The Official F1 2023 silly season *contains speculation*
Discussion
Fundoreen said:
I doubt it will be stroll jr and someone new to F1 at Aston Martin. Meanwhile is shumi jr ready yet? Probably not.
I had same thought, Stroll was on his way out but AM will not run 2 new drivers so Lance stays. Mick isn't showing the level of performance Ferrari need to displace LeClerc or Sainz and they're still both young so he will stay with HAAS for a long time.Nobody on the current grid will be looking at AM and saying, you know what that's an attractive seat not even Ricciardo
vaud said:
Probably is attractive for Mick Schumacher.
I was about to question why and say the HAAS is way better. But then actually looking at race results. AM does seem to finish better (bar Austria which was a great result for HAAS).https://www.skysports.com/f1/teams/aston-martin/re...
https://www.skysports.com/f1/teams/haas/results
_Yeti said:
vaud said:
Probably is attractive for Mick Schumacher.
I was about to question why and say the HAAS is way better. But then actually looking at race results. AM does seem to finish better (bar Austria which was a great result for HAAS).https://www.skysports.com/f1/teams/aston-martin/re...
https://www.skysports.com/f1/teams/haas/results
Haas are having a good season this year as customer teams often do at the beginning of a rule cycle. Due to their results up to 2021 they had the most development time of anybody for 2022.
HustleRussell said:
Why?
I'm no expert but my view is that they're pretty much equivalent drivesHAAS maybe have a very good weekend in Austria but they've had some driver based DNFs which have potentially robbed them of points
HAAS have scored points 5 races
AM have scored points in 7
Are AM on a better trend? potentially but neither team seem to be gaining any ground on alpine/mclaren in order to regularly fight for points.
Aston are still massively on the back foot from having to start the season with care using completely different philosophy, but that was their own doing.
andburg said:
HustleRussell said:
Why?
I'm no expert but my view is that they're pretty much equivalent drivesHAAS maybe have a very good weekend in Austria but they've had some driver based DNFs which have potentially robbed them of points
HAAS have scored points 5 races
AM have scored points in 7
Are AM on a better trend? potentially but neither team seem to be gaining any ground on alpine/mclaren in order to regularly fight for points.
Aston are still massively on the back foot from having to start the season with care using completely different philosophy, but that was their own doing.
It's very hard to predict what Aston Martin's strategy will be on drivers. They have not been the most ambitious in this respect. We assume Lance is still on a magic carpet ride, although he's only on a one year for 2022. Recruiting Vettel seemed to be about his cachet more than anything. Will they want to pick a driver who won't embarrass Lance or will they surprise us with a young hope? Or do they want another big ticket ambassador type driver to replace Seb?
Mick would work pretty well in a lot of respects. Sebastian will have been pulling for him no doubt, like Russell did for Albon last year. It'd be very 'Seb' to vacate a seat and have engineered it such that it is occupied by the 'little brother' character. Mick's German backers would probably relish the association with the Aston Martin brand and whichever German team provides the engines(?) Mick is a well-liked driver but could probably be handled to a degree.
I'm not certain that Schumacher has earned his stripes just yet and I'm not aware of a Ferrari driver pressurising his Haas seat so maybe he just stays where he is.
Are there any Emirati drivers waiting in the wings? Aston Martin the car company is awash with Saudi investment, and the race car carries Aramco...
Mick would work pretty well in a lot of respects. Sebastian will have been pulling for him no doubt, like Russell did for Albon last year. It'd be very 'Seb' to vacate a seat and have engineered it such that it is occupied by the 'little brother' character. Mick's German backers would probably relish the association with the Aston Martin brand and whichever German team provides the engines(?) Mick is a well-liked driver but could probably be handled to a degree.
I'm not certain that Schumacher has earned his stripes just yet and I'm not aware of a Ferrari driver pressurising his Haas seat so maybe he just stays where he is.
Are there any Emirati drivers waiting in the wings? Aston Martin the car company is awash with Saudi investment, and the race car carries Aramco...
Edited by HustleRussell on Thursday 28th July 14:20
Joe Saward in his column today (published before the Vettel announcement) suggested that Schumacher would be most likely to replace Seb if he retired. It would make sense for Mick, as he really has nowhere else to go in the Ferrari world. A seat won't be available at Ferrari for at least two more years, and there isn't anywhere else for him to wait it out other than at Haas, which he probably doesn't want to do. If he wants to progress from where he is he needs to find another manufacturer. AM is his best and possibly only option for that.
thegreenhell said:
Joe Saward in his column today (published before the Vettel announcement) suggested that Schumacher would be most likely to replace Seb if he retired. It would make sense for Mick, as he really has nowhere else to go in the Ferrari world. A seat won't be available at Ferrari for at least two more years, and there isn't anywhere else for him to wait it out other than at Haas, which he probably doesn't want to do. If he wants to progress from where he is he needs to find another manufacturer. AM is his best and possibly only option for that.
I read that and like you, just do not see a logical fit for MSC at AM, other than on current form, he might make Lance look good. 
Alonso, Danny, or the Hulk seem a far more logical choice, unless MSC comes with cash. De Vries with Merc doing a deal on engines is another possibility.
rdjohn said:
I read that and like you, just do not see a logical fit for MSC at AM, other than on current form, he might make Lance look good.
Alonso, Danny, or the Hulk seem a far more logical choice, unless MSC comes with cash. De Vries with Merc doing a deal on engines is another possibility.
Given Mercedes own a large stake in the Aston Martin car company, the F1 team is unlikely to need to put a Merc reserve driver in it's car to get an engine supply discount. Alonso, Danny, or the Hulk seem a far more logical choice, unless MSC comes with cash. De Vries with Merc doing a deal on engines is another possibility.
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