The Official 2018 F1 Silly Season *Contains Speculation*

[HustleRussell]

Wehrlein really needed to embarrass Ericsson but just didn't. Ericsson is driving comparatively well lately.

[CraigyMc]

HustleRussell said:

Wehrlein really needed to embarrass Ericsson but just didn't. Ericsson is driving comparatively well lately.

Compared to what?

[HustleRussell]

CraigyMc said:

HustleRussell said:

Wehrlein really needed to embarrass Ericsson but just didn't. Ericsson is driving comparatively well lately.

Compared to what?

If you were to guess you’d probably nail it- there are two possible frames of reference;
-How Marcus Ericsson normally drives
-How Pascal Wehrlein has been driving

[CraigyMc]

HustleRussell said:

CraigyMc said:

HustleRussell said:

Wehrlein really needed to embarrass Ericsson but just didn't. Ericsson is driving comparatively well lately.

Compared to what?

If you were to guess you’d probably nail it- there are two possible frames of reference;
-How Marcus Ericsson normally drives
-How Pascal Wehrlein has been driving

This is Marcus Ericsson's 4th season in F1.
It's fairly clear from the results so far that he's not in F1 because of straightforward driving talent.
Even Wehrlein (who I don't rate as being as awesome as Mercedes think) has scored points twice this year in the Sauber, compared to zero from Marcus Ericsson.
For the sake of example, compare this with Esteban Ocon, who is in his first full season in F1 and has thus far in 2017 scored in every race save Monaco.

One of these guys is a good racing driver.
The other is someone with a lot of funding from the vastly wealthy, Swedish, Rausing family (owners of Tetrapak).

[HustleRussell]

CraigyMc said:

HustleRussell said:

CraigyMc said:

HustleRussell said:

Wehrlein really needed to embarrass Ericsson but just didn't. Ericsson is driving comparatively well lately.

Compared to what?

If you were to guess you’d probably nail it- there are two possible frames of reference;
-How Marcus Ericsson normally drives
-How Pascal Wehrlein has been driving

This is Marcus Ericsson's 4th season in F1.
It's fairly clear from the results so far that he's not in F1 because of straightforward driving talent.
Even Wehrlein (who I don't rate as being as awesome as Mercedes think) has scored points twice this year in the Sauber, compared to zero from Marcus Ericsson.
For the sake of example, compare this with Esteban Ocon, who is in his first full season in F1 and has thus far in 2017 scored in every race save Monaco.

One of these guys is a good racing driver.
The other is someone with a lot of funding from the vastly wealthy, Swedish, Rausing family (owners of Tetrapak).

Yes, yes I know all of that- I am not suggesting that Ericsson is a better driver than Wehrlein- far from it. That’s why as I said in my original post that Wehrlein needed to not only beat Marcus Ericsson over a season but embarrass him. Ericsson has just out-qualified Wehrlein for the last three races and was running in 8th in Mexico until scuppered by an unfortunately timed VSC and eventual mechanical failure. It may not be as simple as all that because for the reasons you have already mentioned, Marcus’ backers via Sauber will have probably ensured that Ericsson gets all of the upgrades first etc etc. Despite this I can’t imagine that occasionally being out-qualified and beaten by Ericsson is doing Wehrlein many favours when it comes to securing a drive in any F1 team.

I agree the quality of Ocon is undeniable but of course he does have a very handy racing car under him.

[2fast748]

I see the "What colour is the McLaren going to be" hype machine has started.

[rubystone]

HustleRussell said:

.

I agree the quality of Ocon is undeniable but of course he does have a very handy racing car under him.

Nail on head. I think doubters would be surprised by Wehrlein’s pace in a front running car.

[MissChief]

2fast748 said:

I see the "What colour is the McLaren going to be" hype machine has started.

I actually really like the orange and black machine they have at the moment, although seeing some rocket red back in there wouldn't be a bad thing. If they're going to do a Papaya car, do it for testing only pre-season and then go back to something like what they have.

Will they have any yellow in there for Renault I wonder?

[MartG]

MissChief said:

... seeing some rocket red back in there wouldn't be a bad thing....

...Will they have any yellow in there for Renault I wonder?...

Red + Yellow = Orange

[ajprice]

McLaren are seriously considering papaya orange, but it depends on sponsors https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/132783/what-woul...

