2023 Silly Season

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IceG
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2023 Silly Season

Post by IceG »

Well lets get it going...

We have:

(1) Vettel retiring (boo but yes)
(2) Alonso taking Vettel's seat at Aston Martin (lolz - his fifth or sixth team?)
(3) Piastri probably getting Alonso's seat at Alpine (but note the equivocation in the Motorsport story)

Vettel's retirement may be the saving of Ricciardo.

Williams, Alfa Tauri, Haas and Alfa Romeo have yet to confirm their line-ups but Lastifi looks most under threat.

Everything else seems to be locked.

Thoughts?
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Londoner
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by Londoner »

F1 has its very own Alex Palou contract saga, I cannot believe what I'm seeing. :pantano:
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Row Man Gross-Gene
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by Row Man Gross-Gene »

The hell is going on?!
It's just unbelievable...that Formula 1 could be such a ridiculous melange of idiots.

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mario
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by mario »

Londoner wrote: 02 Aug 2022, 18:33 F1 has its very own Alex Palou contract saga, I cannot believe what I'm seeing. :pantano:
Alpine did at least have the grace not to fabricate a quote from Piastri in their earlier press release, but what we're seeing unfold now is bizarre.

Piastri's management were in talks with McLaren prior to Alonso's move to Aston Martin, so you would have to assume that, if Piastri is so insistent that he won't be driving for Alpine, he must think that he's got a seat at McLaren - otherwise, why wouldn't he want to take Alonso's seat at Alpine?

You'd assume that means McLaren are planning on pushing Ricciardo out, who was rumoured to be vulnerable to being sacked - but since Ricciardo still has a contract for 2023, it then begs the question of how McLaren were going to move Ricciardo out of the picture. If McLaren weren't already in discussions with Ricciardo about ending his contract early, this announcement by Piastri is a rather public incentive for Ricciardo and his management team to play hardball with McLaren, as they now know exactly what McLaren want to do.

I know you say that this is F1's equivalent of the Palou saga, but I honestly think this could get even messier - because there are potentially now two different legal cases here (Alpine-McLaren and McLaren-Ricciardo).
Martin Brundle, on watching a replay of Grosjean spinning:
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
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Row Man Gross-Gene
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by Row Man Gross-Gene »

Do we think Piastri is being too cavalier with his statement saying "I will not be driving for Alpine next year"? Mario's scenario seems the most plausible, and why would Daniel make life any easier for McLaren in this instance? If he plays hardball I could see an organization like McLaren caving and then Piastri has burned that bridge with his current team and he'll be out on his ass next year. I think he should have had a softer statement that read something more like "I have not signed a contract with Alpine for next year, I'm working on getting my future sorted". Keep the Alpine door open even if he'd rather go to McLaren.
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Paul Hayes
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by Paul Hayes »

Juiciest silly season for ages!
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by Alextrax52 »

This type of drama is stuff Drive to Survive could only dream of creating.

From what I’ve read it appeared as though Piastri was speaking to McLaren about joining next year with rumours that even a pre-contract was already on the table. I hope his management know what they doing after his very public announcement today.

Alpine are going to look really stupid if they lose both their star driver and one of the hottest junior prospects on the market in the space of one summer
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rachel1990
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by rachel1990 »

Really not looking good for Danny Ric is it?

Ever since he left Red Bull (barring a few races in 2020 and 1 race in 2021) it has gone so far downhill that he is now being dropped without a trace

(Probably)
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mario
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by mario »

rachel1990 wrote: 02 Aug 2022, 21:52 Really not looking good for Danny Ric is it?

