrari (unconsistent, but with a pole and a podium on the record), and Kimi´s one inside must be enlightening

[johnny99]

I think his patience has run out and at his age has to make a move. Don't forget Massa has had many DNF's that were no fault of his or Williams, although there race strategy is not perfect. I really hope it works out for him.

John

[MOWOG]

Sorry, my english is this sh*t...

Do not apologize. It is much better than my Spanish!

[Mesteño]

to reliable spanish media close to him, Carlos Miquel from Cadena Cope.
Spanish newspaper and web -Marca- is saying it in first page too.

Mclaren would be in pole position for him.

Sorry, my english is this sh*t...

Marca is reliable to you?

Carlos Miquel is, pretty much by the way.

[Richard]

Anyone notice the thread title has been updated? Hopefully it'll reduce the flurry of thread being created to debate where the 6 tents are going to be pitched next year.

[AliMadsen]

This may be a wild shot, but it´s called "Silly season", so why not...

Danish national broadcaster, DR, is presenting a somewhat greater reshuffle, than just FA to McLaren.
The rumour is not backed by any specific sources, and may be influenced by wishful thinking about Magnussen Juniors future

http://www.dr.dk/Sporten/Kommentar/Jaco ... 124625.htm

Anyway - it goes like this:

Alonso is actually going to Mercedes!
Hamilton is fed up with Rosberg, and goes back to McLaren.
Button goes to Red Bull, to replace...
Vettel, who ends up at Ferrari

Is this just too silly for "Silly season" or is it a likely scenario?

[donskar]

ASSUMING Alonso leaves:

Sad, but good move for both parties. Alonso is no longer young in racing terms. Ferrari is not yet at the level they need to be competitive.

Both parties have been unusually open and honest (compared to what we are accustomed to in F1): Alonso wants and needs to win; time is running out for him. Ferrari is openly admitting they will not be competitive next year and possibly not the year after. Finally, this gives Ferrari management a "clean slate" -- what many managers demand when they take over a bad situation.

What will it do to team morale? Only time will tell.

[Manoah2u]

This may be a wild shot, but it´s called "Silly season", so why not...

Danish national broadcaster, DR, is presenting a somewhat greater reshuffle, than just FA to McLaren.
The rumour is not backed by any specific sources, and may be influenced by wishful thinking about Magnussen Juniors future

http://www.dr.dk/Sporten/Kommentar/Jaco ... 124625.htm

Anyway - it goes like this:

Alonso is actually going to Mercedes!
Hamilton is fed up with Rosberg, and goes back to McLaren.
Button goes to Red Bull, to replace...
Vettel, who ends up at Ferrari

Is this just too silly for "Silly season" or is it a likely scenario?

1. Alonso to Mercedes > No
2. Hamilton back to MCL > No (Ham will be champ, Rosberg will be like webber; just out of it, and never close again)
3. Button will never go to RedBull, Button has nothing to bring which RedBull could benefit from (Button has use where he is), besides, he has MCL contract
4. Vettel will end up at ferrari but not next year

[bhall II]

Can someone help me out here? Alonso's reported move doesn't make sense to my fragile sensibilities.

If the reports are to be believed, Alonso wants to leave Ferrari, because he's tired of underachieving. That's fair enough; completely understandable. But, why then would he go to a team (McLaren) that's currently well behind Ferrari despite having the best PU in the sport? It quickly makes even less sense than a football bat when one considers that his prospective team is set to ditch the best PU in the sport next year in favor of one that's completely unproven and a full year behind everyone else.

Similarly, why would Ferrari push out arguably the best driver of his generation, one who's under contract for the next two years, when they desperately need the best of everything in order to reclaim their winning ways? Just because?

Is this an ego thing or something? It looks like two sides jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

[f1universe]

Can someone help me out here? Alonso's reported move doesn't make sense to my fragile sensibilities.

If the reports are to be believed, Alonso wants to leave Ferrari, because he's tired of underachieving. That's fair enough; completely understandable. But, why then would he go to a team (McLaren) that's currently well behind Ferrari despite having the best PU in the sport? It quickly makes even less sense than a football bat when one considers that his prospective team is set to ditch the best PU in the sport next year in favor of one that's completely unproven and a full year behind everyone else.

Similarly, why would Ferrari push out arguably the best driver of his generation, one who's under contract for the next two years, when they desperately need the best of everything to reclaim their winning ways? Just because?

Is this an ego thing or something? It looks like two sides jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

1-Alonso maybe want to leave Ferrari because he does not believe in their project anymore.

