Formula 1 Discussion - And favourite driver?

[The Grognard]

Drugo is on an Aston contract though so daddy stroll would want a few quid to let him go. There's little chance of him getting a drive at that team so he'd probably go for it if offered.

On the other hand, Aston is a customer team for Merc so that alone is an effective bargaining chip. Give the guy a shot at glory and once Alonso says he's fucking done with the sport, there's the obvious next reliable pair of hands to look after the king of paydrivers.

 

[-VorpalAnvil-]

De Vries was just one of Toto's sabotage of other teams. He often gets meh drivers, PRs them to the moon and manages to place them in other teams stupid eniugh to take them. It upsets their development of the car and future drivers all while making Toto money as their manager.

He had ample opportunity to put him in a Williams or Merc all while he took other drivers and carried on with the Nyck PR campaign. He's not stupid enough to ever sign them to a team he's actually got some stake in.



He must have some really impressive simulator times or something because his F2 performance to date shouts good but not ready for F1. Yeah he had the good time when testing and old spec merc but plenty of drivers have managed that then turned out to be a dud when it comes to it. Hell, Scott Speed got his drive as a result of the times in testing with an old F1 car, where's he now?

He could be a future star but he needs more time to develop in F2. His flash through the junior series has stalled out and throwing him right into F1 is a recipe for a destroyed career before it even starts.

As I recall Speed pretty consistently outperformed his teamates at STR, but was just a complete piece of shit. Or at least, too much of a POS for a rookie US driver employed by a team struggling to stay in the midfield at the time.

 

[JoseRaulChupacabra]

His flash through the junior series has stalled out and throwing him right into F1 is a recipe for a destroyed career before it even starts.

Sounds like a terrible idea. I hope he gets the drive.

 

[Coccxys]

As I recall Speed pretty consistently outperformed his teamates at STR

Nah 1st season was partnered with Liuzzi and these were the results



The 2nd season Liuzzi again until he got replaced with Vettel

 

[LiveFromNS]

Have no reason to doubt them, they'd look awfully stupid posting this and then he is let go, but The Race is reporting that RB is keeping Perez. So, guess they are assuring themselves of losing the WCC this season. I guess they figured better to keep someone ingrained even though he is shitting up their chances, then bringing someone new in and have the acclimation issues. They really are between a rock and a hard place.

I also wonder if there was something in the contract that didn't allow them to remove him? We won't ever know, but let's see at end of season if McL, or less likely Ferrari, are crowned WCC and we find out why RB made the decision to keep Checo knowing full well that by doing so they risked, and indeed lost, the title.

 

[Metatron]

I don't understand why they didn't replace Perez with Ricciardo. I guess they didn't want to be kidnapped in Mexico by the cartels.

RedBull might still win the WCC with Perez because Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes keep stealing points from eachother.

 

[JoseRaulChupacabra]

Doesn't Checo have a benefactor?

 

[LiveFromNS]

Doesn't Checo have a benefactor?

You mean Carlos Slim?

And I was thinking, since the word is that all the members of the RB organization get a fairly nice bonus if the team wins the WCC, maybe Carlos said if you keep Checo, but lose the WCC I will compensate all RB employees with the amount of the bonus they will not get due to keeping Checo!

Bit of a schizo take to be sure, but the guy has enough money to do it so maybe that played in to keeping him. Let's see come end of season if any RB employees start grumbling in public (anonymously of course) that if it wasn't for Checo I could have had a nice bonus to spend on my family at Christmas.

 

[A1 Steak Sauce]

F1 Insider article on Checo’s seat

What leaked behind the scenes: Formula 1 rights holder Liberty Media asked Red Bull to reconsider the Perez dismissal. Without folk heroes Perez, they feared an extreme drop in revenue at the GP of Mexico on the 27th. October. However, Marko hints: "For 2025, the cards will be reshuffled again."​

Interesting rumor about Checo remaining, seems plausible.

 

[Weeb Slinger]

F1 Insider article on Checo’s seat

What leaked behind the scenes: Formula 1 rights holder Liberty Media asked Red Bull to reconsider the Perez dismissal. Without folk heroes Perez, they feared an extreme drop in revenue at the GP of Mexico on the 27th. October. However, Marko hints: "For 2025, the cards will be reshuffled again."​

Interesting rumor about Checo remaining, seems plausible.

