Alonso to make a decision during mid-summer on his future plans with Mclaren/Honda.
Alonso to make a decision during mid-summer on his future plans with Mclaren/Honda.
I can't see Seb leaving as he turned down the Mercedes drive (Lauda said that Seb was completely loyal to Ferrari). So I think it would only be a replacement for Kimi.
Alonso, the only driver on the grid to pretty much despise Seb is Alonso. Their driving styles are polar opposite. Ferrari would never get the best out of both of them. One of them would have to be sacrificed. And when you are paying that much you don't want to do that.
Perez, was a Ferrari young driver. Ferrari got rid of him as they said he was rubbish. Moved to Mclaren and proved Ferrari correct. Good midfield driver, not a good front runner.
Grosjean, the most obvious choice. He's in the Haas with the view that it might lead him to the Ferrari drive.
Hulk, too late now.
Max/Ric tied to Red Bull.
Bottas, I can't see him moving from Mercedes unless he's bad.
The most interesting piece is Gasly. I get the impression that Red Bull want to promote him but they have nowhere to put him. It means either Sainz or Kvyat has to go. I'd expect them to release Kvyat although he hasn't done bad in Toro Rosso.
My preference would be Sainz. He's young but experienced as it would be his 4th season. He was capable of matching Max.
Forever Ferrari
Vettel/Alonso would be the strongest pairing bar none. I can't see it happening, though. Ferrari is now Vettel's team.
Disappointed Since 2010
Pérez was a Ferrari academy driver, but went to Mclaren, in replace of Hamilton! That was the first year of Mclaren debacle, the car was rubish and Perez was rushed. Perez has been brilliant with Force India, in a great recovery, besting clearly Hulk in many years and getting brilliant podiums punching above his weight. He was very good in nursing tires, and now he is very good and ambitious overtaker. Also he brings millions on Sponsor money, and our future FOM money isn't guaranteed for many more years. (That's only the cherry on top, I think he could ve a very good number 2 for vettel.)
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Go Ferrari, beat them all!
Max Verstappen(19yo) gets paid $3 million by RedBull and just renegotiated his contract(2016) with RedBull to be year-to-year. Alonso(35yo) wants $40 million.....you make your own determinations; but it has to be an established young driver if we are to replace Kimi. I go with Max and offer him double what he is making currently at RedBull.
Alonso is great driver. I think he said he compared himself to an animal(elephant) after the Chinese GP driving that "pig" of a car. One thing to note is his salary that he is getting from Mclaren/Honda (Honda really). He cannot get that anywhere else as the disparity in salary is so great between a #1 driver and #2 driver i.e. Vettel/Kimi, Lewis/Bottas in those top two teams that would equal his salary. If so, someone has to go Vettel???? Lewis????...I don't think so. RedBull cannot equal or come down 10 milion from his 40 million. So he is literally stuck or he can retire. Who knows with Honda, as they are still developing an engine and if they do, then he will fulfill his contract and stay. HOWEVER, Alonso can go anywhere but he is going to have to take a massive paycut. Also, you cannot have 2 #1's on the same team....it just does not work due to ego's and salary. Its always a #1(the most expensive) and a #2 (lesser) driver.
Alonso had his chance, and like someone mentioned earlier.. abandoned us because we were a 2nd rate team. Now that we're competitive, it wouldn't feel right to just let him step into a winning car. Vettel is settling in nicely and the team seems very content. He's motivating them and they are behind him. Kimi is a fixture in the team to me. He may not be doing very well right now, but he's such a team player that changing him now could upset the balance. I'm confident that he's going to put in some very good races soon.
Leave Alonso at McLaren... it was his dream team after all. I'm sure in 5 years time they might actually even become the 2nd best team... after the Reds.
I hold grudges.
But if anyone has to replace Kimi right now or next year, I think I would prefer Sainz, Bottas, Perez in that order.
We have bigger fish to fry ATM and it's only been 2 races. Also, any comments Marchionne may have about Kimi should be directed to him, not the press.
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Maybe its me but has anyone noticed how Vettel is so "Schumacher-esque" lately. The win in Melbourne: joyous, jumping up and down (no bunny-hop as MS would do), the "inspector" (he is inspecting Mercedes and Redbull cars after the race)....little innuendo's that so remind me of Michael. He is I would say the most knowledgeable F1 driver on the grid: he is one-to-one with his mechanics, engineers, his whole team and gets to know their families; knows the ins and outs of "Gina" including all the settings and mappings and mechanicals. Even during testing as Hamilton feels its a waist of time; Vettels ideology: "I would rather be driving than sitting at home doing nothing." Two multiple world champions with different sets of ideologies on and off the track....Love Sebs ideology.
