With that powerful of a car, anyone is an asset. I'm willing to bet even Maldonado could win a WDC in that
I believe Honda are going to mount the blower units outside the vee next year so the engine should be a lot more powerfull. They tried running a smaller unit at higher speed but it was going bang If Alonso has an out clause i think he might be in the Merc next year
It really is making a mess that he made his announcement after the good drivers have all moved along. Even the marginal guys have contracts at this point.
I doubt either RBR driver would even want leave with a new-regs Newey car on the way. Sainz is probably the most promising of those currently in F1 and available. Mac should test Mortara now that he's signed for them in DTM. And there's always Nick Heidfeld...
I suspect that they will come down hard on him and suspend him from all F1 races from 27/11/2016 until 23/3/2017, but he will still be allowed to do testing duties where required! A four month F1 race ban will teach him a lesson!
I think Valtteri Bottas. Would be possible to get him out of Williams as Mercedes supply them with engines and it's easier to do a deal that way, in case he's contract bound. Better than losing him to Ferrari. Opens up a credible seat for Nasr, who has some sort of relationship to Grove, too (I think as a test driver), keeping a Brazilian driver in F1, which is not such a huge commercial concern, but not an ignorable one, either.
Good point, I hadn't thought of Bottas..... but given the Mercedes engines supply, it could get him rather easily out of Williams, where he was racing a little unnoticed, lately.
German news report Toto called Renault to see if they would be prepared to let the Hulk go. I also thought he would be suitable. Fast, experienced, German. Renault said they will not let him go.
Would love to see Max there. I can see Mercedes locking up the title for years to come with that 1-2 combo.
Would be very hard to see the Mercedes board dish out the money for the extremely expensive fine to Red Bull, only to have potential bombs exploding on track with those two fighting each other every weekend. Mercedes have a dominant car, all they want is to get a 1-2 win every weekend without drama. It's boring but it's a guarantee of success... They don't need a poster driver, let alone 2. They have a poster car.
Wasn't Nico under contract??? If they want to leave the sport, rather than move, do they let them out that easy? Just curious.
Maybe Merc and Rosberg agreed on a clause in which he could leave for free if he retired from F1 entirely. Not too long ago he renewed his contract, end of last season I believe...
I have to wonder how much Lewis is already lobbying to get a clear #2 driver in the seat. He'd love that but that's not what the team needs. The gaping problem with such a driver is Merc cannot guarantee a boatload of 1-2 finishes that we know is the dogs dinner for them. With another top driver there will be drama, but Merc loves the free publicity and it makes F1 very interesting. I guarantee this conversation is going all the way up to Dr. Z himself.
^ this. Driver contracts are 40 pages long these days due to the dozens of clauses included. They are not at all contracts of adhesion.
Many of you are assuming that MB will still be the dominant car on the grid next year; aeros are of bigger impact next year (RB's forte) and the silly token system is gone. I predict a massive step forward by RB next year. Ferrari? not so much....
Red Bull will be close if not better next year. They have the best drivers. I don't think Mercedes can risk an average driver to please Hamilton now. They could in the past 3 seasons. IMO they need a very strong driver to try and win the WCC. That said, on the other hand, having a great driver alongside Hamilton means that they'll trade points with each other and at some point, pending how good the RBR is, need to make the decision which driver they'll back for the title. That'll go down well... IMO they can get Alonso for **** all. Performance clause in his contract will give him an easy exit. I don't think 6th is the place for great performance in that contract . Vettel will be a lot more dificult, the team finished 3rd in the WCC of course, which for Ferrari I reckon is bare minimum for them. If they can't get Alonso (I think he'll work for ''free'', only wanting bonus, and for a season only), they could get Bottas (discount Merc engines works in Williams favour), or buy out Sainz contract. But the latter 2 are #2 drivers IMO. Kubica quite simply can't. I'd love it if he was able to.
