[WEC] The 2023 and beyond DRIVER ANNOUNCEMENTS MEGA THREAD

[Mike E]

Augusto Farfus getting some prototype seat time with BHK in ELMS this year.

https://twitter.com/augustofarfus/st...WPmbd9u3Q&s=19

[philipp]

Does anybody know what Pipo Derani is doing from 2023 on? kepping the Cadillac ride?

[JoeF]

I am sure he is as the top of the running for his same AXR Cadillac LMDh seat.

[Mike E]

Is this a Ferrari move? Seems a bit random for Aubry to do a season of GTE Am.

https://www.dailysportscar.com/2022/...in-gte-am.html

[Simmi]

A big name entering the fray - a report out of France says Daniil Kyvat is moving to sportscars, doing WEC and ELMS with G-Drive Racing.

https://www.autohebdo.fr/actualites/...te-saison.html

Very logical career move.

[Mike E]

He is still only 27. Could have a decent career in sports cars.
Does he still have Red Bull backing?

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by Mike E

He is still only 27. Could have a decent career in sports cars.
Does he still have Red Bull backing?

russian gazprom backed team hiring a russian ex f1 driver, no more to say.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by canaglia

russian gazprom backed team hiring a russian ex f1 driver, no more to say.

Are you saying he can't drive? I don't really follow the logic. We don't comment on United hiring a British driver for some back door reason.

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by joeb

Are you saying he can't drive? I don't really follow the logic. We don't comment on United hiring a British driver for some back door reason.

Personally I think kyvat is a way overrated driver, or to be more accurate not enough fast/good to run in a top f1 team like redbull, but putting motorsport factor aside, my opinion is that a big russian corporation can only get big benefits by hiring a famous ex f1 russian driver, that's it.
SMP got sirotkin for basically the same reason.
BTW doesn't make a lot of sense to compare a private team like united autosport is with a team which basically doesn't even exist and that hires other teams to promote a russian government co-owned corporation.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by canaglia

Personally I think kyvat is a way overrated driver, or to be more accurate not enough fast/good to run in a top f1 team like redbull, but putting motorsport factor aside, my opinion is that a big russian corporation can only get big benefits by hiring a famous ex f1 russian driver, that's it.
SMP got sirotkin for basically the same reason.
BTW doesn't make a lot of sense to compare a private team like united autosport is with a team which basically doesn't even exist and which hires other teams to promote a russian government co-owned corporation.

Fair enough.

There is a local company here that has a slogan "The politics of business, and the business of politics". Perhaps that applies

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by canaglia

Personally I think kyvat is a way overrated driver, or to be more accurate not enough fast/good to run in a top f1 team like redbull.

I've said it before but people said exactly the same thing about Buemi - the most successful driver in 10 years of the WEC.

You don't have to be an elite tier F1 driver to have a fantastic career in sportscars.

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by Simmi

I've said it before but people said exactly the same thing about Buemi - the most successful driver in 10 years of the WEC.

You don't have to be an elite tier F1 driver to have a fantastic career in sportscars.

different environment, context etc... sportscars is a whole different world compared to f1. Buemi managed to win so much also because was always with toyota and from to 2018 to 2022 had to realistically compete only against #7 (excluding some 2019-2020 races when toyota was out of the picture due handicap system). A lot of other ex f1 drivers shown to be good average pro lmp2 drivers and no much more, nothing against him, but probably kyvat will be one of them.

[bella]

Originally Posted by canaglia

different environment, context etc... sportscars is a whole different world compared to f1. Buemi managed to win so much also because was always with toyota and from to 2018 to 2022 had to realistically compete only against #7 (excluding some 2019-2020 races when toyota was out of the picture due handicap system). A lot of other ex f1 drivers shown to be good average pro lmp2 drivers and no much more, nothing against him, but probably kyvat will be one of them.

i mean, the biggest transition is that the f1 race distance he'll do in the car is just a part of the whole race distance. and then in wec, he'll get back in and do another one. there's a lot less car management, but for the double stints, a similar amount of tyre management depending on the circuit. he'll need to get used to compromising his ultimate pace in favour of a car that his teammates are comfortable with, and if he's qualifying, not having much time to practice for that in the FP sessions. he'll adapt to traffic management, for a good racing driver it's not exactly rocket science.

he's a smart guy, still young in ex-f1 drivers in sportscars terms, and i'm sure he knows it's a good opportunity to make himself look very good for the following year. he's got a tough act to follow in de vries, but then again i'm sure you'll say he's probably pretty average too...

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by bella

i mean, the biggest transition is that the f1 race distance he'll do in the car is just a part of the whole race distance. and then in wec, he'll get back in and do another one. there's a lot less car management, but for the double stints, a similar amount of tyre management depending on the circuit. he'll need to get used to compromising his ultimate pace in favour of a car that his teammates are comfortable with, and if he's qualifying, not having much time to practice for that in the FP sessions. he'll adapt to traffic management, for a good racing driver it's not exactly rocket science.

he's a smart guy, still young in ex-f1 drivers in sportscars terms, and i'm sure he knows it's a good opportunity to make himself look very good for the following year. he's got a tough act to follow in de vries, but then again i'm sure you'll say he's probably pretty average too...

it depends by the meaning you give to the word "average"
in my post it wasn't a negative thing... I explain better, an oreca 07 on actual spec (ballasted, LD bodywork, detuned engine etc...) can't realistically go faster than 3.27 at le mans, so once a pro driver is able to reach performance limit of the car, it doesn't matter if he's a ex f1 driver or not, he simply can't do better... that's why I think kyvat will be on the same level of an "average" pro driver driving in lmp2, as other ex f1 drivers already shown to be.
It's not he is going to run in 3.25 because he's a former f1 driver.