Ever since he left Red Bull (barring a few races in 2020 and 1 race in 2021) it has gone so far downhill that he is now being dropped without a trace

(Probably)
There is a possible silver lining for Ricciardo - I think I had seen somewhere that Otmar did make a comment about Ricciardo being a possible option for Alpine if Piastri didn't sign for them (although it was probably a comment that Otmar wasn't expecting to potentially have to put into practice so soon).
Martin Brundle, on watching a replay of Grosjean spinning:
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by IceG »

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dr-baker
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by dr-baker »

IceG wrote: 03 Aug 2022, 15:39 Excellent trolling by Alex Albon:

https://twitter.com/alex_albon/status/1 ... 7f7msKJnGw
I like that trolling.
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mario
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by mario »

dr-baker wrote: 03 Aug 2022, 17:08
IceG wrote: 03 Aug 2022, 15:39 Excellent trolling by Alex Albon:

https://twitter.com/alex_albon/status/1 ... 7f7msKJnGw
I like that trolling.
There's plenty more where that comes from - there's this tweet from DTM:
https://twitter.com/DTM/status/15547814 ... 3f2JMrAAAA

Mercedes were already getting in on the act ahead of Albon:
https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/statu ... uw25IrAAAA

Even Specsavers have been getting in on the action:
https://twitter.com/Specsavers/status/1 ... 0&ref_url=
Martin Brundle, on watching a replay of Grosjean spinning:
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by Wallio »

Everyone put on your tinfoil hats. Are they nice and snug? Good.

"Rumor is" that Oscar Piastri agent, Fernando Alonso bestie, and former demigod of this sub Mark Webber orchestrated the entire thing. Old Oscar supposedly had a July 31st out clause in his contract, and after Alonso told his buddy that the best (alleged) offer was 1 year of F1 and then 2 years of WEC, Mark told him to wait until Aug 1, had Oscar sign a pre-deal with McLaren, and then Alonso announced his leaving without telling anyone at Alpine.

Tinfoil hats off now.

But seriously, what ARE Mclaren doing? By my count, they have 10(!) drivers under contract next year for a possible nine seats across 4 racing series. Plus a testing contract with Herta, and reserve driver agreements with De Vries and Vondorne so......13? Are they starting a WEC team?
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Row Man Gross-Gene
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by Row Man Gross-Gene »

Wallio wrote: 03 Aug 2022, 17:51 But seriously, what ARE Mclaren doing? By my count, they have 10(!) drivers under contract next year for a possible nine seats across 4 racing series. Plus a testing contract with Herta, and reserve driver agreements with De Vries and Vondorne so......13? Are they starting a WEC team?
That's why I'm worried about Piastri here. I would be saying he's in a great position except for the fact that he stated that he wouldn't be driving for Alpine next year. It's always got to be better to have two parties fighting over you, why tell one ahead of time that they're out? Especially if that's the only one that technically has a driver opening next year. Maybe McLaren's long-term prospects are slightly better than Alpine (debatable) but right now they're on a par. Unless he/his management have some sort of feeling about Alpine's long-term viability that the rest of us don't know about. In any event, it sure seems smarter for his statement to have been something like "I haven't signed anywhere for next year yet" than what he said.
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dinizintheoven
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by dinizintheoven »

As long as Oscar Piastri is in F1 next year, somewhere, racing alongside Fernando Alonso, we'll have one of F1's
Doug DeMuro wrote:quirrrrrks and featurrrrrres
that has never happened before.

The generously-eyebrowed former champ made his F1 debut a month before Oscar Piastri was born.

Even with Jaime Alguersuari (born 1990) racing alongside Michael Schumacher (debuted mid-1991), that wasn't the case. Jenson Button was the driver with the earliest debut (2000) to have raced alongside three teenagers in more recent times: Daniil Kvyat in 2014 (born 1994), 17-year-old Max Verstappen in 2015 (born 1997) and then just the once against lance Stroll in 2017 (born 1998). The only driver in F1 to have been born after Button's debut is Yuki Tsunoda (who nicked his number).

In the 1990s, Esteban Tuero didn't race against any old-timers - there was only one driver alongside him in 1998 who'd raced in the 1980s, let alone 1978, and that was Johnny Herbert. And then, I had to look up the other previous teenagers from before my time to see who they'd raced against. Mike Thackwell's sole start in 1980 when he was 19 was alongside Mario Andretti, who was (by the looks of things) the only driver in the race to have made an F1 start in the 1960s - but at the 1968 US Grand Prix, nowhere near as far back as 1961. The other two were born Durin' T' War - Chris Amon in 1943 and Ricardo Rodríguez in 1942. So, about as close as it's possible to get to "I was in F1 before you were born", in both cases, is Maurice Trintignant, whose F1 career lasted from the first season in 1950 (if not the first race, mind) to 1964 - which saw him race against both Amon and the younger Rodríguez. (Pedro Rodríguez competed in three F1 races in 1963-64 but none of them had Trintignant in the field.) Trintignant's dubious qualification for this statistic is that he'd won the Grand Prix des Frontières in 1939 - it just wasn't one of the four races that made up the European Championship that year before everything went a bit "South Of Heaven".

