Silly season 2024-2025

[PlatinumZealot]

Binotto is a last ditch attempt to get Sainz. Is it only me that sees it that way?

[Zynerji]

Audi should just bail out at this point and sell their interests to Andretti.

[djos]

Audi should just bail out at this point and sell their interests to Andretti.

Not wrong!

Although Seidl was crazy to hire James key, he was the bottleneck at Maclaren and responsible for the cars that Lando spent 5 years complaining about.

[LHamilton]

Yuki wont get that Red Bull seat. Seemingly he seems to be but a seat warmer for the next crop of Red Bull junior drivers. I think his lack of opportunity getting the Red Bull seat is mainly due to his attitude. Although he might have become a little bit calmer since getting into F1, he still has a hot headedness about him. Dive bombing in Bahrain, various comments on the radio and in interviews. The most recent being it would be "weird" if Lawson got the seat instead of him. Even if you feel that, its not something you say in public, especially when you have had attitude problems. Im almost certain that these are the stumbling blocks. Looking at Gaslys stint at Red Bull, he seemingly had some attitude problems that rubbed Red Bull off. And Red Bull might fear a repeat of that. I do think Ricciardos demeanour is what they are looking for. A calm presence.

So from that point of view I think its more likely that Ricciardo get the chance mid season. They have all the data they need, surely, to make a proper decision. I question however whether Ricciardos accident have made it so that he is unable to drive at his fullest. Looking at his left hand when he rotates the car, he struggles to keep his hand completely solid to wheel in a way that he used to prior to getting injured. His pinky and ring finger tends to lift up, so that he only touches the steering wheel with primarily the thumb and index finger when making right hand turns. So effectively, he has had to change his grip after the accident. And in a sport where tenths of seconds are worth their weight in gold, I struggle to see that this doesnt have any effect at all. That being said, he might be able to adapt to it.

The fact that Red Bull brought Ricciardo back and that he was supposedly close to Verstappen in his Red Bull "tryout" prior to getting back into the sister team, mustve meant that they saw him as a high probability to getting that 2nd seat alongside Verstappen. But with the rumours (and could only be rumours) that Red Bull are thinking of getting Lawson into that 2nd seat instead; are Red Bull seeing what I am seeing? Or at least, Red Bull aint happy with how Ricciardo has performed thus far to warrant him a seat next to Verstappen.

Question then remains; if not Ricciardo or Tsunoda. And Lawson being a bit of a risk. Who else? Perhaps they ultimately circle around and goes for Sainz. I dont know if that is the solution either, given that he struggled massively in an oversteery car alongside Leclerc in 2022. He did also struggle against Hulkenberg in 2018. A car Hulkenberg said was a bit oversteery and not something that favoured Sainz.

Maybe an ideal scenario is that you take on a loan driver til the end of the season. Someone that you might think be good enough for the job. However, these are few and far between. Ocon could be, since he hasnt signed a contract and Alpine has junior drivers available. However. Ocon alongside Verstappen? Dont think that would be the most comfortable driver pairing. Bottas perhaps? Sauber aint going anywhere this season and perhaps this is a good opportunity for Pourchaire to get a chance. However, Bottas would only do this as a last case scenario (which could be said for Ocon too) since it wouldnt guarantee a seat for next year. Unless Red Bull decides to buy that driver out. Hulkenberg maybe.

I do think, even if it would be an ideal scenario to get someone on loan for the season, that it would be hard to orchestra. Perhaps to many hoops to jump through, although it would be more prefered and more of a diligent recruitment process. More likely is that they either go for Ricciardo, or bite the bullet for Sainz.

[Jurgen von Diaz]

Red Bull doesn't like Yuki's attitude, but when it comes to Max, they don't see any problems. It seems like they don't want two Maxes on the team.

[djos]

Red Bull doesn't like Yuki's attitude, but when it comes to Max, they don't see any problems. It seems like they don't want two Maxes on the team.

I think this is it exactly, they know Daniel will play the team game and not "set the house on fire" so to speak.

[JPower]

Binotto is a last ditch attempt to get Sainz. Is it only me that sees it that way?