I have one foot out of the door at this point.

 

[A1 Steak Sauce]

Italian Motorsport Article on Checo’s seat

With the momentary confirmation of Perez, it seems dictated not so much by motivational or sporting choices, but by purely economic reasons: Carlos Slim, the financier and munific sponsor of the Mexican, would have intervened to defend his pupil, while the Red Bull staff had now decided to cut.​

There were strong fears for the possible flop of the Mexican GP without Checo and there were fears of reactions from Sergio's fans, so the scenario that had been drawn has been revolutionized: Daniel Ricciardo remains the starter on the RB VCARB 01 alongside Yuki Tsunoda who today will make a few rounds before starting the holidays, while Liam Lawson returns to the uncomfortable role of third driver. The New Zealander has a deal with Red Bull that frees him from any constraints if he is not put in the car by the end of the year.​

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[Pee Cola]

Liam Lawson returns to the uncomfortable role of third driver. The New Zealander has a deal with Red Bull that frees him from any constraints if he is not put in the car by the end of the year.

The way I read this, the Red Bull group runs the risk of losing Lawson if they don't put him in a seat for the 2025 season.

Even Blind Freddy can see the most obvious outcome is for Ric to take over from Checo at RBR and Lawson starting with RB. I hope so, as Lawson is nowhere nearly ready to play with Max and we all know what happened the last time a rookie was given a chair at the grown-ups table.

 

[LiveFromNS]

The way I read this, the Red Bull group runs the risk of losing Lawson if they don't put him in a seat for the 2025 season.

Even Blind Freddy can see the most obvious outcome is for Ric to take over from Checo at RBR and Lawson starting with RB. I hope so, as Lawson is nowhere nearly ready to play with Max and we all know what happened the last time a rookie was given a chair at the grown-ups table.

Yeah everything I have seen is if he doesn't get a seat in a team next year (And I read that as RB getting him a seat ANYWHERE, not just at RB or Visa), he is a free agent. And I have seen references to September 1st as a deadline for that happen. So, if he isn't announced at a team for 2025 by Sept 1st, then he is no longer under contract to RB, I assume after 2024 season ends.

I have also seen the word "benefactor" used when talking about Lawson, i.e. he has his own "Carlos Slim" apparently. Do you now more on that @Pee Cola since he is from NZ and close to you? Also caught a mention or two about Audi being interested in him, not sure if just due to him solely, or the purported backer he has that would lay out some cash, as if Audi needed that.

Also some are still thinking Checo is still walking on eggshells. Some took Horner's comment about seeing "him at tracks he excelled at in the past" as meaning the next 4 races, Zandvoort, Monza, Baku, Singapore (the latter 2 being tracks he excelled at in past), is the time to prove he is worth keeping. If he is shit overall over that 4 race period or the WCC gets tighter, then he could still be yeeted. Hard to say, but some are mulling that idea.

But yes, I agree, Liam should get a chance considering you have the likes of Sargeant, Zhou, Stroll all there doing shit. He can't be any worse than any of those guys and most likely is a lot better than all of them.

 

[Pee Cola]

I have also seen the word "benefactor" used when talking about Lawson, i.e. he has his own "Carlos Slim" apparently. Do you now more on that @Pee Cola since he is from NZ and close to you?

I haven't read or heard anything about Lawson having a benefactor. Apparently his parents spent almost $7m to get him to where he is today, but he also needed a scholarship to keep going during his early karting days.

That said, he has several sponsors (all of which seem to be successful privately owned businesses).

The only "benefactor" I can think of would be Tony Quinn, a businessman who made his fortune from dog food. He's a car racing nut and owns several racetracks across Australia and NZ. Maybe Tony is the benefactor?

 

[LiveFromNS]

I haven't read or heard anything about Lawson having a benefactor. Apparently his parents spent almost $7m to get him to where he is today, but he also needed a scholarship to keep going during his early karting days.