The more you know...
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Rob Dylan
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by Rob Dylan »

That would be an incredible stat. Alonso going to 2024 is not something I would have expected. At this rate he'll do 500 F1 races before he ever wins the Indy 500 :vergne:
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dr-baker
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by dr-baker »

watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
MCard LOLA
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mario
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by mario »

Row Man Gross-Gene wrote: 03 Aug 2022, 18:03
Wallio wrote: 03 Aug 2022, 17:51 But seriously, what ARE Mclaren doing? By my count, they have 10(!) drivers under contract next year for a possible nine seats across 4 racing series. Plus a testing contract with Herta, and reserve driver agreements with De Vries and Vondorne so......13? Are they starting a WEC team?
That's why I'm worried about Piastri here. I would be saying he's in a great position except for the fact that he stated that he wouldn't be driving for Alpine next year. It's always got to be better to have two parties fighting over you, why tell one ahead of time that they're out? Especially if that's the only one that technically has a driver opening next year. Maybe McLaren's long-term prospects are slightly better than Alpine (debatable) but right now they're on a par. Unless he/his management have some sort of feeling about Alpine's long-term viability that the rest of us don't know about. In any event, it sure seems smarter for his statement to have been something like "I haven't signed anywhere for next year yet" than what he said.
Wallio, with regards to your question about McLaren and the WEC - Zak Brown has publicly floated the idea of McLaren building an LMDh car and entering the WEC in 2024, with the final decision due later this year. Still, even with a WEC team, it does look like a few too many driver contracts around the place.

Row Man Gross-Gene, one of the writers for "The Race" has been making a similar point - they also seem rather taken aback by how direct and uncompromising Piastri is being, and the indication that, at least to begin with, Piastri's managers were stonewalling any attempts by Alpine to contact them after his Tweet (though they are now reportedly beginning to talk with Alpine). It's the sort of tactics that you might use if you were deliberately wanting to open up a breach between Alpine and Piastri - which seems very risky when there are two contracts that need to be broken there, and Alpine look like they really don't want to budge right now.

I know that it's usually the case that these sorts of disputes end with a financial settlement and the drivers change seats, but you do wonder if we might have a repeat of the Button-BAR-Williams dispute of the mid 2000s and Piastri ends up having to drive for Alpine.

You also have to say potentially ending up in the middle of two high profile contract disputes might not cast McLaren in a particularly good light either - I imagine that might be making a few sponsors a little uneasy about being associated with those sorts of antics.
Martin Brundle, on watching a replay of Grosjean spinning:
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
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Row Man Gross-Gene
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by Row Man Gross-Gene »

Yeah Mario, I just want to see a good, young driver get a decent shot and I hate to see a sort of silly brinksmanship that could put that in jeopardy. That said, he seems to be sought-after enough that it may not be a problem. I suppose I also don't want to see Ricciardo ousted either (don't really want to see him in a crappy Haas or other tail-ender, but I realize he needs to raise his performance level to stay where he is).
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

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mario wrote: 03 Aug 2022, 21:10
Wallio, with regards to your question about McLaren and the WEC - Zak Brown has publicly floated the idea of McLaren building an LMDh car and entering the WEC in 2024, with the final decision due later this year. Still, even with a WEC team, it does look like a few too many driver contracts around the place.