[bella]

it’s not about ultimate pace in a p2, especially not now, so i think just limiting your assessment to a drivers best flat out lap at le mans is kind of short sighted really. there’s way more to being an outstanding pro driver than how fast they can rag a car. it’s also all the other stuff that manufacturers see - a rene rast-esque get in it and immediately be flat out is great, but that’s not where it ends.

but what do i know

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by bella

it’s not about ultimate pace in a p2, especially not now, so i think just limiting your assessment to a drivers best flat out lap at le mans is kind of short sighted really. there’s way more to being an outstanding pro driver than how fast they can rag a car. it’s also all the other stuff that manufacturers see - a rene rast-esque get in it and immediately be flat out is great, but that’s not where it ends.

but what do i know

Sorry but I think your way to judge my statement is actually quite superficial, I didn't limit my assessment to le mans, I used le mans example because I can't remember lmp2 qualifying times of other tracks.
Once a pro driver skills overcome by far the potential of the car he's driving, as happens to most of pro lmp2 drivers, it's hard to go over an "average" level since car can't go any faster anyhow.

[bella]

i mean, you’ve taken my point which is clearly “ultimate pace is a lousy way of judging whether a p2 driver is any good or not” and decided it’s about me calling you out for choosing le mans as a decider rather than actually looking at what i’m trying to say.

we all know once you reach a certain pace with p2s beyond that it’s all about the engineers making marginal gains. those marginal gains aren’t just limited to the car, they come from the drivers being masters of traffic management, compromise and tyre gains. so why simplify it to single lap pace? that’s what i don’t understand about your statement.

but again, what do i know.

[canaglia]

I agree with the fact that a driver running for teams like united, jota or WRT will benefit of team engineers skills and know how and the same driver with the same car will probably get better results racing with those S-tier teams than weaker teams, but in general I think that a pro driver, provided he already proved to be reliable about traffic and car managment, should be judged by how fast he can run. So, at the end, if you don't like the word "average" I could change the sentence telling that I think kyvat will probably be in the same league of other lmp2 pro drivers and not likely better for the reasons explained above.
Just my opinion.

[Simmi]

Judging by the tweets of Renger van der Zande and Pipo Derani reacting to the new Cadi, I think we can assume they've got contracts for 2023.

[Simmi]

K-Mag back to F1 means bye bye to Peugeot. They still have six contracted drivers, so will be interesting to see if they replace their reserve or go get another driver. No shortage of candidates.

https://twitter.com/peugeotsport/sta...17360440078338

[Mike E]

I understand he wants to be in F1, but another season in a tail end team that has just sacked its title sponsor instead of a multi year drive for a factory team in Hypercar?

Better hope Haas is better this year than last.

[Tique]

Originally Posted by Mike E

I understand he wants to be in F1, but another season in a tail end team that has just sacked its title sponsor instead of a multi year drive for a factory team in Hypercar?

Better hope Haas is better this year than last.

Hass has been one of the team that has run the less during the last test in Barcelone (not ilpressive for a team that was supposed to work on this new generation of car for the last two years). They will miss the first day of testing in Bahrein for logistic issue. Not good again to understand their new car. They have just lost their titel sponsor. Honnestly, I don't see the point to join this team that will probably been the last one again this year when you have a works contract with Peugeot and the possibility to do one off with Ganassi in IMSA. If you look the statement that he was making last year, he does this opposite this year.

[Simmi]

It's a "multi-year contract" - albeit I'm not sure that team is stable enough to guarantee anything like that.

But let's not kid ourselves, F1 is stronger than it's ever been right now. Some major pull in being 1/20 on that grid. Even if you're 20th.

But you'd imagine that bridge back to Peugeot in the future is burnt.

[CTD]

Originally Posted by Simmi

It's a "multi-year contract" - albeit I'm not sure that team is stable enough to guarantee anything like that.

But let's not kid ourselves, F1 is stronger than it's ever been right now. Some major pull in being 1/20 on that grid. Even if you're 20th.

But you'd imagine that bridge back to Peugeot in the future is burnt.

I am not that certain, Peugeot is clearly not where they want to be as of now, so expecting a driver to stick around for another year before having the chance to go for the top, is a bit much.
F1 has always been K-Mags dream, due to his father. Seeing Perez get a late surge to a top team after many years in a near bankrupt team, gives hope to that dream.
I think, and hope, that Peugeot understands this, and should they have a seat available and Magnussen is done with F1, they could go together again.
However I do not see Peugeot making a seat available for him (by kicking an existing driver out)

[canaglia]

If a driver prefers stay in f1 and finish in last places all the time instead of stay in a more competitive sportscars environment where he could run for the overall victory, this proves that no matter what, F1 is still a big and separate world apart in motorspor. Peugeot should hire derani btw, he revealed from years to be one of best prototype driver around, for sure he shown to be much better than magnussen.