2021 F1 Driver ThreadFormula 1

[Dotini]

Cyril Irritable

Cyril Bite-able, Boot-able, Beatable

 

[sumbrownkid]

Honestly, it’s time Renault fires Cyril.

 

[ScottPuss20]

Cyril Bite-able, Boot-able, Beatable

Cyril Abiteboul****

 

[TenEightyOne]

What a difference a week makes. I find it crazy that people are signing contracts without even having a baseline of how this (which will also be the next) year's cars perform.

In fairness they have done a lot of miles in the cars already and had turned up at Melbourne with all the simulation predictions. If this year's Renault was a dog then, as you imply, so is next year's. That takes Ricciardio to the end of his contract with a crap car (if that's what he thinks of it), why hang around?

EDIT: Looked at the preseason times to refresh my memory... Renault actually looking good over long timed runs, but there's no word from the drivers about how the car felt "on the edge".

 

[andrea]

Sainz and Vettel leave on good terms with their teams.

It says a lot about Ricciardo who basically keeps everyone the dark until the last day and then stabs his team principles in the back.

 

[mustafur]

Sainz and Vettel leave on good terms with their teams.

It says a lot about Ricciardo who basically keeps everyone the dark until the last day and then stabs his team principles in the back.

Not signing a contract is hardly stabbing anyone.

 

[TheElbows]

It's simple to me, Ricciardo is not a "demand" position outside of the bottom rung teams. Anything he does is based around availability of the higher ranked drivers moving/leaving, etc. He doesn't have the weight to throw around, to threaten his current teams for more money, etc. He is always calculating on the chance that a seat opens up, etc.

Ricciardo is a solid driver, and seems like a really nice guy - none of that matches up to the level of Hamilton/Max/Leclerc/Vettel/etc. right now...so I don't think he gets to dictate his future with as much ease.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

The top 3 all have their drivers, so it's difficult for anyone to break in there. There are a lot of talented young drivers, but there's only one team that has been winning championships. Ricciardo is definitely talented and could win a WDC or three. He showed he could beat Vettel. Unfortunately not all drivers with WDC potential will actually be able to go after a championship. Such is the nature of the sport.

 

[FutureF1]

Sainz and Vettel leave on good terms with their teams.

It says a lot about Ricciardo who basically keeps everyone the dark until the last day and then stabs his team principles in the back.

You're either a Max Verstappen fan or a Renault fan.

Myself and many others still rank Ricciardo as one of the top guys in the sport right now. It's pretty clear he's talented enough, but as @ROAD_DOGG33J said, the top three have their chosen lead drivers. It doesn't make sense for those teams to court Ricciardo since he's very clear he wants to either race or be top dog. He has no desire to play second fiddle to anyone. That's why he left Red Bull and that's why he's better off becoming team leader at McLaren as they're starting an upward trajectory.

 

[Roger the Horse]

An unfortunate fact in F1 is that it's hard to assess the quality of a driver relative to anyone but their teammate, and even then that relies on a team running a proper 2 car operation and not just turning up with a second car because technically they're supposed to (ie. Benetton in 1994 or Ferrari in 1996 clearly funneling all their resources into Michael Schumacher's car).

A good example is Pastor Maldonado at Williams in 2012. He was often at the sharp end of the field that year, but other than his win at Barcelona he crashed far too often to show much for it results wise. Now, was this because he was dragging the car to positions it shouldn't have been in and going past the limits in the process? Or was the car's potential nowhere near fulfilled by that year's driver lineup at the team?

Unless someone has an interdimensional portal to a timeline where Williams still had Nico Hulkenberg and Rubens Barrichello driving for them that year it's extremely hard to tell.

Ultimately working out how good any given driver is often comes down to fairly subjective observations. Unless we see Hamilton and Vettel on equal footing in the same team next year it's very hard to tell which of them is the better driver.