Could be fun, although a lot of the shine from LMDh/Hypercar has gone since they basically tore out the road car related sections of the rule book for LMP2s with body kits.
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mario
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by mario »

Wallio wrote: 04 Aug 2022, 16:51
mario wrote: 03 Aug 2022, 21:10
Wallio, with regards to your question about McLaren and the WEC - Zak Brown has publicly floated the idea of McLaren building an LMDh car and entering the WEC in 2024, with the final decision due later this year. Still, even with a WEC team, it does look like a few too many driver contracts around the place.
Could be fun, although a lot of the shine from LMDh/Hypercar has gone since they basically tore out the road car related sections of the rule book for LMP2s with body kits.
Well, drifting off topic a little - the indication is that the whole "road car related" aspect was misunderstood by large chunks of the media.

Whilst there seem to have been a lot of people getting excited about the idea of the Hypercar class being based on road vehicles like the McLaren Senna or the Aston Martin Valkyrie, the Daily Sportscar website indicated the ACO only considered that idea briefly and then dropped it fairly early on (far earlier on than much of the press seems to have realised).

They reported that, based on the technical workshops they held with the manufacturers who had expressed interest in the concept, the ACO decided fairly early in the process of deriving the Hypercar regulations that a road car derived vehicle that met their performance targets would not be able to achieve their safety requirements at the same time. There was a brief look at what was called the "GTE Plus" concept, which looked at whether GTE cars could have their performance increased to achieve those performance targets and also meet their safety requirements, but that too was also dismissed as not viable.

Although the media continued talking about the idea of road car related vehicles for quite some time, in reality the ACO had decided fairly early on that the more practical solution was really a car based on the survival cells used for the current prototype classes - the current LMP2's use a survival cell that complies with the LMP1 regulations from circa 2014 - from which manufacturers could derive a road car if they so chose, with the BoP mechanics then being used to allow manufacturers to have stylistic elements that mirrored what they do with their road cars.

The other point is that the ACO has been trying for a long time to get IMSA to co-operate on a joint set of regulations. Now, IMSA felt that their approach of using an LMP2 chassis for the Daytona Prototype class, now the LMDh class, has been quite successful, so did not want to move away from that - for the ACO, shifting the Hypercar to align with the LMDh rules acts as an intermediate step towards full co-operation and completely unified rules, and makes potential performance balancing a bit easier as well.

The ACO could argue that, on balance, that strategy is paying off - they have four confirmed manufacturers for the Hypercar class, and they've finally got the works Ferrari entry they've been working towards for so long, whilst the merger with LMDh means Acura, BMW, Cadillac and Porsche coming in 2023, with Alpine and Lamborghini following in 2024. That's probably the healthiest that the top class in sportscar racing has looked for a long time.
Martin Brundle, on watching a replay of Grosjean spinning:
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
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Row Man Gross-Gene
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by Row Man Gross-Gene »

Ok, this is way off topic, but in a similar line to Mario's last post, did the DTM and Japanese Super GT ever consolidate under a single ruleset? I seem to remember reading about that a couple years ago, but I haven't followed closely enough to know what's going on there. They have traditionally been two of the coolest looking sets of race cars and that would have been cool I think.
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mario
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by mario »

Row Man Gross-Gene wrote: 05 Aug 2022, 18:01 Ok, this is way off topic, but in a similar line to Mario's last post, did the DTM and Japanese Super GT ever consolidate under a single ruleset? I seem to remember reading about that a couple years ago, but I haven't followed closely enough to know what's going on there. They have traditionally been two of the coolest looking sets of race cars and that would have been cool I think.
Yes, but it was extremely short lived - it only lasted for one year, to be precise.

Starting in 2014, the two series agreed to a parts sharing programme that saw them use a common chassis, front splitter, floor, rear diffuser and rear wing, and I think they also started using the same transmission, dampers and brakes as well (or, at the very least, they considered sharing those three components). https://www.racecar-engineering.com/new ... gulations/

In 2015, DTM agreed to switch to 2.0 litre turbocharged engines for 2017, which was when they initially hoped to converge on a common set of "Class One" regulations, and both series also started modifying their aerodynamic regulations to bring that closer together as well. However, the manufacturers in DTM asked for a delay to introducing the new engines, which was pushed back to 2019 for DTM.

