The Official F1 2019 silly season *contains speculation*

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https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/3440/williams-t...

'Williams to announce 2019 driver at Abu Dhabi GP'

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jsf said:

Lets hope Ghosn being ousted from Renault wont affect the F1 program.

Share price is down 15% today as a result.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-19...

I though the F1 teams had struck various deals in return for cash up front until 2020 (pre-Liberty)

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Supersam83 said:

Maybe the only choice they have alongside Kyvat apart from Albon.

I don't think he is a choice though for 2019. You would want certainty over your driver now... not risking that he doesn't make up the extra points for season start. Need to retain someone and get them simulator time, etc.

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rdjohn said:

May be even longer in Renault’s case. (Motorsports.com Nov 2015)

Sources have suggested that the contract with Ecclestone that Ghosn and the Renault board has on the table is for nine years - from 2016 until 2024.

The significance of that is that other teams are currently bound to bilateral agreements, that used to be unified into one document known as the Concorde Agreement, until 2020.

Thank you for that.

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Assuming that leak is correct (Autosport and Motorsport are covering it so it is pretty solid)

Ferrari - Vettel - Leclerc*
Mercedes - Hamilton - Bottas
Red Bull - Verstappen - Gasly*
Renault - Ricciardo* - Hulkenberg
Sauber - Raikkonen* - Giovinazzi*
HAAS - Grosjean - Magnusson
McLaren - Sainz* - Norris
Racing Point Force India - Perez - TBA*
Toro Rosso - Kvyat - TBA*
Williams - Russell - Kubica

(*) change vs 2018

That leaves 2 seats:
RPFI - which will be Stroll
Toro Rosso - Albon? Or could they be persuaded to take Ocon?


So that is a quarter of the grid that has changed...

Gains vs 2018:
Russell
Norris
Kubica
Giovinazzi
Kvyat

Probable losses:
Alonso
Sirotkin
Ocon
Ericsson
Vandoorne

HustleRussell said:

Is nobody entertaining the idea that silly season 2018/19 might have been massively over hyped and will ultimately disappoint?

No

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Ferrari - Vettel - Leclerc
Mercedes - Hamilton - Bottas
Red Bull - Verstappen - Gasly
Renault - Ricciardo - Hulkenberg
Sauber - Raikkonen - Giovinazzi
HAAS - Grosjean - Magnusson
McLaren - Sainz - Norris
Racing Point Force India - Perez - [lets face it it's Stroll*]
Toro Rosso - Kvyat - TBA
Williams - Russell - Kubica

[start random speculation]

* Or is it?

I can't fathom why the Stroll announcement is taking so long... maybe there is a contractual issue? Maybe Stroll is happy to have bought the team as a platform and Lance racing in it is "optional" for him?

Will we see Ocon retained there and Lance popping up at TR instead... or out to Formula E?

[/end random speculation]

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MissChief said:

Apparently the deal for Lance at Williams was a multi-year deal

5 years according to the usually well informed Joe Saward.

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Bullitt Five-Oh said:

bobbo89 said:

Albon confirmed to be driving alongside Kvyat at Torro Rosso next year

I feel sorry for Hartley, Marko is being ruthless as always.

They have the stats though for comparison. I haven't been impressed by Hartley as an armchair viewer.

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Ferrari - Vettel - Leclerc
Mercedes - Hamilton - Bottas
Red Bull - Verstappen - Gasly
Renault - Ricciardo - Hulkenberg
Sauber - Raikkonen - Giovinazzi
HAAS - Grosjean - Magnusson
McLaren - Sainz - Norris
Racing Point Force India - Perez - TBA
Toro Rosso - Kvyat - Albon
Williams - Russell - Kubica

Just one little seat to fill...

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HardtopManual said:

London424 said:

There's a much much easier way of doing this and it goes something like...

You MUST pitstop and change tyres at least twice during the race.

You don't mix up the strategies by forcing everyone to do the same number of pitstops.

I agree - the rule of unintended consequences.

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ELUSIVEJIM said:

Thought Stroll was announced at Racing Stroll India?

Not yet announced. Which in itself is slightly perplexing.

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Dodgey_Rog said:

I couldn't think where I'd heard the name Albon before, then a google search brought up a pretty interesting family past. Father was a racing driver, his mother though.......

Ah yes... and wiki, etc are strangely silent on the topic...

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Clockwork Cupcake said:

The way that Frank Williams treated drivers like interchangeable cogs, and dumped them the moment they got a WDC, used to make me sick.

And yet he was still able to attract the best - even through they had seen what had gone before. They wanted the fastest car, he would provide one and pay them, they drove it. It was a very transactional relationship, I felt mildly irked but the major characters (with significant egos and legal advice, etc) can fend for themselves.

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Clockwork Cupcake said:

I completely agree.

To be honest, "mildly irked" describes my feelings far better, but I was replying in the same vein as the post I was quoting.

I'm sickened by it.

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DanielSan said:

That's why I said Williams are selling the space cheap... it's got title positions on the car.

Don't forget the Stroll payout...

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DanielSan said:

And don't Williams get a payout for being a World Championship winning team, and a long standing team like Mclaren/Ferrari.

https://www.racefans.net/2018/08/01/formula-1-team...

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OK, as the OP I never thought this thread would last a week, it's been great to have all of the rumours running in one thread rather than scattered through the forum. And thanks for keeping it on track with no Lewis/Rosberg/Vettel "he's broken, etc" comments... much appreciated

And what a silly season it was, I can't remember 25% of the grid changing before. So as it stands only a few reserve seats to be confirmed, the state of play:

Mercedes - Hamilton (44) – Bottas (77)
Reserve - Ocon

Ferrari - Vettel (5) – Leclerc (16)
Reserve - Giovinazzi

Red Bull - Verstappen (33) – Gasly (10)
Reserve - TBC

Renault – Ricciardo (3) – Hulkenberg (27)
Reserve - Jack Aitken?

HAAS – Grosjean (8) – Magnusson (20)
Reserve - Pietro Fittipald (test or reserve?)

McLaren - Sainz (55) - Norris (4)
Reserve - TBC

Racing Point - Perez (11) – Stroll (18)
Reserve - TBC

Sauber – Raikkonen (7) – Giovinazzi (99)
Reserve - Ericsson

Toro Rosso - Kvyat (26) - Albon (TBA)
Reserve - TBC

Williams – Russell (63) – Kubica (88)
Reserve - Nicholas Latifi

if anyone can help me fill in the blanks... I think Albon's number is TBA because he carried "5" in the lower formula and obviously Vettel has that one.

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tobinen said:

Can Giovinazzi be Ferrari reserve and Sauber race driver?

Yes. Apparently Ferrari have first call on him.

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carl_w said:

Plus isn't Ericsson going Indycar racing?

It's ambiguous as they said at Russia he would still be the third driver. Need to check.

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Thanks!