The Official F1 2023 silly season *contains speculation*

[TheDeuce]

carl_w said:

TheDeuce said:

And when RBR had the Renault unit, it was still officially recognised as Renault.

2016-18 the constructor was officially Red Bull Racing and the engine manufacturer Tag Heuer, making it Red Bull Racing-Tag Heuer

Indeed. But look at the FIA docs and listen to the commentary back then, it was referred to as Renault/Renault power.

[thegreenhell]

kambites said:

It's not really very different than having Alfa Romeo branded cars with Ferrari engines is it? Those two car companies are entirely unrelated these days I think? Of course they're not quite so directly in competition.

Yes and no. Ferrari are completely independent these days, as in no longer owned by Fiat. But the people who own and control Fiat (now Stellantis) also still own and control most of Ferrari (just excluding the small % on NYSE). They really just moved it from being in the same pocket to being in a different pocket, but still in the same suit. Ferrari still make road car engines for Alfa and Maserati.

[thegreenhell]

TheDeuce said:

carl_w said:

TheDeuce said:

And when RBR had the Renault unit, it was still officially recognised as Renault.

2016-18 the constructor was officially Red Bull Racing and the engine manufacturer Tag Heuer, making it Red Bull Racing-Tag Heuer

Indeed. But look at the FIA docs and listen to the commentary back then, it was referred to as Renault/Renault power.

Because everyone knew that the engine was made by Renault and Tag-Heuer only make watches, not engines. It's also worth remembering that the reason they had to be badged as something else was because Renault cancelled the contract and refused to supply them with engines anymore after 2015. They only came to this compromise after every other manufacturer also refused to supply RBR, and the FIA intervened to force Renault to supply them. They only did it on condition that their name did not feature anywhere on the car or engine, and they stopped the Infiniti sponsorship at the same time. Fun times those were.

[ralphrj]

thegreenhell said:

Yes and no. Ferrari are completely independent these days, as in no longer owned by Fiat. But the people who own and control Fiat (now Stellantis) also still own and control most of Ferrari (just excluding the small % on NYSE). They really just moved it from being in the same pocket to being in a different pocket, but still in the same suit. Ferrari still make road car engines for Alfa and Maserati.

I'm not sure that is true any more. Ferrari was never owned by Fiat the car company but by Fiat Group the conglomerate that also owned the Fiat car company. They did re-organise the ownership of Ferrari a few years ago but that was part of a move to float it on the NYSE which did start quite small but is now almost two thirds.

As per the 2021 annual report the ownership is:


65.49% of Ferrari is publicly traded stock.

24.21% is owned by Exor who also own 14.4% of Stellantis.

10.30% is owned by Piero Ferrari.


However, having said that Exor have 36% of the voting rights and Piero Ferrari has 15.31% and there is a shareholder agreement between them.

[djgritt]

Gasly to stay at Alpha Tauri for 2023

May mean Ricciardo is getting his full 3 year chance at Mclaren…

[McAndy]

djgritt said:

Gasly to stay at Alpha Tauri for 2023

May mean Ricciardo is getting his full 3 year chance at Mclaren…

Sorry, prediction or confirmed?

[_Yeti]

McAndy said:

Sorry, prediction or confirmed?

Alpha Tauri TP said Gasly will 100% be with them next year during a press conference

[Pflanzgarten]

_Yeti said:

McAndy said:

Sorry, prediction or confirmed?

Alpha Tauri TP said Gasly will 100% be with them next year during a press conference

Confirmed by Gasly. Gutted.

In one respect, I think Pierre needs to be de facto team leader so maybe it’s not too bad it’s just I can’t ever see AT challenging for anything more than the odd lucky win and I think Gasly is above that.

[djgritt]

McAndy said:

Sorry, prediction or confirmed?

https://www.facebook.com/171398419619795/posts/pfb...

Sorry, was posted by Sky F1 on socials. Was checking to find another source then wife told me dinner was ready so got distracted and didn’t come back to update my post.

[McAndy]

Gotcha. Thanks. As has been said, limited options for McLaren other than Ricciardo now, in that case.

[anonymous-user]

Part of me thinks the only driver change will be Latifi out and replaced with Piastri. I have a feeling that the other nine teams will retain their current lineups.

[TheDeuce]

Joey Deacon said:

Part of me thinks the only driver change will be Latifi out and replaced with Piastri. I have a feeling that the other nine teams will retain their current lineups.

Probably. Some drama queens are looking to see DR get booted, but I get the impression he's actually ding OK, it's just that LN is getting the priority - which is fair, he's the better driver these days. DR isn't at all 'bad' though and he's a sponsor and PR dream.

Latifi has to go though. He's shocking.

[ajprice]

Pflanzgarten said:

_Yeti said:

McAndy said:

Sorry, prediction or confirmed?

Alpha Tauri TP said Gasly will 100% be with them next year during a press conference

Confirmed by Gasly. Gutted.

In one respect, I think Pierre needs to be de facto team leader so maybe it’s not too bad it’s just I can’t ever see AT challenging for anything more than the odd lucky win and I think Gasly is above that.

Doubly 100% confirmed now by Alpha Tauri on Twitter https://twitter.com/AlphaTauriF1/status/1540243433...

[vaud]

The upside is it is only 1 year; I wonder if Mercedes have an option for 2024 to fill the second Mercedes seat.

[ralphrj]

vaud said:

The upside is it is only 1 year; I wonder if Mercedes have an option for 2024 to fill the second Mercedes seat.

There has been talk that Gasly is Mercedes's favoured option to replace Hamilton in the event that he chooses to retire. It is possible that there is some form of pre-contract between them.

[ajprice]

Maybe more to the sillier end for 2023 (or 2022), but Kvyat is tease posting on Twitter https://twitter.com/kvyatofficial/status/153997726...



In this year for Latifi? Schumacher?

[thegreenhell]

Are Russians allowed to compete internationally again yet?

[ajprice]

thegreenhell said:

Are Russians allowed to compete internationally again yet?

Never thought of that
I wonder what he's up to.

[EDLT]

I thought most Russian drivers changed their nationality. He'll probably turn up in sports cars or LMP2.

[Pflanzgarten]

It is a bit of a shame for Kvyat, I always kinda liked him (yes I know not as much of a shame for the orphaned children of Ukraine).