In 2018, DTM and Super GT finally came to an agreement on a common set of "Class One" regulations that would bring the two series into full alignment, with DTM introducing those rules in 2019 and Super GT in 2020. https://www.dailysportscar.com/2018/06/ ... tions.html

To that end, in 2019 DTM and Super GT both held a combined race - the 9th round of the DTM championship at the Hockenheimring in October, followed by a non-championship race at Fuji - with plans for more combined races between the two series.

Unfortunately, as many had predicted, that also resulted in significant cost escalation for DTM - when that was coupled with the disruption from the pandemic, that resulted in the mass departure from DTM in 2020 that saw the "Class One" regulations being abandoned by DTM in favour of the current GT3 based rule set. Super GT have confirmed that they are sticking with the "Class One" rules until 2023 though (https://www.dailysportscar.com/2020/12/ ... -2023.html).
Martin Brundle, on watching a replay of Grosjean spinning:
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by Row Man Gross-Gene »

Thanks Mario, it's understandable that it didn't work out, but I kind of liked it because it sort of harkened back to a time in the distant past when you could take your racecar to a different continent and just show up and compete. Which is what I also found appealing about the IMSA/ACO stuff and so on. I suppose the needs and desires of the various racing cultures around the world are so specialized now that cars that can span multiple series are just not practical anymore. Notwithstanding the various F3 or GT3 series that exist, but somehow I look at those a little differently, which may be wrong on my part.
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by IceG »

Just to swerve back on topic for a moment, it will be a tragedy and a travesty if Danny Ricciardo loses his seat and/or does not get a decent drive for 2023.

Yes he has been frustratingly and predictably poor at McLaren and has been shown up by the excellent Lando Norris but we know he can drive and win. Plus he brings an infectious anarchy that is being squeezed out of F1.

Which is the strongest pairing: Norris and Ricciardo vs. Ocon and Piastri, or Norris and Piastri vs. Ocon and Ricciardo?
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by mario »

IceG wrote: 05 Aug 2022, 22:15 Just to swerve back on topic for a moment, it will be a tragedy and a travesty if Danny Ricciardo loses his seat and/or does not get a decent drive for 2023.

Yes he has been frustratingly and predictably poor at McLaren and has been shown up by the excellent Lando Norris but we know he can drive and win. Plus he brings an infectious anarchy that is being squeezed out of F1.

Which is the strongest pairing: Norris and Ricciardo vs. Ocon and Piastri, or Norris and Piastri vs. Ocon and Ricciardo?
I don't think anybody really knows the answer to that - it depends if Piastri lives up to the considerable hype that has been building around him based on his results from junior series, given that he's yet to take part in even a practice session for any of the teams, and whether Ricciardo's performances improve at Alpine.

Norris has said that the more recent McLaren cars, and in particular their 2022 car, require a bit of an unorthodox braking and steering technique to get the front end turned in, which Ricciardo doesn't really seem to have been able to adapt to. If that trait persists, then it's going to depend on how well Piastri can adapt to that - if he struggles in a similar manner to Ricciardo, there's a risk that it could damage his reputation quite badly. Meanwhile, I could see Ricciardo doing a bit better at Alpine, if in part because the more recent cars haven't had the strange handling traits of the recent McLaren's.
Martin Brundle, on watching a replay of Grosjean spinning:
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
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mario
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by mario »

So, as if the arguments between Piastri, Alpine and McLaren weren't already peculiar enough, according to AutoHebdo, the Contract Recognition Board has muddied the waters further by suggesting that Piastri has two different valid contracts https://www.autohebdo.fr/actualites/f1/ ... alide.html - one which was filed by Alpine in October 2021, and a second which McLaren filed in July 2022.

There does seem to be some confusion over how the CRB has come to the conclusion both sets of contracts can be valid. Some are wondering if it is possible that Piastri's contract is with the Alpine young driver academy, which is technically an independent legal entity from the Alpine F1 team, and potentially the CRB might not be blocking McLaren because the dispute would involve a legal entity that is outside of their remit.

