Sorry guys, had fun here, but the next few years, I am busy....... But seriously; your thoughts on this please? Nico to quit? Never saw that one coming??!!
- Either Perez takes the Merc seat - Wehrlein takes the Force India seat. Then two new proteges in Manors. - or Wehrlein takes the seat. One of those scenarios are probably going to pan out. My own selfish wishful thinking: Toto calls Fernando and Fernando waves bye-bye to McLaren once again and gives Lewis another hard time.
Bad surprise! Definately a big loss for F1. He's always a great fighter who never give up. Can't really understand his decision for now. He fulfilled his big dream, normally he could enter the coming season a bit more relaxed. On the other hand, being Lewis teammate must be very tough! Who's next? Wehrlein?
Thats indeed surprising! I vote for Wehrlein! (Sadly Nico Hülkenberg have now another contract with Renault.... he will bite himself in the ass now!)
I didn't see this comming, but also after the first shock I'm not that surprised (well, that of all drivers he is the on to do such thing that is). With him I always had the feeling that he is not the most passionate about racing, that he mainly does it because that is what he has been doing since he was young (because of his father) and just doesn't know any better. I'm sure he did like it, but not as much as a hamilton or verstappen and many more Then, after the first shock I started thinking about the replacement, and I came with a nice theory that will surprise you all I think. There is one driver, that doesn't have a contract in F1 at this very moment, who has been testing in F1 in recent years with a couple of Free Practice 1 outings and has allready got connections with big boss Toto. That driver also has one thing extra that NO OTHER DRIVER will have, and that is the power of being able to blackmail. Picture it like this: "honey, either you will give me a seat for next year, or you will be sleeping on the couch from now on." signed, Susie Wolff. All joking aside, my bet would be Werhlein, or otherwise I am thinking about Bottas to Mercedes, and Werhlein to Williams. I don't picture them going for Alonso, because that is only a short term solution probably, I don't see Max happening because he has a contract with Red Bull, and Red Bull might very well be the better car next year, so I don't see that happening. Vettel.... maybe, but I just can't picture that at the moment, but that is mainly my gut feeling. But only time will tell what it's going to be I'm very excited about it.
........If they DO want Verstappen.......JOS! Or an "interim" to wait for the younger version; Button has some spare time
I think Bottas is pretty locked into Williams. There were a lot of smiles on both sides when he re-signed. I can see this going one of three ways: 1) Werhlein gets the seat and Lewis gets unchallenged #1 status so that Merc has a few years to bring Pascal up-to-speed while proven driver Hamilton fights for WDCs 2) Merc chucks a boatload of cash at McLaren to break Alonso's contract and puts him in the seat as a co-#1 driver to punish Hamilton for ignoring Toto/Paddy's team orders at Abu Dhabi. Hamilton leaves Mercedes at end of 2017 (or maybe before the end of the season) opening a seat for Werhlein. 3) Merc signs Button for one year while they wait and see what Hamilton does for 2018 and Werhein gains experience at Manor.
I believe this to be the case also, he is locked in until end of 2017. I can see these two scenarios playing out although I personally don't think Werhlein is up to it. He didn't do so well against Ocon so I'm not convinced. I guess the conclusion is that the door is wide open for anything to happen.
No-one's locked in, ever. Contracts are there to be broken with financial compensation if done so for one or more of the involved parts
True, although his contract was the reason why he was not allowed to consider Renault an option (I'm told), whether he would have or not I don't know.
Taki Inoue must be among the top contenders for the seat. He made a pretty stellar job application...
That's why they need huge pile of cash (and cheap engines) to compensate. Perhaps also Paddy to Williams. There are rumours of this new Canadien having a contract which requires Bottas to be his team-mate. Because it's better to have experienced driver to beat him than risking of another rookie doing it. Of course car development, setup tuning, etc too. Button to Williams, anyone willing to bet on this option?
