F1 2021



Mercedes announce a new role for James Allison moving to focus on long term development- toto is also actively looking for his replacement as team principal.

Lewis and valteri both to leave after this year perhaps?

Big changes coming in 2022 for the whole sport - I wonder what it will look like?
 
JohnSmithUK said:
No real suurprise there, sounds more like formalising the exisiting ad hoc arrangements.
Click to expand...
I would rather see an F2 driver get it. Has Aston signed any F2 drivers as development talent? I know most are already signed up to teams like McLaren, Williams and I think Beckmann is with Ferrari. But there must be drivers without an F1 team.

Because I am seeing the Feature race of the opening round of the F2 season having watched the two Sprint races and every one is probably more exciting than F1 right now. The top 3-4 all battling for and exchanging positions through most of the laps. Action everywhere. Late lunges on rivals.

Surely it’s worth putting faith in an F2 driver as much as someone with bags of experience.
 
ShieldsBlackCat2015 said:
I would rather see an F2 driver get it. Has Aston signed any F2 drivers as development talent? I know most are already signed up to teams like McLaren, Williams and I think Beckmann is with Ferrari. But there must be drivers without an F1 team.

Because I am seeing the Feature race of the opening round of the F2 season having watched the two Sprint races and every one is probably more exciting than F1 right now. The top 3-4 all battling for and exchanging positions through most of the laps. Action everywhere. Late lunges on rivals.

Surely it’s worth putting faith in an F2 driver as much as someone with bags of experience.
Click to expand...
Agreed - Nico is not a winner and I would argue not even a “safe pair of hands as he does crash” it would have been great to see another young talent pushing the old guard when given a chance
 
ShieldsBlackCat2015 said:
I would rather see an F2 driver get it. Has Aston signed any F2 drivers as development talent? I know most are already signed up to teams like McLaren, Williams and I think Beckmann is with Ferrari. But there must be drivers without an F1 team.

Because I am seeing the Feature race of the opening round of the F2 season having watched the two Sprint races and every one is probably more exciting than F1 right now. The top 3-4 all battling for and exchanging positions through most of the laps. Action everywhere. Late lunges on rivals.

Surely it’s worth putting faith in an F2 driver as much as someone with bags of experience.
Click to expand...

Dan Ticktum must be on somebodies radar but Guanyu Zhou would be the most likely choice to move up and become the first Chinese F1 driver.
 
F1 still has too many older drivers, the sport seems institutionally cautious around young drivers - then again I don’t have to pay repair bills running into millions when some 21 year old smashes up a car!!
 
Big Jeff said:
Agreed - Nico is not a winner and I would argue not even a “safe pair of hands as he does crash” it would have been great to see another young talent pushing the old guard when given a chance
Click to expand...
Reminds me of the old days in WCW. The wrestling organisation that in the 90s created a glass ceiling for great up and comers preventing the old established high earners from being overthrown which they would have done.
 
ShieldsBlackCat2015 said:
Reminds me of the old days in WCW. The wrestling organisation that in the 90s created a glass ceiling for great up and comers preventing the old established high earners from being overthrown which they would have done.
Click to expand...
Kimi, fernando, Sergio, could all be replaced by younger drivers - Lewis is the exception. However alonso is a massive draw for sponsors so I do get why these drivers get the seats
 
Big Jeff said:
F1 still has too many older drivers, the sport seems institutionally cautious around young drivers - then again I don’t have to pay repair bills running into millions when some 21 year old smashes up a car!!
Click to expand...
Surely the solution is to somehow lower costs. They did back in the BTCC in 2010 when they introduced the NGTC regs. A cheaper and standardised spec affordable to everyone. This has allowed many smaller teams to be as good as any works team and in fact become a works team.
Big Jeff said:
Kimi, fernando, Sergio, could all be replaced by younger drivers - Lewis is the exception. However alonso is a massive draw for sponsors so I do get why these drivers get the seats
Click to expand...
I think Sergio still has time on his side. I think he still has a bit to offer. Kimi and Fernando I’m not so convinced by. Sadly F1 is about the moolah now so you can see why the likes of Seb and Kimi have assured seats.
 
Last edited:
Big Jeff said:
Kimi, fernando, Sergio, could all be replaced by younger drivers - Lewis is the exception. However alonso is a massive draw for sponsors so I do get why these drivers get the seats
Click to expand...

At present there are only 3 drivers under 25 with genuine title winning potential.

When a team flashes a bit of ankle at sponsor's and one of those ankles is attached to a driver who's won a world title... it makes a big difference

Alonso and Raikkonen have both won titles and, although both will eventually need to retire at some point, clearly have something left to give.

Perez is still in his prime.
 
cosmicchris00 said:
At present there are only 3 drivers under 25 with genuine title winning potential.

When a team flashes a bit of ankle at sponsor's and one of those ankles is attached to a driver who's won a world title... it makes a big difference

Alonso and Raikkonen have both won titles and, although both will eventually need to retire at some point, clearly have something left to give.

Perez is still in his prime.
Click to expand...
Was interesting to see Haas and Steiners approach to new sponsors in DtS. The prospective sponsors basically said, get a German driver or we are out.
 
Change of timing for pratice and qualifying

Fixtures moved for Prince Philip funeral


Formula 1 has changed the schedule of this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix to ensure cars are not on track at the same time as the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral.

Saturday's on-track sessions have been moved forward an hour, with qualifying now starting at 14:00 local time (13:00 BST) and final practice at 10:00 BST.

Friday practice has also been moved as a result, to comply with regulations demanding specific gaps between sessions. The first hour-long session will be at 10:00 BST and the second at 13:30.
 

Back
Top