Meanwhile, Szafnauer has made comments indicating that they are continuing to press their case with the CRB - and, in the event that Piastri is adamant that he wants to drive elsewhere and refuses to comply with the terms of his contract with them, they are also preparing to commence legal action to obtain compensation. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/ ... lpine-boss
Martin Brundle, on watching a replay of Grosjean spinning:
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by Wallio »

mario wrote: 05 Aug 2022, 14:22 Well, drifting off topic a little - the indication is that the whole "road car related" aspect was misunderstood by large chunks of the media.

Whilst there seem to have been a lot of people getting excited about the idea of the Hypercar class being based on road vehicles like the McLaren Senna or the Aston Martin Valkyrie, the Daily Sportscar website indicated the ACO only considered that idea briefly and then dropped it fairly early on (far earlier on than much of the press seems to have realised).
It also didn't help that early on, the cars themselves existed, at least in one form or another. The Valkyrie is very real, Glick is up to a 50-car yearly capacity now (although most of their road car sales are 004s and Boots, they DO build road 007s, if you have $3.5 mil), and Toyota had the renders/concept car of their road-going version of the GR010, which I believe now has understandably been scrapped. There also were renders last year of the 9X8 in road trim, although I don't believe that was anything actually from Peugeot.




Back to Alpine/Mclaren/Piastri, it does seem rather crazy to think the CRB will, or even can, acknowledge two contracts as legal. Just goes to show how mucked up this whole thing is. It also really messes things up down the grid, rumor was Alpine loaning Oscar to Williams was a done deal, to the point he had a seat fitting, early promo photos taken, and a salary agreed on (to be paid by Alpine). Who do THEY go to now?
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

Post by mario »

Wallio wrote: 11 Aug 2022, 16:50
mario wrote: 05 Aug 2022, 14:22 Well, drifting off topic a little - the indication is that the whole "road car related" aspect was misunderstood by large chunks of the media.

Whilst there seem to have been a lot of people getting excited about the idea of the Hypercar class being based on road vehicles like the McLaren Senna or the Aston Martin Valkyrie, the Daily Sportscar website indicated the ACO only considered that idea briefly and then dropped it fairly early on (far earlier on than much of the press seems to have realised).
It also didn't help that early on, the cars themselves existed, at least in one form or another. The Valkyrie is very real, Glick is up to a 50-car yearly capacity now (although most of their road car sales are 004s and Boots, they DO build road 007s, if you have $3.5 mil), and Toyota had the renders/concept car of their road-going version of the GR010, which I believe now has understandably been scrapped. There also were renders last year of the 9X8 in road trim, although I don't believe that was anything actually from Peugeot.
I suspect that the 9X8 render you saw might have been somebody else speculating about it, because Peugeot confirmed early on they had no plans for a road going car - in fact, there isn't a requirement for the manufacturers to build a road going version of their race cars.
Wallio wrote: 11 Aug 2022, 16:50Back to Alpine/Mclaren/Piastri, it does seem rather crazy to think the CRB will, or even can, acknowledge two contracts as legal. Just goes to show how mucked up this whole thing is. It also really messes things up down the grid, rumor was Alpine loaning Oscar to Williams was a done deal, to the point he had a seat fitting, early promo photos taken, and a salary agreed on (to be paid by Alpine). Who do THEY go to now?
It is possible, as some have speculated, that the CRB might have been in a situation where it might have ruled that it could not invalidate either contract, in part because one of them might not have technically been within their remit - which would be subtly different to saying they were both valid.

I agree that it also causes big problems further down the grid, not least for Williams if they had been basing their plans for 2023 around Piastri - particularly since there were suggestions that the two sides might have been also talking about a possible discounted engine deal as a sweetener for Williams.

Logan Sargeant is on their books as an academy driver, and if he holds onto his current 3rd place in Formula 2, he is on course to earn enough superlicence points this season to qualify for a licence (and running in free practice sessions will help a little in that regard). Might Williams look to him as a possible option? The other option might be to see if any other teams have a driver whom they might be interested in placing at Williams - de Vries might be a possible option in that respect.
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

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When was the last time we had silly season/contract hijinks of this magnitude? Seems like several years if not a lot more. F1's been pretty boring in this regard for quite a while.
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

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Row Man Gross-Gene wrote: 12 Aug 2022, 15:57 When was the last time we had silly season/contract hijinks of this magnitude? Seems like several years if not a lot more. F1's been pretty boring in this regard for quite a while.
Maybe you have to go back to the arguments that broke out over Button's contracts with BAR and Williams in the mid 2000s for something similar?