In recent years Hamilton has driven better purely in terms of making less costly errors, but is that because of his own strengths as a driver or is it because the Mercedes has been an easier car to drive for a team that has provided a more nurturing environment? Looking at Hamilton in the early 2010s at McLaren he was arguably in a similar rutt to where Vettel is now.

Maybe Vettel will sign with Renault and everyone will look at the move the same way many looked at Hamilton's move to Mercedes in 2012, only for Renault to nail the 2022 regulations and for Vettel to go on a title winning streak while other's struggle around him?

You can't tell. Personally I'd say Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen, Ricciardo, LeClerc, and Alonso currently represent the cream of the crop for the current driver market; with Ocon, Albon, Sainz, Norris, and Russell all having the potential to prove themselves to be of the same calibre as that former group; and with Bottas, Magnussen, Raikkonen, Pérez, and Hulkenberg representing a more experienced group of drivers who while maybe not quite in the S-tier could still join that tier with the right circumstances, especially after a major change in regulations.

But the question of which driver is the best fit for a team is just as much a matter of a team's internal political situation as it is anything else. Just look at Gasly's lackluster underperformance at Red Bull compared to his standout performances at The Team Formerly Known As Minardi.

 

[AshenGraey]

Cyril Bite-able, Boot-able, Beatable

Not sure if anyone remembers Cyril snarky remarks to Horner in the first season of Drive to Survive after Ricciardo decided to leave Red Bull and join Renault. He had that smirk on his face as though he pulled a dirty trick on RB by stealing Ricciardo. To think that he is now on the receiving end of that "shock exit" like Horner was especially after saying to various media outlet that Ricciardo wasn't going anywhere and that he believed in their program and has no reason to leave ....I guess what goes around does come around

Personally I think RIC made the right choice to move to McLaren. Their cars looked to be more on the upward trend than Renault. He's talented and one of my favorite driver on the grid so I really hope that move pays off so he can battle for position at the front

 

[TenEightyOne]

Here's a great rumour in this silliest of all silly seasons... Renault are in discussions with Bottas for 2021, there may be a seat at Mercedes where Vettel can fulfil his Schumacher dream by fading out with a series of sad-to-see performances.

 

[EngieDiesel]

Here's a great rumour in this silliest of all silly seasons... Renault are in discussions with Bottas for 2021, there may be a seat at Mercedes where Vettel can fulfil his Schumacher dream by fading out with a series of sad-to-see performances.

I imagine that a lot of people on the internet would love to see this, if only because they'd expect Vettel to create another oil-and-water situation that makes Hamilton's life difficult like Nico Rosberg did.

 

[PeterJB]

To be fair, I think a lot of people would love to see them go head-to-head in equal machinery. Over the years they've spent relatively little time fighting each other on track.

 

[TenEightyOne]

I imagine that a lot of people on the internet would love to see this, if only because they'd expect Vettel to create another oil-and-water situation that makes Hamilton's life difficult like Nico Rosberg did.

To be fair, I think a lot of people would love to see them go head-to-head in equal machinery. Over the years they've spent relatively little time fighting each other on track.

I'd love to see it. Why not?

Of course, the reasons that so many people would love to see it are exactly the reasons that Mercedes are unlikely to let it happen.

 

[Jezza819]

Of course, the reasons that so many people would love to see it are exactly the reasons that Mercedes are unlikely to let it happen.

Probably because they don't want to see bits from 2 Mercedes scattered all over the track.

 

[NotThePrez]

I'd love to see it. Why not?

Of course, the reasons that so many people would love to see it are exactly the reasons that Mercedes are unlikely to let it happen.

I've read from a couple sources of varying reliability that Mercedes-Benz proper really want Vettel in their car, primarily for marketing reasons. Toto, however, has his feet firmly on the brakes, and while I believe that Lewis is genuine in not minding having a very strong teammate, I'm also confident that he and the team as a whole enjoys the stability and camaraderie he has with Bottas.

