The Official F1 2025 silly season *contains speculation*

[hondajack85]

Kmag is likeable due to his honesty. A lot more people should take note if their boss asks them to do something questionable.
If hulkenberg was staying I would have expected Kmag to be out. Not sure now. Beerman has dodged a bullit as Hulk would have made him look very ordinary.

[Sandpit Steve]

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

Sandpit Steve said:

Agree that Albon staying at Williams means Perez is staying at Red Bull, so Sainz and Verstappen will take the places at Mercedes and Red Bull, but might be the other way around than we expect, and Sargeant will make way for Antonelli at Williams with Albon as a benchmark.

I agree and said this earlier in the thread. There has already been an application to ask if Anonelli could be granted a super licence despite being 17 and not having a road driving licence (didn't even know this was a requirement)

Surely Bearman to Haas is a certainty, the only question is will KMag keep his seat.

Yes I’d think Bearman to Haas was a dead cert, he proved himself as a substitute driver at a top team and deserves a place on the grid over a journeyman. I suspect that Bearman and Antonelli end up P1 and P2 in F2 this year, once the early season ups and downs shake out. F2 are on this weekend by the way, after a few weekends off.

[entropy]

SmoothCriminal said:

Exactly just because he is likeable and a "brit" he gets hyped up like he is some kind of super star.

Has won nothing of merit In his career, was sacked by redbull and then luckily brought back because they burnt through all their young drivers.

Got a chance in the Red Bull and couldn't handle it.

He's lucky to have a seat in f1 when theirs drivers like Bearman and Lawson without one.

A bit unfair on Albon and even Gasly. RBR ran a high rake car with centre-of-pressure too forward for most drivers. Very, very few drivers can live with that type of car.

[ajprice]

Magnussen wasn't expecting Hulk to move, he's now said he doesn't want to babysit a new driver

“I’m not really here to take care of young kids, you know? I do that at home,”

https://www.planetf1.com/news/kevin-magnussen-oliv...

Magnussen doesn't have a contract for next year yet.

[PRO5T]

usn90 said:

SmoothCriminal said:

usn90 said:

Not sure why people are surprised, Albon was going nowhere near one of the top seats, and thankfully so.

Exactly just because he is likeable and a "brit" he gets hyped up like he is some kind of super star.

Has won nothing of merit In his career, was sacked by redbull and then luckily brought back because they burnt through all their young drivers.

Got a chance in the Red Bull and couldn't handle it.

He's lucky to have a seat in f1 when theirs drivers like Bearman and Lawson without one.

Short memories in f1, he was thrown out of Redbull after having his arse slapped in all manner of positions by max, two bad teammates later and he’s apparently worthy of taking up one of the top teams cars.

He’s taken the Williams offer because it’s most likely the best he was going to get, Albon doesn’t even feature in the top 10 on the current grid, let alone those trying to get on it.

This a million times, he seems like a lovely lad which I presume clouds a lot of judgement but I don’t think he’s up there with even the second tier of drivers in F1.

[stemll]

ajprice said:

Magnussen wasn't expecting Hulk to move, he's now said he doesn't want to babysit a new driver

“I’m not really here to take care of young kids, you know? I do that at home,”

https://www.planetf1.com/news/kevin-magnussen-oliv...

Magnussen doesn't have a contract for next year yet.

Is that him getting in first so when they announce that he's dropped he can say "Didn't want it anyway"?

[MrBig]

PRO5T said:

usn90 said:

SmoothCriminal said:

usn90 said:

Not sure why people are surprised, Albon was going nowhere near one of the top seats, and thankfully so.

Exactly just because he is likeable and a "brit" he gets hyped up like he is some kind of super star.

Has won nothing of merit In his career, was sacked by redbull and then luckily brought back because they burnt through all their young drivers.

Got a chance in the Red Bull and couldn't handle it.

He's lucky to have a seat in f1 when theirs drivers like Bearman and Lawson without one.

Short memories in f1, he was thrown out of Redbull after having his arse slapped in all manner of positions by max, two bad teammates later and he’s apparently worthy of taking up one of the top teams cars.