It also sounds as if Pato O'Ward has not been particularly impressed with the way that McLaren has been behaving throughout this period, indicating that he thinks McLaren were misleading him in his contract negotiations by implying that there was an opportunity for a seat at the F1 team that is now being given to Piastri.
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

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mario wrote: 11 Aug 2022, 19:43 Logan Sargeant is on their books as an academy driver, and if he holds onto his current 3rd place in Formula 2, he is on course to earn enough superlicence points this season to qualify for a licence (and running in free practice sessions will help a little in that regard). Might Williams look to him as a possible option? The other option might be to see if any other teams have a driver whom they might be interested in placing at Williams - de Vries might be a possible option in that respect.
I'm sure Scott Dixon would love to take his super license to F1 as a 43-year-old rookie. Ricky Taylor only drives sports cars but he'll qualify for a super license.

The amusing thing, of course, is that Williams already has a development driver who is guaranteed to qualify for a super license next year: Jamie Chadwick. Last I heard, she's hoping to get an Indy Lights seat.
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

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Stareagle wrote: 14 Aug 2022, 10:03
The amusing thing, of course, is that Williams already has a development driver who is guaranteed to qualify for a super license next year: Jamie Chadwick. Last I heard, she's hoping to get an Indy Lights seat.
I would love to see her in F1, but I fear it would be too soon. Unless she seriously turns out to be another Max Verstappen or Kimi Raikkonen.
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

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dr-baker wrote: 14 Aug 2022, 14:41 I would love to see her in F1, but I fear it would be too soon. Unless she seriously turns out to be another Max Verstappen or Kimi Raikkonen.
Agreed. I don't think she would consider herself ready at this point.
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

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I recall there being mention that once getting points for W Series title, driver wouldn't be able to get more so Chadwick wouldn't reach 40 this year.

That means the maximum a driver can get out of W Series would be 39 - one point shy of the required, by finishing 2nd twice and then winning it.
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

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I'm probably a bit late to the party on this one but Red Bull/Porsche in 2026. Will they be welding two engines together? 😂
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

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Ricciardo confirmed out of McLaren, so one more seat free. I wonder if this will be Piastri's moment to shine.
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

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RAK wrote: 24 Aug 2022, 15:31 Ricciardo confirmed out of McLaren, so one more seat free. I wonder if this will be Piastri's moment to shine.
I guess it depends on whether the legal arguments between Alpine and McLaren have been settled yet, given that seems to still be rumbling on.

On a wider note, I am still wondering if Webber and Piastri have made the right call in choosing to go to McLaren instead of Alpine. Alpine do seem to have made some progress under Otmar, and whilst Norris has succeeded in getting some surprisingly good qualifying results that might have made him and McLaren look good, there have been several races where Norris's race pace was noticeably weaker and one or both Alpine's overtook him in the race.

Similarly, as noted earlier in this thread, Zak Brown has been extending McLaren into far more areas of motorsport, from IndyCar and Formula E to now considering the WEC. Yes, it's true that the F1 cost cap does mean that, if the team does have surplus budget, it can use those funds in other series - but the team does still seem to be splitting its attention in a lot of directions and, albeit in part due to covid, the upgrade programmes for their wind tunnel and their driver simulator are running behind schedule.

In terms of competitiveness, I am not sure that McLaren is necessarily a major upgrade in performance and it may prove to be more of a sideways move - and that is before you consider that the more recent McLaren cars have not been particularly easy to drive, according to both Ricciardo and Norris.

