The Official F1 2019 silly season *contains speculation*

[Bradgate]

The stories about Ricciardo talking to McLaren sound like a negotiating tactic. My guess is that Danny will still be driving for Red Bull next season, but on a far higher salary and with a contract which guarantees him joint number 1 status with whoever is in the other seat.

Not that he needs such a contract to beat Verstapponaldo

[Dr Z]

Deesee said:

Vaud said:

Deesee said:

DR Z, I had assumed/presumed the 3 year deal with the Kimo* brand (co owned by Alonso) with McLaren/kimoa was in liu of salary, if Mclaren have a 3 yr deal surely they will want a 3 year drive?

Kimoa placement might be in lieu of some salary, but not all of it. There isn't that much placement?

? Back of rear wing, barge boards and front nose.

Rear wing say sponsor like say, Ethiad airways or Petronas.

I’d have though that would cover a fair few million pa.

I believe it was a 'multi-year' deal with options contingent on McLaren's competitiveness every year. Sure, his clothing brand is receiving exposure on prominent spaces on the car but I don't believe he's taking a massive pay cut for it.

His reported salary prior to this is $30m pa. I suppose, the team owners could afford him, but they don't have much leverage with McLaren's competitiveness now. Funny thing is McLaren had a slow start to last year too and had a strong car later on in the season, so Alonso might well have to make a decision now and miss that window when the car starts to perform better. McLaren might start to solve their issues in 2nd half of this year and there's a substantial aero rules reset next year too.

[DanielSan]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/136898/ferrari-r...

Time for Danny Ric to stay at Red Bull. His options have all but run out...

[carl_w]

Raikkonen out, Leclerc in https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/136898/ferrari-r...
[Doh, same article as above]

[anonymous-user]

DanielSan said:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/136898/ferrari-r...

Time for Danny Ric to stay at Red Bull. His options have all but run out...

Like Vettel would have allowed Ricciardo to join Ferrari considering how silly he made him look when they were both at Red Bull.

Congratulations to Kimi for lasting as long as he did, guess whatever blackmail material he had has no leverage anymore.

[Vaud]

Joey Deacon said:

Like Vettel would have allowed Ricciardo to join Ferrari considering how silly he made him look when they were both at Red Bull.

Congratulations to Kimi for lasting as long as he did, guess whatever blackmail material he had has no leverage anymore.

What a corrosive post.

There were rumours that Vettel underperformed to trigger the performance clause. As for Kimi, I'd agree that he is at the end of his career; I welcome Ferrari taking a risk on a young talent, but their selection of Kimi was partly due to the lack of other options...

[thegreenhell]

In the spirit of Silly Season, I'm going to speculate that Kimi isn't finished yet. He's going to go and finish his career back at McLaren as Alonso's replacement.

[carl_w]

thegreenhell said:

In the spirit of Silly Season, I'm going to speculate that Kimi isn't finished yet. He's going to go and finish his career back at McLaren as Alonso's replacement.

Williams?

[slipstream 1985]

carl_w said:

thegreenhell said:

In the spirit of Silly Season, I'm going to speculate that Kimi isn't finished yet. He's going to go and finish his career back at McLaren as Alonso's replacement.

Williams?

He said "back at McLaren" not THAT far back.

[Angpozzuto]

carl_w said:

thegreenhell said:

In the spirit of Silly Season, I'm going to speculate that Kimi isn't finished yet. He's going to go and finish his career back at McLaren as Alonso's replacement.

Williams?

I'm sure kimi and kubica could help Williams build a decent car

[Vaud]

Angpozzuto said:

I'm sure kimi and kubica could help Williams build a decent car

The driver input is largely irrelevant to building a decent car... Williams screwed up this year in the design phase in aero - not something a driver can help with.

[Mark-C]

Vaud said:

Angpozzuto said:

I'm sure kimi and kubica could help Williams build a decent car

The driver input is largely irrelevant to building a decent car... Williams screwed up this year in the design phase in aero - not something a driver can help with.