I personally would love for this to happen. I'd be sad to see Bottas go (or be moved to a less competitive seat), but having Vettel and Lewis in the same car for a year or two would be legendary. I'd wager that it would be the best season of F1 ever, much to the chagrin of Toto Wolff's blood pressure.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Here's something we hadn't thought of yet for this season. If a driver tests positive for COVID, they'll have to miss the race while they self-isolate. They can't just try to drive through the illness like Sergio Perez did in Malaysia 2017 or Lewis Hamilton in Germany 2019. So all teams will need reserve drivers ready who can jump in the car whenever, so we have a very real chance of some of these drivers getting an outing this year. Not all of these fulfil the requirements for a superlicense though, which is an issue

Confirmed reserve drivers
Mercedes: Esteban Gutierrez, Stoffel Vandoorne
Ferrari: Antonio Giovinazzi, Antonio Fuoco, Davide Rigon, Pascal Wehrlein
Red Bull: Sebastien Buemi, Sergio Sette Camara
McLaren: Gutierrez and Vandoorne have been made available to McLaren by Mercedes if required
Renault: Guanyu Zhou
AlphaTauri: Sebastien Buemi, Sergio Sette Camara
Racing Point: Gutierrez and Vandoorne have been made available to Racing Point by Mercedes if required
Alfa Romeo: Robert Kubica, Tatiana Calderon
Haas: Pietro Fittipaldi, Louis Deletraz
Williams: Jack Aitken, Roy Nissany, Dan Ticktum, Jamie Chadwick

 

[Pezzarinho17]

Almost certain to see Vandoorne and Gutierrez back then...

The only thing that would taint the 2020 Championship is if it is ultimately decided by a driver being able to start more races than their rival...

 

[Liquid]

Heaven forbid that two of Mercedes-Benz, McLaren and Racing Point have all four regular drivers fall ill but... what happens then?

 

[Jimlaad43]

Heaven forbid that two of Mercedes-Benz, McLaren and Racing Point have all four regular drivers fall ill but... what happens then?

The F2 teams are all there too, so I'm sure there would be some drivers able to come across and step in.

 

[Roo]

Heaven forbid that two of Mercedes-Benz, McLaren and Racing Point have all four regular drivers fall ill but... what happens then?

In Mercedes' case, I would imagine they'd pull George Russell out of Williams. He'd be replaced by one of the Williams quartet.

 

[Liquid]

 

[PeterJB]

He then quit again at the end of the year cause they can't win races.

 

[Rossell2]

I'm an Alonso fan but this is Schumacher/Mercedes all over again.

 

[Liquid]

Alonso should stay the 🤬 away from Formula 1 unless Hamilton has a congenital heart defect and Mercedes drop by with a red carpet.

He's 38; it will do nothing but dilute his legacy.

Oh well. The temptation is too real.

 

[Ether]

As much as I don't see this happening, boy would I love to see the Mild Seven colors back on a Renault as part of Alonso's return (even though Mild Seven as a sponsor can't come back).

 

[NoobMan DS]

Eh, honestly this is quite surprising. I thought Alonso's had enough of being stuck in midfield cars after hearing his (understandably) frustrated comments in his last McLaren years (and in 2014 with Ferrari). Also it seems there isn't enough evidence that Renault will be able to build a car capable of winning races in F1 soon.

But I guess there's that upcoming budget cap and maybe he's willing to stick around for some time before that kicks in.

 

[FutureF1]

Nooooo. There’s already a whole generation of fans who have zero understanding for Alonso’s talent because he spent last decade in pieces of ****. If I were him I’d wait until after indy this year before making a call. If he wins, sure, he can have some fun since he’ll have cemented his standing as the best racing driver in the world, but if he doesn’t win the 500, his time and talent would be better spent tackling a full indycar championship

 

[Jimlaad43]

I hate the phrase "set for" because it just means "we're guessing to hope we can claim the scoop". Nothing is confirmed from official and more reputable sources without the words "set for", so I'm not going to accept this as good until we see.