He’s taken the Williams offer because it’s most likely the best he was going to get, Albon doesn’t even feature in the top 10 on the current grid, let alone those trying to get on it.

This a million times, he seems like a lovely lad which I presume clouds a lot of judgement but I don’t think he’s up there with even the second tier of drivers in F1.

I'm so glad this has been said. I can barely believe it when I read folks saying he should be in a front running car!

[Nickp82]

ajprice said:

Magnussen wasn't expecting Hulk to move, he's now said he doesn't want to babysit a new driver

“I’m not really here to take care of young kids, you know? I do that at home,”

https://www.planetf1.com/news/kevin-magnussen-oliv...

Magnussen doesn't have a contract for next year yet.

Got to admire his honesty, he’ll probably want to keep the new guy on side though for when it’s Kevin’s turn to need a rolling roadblock

[asfault]

vaud said:

asfault said:

Has Bearman got enough points for a superlicence or does he need a reasonable f2 finish this year?

Given he raced at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix I suspect he is ok....

oh duh stupid me. lol

[732NM]

PRO5T said:

usn90 said:

SmoothCriminal said:

usn90 said:

Not sure why people are surprised, Albon was going nowhere near one of the top seats, and thankfully so.

Exactly just because he is likeable and a "brit" he gets hyped up like he is some kind of super star.

Has won nothing of merit In his career, was sacked by redbull and then luckily brought back because they burnt through all their young drivers.

Got a chance in the Red Bull and couldn't handle it.

He's lucky to have a seat in f1 when theirs drivers like Bearman and Lawson without one.

Short memories in f1, he was thrown out of Redbull after having his arse slapped in all manner of positions by max, two bad teammates later and he’s apparently worthy of taking up one of the top teams cars.

He’s taken the Williams offer because it’s most likely the best he was going to get, Albon doesn’t even feature in the top 10 on the current grid, let alone those trying to get on it.

This a million times, he seems like a lovely lad which I presume clouds a lot of judgement but I don’t think he’s up there with even the second tier of drivers in F1.

Alex is a very good driver. He would quite easily do well in a top seat. Like for many, Red Bull was toxic for him.

[MustangGT]

732NM said:

PRO5T said:

usn90 said:

SmoothCriminal said:

usn90 said:

Not sure why people are surprised, Albon was going nowhere near one of the top seats, and thankfully so.

Exactly just because he is likeable and a "brit" he gets hyped up like he is some kind of super star.

Has won nothing of merit In his career, was sacked by redbull and then luckily brought back because they burnt through all their young drivers.

Got a chance in the Red Bull and couldn't handle it.

He's lucky to have a seat in f1 when theirs drivers like Bearman and Lawson without one.

Short memories in f1, he was thrown out of Redbull after having his arse slapped in all manner of positions by max, two bad teammates later and he’s apparently worthy of taking up one of the top teams cars.

He’s taken the Williams offer because it’s most likely the best he was going to get, Albon doesn’t even feature in the top 10 on the current grid, let alone those trying to get on it.

This a million times, he seems like a lovely lad which I presume clouds a lot of judgement but I don’t think he’s up there with even the second tier of drivers in F1.

Alex is a very good driver. He would quite easily do well in a top seat. Like for many, Red Bull was toxic for him.

Fully agree, Alex has taken that Williams to places it should never get to.

[thegreenhell]

MustangGT said:

Fully agree, Alex has taken that Williams to places it should never get to.

It's hard to say without a good teammate to measure him against. He could just be doing what the car should be doing while his teammate is massively underperforming.

[deadslow]

732NM said:

Alex is a very good driver. He would quite easily do well in a top seat. Like for many, Red Bull was toxic for him.

that's not right, though, is it?

Albon is a very good driver, but, at RB, he went up against the best and came up short. No shame in that.

[Sandpit Steve]

thegreenhell said:

MustangGT said:

Fully agree, Alex has taken that Williams to places it should never get to.

It's hard to say without a good teammate to measure him against. He could just be doing what the car should be doing while his teammate is massively underperforming.