[DanielSan]

ajprice said:

McLaren are seriously considering papaya orange, but it depends on sponsors https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/132783/what-woul...

McLaren must be pretty desperate for sponsor money by now, even with all the crap behind its owners having unlimited pots of cash there’s only so long they’ll find it directly before a sponsor is needed to help with funds aswell.

[Dr Z]

rubystone said:

HustleRussell said:

.

I agree the quality of Ocon is undeniable but of course he does have a very handy racing car under him.

Nail on head. I think doubters would be surprised by Wehrlein’s pace in a front running car.

Wehrlein against Ericsson this year has been interesting. I haven't looked at the numbers but my impression has been that Ericsson has been quite strong on the brakes and has had the upper hand in tracks that demand that, whereas Wehrlein has been better in the fast and flowing tracks.

Even though Sauber has been at the back this year, they've looked pretty decent in some tracks...it's would be very interesting to see them with a latest gen Ferrari PU. They seem to have more potential/experience in them to exploit that than Haas, at the moment.

Sorry I do keep an eye on teams and drivers at the back.

[jamiebae]

Dr Z said:

Wehrlein against Ericsson this year has been interesting. I haven't looked at the numbers but my impression has been that Ericsson has been quite strong on the brakes and has had the upper hand in tracks that demand that, whereas Wehrlein has been better in the fast and flowing tracks.

Even though Sauber has been at the back this year, they've looked pretty decent in some tracks...it's would be very interesting to see them with a latest gen Ferrari PU. They seem to have more potential/experience in them to exploit that than Haas, at the moment.

Sorry I do keep an eye on teams and drivers at the back.

Remember there is (allegedly...) a decent element of favouritism towards Ericsson in the team - he gets the upgrades first, the better engineers and so on, so it may not be a straight fight all of the time.

[Vaud]

jamiebae said:

Remember there is (allegedly...) a decent element of favouritism towards Ericsson in the team - he gets the upgrades first, the better engineers and so on, so it may not be a straight fight all of the time.

True. Only the team principal will know the full picture of performance.

[Vaud]

Sauber still not decided:

http://www.eurosport.co.uk/formula-1/_sto6394545/s...

[rubystone]

DanielSan said:

McLaren must be pretty desperate for sponsor money by now, even with all the crap behind its owners having unlimited pots of cash there’s only so long they’ll find it directly before a sponsor is needed to help with funds aswell.

They’re not short of cash.

[MissChief]

rubystone said:

DanielSan said:

McLaren must be pretty desperate for sponsor money by now, even with all the crap behind its owners having unlimited pots of cash there’s only so long they’ll find it directly before a sponsor is needed to help with funds aswell.

They’re not short of cash.

This season maybe, but with the Honda money drying up, reckoned to be worth £100m a season (although 'worth' and 'money paid into McLaren's bank account' are different of course) along with Alonso's wages now being paid by McLaren rather than direct from Honda and the charge they now have to pay for Renault engines, they could as much as £50m directly in the hole, along with any costs absorbed by Honda over the past three years.

[Vaud]

MissChief said:

This season maybe, but with the Honda money drying up, reckoned to be worth £100m a season (although 'worth' and 'money paid into McLaren's bank account' are different of course) along with Alonso's wages now being paid by McLaren rather than direct from Honda and the charge they now have to pay for Renault engines, they could as much as £50m directly in the hole, along with any costs absorbed by Honda over the past three years.

The owners have plenty of money.

[MissChief]

Vaud said:

MissChief said:

This season maybe, but with the Honda money drying up, reckoned to be worth £100m a season (although 'worth' and 'money paid into McLaren's bank account' are different of course) along with Alonso's wages now being paid by McLaren rather than direct from Honda and the charge they now have to pay for Renault engines, they could as much as £50m directly in the hole, along with any costs absorbed by Honda over the past three years.

The owners have plenty of money.

Of that I have no doubt at all, but are they willing to put some of that money in?

[rubystone]

MissChief said:

Of that I have no doubt at all, but are they willing to put some of that money in?

You doubted what I said though, which is 100% what Vaud did. So for your benefit, I’ll provide a more fuller explanation (no offence taken or given)

McLaren is essentially government owned. Whilst RD was reluctant to approach Mumtalakat for more funding, with his removal, the taps are firmly turned on.