According to the Corriere della Serra the Scuderia wants to replace Kimi with Nico for 2017. Go figure.
Sure it makes perfect sense and will take Lauda with him. It's the only way Ferrari will get a No.1 on their car...
read somewhere that Nico will need to talk to Ferrari to help his negotiations for new contract with Mercedes. He won't go anywhere, but Mercedes will need to pay him for his 2016 WDC.
Kimi doesn't care. He's there for the paycheck. He proved to himself and the world that he's good enough to be a WDC and thats enough for him. He doesn't need the multiples or he would've tried for it. He's following the money and the party at this point.
Nico would be stupid to go to Ferrari... unless of course it's just a massive payday for him. I firmly believe that this notion of "performance convergence" is a total myth and Merc still have much to show. Sure they state they want to win every race but they can certainly do that by as little margin as they seem to want. Like RB last year, after the big token spend, Ferrari have seemed to either totally stagnate or even go a bit backward. Without testing, how are these teams to ever really know that the millions of dollars they are spending will actually lead to positive results in real world application. Merc will continue to advance their performance through development, albeit at decreasingly significant margins, but I still believe they are far enough ahead to maintain their dominance for a couple or more so years. Unless they get the 2017 changes completely wrong and it ruins their car aero-wise, Nico's best shot at a title is staying put.
What a load. I the only reason Kimi "won" the championship is because he was riding on the devolopment coat tails of Schumacher and Brawn, after LdM forced Michael to "retire". Kimi was handed THE best car to sit in that he had absolutely ZER0 input in developing. Kimi may have "won" a championship, but it wasn't a legit win in my opinion. What has he done since? Heck, has he even finished 2nd in the driver points since then? Kimi needs to go and Max needs to be brought on board.
MS was not forced out. He was forced to make a decision. He had plenty of time to accept Ferraris contract for 2007 but did not sign
I can see Nico staying at Mercedes and LH taking the year off or just leaving for good. Ferrari dont need Nico and Nico does not need Ferrari at all. The Max move has brought silly season right out! Alonso to Mercedes Grosjean to Ferrari Van D to Mclaren JB to Williams Massa to the beach Bottas at Williams again etc etc etc. Let the fun begin lol!
Would great all of the above, including Hamilnado back to McLaren and Hulkenberg to Williams. Only Kimi can stay for 2017 at Ferrari IMO.
Vettel had a clause allowing him to leave and Im sure Ricci's performance convinced him to get out before he Vettel, looked worse.