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2020 Formula 1 Season Thread

CWallace said:
Yeah, they don't call it "The Daily Fail" for nothing, but I still think the status quo will be maintained unless Lewis retires or leaves.
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It would be sensible to keep it that way but Russell is the talk of the sport at the moment and one of the next generation. Mercedes might want to lock him in for the next 3 years as he’s very marketable too compared to Valtteri. It’s all guesses from us right now but interesting to make our assumptions I think
 
The-Real-Deal82 said:
It would be sensible to keep it that way but Russell is the talk of the sport at the moment and one of the next generation. Mercedes might want to lock him in for the next 3 years as he’s very marketable too compared to Valtteri.
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How do the junior driver program programs work? Are the drivers under general contract to the JDP and then are "sub-let" to teams via secondary contracts?

What I am asking is are Russel and Ocon able to join whatever team they want, or do they need the blessing/permission of the team they are attached to via the JDP?
 
CWallace said:
How do the junior driver program programs work? Are the drivers under general contract to the JDP and then are "sub-let" to teams via secondary contracts?

What I am asking is are Russel and Ocon able to join whatever team they want, or do they need the blessing/permission of the team they are attached to via the JDP?
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I’m not entirely sure but think they do need the blessing of the manufacturer they are linked to. Lewis was linked to Mercedes rather than McLaren in terms of program but that was different as McLaren was effectively a works team back then. At a guess I think Russell would be free to join any Mercedes powered team but must have a clause to be able to be recalled back to Mercedes.
 
The-Real-Deal82 said:
I’m not entirely sure but think they do need the blessing of the manufacturer they are linked to. Lewis was linked to Mercedes rather than McLaren in terms of program but that was different as McLaren was effectively a works team back then. At a guess I think Russell would be free to join any Mercedes powered team but must have a clause to be able to be recalled back to Mercedes.
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You may well know more than me on that but my understanding is that he was linked to McLaren rather than Mercedes: he approach Ron Dennis and got McLaren sponsorship though karting and the lower formula.
 
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Mercedes response to articles about Russell’s and Bottas’s Instagram profiles lol.
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Interesting all the talk about Bottas, Lewis and Russell. How about Perez, undoubtably one of the top drivers in F1 and almost certainly out for next year. Red Bull is not going to give him a drive because they will be afraid of upsetting their top driver. There is no way that Perez driving for Red Bull will defer to Verstappen so we can consider that a non starter.
 
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nebo1ss said:
Interesting all the talk about Bottas, Lewis and Russell. How about Perez, undoubtably one of the top drivers in F1 and almost certainly out for next year. Red Bull is not going to give him a drive because they will be afraid of upsetting their top driver. There is no way that Perez driving for Red Bull will defer to Verstappen so we can consider that a non starter.
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Sadly agree. It will be a shame if Perez can’t find a seat.
 
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Apple fanboy said:
I think Perez brings a certain amount of money. But does he want to drive for Haas? Probably not.
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In 2017 Perez was said to be bringing in around $15 million in sponsorship (which is what Vettel is reportedly getting as a salary for 2021 with RP). Mazepin is the son of a Russian billionaire and his father was evidently considering buying Force India before Stroll's dad did the deal, so one assumes he is supporting his son at Haas into the eight figures.

As to driving for Haas, yes they have been terrible this year, but they did decent in prior years and I think this year's failure is heavily influenced by how poor Ferrari's factory team and engine is and Haas does get a fair bit of kit from them. And I think sitting out for the entire 2021 season might be more detrimental to his F1 career than being with one of the bottom teams.
 
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CWallace said:
In 2017 Perez was said to be bringing in around $15 million in sponsorship (which is what Vettel is reportedly getting as a salary for 2021 with RP). Mazepin is the son of a Russian billionaire and his father was evidently considering buying Force India before Stroll's dad did the deal, so one assumes he is supporting his son at Haas into the eight figures.

As to driving for Haas, yes they have been terrible this year, but they did decent in prior years and I think this year's failure is heavily influenced by how poor Ferrari's factory team and engine is and Haas does get a fair bit of kit from them. And I think sitting out for the entire 2021 season might be more detrimental to his F1 career than being with one of the bottom teams.
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Assuming he was able to pull a relatively poor car further up the grid as Russell has this year it might make him even more marketable...
 
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Seems no sightings of Lewis in Abu Bhabi yet and Russell photographed in Mercedes gear (and scheduled with Bottas for the press conference under the Mercedes banner). So starting to look very likely that Lewis will miss the race and Russell will get a second outing in the Mercedes
 
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Apple fanboy said:
Earliest he could have turned up this evening wasn’t it? So maybe too early to know for sure.
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He needs to isolate in country for 24h. No driver may race unless they complete at least one qualifying session. So I think he can arrive latest tomorrow but realistically he already needs to be there for tomorrows practice sessions
 
Seems Lewis has tested negative. Can fly in isolate then drive FP3 and qualify. I guess he’s good enough to miss two practice sessions. I assume Russell will do all sessions in the Williams and Vandoorne may drive FP1/2?
 
Two things that this year has made obvious:

1.) A lot of the modern tracks suck. The racing at stand-in circuits--especially the classic F1 tracks--has been tremendous.

2.) F1 would be so much better without Mercedes in it. Yes, we already knew this but this year is driving it home. Every time they have a bad race it's edge-of-your-seat racing and literally anyone's race to win. The rest of the field is very close.
 
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