That said, he has several sponsors (all of which seem to be successful privately owned businesses).

The only "benefactor" I can think of would be Tony Quinn, a businessman who made his fortune from dog food. He's a car racing nut and owns several racetracks across Australia and NZ. Maybe Tony is the benefactor?

Actually it popped in my head, I think it might be an owner of an F2 and F3 team? One who registered as an entrant for F1 too. Might be confusing him as Lawson's benefactor.

Bugging me now, will have to go looking.

I haven't read or heard anything about Lawson having a benefactor. Apparently his parents spent almost $7m to get him to where he is today, but he also needed a scholarship to keep going during his early karting days.

That said, he has several sponsors (all of which seem to be successful privately owned businesses).

The only "benefactor" I can think of would be Tony Quinn, a businessman who made his fortune from dog food. He's a car racing nut and owns several racetracks across Australia and NZ. Maybe Tony is the benefactor?

Yeah Quinn gave backing to him in 2022. https://www.tonyquinnfoundation.com...nt-from-tqf-to-support-his-formula-2-campaign

And the one I was thinking of was NZ-based Rodin Cars who own Carlin now. Lawson drove for them before but not sure if they are the benefactor for Liam today.

I couldn't find the article though that I seem to recall that showed a picture of Lawson and then mentioned "benefactor". Annoying!

 

[Mikoyan]

I haven't read or heard anything about Lawson having a benefactor. Apparently his parents spent almost $7m to get him to where he is today, but he also needed a scholarship to keep going during his early karting days.

That said, he has several sponsors (all of which seem to be successful privately owned businesses).

The only "benefactor" I can think of would be Tony Quinn, a businessman who made his fortune from dog food. He's a car racing nut and owns several racetracks across Australia and NZ. Maybe Tony is the benefactor?

Also the Giltrap Group (whose founder, Sir Colin, died recently) is a huge force that's been 'a benefactor' to just about anyone major that's come out of NZ in the past 30 years. Their level of support for local talent is probably one of the biggest reasons the country punches way above their weight in motorsports.

 

[Pee Cola]

Yeah Quinn gave backing to him in 2022. https://www.tonyquinnfoundation.com...nt-from-tqf-to-support-his-formula-2-campaign

And the one I was thinking of was NZ-based Rodin Cars who own Carlin now. Lawson drove for them before but not sure if they are the benefactor for Liam today.

Also the Giltrap Group (whose founder, Sir Colin, died recently) is a huge force that's been 'a benefactor' to just about anyone major that's come out of NZ in the past 30 years.

It's probably a consortium of benefactors (Quinn, Rodin, Giltrap et al) backing Liam rather than just one benefactor. It's pretty standard down here for a bunch of people to chip in for something instead of letting just one person carry the load. The expression "bring a plate" is a classic example of how this works.

Their level of support for local talent is probably one of the biggest reasons the country punches way above their weight in motorsports.

Definitely. TBH I'm surprised there haven't been more Kiwi F1 world drivers champions since Denny Hulme won in 1967.

 

[LiveFromNS]

Definitely. TBH I'm surprised there haven't been more Kiwi F1 world drivers champions since Denny Hulme won in 1967.

Hulme was the first world champion after I was born!

I had this cool model before I sold everything:

Also had the Rindt one, which didn't have a driver figure for obvious reasons. Although Minichamps were/are the big diecast model makers, these Quartzo World Champions were also nice.

 

[Coccxys]

Ricciardo is washed and I don't see him being any better than checo in his current state. It's less than an obvious swap. Though they need to do something to get Lawson in a seat otherwise they will lose him.

In other news Wheatley is leaving Red Bull to work on the Audi team.

 

[Weeb Slinger]

Ricciardo is washed and I don't see him being any better than checo in his current state. It's less than an obvious swap. Though they need to do something to get Lawson in a seat otherwise they will lose him.

In other news Wheatley is leaving Red Bull to work on the Audi team.

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The exsanguination of talent (most likely precipitated by Horner's dalliances) continues. The team is still standing, stymied, but in relatively good shape, however, the throat has been cut and the old blood is pumping out. I wonder where Max might be thinking of going..