Ralf was ridiculous about Mick. He is ok not great. Ralf made it sound like Mick was “entitled to a seat in F1. He failed on his own Ralf. He is just not that good and was too expensive to due to accidents and slow to improve. Martin Brundle reckons Haas were ‘fed up of Mick Schumacher’s entourage’ Michelle Foster 54 minutes ago While too many crashes and too few points have been given as the reason for Mick Schumacher’s Haas axing, Martin Brundle reckons the team was also “fed up of Mick’s entourage”. Pressure was mounting on Schumacher’s shoulders throughout this season, the German struggling to get off the mark after a point-less opening campaign. While his new team-mate Kevin Magnussen scored freely in the opening few rounds, he didn’t get on the board until Silverstone, the 10th race of the season, before adding more points in Austria. But that’s where it ended. With each passing race outside the top ten, criticism of the driver began to grow as did Guenther Steiner’s search for a new driver, the team boss not keeping that a secret. That, though, earned him the ire of Schumacher’s uncle, Ralf using his platform on Sky Deutschland and other German publications to hit back at Steiner for not supporting his driver. And he wasn’t the only German pundit letting Steiner have it almost every post-race Monday. Brundle has suggested it might have played a role in the team’s decision to part ways with the German. “I think the team were fed up of Mick’s entourage and all the pressures that came with that,” Brundle mused to Sky Sports. “He has been dropped by Ferrari as well, so it’s difficult times for him.”
BOOM And the other thing that annoys me with the penalty points, once they get close to race ban level, suddenly stewards forgo handing out penalty points like they're candy. Gasly getting penalty points for the 10 car gap thing has been absolutely ridiculous. Give out penalty points for things that matter. Causing a significant accident and 100% avoidable accident, yes. Crossing a painted line, no.
Generations of fans had to learn that. It started in the fifties with many gentlemen drivers on the grid. Not necessarily the best drivers but some of the wealthiest. A tradition as old as the sport itself. Let's talk about the America's Cup.
Uncle Ralf may have tried too hard, but being dropped by Ferrari was a major blow for Mick's career, IMO.
Alonso moved out and Lance moved late (watch the steering wheel inputs) into him causing the Austin crash: And the stewards agreed, applying a 3-place grid penalty upon Stroll for Mexico: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/stroll-gets-three-place-grid-penalty-for-mexico-after-alonso-crash/10389460/ The only way Stroll knows how to defend is to move late after the other driver has made their move. It's seldom about planned car positioning, he's reactionary. It's about time he got a penalty for that crap. All the best, Andrew.
+1 I'm utterly amazed he received that slap on the wrist, especially giving his attitude post race when he could see what happened on replay...I do quite a bit of sim racing and we have the replay thing, of course some times when you've crashed your immediate reaction might be that you think the other guy is at fault, until you see the replay. Stroll refused to take any responsibility. He repeated the move to Vettel in Brazil. Did not learn, will not learn. COTA was a few inches more left or 2 meters earlier away from a career ending crash (the cut out on the barrier was right there, which meant Alonso would hit it at a very nasty angle).
What has Ricciardo done in the past 3 years to warrant another year in F1 ?? Not in the ability to deliver much needed money to the team..... Life is not fair, was never intended to be fair, and is not actually fair.
I want to point out something I have not seen commentary on:: When Alonso got his nose up in the air--it seems pretty evident that the diffuser in the back kept the car from going completely airborne. If you look carefully, you can see the airflow under the diffuser hold the car to the ground.
To be honest, most of the pundits do. They have forgotten their role of reporting F1, to spread their bias instead.
As we discussed earlier on here: This is one of Lance assets. In an expensive sport like F1 a highly valuable asset.
Looks like Mick takes the reserve driver role at Mercedes. He takes the place of Nyck de Vries. Announcement coming very soon.
Agreed. Russell is not only good in the car but simultaneously Russell is more astute at his tire strategy--->at times making or advising his team on tire strategy. Russell is opposite of Lewis in the tire strat department AAAAAAAND racing an "undrivable" car as 2022 ended with more points than Hamilton.
I am talking about the GP where Russell stepped in the Mercedes in replacement of Hamilton and was immediatly on the pace, leading the field (if I remember correctly), only to be slowed down by a puncture. George Russell demonstrated his talent that day, and surprised many, no less than Bottas !! No way Mick Schumacher, in his new role of reserve driver at Mercedes, will ever deliver a similar performance ! He is more likely to put the Merc in the wall !! I don't understand why Mercedes took him onboard, honestly !
He is German and has the famous last name. Equals marketing dollars. MB wants to sell its cars in Germany too and with Vettel gone, German TV viewership is reaching an all time low. Mick is a tenuous connection. And Hulk of course.
Russell could have and should have won that race, but lost it twice through no fault of his own. First, the pit stop fiasco, putting mismatched tires on and forcing him to pit again. When has Mercedes done that before or since? Then after pitting to correct that mistake and making up lost places, being called back in for a slow puncture. All that while being crammed into a car with a cockpit too small for him so he had to squeeze into a pair of race boots too small for his feet in order to work the pedals. The conspiracy theorists among us (Mrs. Rosso said so at the time) theorized that Lewis was on the phone to Toto saying “Whatever you have to do, do not let him win in my car.” Whether you buy that or not, like many conspiracy theories it has a ring of truth. Young hotshot with everything to prove and nothing to lose, subbing in for multi world champion with lots to lose if people start saying “See? It really was the car all along.” However I think if that was the case, it backfired a bit because in that race you were forced to admit that either George really was that good, or else it really was the car. (Skip forward a bit to 2022, and with the two of them in identical cars, which one won the team mate battle?”)
Yup, just realized that he is not just the shoe-in for Russell and Lewis but also for the Williams and AM guys. So he could potentially stand-in for any one of those six if somebody gets sick or injured.
