Italian press says Valterii Bottas has signed with Ferrari for 2016

So Bottas has proved yet again that he isn't worthy of the Ferrari seat. Dreadful,result in Hungary. Beaten by Massa soundly. Surely the best options are the Hulk (if proven time in F1 is important), or either Verstapen or Sainz.

 

Exactly. I don;t understand why would Ferrari hire him. Besides saving a ton of cash compared to Kimi, he's not really setting the tracks on fire. Mediocre at the most.

 

Bas I was talking about 2009

 

I forgot he raced for them then...

 

My opinion:

Keep kimi on for 2016, get Verstappen for 2017. Otherwise get bottas on a 2 year contract with a +1 option. Otherwise it makes no sense.

If they go the bottas way I think we'll see stoffel vandoorne in at McLaren amd button at Williams for a year, perhaps 2.

 

So true.

Here's what La Gazzetta dello Sport has to say today:

Certainly the actions of the Finn (Kimi) in view of 2016 have risen in parallel with the descent of those Bottas. One of the managers of Valtteri, Didier Coton, cooled the hypothesis of a possible landing of his client in Maranello: "The odds (that Valtteri) remains at Williams are very high."

 

Arrivabene has put the decision on Kimi on hold for now.

 

Kimi's fate may be determined by how well he does at Spa. Good news...Kimi at Spa. Bad news...A cool day at Spa may not suit Ferrari.

 

Kimi doesn't need to win at Spa, just keep pace with or beat Vettel. Provided he doesn't get into trouble, he should be fine.

 

That's true. Notice both Ferrari's win came during hot weather settings..Malaysia and Hungary. Spa on the other hand..

 

Hungary was cooler than expdcted on race day. I suspect Ferrari are closing in.

 

Agreed

Also RB seem to be back thanks to Newey. And I cant wait for Honda to turn the tide. They will.

 

+1. The more the merrier.

 

True, but temps were heating up through the race, though, IIRC. (Or maybe that was just inside Hamilton's helmet?)

 

lol-45 seconds into the race Hammy boiled over...seriously I've been saying Ferrari needs high temps to have a chance so let's hope it gets real hot on race days....can you imagine a seb victory in spa and dnfs for both MBs?

 

Mercedes are vulnerable at a few tracks now and with their dreadful starts they have some-things to worry about. Refreshing.

 

They seem to have suffered from the no-hint clutch settings. I wonder if its design related?

 

Ferrari looking to save money in F1?
What has the world come to?

 

Exactly.

Sounds more like Williams greed has given Ferrari an excuse to keep Kimi

 

Possibly a touch of pragmatic decision making that is long over-due. Its more car than driver now. Do you really need a 50mil driver. Not at all. Maybe Arrivabene is fan of 'Money-ball' movie

 

I'll be rooting for RB next year when they are running Ferrari lumps ;-)


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Or neither Marlboro nor Santander is paying driver salaries these days.

 

I don't know about Marlboro. They were rumoured to put $100M a year sponsoring Ferrari.

Didn't they put their man Arrivabene in charge of the Scuderia?

I think they want to protect their investment in continued sponsorship.

 

Dunno how much, if anything, Marlboro is still kicking in but Santander must have left with Alonso.