We’ll find out next year, if he’s up against Antonelli. The Italian was testing an old Mercedes last week, and Toto has a lot to say about the young man.

Sargeant comes across as a box-ticker, F1 wanted an American driver and got enough sponsorship together to make it happen.

[thegreenhell]

deadslow said:

732NM said:

Alex is a very good driver. He would quite easily do well in a top seat. Like for many, Red Bull was toxic for him.

that's not right, though, is it?

Albon is a very good driver, but, at RB, he went up against the best and came up short. No shame in that.

But he was also very inexperienced when he was thrown in there. He'd only had half a season in F1, and wasn't even expecting to be in F1 at all at the start of the year, having signed up for a season of FE, when he was put in alongside MV.

I'm sure he's grown as a driver and as a person since then, as is normal for humans to grow with experience. Just because he failed at the first attempt doesn't automatically mean he'd do the same thing again.

[paulguitar]

deadslow said:

732NM said:

Alex is a very good driver. He would quite easily do well in a top seat. Like for many, Red Bull was toxic for him.

that's not right, though, is it?

Albon is a very good driver, but, at RB, he went up against the best and came up short. No shame in that.

He went up against a top driver and was very uncompetitive. I think the question is also whether Red Bull can run two drivers equally. It always seems to have been a team which has one golden boy but seems to almost treat the other driver as an enemy. See the various comments for example made by Marko about Perez and Webber.

It's a very strange environment there.

[deadslow]

paulguitar said:

deadslow said:

732NM said:

Alex is a very good driver. He would quite easily do well in a top seat. Like for many, Red Bull was toxic for him.

that's not right, though, is it?

Albon is a very good driver, but, at RB, he went up against the best and came up short. No shame in that.

He went up against a top driver and was very uncompetitive. I think the question is also whether Red Bull can run two drivers equally. It always seems to have been a team which has one golden boy but seems to almost treat the other driver as an enemy. See the various comments for example made by Marko about Perez and Webber.

It's a very strange environment there.

RB always run their two drivers equally. The problem is that Max is the best of the best and he makes the other drivers look slow. They'd have to take the kamikazi route of employing Hammo as the second driver to test Max, but no TP would ever volunteer for that headache.

Environment at RB, according to folk who work there, fantastic. Atmosphere at Merc - depressed.

[paulguitar]

deadslow said:

RB always run their two drivers equally. The problem is that Max is the best of the best and he makes the other drivers look slow. They'd have to take the kamikazi route of employing Hammo as the second driver to test Max, but no TP would ever volunteer for that headache.

They always seem to have had it in for one of their drivers, going right back to blaming Webber for being taken off by Vettel...

deadslow said:

Environment at RB, according to folk who work there, fantastic.

All hunky-dory at Red Bull, sure.

[deadslow]

paulguitar said:

deadslow said:

RB always run their two drivers equally. The problem is that Max is the best of the best and he makes the other drivers look slow. They'd have to take the kamikazi route of employing Hammo as the second driver to test Max, but no TP would ever volunteer for that headache.

They always seem to have had it in for one of their drivers, going right back to blaming Webber for being taken off by Vettel...

deadslow said:

Environment at RB, according to folk who work there, fantastic.

All hunky-dory at Red Bull, sure.

ok, chum, you know best

[entropy]

thegreenhell said:

deadslow said:

732NM said:

Alex is a very good driver. He would quite easily do well in a top seat. Like for many, Red Bull was toxic for him.

that's not right, though, is it?

Albon is a very good driver, but, at RB, he went up against the best and came up short. No shame in that.

But he was also very inexperienced when he was thrown in there. He'd only had half a season in F1, and wasn't even expecting to be in F1 at all at the start of the year, having signed up for a season of FE, when he was put in alongside MV.

I'm sure he's grown as a driver and as a person since then, as is normal for humans to grow with experience. Just because he failed at the first attempt doesn't automatically mean he'd do the same thing again.

Fully agree. I was never impressed by Coulthard at Williams and at the time I never understood why Frank was so desperate to keep him and he eventually blossomed at McLaren as a fully rounded F1 driver with multiple wins.