2022-2023 Silly Season Thread

[bathurst77]

Whispers on the wings that one driver who has been nickle-less all season, be taking his final bow at his home race, so an Australian pastry can take over at Silverstone.
You mapleleaf it or not.

[Tourer]

Speculative story here. Let's see what comes.

[GreenMachine]

It has much legs as most rumours.

Latifi is clearly out of his depth in F1, so he is already in the departure lounge. Doohan is not setting the world on fire, but is looking rather solid, so Piastri is the go-to driver, and maybe able to get a few points for Team Willie, while getting his feet wet in a real, if uncompetitive, F1 team. Two years would be good, giving Alpine a semi-experienced driver for 2025.

That's assuming Ferdy sticks around for another year or two. Presumably the deal with TW would allow his release if Alpine needed him in 2023 ...

[chillibowl]

did Latifi's money run out?

[GreenMachine]

Looks like it is on for 2023.

https://the-race.com/formula-1/piast...ms-in-f1-2023/

[Skam85]

Before opening this thread I thought it was in relation to the performance LH put in getting out of his car on the weekend..

But yes - Latifi's time is surely up.

Nice bit of symmetry if Piastri debuts with a backmarker team at Silverstone 11yrs after the last Aussie did.

[bathurst77]

Piastri shared an image of the iconic Silverstone racetrack to his Instagram Story, captioning the post: “Driving here soon.”

[E.B]

Originally Posted by bathurst77

Piastri shared an image of the iconic Silverstone racetrack to his Instagram Story, captioning the post: “Driving here soon.”

Likely a Friday morning session with Alpine (or Williams even). Every team now must run a junior/rookie driver in at least two Friday sessions per season. Silverstone is not a Sprint round makes it an easier round to run a rookie Friday am. (Cant run a rookie on a Friday under Sprint format due to Friday pm qualy.)

So yes every likleyhood he will drive there if only to tick one of the team's commitment to run rookie driver boxes. Not saying he will be racing though.....

Just sayin'....

[P38 in workshop]

Originally Posted by Skam85

Before opening this thread I thought it was in relation to the performance LH put in getting out of his car on the weekend..
.

Looked more like a Nigel than an Oscar to my eyes....

[bathurst77]

https://www.speedcafe.com/2022/06/14...ZgiGZSCUDy2ijY

[GreenMachine]

Originally Posted by bathurst77

https://www.speedcafe.com/2022/06/14...ZgiGZSCUDy2ijY

I wouldn't be betting the house on him replacing Latifi at Silverstone, as that article seems to be saying. That would require Team Willi to be quite brutal about sacking Latifi, and while it could be expected of Frank, I think the current owners/managers may be more circumspect.

On the other hand, if the sponsorship he brought is gone, why not ...

[S griffin]

I don't see them replacing Latifi at this time either, but you never know, although I would think it would be unlikely. Latifi has been quite good to them, especially in these troubling times for the team. As good as Albon is, Latifi has been a loyal servant for them. However the problem is they can't run the team on fresh air, so Latifi might have to look elsewhere if they need the money.

[GT6]

yep i thought this was going to be about LH. But i do think some teams might make changes before long

[GTRMagic]

The 2nd McLaren seat?

[bathurst77]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

The 2nd McLaren seat?

Dan certainly did nothing today to help his cause

[dsg]

Originally Posted by bathurst77

Dan certainly did nothing today to help his cause

Looking on you would have to think the either the team is nobbling Ricciardo to trigger a performance clause of his contract or Daniel is.

Disregarding the driving for a moment, some of the strategy decisions are baffling.

[bathurst77]

Dans DRS broke on lap 31, so he had to do the 2nd half with no DRS.
but still...

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by bathurst77

Dans DRS broke on lap 31, so he had to do the 2nd half with no DRS.
but still...

There always seems to be something..

[Alan52]

Originally Posted by Skam85

There always seems to be something..

It’s a long time since Monaco 2018.The only year since then he performed anywhere near the level of 2014-2017 was 2020.
If anything the very occasional top performance last year in a sea of mediocrity made it worse.It seemed like a motor racing version of pin the tail on the donkey where both him and the team seemed clueless about reasons for the good performance.