Audi has a brand new car, PU, and technical structure to stand up. All of those are more important than a driver. They are things Binotto has more experience with on management and technical level than anyone else available to Audi.

It was a smart decision. It may help with Sainz negotiations but that's not the most important goal for Audi right now.

[djos]

The media seems to have swung back behind Daniel Riccardo as the favourite to replace Perez mid season.

[terefere]

So from that point of view I think its more likely that Ricciardo get the chance mid season. They have all the data they need, surely, to make a proper decision.

Well, I am sure they have all the data, but I think the problem is that this data doesn't show what they want it to show.
They clearly brought Daniel back to RB family with the aim of promoting him to the main team if Perez doesn't perform. Now they had a full year, Perez is at his lowest point and I think the patience has ran out, but unfortunately Ricciardo isn't performing better than Tsunoda. He had his good moments, but he also had his bad moments. If he came in and was consistently a bit better than Tsunoda it would be a done deal, but the way things are RBR does not have a good choice.

- Yuki's attitude is a problem, especially in previous seasons.
- Ricciardos performance is clearly not what they thought it would be.
- Perez might have been just good enough in the last 2 seasons, but this year it's just too much.
- Lawson directly to RBR? Come on, I like the guy and wish he would get a chance, but his F2 career was not really convincing. I think he deserves a chance to prove himself, but going directly yo RBR would be wild.

It's wild that RBR, a team that dominated recent years and is still close to the top has such limited options for finding a second driver. I think Sainz would be the best option for them.

[zeph]

I think Binotto is a catch for a team like Audi, as he is the only F1 CTO that has experience running both engine and chassis development. I don’t expect them to hit the ground running, but I do think he is the best guy for the job.

As a trackside team principal he may not be the first choice, but running the factory? Hands down, number one.

I felt James Key was an odd choice, as his F1 track record was hardly impressive, so I think it’s probably best they lost him. Not that sure about Andreas Seidl, but McLaren has definitely turned a corner since his departure.

[djos]

I think Binotto is a catch for a team like Audi, as he is the only F1 CTO that has experience running both engine and chassis development. I don’t expect them to hit the ground running, but I do think he is the best guy for the job.

As a trackside team principal he may not be the first choice, but running the factory? Hands down, number one.

I felt James Key was an odd choice, as his F1 track record was hardly impressive, so I think it’s probably best they lost him. Not that sure about Andreas Seidl, but McLaren has definitely turned a corner since his departure.

Agreed, he's definitely a much better choice than having a CEO plus a "Brand Rep" alongside to get in the way of everything.

I think Seidl was decent, but he clearly had a blind spot for James Key - as good as Stella is, I think him kicking Key out and restructuring the team was the major factor in unlocking MacLaren's performance potential. All the reports were that he had sidelined Peter Prodromou so he could push his own flawed concepts - considering Peter was widely regarded as a top Adrian Newey protégé, this was clearly holding the team back.

[dodds_turbo]

[djos]

Not surprising, given all the leaks. I do question the choice tho - they’ve got young Ollie in the other car, and Ocon is not exactly renown for being a team player.

[LHamilton]

Well then. We already know Ocons next move; he goes to Audi whenever Hulkenberg leaves.

Everytime Hulkenberg has left a team since Ocon been in F1, Ocon has replaced him.

2017 - Hulkenberg went to Renault from Force India - Ocon joined Force India.
2020 - Hulkenberg didnt get a renewed contract from Renault - Ocon joined Renault instead.
2025 - Hulkenberg goes to Sauber/Audi - Ocon joins HAAS.

All joking aside. As I said before, it will be interesting to see if Ocon has the ability to be a team leader. The first time he is the de facto senior driver in the team. You could argue Alpine with Gasly. However, it felt like Gasly got the senior role eariler than Ocon given respective teammates that they have had during their years. Ocon has had Perez, Ricciardo and Alonso prior to Gasly. All which probably assumed the position of team leader. Where as Gasly has had Verstappen, Kyvat and Tsunoda prior to Ocon. I have not accounted for their rookie years, since they are rookies. You cant put that resposibility on a rookie.

[FW17]

Currently there are 13 race winners on the grid, has there ever been this many?