2-Ferrari can't handle Alonso exposing the car every season and probably they are tired of the driver being bigger than the team at this moment, because let's face it, if something works in Ferrari, that is Alonso.

my two cents.

[alexx_88]

In my perspective it makes sense for both parties. Ferrari can't offer any performance guarantees to Alonso and want him tied up further than 2016, while Fred couldn't sign such a deal because the risk would be too great.

I don't see Ferrari as a safer option at this point compared to Mclaren. They've just started a massive reshuffling, one that included the main PU guy and they, as a company, don't seem to have the necessary expertise to innovate enough in the hybrid areas without further hirings. IF the current management structure is good enough, it will take them several years to put together the right team and build a good-enough car to challenge for the title. By that time, Alonso will be retiring. On the other hand, Mclaren have behind them the money and R&D power of a huge company and have already gone through the reshuffling phase. They are on the rise and it's best to get in early.

I'd go as far as saying that, if you want to win the title in the following years, the only option besides Mercedes is Mclaren.

[Manoah2u]

Can someone help me out here? Alonso's reported move doesn't make sense to my fragile sensibilities.

If the reports are to be believed, Alonso wants to leave Ferrari, because he's tired of underachieving. That's fair enough; completely understandable. But, why then would he go to a team (McLaren) that's currently well behind Ferrari despite having the best PU in the sport? It quickly makes even less sense than a football bat when one considers that his prospective team is set to ditch the best PU in the sport next year in favor of one that's completely unproven and a full year behind everyone else.

Similarly, why would Ferrari push out arguably the best driver of his generation, one who's under contract for the next two years, when they desperately need the best of everything to reclaim their winning ways? Just because?

Is this an ego thing or something? It looks like two sides jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Ferrari is restructuring completely and I feel Alonso needs to be 'ditched' because it wasn't working and will not be working.
So that's strike one.

Strike 2: The chemistry is over. There were some minor cracks visible last year and this year it only grew, Alonso is def. not satisfied with the results at Ferrari and who can blame him. In other words: Alonso doesn't really want to be there anymore.

Strike 3: Zero chance on a Ferrari championship with Alonso in the next 2-3 years. Alonso wants to become champion. Won't happen soon at Ferrari. He's been at Ferrari for a long while now. It's just over.

Strike 4: Ferrari is about Ferrari, not about Alonso. Ferrari wants to win because of Ferrari, not because of Alonso. At this moment, Alonso keeps Ferrari 'afloat', and thus is in a position to be 'the man'. Doesn't fit with Ferrari 'spirit'. Nobody is bigger than ferrari. So bye bye 'nando'.

Strike 5: Alonso can get paid more at Mclaren. Money talks. Makes the world go round (well gravity does that but ok). Honda most definately is investing a lot and a lot to get back on top. Mclaren has been making a mess of things, but i'm sure behind the scenes, they're working on 2015 for a long time.....Mclaren's 'downfall' really began when Mercedes stepped aside of being 'works' brand. IIRC it started with the street car programme to 'cool' the 'ties' of MCL with MERC.
Mclaren today is not the same MClaren 3 years ago. Honda surely played a huge part there, too, even if it's behind the scenes. Honda never made a secret they want a A-class driver, specially Alonso.
Alonso gets to be a 'star' at Mclaren-Honda. Alonso gets big bucks. Alonso will see simulations and calculations on the chances of him actually WINNING again. I feel Mclaren-Honda will have a larger chance of achieving that over ferrari.
Alonso gets Button as a number two driver (Massa nr.2).

strike 6: All Alonso's buddies are 'gone'. No more Montezemolo. No more Domenicali. No more Santander buddy.
It's new management with quite the demands which presumably also come from 'sponsors'. Santander doesn't need
Alonso anymore. Ferrari is restructuring like said so here comes the office 'blitzkrieg'. Bye bye 'nando'.

and Strike 7; back to strike 1 > Alonso out makes sense because Ferrari doesn't want him anymore. They would never say such a thing but i think it's clear as day it's all over. Signing Raikkonen has its reasons.

[turbof1]

In the sense of potentional, mclaren indeed looks to be the best option. Look it this way: staying at ferrari will not get him wins and eventually championships, so in that aspect the current mclaren barely is a step down. Mclaren atleast has a chance of becoming something better next year, ferrari on the other hand is stuck for the foreseeable future.

[alexx_88]

@turbof1: I think potential is key here. At Alonso's level and with the number of years he has remaining in the sport, he probably doesn't care if he's coming 4th or 8th, as long as he's not winning. To that extent, one year of 8ths with Honda is totally worth it if he gets his 3rd championship.