[PhilipR]

F1 is finding itself in a difficult situation. Drivers join the series a lot younger than in the past(majority are in their teens still) and careers can be longer as well up to 15-20 years - Meaning at some point there is no space for new drivers to join and I think this is what has caught Piastri out. And even good and not great drivers have longer careers than in the past (i.e Ocon, Bottas, Magnussen, Grosjean etc) - I am not saying they are bad, but they are not all time greats like Ver or Ham or Leclerc - and they still get up to 10 or 10+ years in the series because they start early.

But then again in 2018-2019 we had 5 exciting rookies joining the grid , so maybe this is just something cyclical and unfortunately Piastri was caught on the wrong side of it for the moment - hopefully something opens up for him soon

[Alan52]

According to Joe Saward’s blog this week Piastri looks set for either Alpine or McLaren next year.Seidel wants to sign him and has the means to terminate Ricciardo’s drive (performance clause in contract?).Although Alpine can get him a spot at Williams that is not enough to give him reason to void his contract.Alpine are now forced into deciding if the future of the team is with a 21 year old Piastri or a 41 year old Alonso.
To cut loose a driver who has been at Hamilton level in F2 and F3 is a big call.
All will be revealed in the summer break.

[bathurst77]

Originally Posted by Alan52

According to Joe Saward’s blog this week Piastri looks set for either Alpine or McLaren next year.Seidel wants to sign him and has the means to terminate Ricciardo’s drive (performance clause in contract?).Although Alpine can get him a spot at Williams that is not enough to give him reason to void his contract.Alpine are now forced into deciding if the future of the team is with a 21 year old Piastri or a 41 year old Alonso.
To cut loose a driver who has been at Hamilton level in F2 and F3 is a big call.
All will be revealed in the summer break.

According to news.com the love affair btween mclaren and Danny is still raging.


https://www.news.com.au/sport/motors...904124b812f721

It also says mclaren CANNOT break contract, but Danny can.

A couple of thoughts,

1 Everytime a senior politician gets sacked all his colleagues and the PM say "he has our full support" right up til the press release

2 He will see out his contract... but as a racer? Coudl he be swapped to 3rd/test driver, or some R&D or training role?

As to Oscar, it is sad that he cant break in, I would love to see him get a chance. He can go to W on loan, and still be part of Alpine and can be recalled at short notice. Williams gets a good driver, he gets to race f1, and as George proved, if you outperform the car at Williams.. it does get you promoted!

He would probably have to cut Alpine ties if he goes to Maccas unless some tricky deal williams borrows danny (Thus stiill under mclaren pay and contract) and he goes to macca.
Given how close Alpine and Maccas are in constructors points, Im not sure either team would like an Alpine employee in the Mclaren Factory - leaks either way. Whereas Willies arent such a threat.

[rbs]

Could DR be exchanged for Pat O'Ward, he was reasonably quick in Abu Dhabi last year and 4th in the Indy car championship at the moment.

[Derwent]

Drivers can have long careers now if they perform and wish to continue. If max does 20 years he will only be the age Lewis is now. Alonso can still do the business.
With only 20 seats there the chances for a new driver breaking in are minimal.
However the whole ladder from 7 year old karters to the edge of F1 is a huge money spinner and keeps thousands of people world wide employed!

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by Alan52

According to Joe Saward’s blog this week Piastri looks set for either Alpine or McLaren next year.Seidel wants to sign him and has the means to terminate Ricciardo’s drive (performance clause in contract?).Although Alpine can get him a spot at Williams that is not enough to give him reason to [not?] void his contract.Alpine are now forced into deciding if the future of the team is with a 21 year old Piastri or a 41 year old Alonso.
To cut loose a driver who has been at Hamilton level in F2 and F3 is a big call.
All will be revealed in the summer break.

Thanks for the update!

Piastri was rumoured to be announced as a Williams driver at Silverstone, so the delay is most curious indeed.

It could be that it comes down to a Alpine vs McLaren scenario. Unless Alpine can provide a drive in the actual team, one presumes Piastri's commitment to Alpine is terminated and Piastri is free to sign with McLaren.

Presumably the displaced driver, Alonso or Ricciardo, would appear at Aston Martin assuming Vettel retires or otherwise at Williams.