I believe Kimi doesent have that drive anymore. Not that i am biased against Kimi or anything but what i find annoying is lack of consistency . How many times have we seen him caught napping at starts and re-starts. He was fine at Barcelona testing. Guess he is not good at managing pressure anymore. How many times we have seen him setting fl when it least mattered. From media reports and expert opinion, the car is easy to set up, its on rails right from the word go . I was surprised how balanced the car was in FP3 in china in those tricky conditions when others were still trying to find the sweet spot. If Kimi had managed to keep Ric behind at the start of the race in China, i think the race win could have been ours. Thats where he completely lost it and even his own race.
Is it me or the starts where Ferraris use to shine is not kicking in for us anymore. The new Merc finger hole starts or whatever they call them is atleast as good as ours. What we need is consistency from Kimi and shame we aint seeing it from him anymore.
Just my 2 cents
I agree totally! That's why it's so annoying when after one (or two) poor races everyone on here jumps up and down demanding they be replaced. I've said this before - but it was only a few short months ago when the thread "what is going on with Sebastian Vettel" was started to discuss who his replacement should be... and the thread "why raikkonen is delivering for Ferrari" got started. People have such short memories! Now we're back to bashing raikkonen. Give it a race or two and it will be Vettel's turn again... It is ohhh so frustrating.
Let's not forget that it was Ferrari's undoing for A DECADE by simply firing people immediately after a poor performance. Let the team grow. We're in great shape and have faith in the whole team right now. Look at what they've achieved over the winter and thus far this season.
100% Ricciardo. Proven can even beat Vettel.
Only good replacement is Ricciardo in my opinion. Not easy to get but the only one that could be available. Alonso, Ham and Verst are not realistic and the others are just a downgrade from Kimi. Still cant believe how they botched his strategy in China, they didnt do Seb any favours either
OK , I've read the posts and some of them gave me a migraine... ;)
0. Ya, the way this goes, unless Kimi does an 180 degrees, he needs to eventually go.
1. I don't see how Grosjean or Perez would be better replacements for Kimi; At one point I thought of that for Perez but in all honesty I don't see that right now.
2. I cannot understand those that want Alonso back. His age alone is a factor, for a team that wants to build for the future. I am sorry but that is what it is; I don't say that Alonso is not a great driver, quite the opposite. But if Ferrari looks ahead ,Alonso should not be the option.
3. Hamilton ... I don't like the guy , but quite frankly I like the driver. But does he fit to the team if Vettel is part of it? hm....
4. Max. Same question to (3.) Also, in regards to some of the comments (that goes to Ric too), in the world of F1, contracts are meant to be broken. Also, if Ferrari was to prove at least competitive , let alone win one of the two (or even both) titles this year, do you really think one of those, or both drivers would not care to join the Scuderia?
5. Seb. I don't believe that if this year Ferrari is competitive and does not win the title he 'll leave. If he sees potential to the team and effort, (which is the opposite of last year), he will extend contract. If this is one of last year's repeat well.... hm.
"If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari" - Gilles Villeneuve
Ferrari should have signed Hulkenberg instead od bringing Kimi back. Providing Sebastian stays on in 2018, I'd like to see Ferrari taking a chance on a young guy like Sainz or Giovinazzi
I should point out that what is in the past, indeed is in the past.Remember that without Alonso 2010-2014 would have been so awful - an average of 1-2 podium finishes per season with no wins for his team-mates. He was putting Ferrari in places they shouldn't be. Vettel is his worthy replacement and they both damaged Raikkonen's legacy as well.
I don't know the numbers but I doubt Ferrari is paying Kimi much less and definitely can afford to spend a few millions more if necessary. Fernando himself is willing to lose a few millions to get a winning car rather than a last/second-to-last car.
I don't say that in order to minimize whatever Alonso has offered to the team for the years he was a part of it; however, fact remains that for the victories that he brought to the team,the team also suffered from politics, power plays and eventually his ego.
One should say that ok, being the driver that he is, ego is a part of him and I would agree, however I would suggest that for instance the team never suffered in this way on account of Schumacher even if one could equally say there were times that Michael did push for things and of course the team was built around him.
The difference is, Michael came to the team to build along with what came to be known as the dream team in order to restore Ferrari to its glory and bring them out of its stone age years perse, whereas Alonso came to an already established team.
So it is not at any rate an apple to apple comparison.
"If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari" - Gilles Villeneuve
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