The whole affair is also likely to put a lot of pressure on Piastri, because he now has to prove to McLaren that it was worth it for them to break their contract with Ricciardo and to get into a legal fight with Alpine - likely costing McLaren quite a considerable amount in the process - to hire him, not to mention having to live up to the rather considerable hype that has been building up around him.
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

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mario wrote: 24 Aug 2022, 19:05 On a wider note, I am still wondering if Webber and Piastri have made the right call in choosing to go to McLaren instead of Alpine. Alpine do seem to have made some progress under Otmar, and whilst Norris has succeeded in getting some surprisingly good qualifying results that might have made him and McLaren look good, there have been several races where Norris's race pace was noticeably weaker and one or both Alpine's overtook him in the race.
That's short-term thinking maybe suitable to a driver with six or seven years of F1 experience, not a "promising young talent" like Piastri. When looking at Alpine and McLaren, it is clear who long-term has more aspirations and ambition for success. Alpine is content to wallow in their own mediocrity. It is evident by all their actions that the Renault S.A. is more than content to just exist in Formula 1, now that the franchise system and budget cap have made the team run mostly self-financed. McLaren are still looking to achieve bigger things, even if they whiffed on the new ruleset. To put it this way, if a time traveler came along and spoiled us that McLaren would win a Formula 1 title five years from now, would it really surprise anyone? Not me, at the very least. On the other hand, if said time traveler talked about an Alpine title, that would be most shocking to me.
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Re: 2023 Silly Season

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Klon wrote: 26 Aug 2022, 15:46
mario wrote: 24 Aug 2022, 19:05 On a wider note, I am still wondering if Webber and Piastri have made the right call in choosing to go to McLaren instead of Alpine. Alpine do seem to have made some progress under Otmar, and whilst Norris has succeeded in getting some surprisingly good qualifying results that might have made him and McLaren look good, there have been several races where Norris's race pace was noticeably weaker and one or both Alpine's overtook him in the race.
That's short-term thinking maybe suitable to a driver with six or seven years of F1 experience, not a "promising young talent" like Piastri. When looking at Alpine and McLaren, it is clear who long-term has more aspirations and ambition for success. Alpine is content to wallow in their own mediocrity. It is evident by all their actions that the Renault S.A. is more than content to just exist in Formula 1, now that the franchise system and budget cap have made the team run mostly self-financed. McLaren are still looking to achieve bigger things, even if they whiffed on the new ruleset. To put it this way, if a time traveler came along and spoiled us that McLaren would win a Formula 1 title five years from now, would it really surprise anyone? Not me, at the very least. On the other hand, if said time traveler talked about an Alpine title, that would be most shocking to me.
I am not sure if McLaren really could be said to have radically different aspirations and ambition for success, because Zak Brown is targeting the same sort of timeframe that Alpine has set - they both have a target of becoming competitive enough to win races in 2024.

Similarly, it's not as if Renault haven't been investing in their facilities either - their power unit production facilities in Viry were upgraded just a couple of years ago, as were their R&D facilities in Enstone, whilst they are currently in the process of upgrading their production facilities in Enstone.

At the same time, Otmar has been on a recruitment drive, expanding the number of staff at Alpine - whereas, if you look at McLaren, because the McLaren Group was already in financial trouble before the pandemic hit, the F1 team had to cut 10% of their headcount to cut costs back in 2020 and has remained at that reduced size since them.

In fact, it is worth noting that, more recently, Zak Brown has admitted that the McLaren Group was, until quite recently, in much more financial trouble than it was willing to admit to, which does in turn suggest that there was an ulterior motive when Zak had been making rather strident calls to cut the cost cap significantly in recent years. Whilst the racing team is semi-independent, it wasn't completely immune from the financial malaise that the wider McLaren Group has been facing in recent years - there were some rumours that the McLaren Group was close to being declared insolvent before it persuaded Mumtalakat to inject additional funding - and, whilst Zak is now putting on a song and dance about how McLaren is now in much better financial shape, I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that those financial problems in 2020 and 2021 for the McLaren Group were to still have a bit of a negative impact over the next couple of years on the racing team.

I think that Zak might be doing a good job of talking up McLaren, but - and I guess time will only tell on this - I would be a bit surprised at the idea of McLaren winning a title in the next five years, and am not sure that I see it as being that much more probable than the idea of Alpine winning a title in that timeframe either (i.e. that it might turn out to be more of a sideways move for Piastri than a move up the grid, with McLaren and Alpine probably staying in a similar place to where they are now for a number of years to come).
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