This nails it ... Williams haven’t got the best drivers but it doesn’t really matter right now given the car. The problem they have is they’ve taken the big dollars from their drivers and seemingly made a complete arse of using it to build a decent car.

If I was Daddy Stroll or one of Sirotkin’s backers I’d be looking elsewhere with my money ASAP

If I was Force India I’d be my smiling very sweetly at the Strolls

[glazbagun]

Bradgate said:

The stories about Ricciardo talking to McLaren sound like a negotiating tactic. My guess is that Danny will still be driving for Red Bull next season, but on a far higher salary and with a contract which guarantees him joint number 1 status with whoever is in the other seat.

Not that he needs such a contract to beat Verstapponaldo

Yep. He'd be madder to join McLaren now than Alonso was when he left Ferrari and "could go anywhere". At least Alonso had the excuse of an engine noone had seen and memories of one of the top teams on the grid.

[Vaud]

Mark-C said:

This nails it ... Williams haven’t got the best drivers but it doesn’t really matter right now given the car. The problem they have is they’ve taken the big dollars from their drivers and seemingly made a complete arse of using it to build a decent car.

If I was Daddy Stroll or one of Sirotkin’s backers I’d be looking elsewhere with my money ASAP

If I was Force India I’d be my smiling very sweetly at the Strolls

If I were the Strolls I'd be waiting until Force India fold, will get it for a much better price.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Vaud said:

Mark-C said:

This nails it ... Williams haven’t got the best drivers but it doesn’t really matter right now given the car. The problem they have is they’ve taken the big dollars from their drivers and seemingly made a complete arse of using it to build a decent car.

If I was Daddy Stroll or one of Sirotkin’s backers I’d be looking elsewhere with my money ASAP

If I was Force India I’d be my smiling very sweetly at the Strolls

If I were the Strolls I'd be waiting until Force India fold, will get it for a much better price.

Buying and running the loss making FI would cost infinitely more than what they’re paying Williams at the moment.

[angrymoby]

glazbagun said:

Yep. He'd be madder to join McLaren now than Alonso was when he left Ferrari and "could go anywhere". At least Alonso had the excuse of an engine noone had seen and memories of one of the top teams on the grid.

I'm not sure it's that 'mad'

Let's be honest, in all likelihood he's not going to win a WDC with either RBR Renault, RBR Honda OR Mclaren anytime soon ...so why not take the money & run with whoever, until 2021 ...when things are likely to change a fair amount in both the driver market & regs

[hairyben]

I wouldn't drive that thing for 20M, McLaren would be the worst for ric, if he can't be in a title challenging team he needs to be on the boil somewhere. Going to McLaren on a hope and big pay packet reminds me of button to Honda, and while that may have worked out oddly well in the end he did drop off peoples radar for a while.

[thegreenhell]

hairyben said:

I wouldn't drive that thing for 20M, McLaren would be the worst for ric, if he can't be in a title challenging team he needs to be on the boil somewhere. Going to McLaren on a hope and big pay packet reminds me of button to Honda, and while that may have worked out oddly well in the end he did drop off peoples radar for a while.

I agree. If he can't get into a Mercedes or Ferrari now then he needs to stay at Red Bull and keep beating Max for the next two years, so that he's in pole position to grab a title-winning seat when one becomes available, assuming that RBR-Honda itself doesn't turn out to be a world-beater..If nothing else, he should be able to negotiate a big pay rise for himself where he is now.

[Vaud]

thegreenhell said:

If nothing else, he should be able to negotiate a big pay rise for himself where he is now.

You can only negotiate from a position of strength. If Mercedes and Ferrari don't want him at present, then he loses his bargaining power?

[Deesee]

Vaud said:

You can only negotiate from a position of strength. If Mercedes and Ferrari don't want him at present, then he loses his bargaining power?

He could end up with out a seat next year ( or at McLaren which is almost the same thing), by playing hardball, Sainz and Gasly both cutting there teeth well.