The Official F1 2023 silly season *contains speculation*

[McAndy]

ajprice said:

F1 2044, the three drivers look down from the podium at their dads and their mum.

[ajprice]

Latifi out

https://www.williamsf1.com/posts/15cd587a-57fd-4a0...

[Joey Deacon]

ajprice said:

Latifi out

https://www.williamsf1.com/posts/15cd587a-57fd-4a0...

About time. Wonder if he is going to take a year out and consider his options for 2024 along with Ricciardo? Looks pretty certain that Nyck de Vries will be in F1 next year, I guess the team depends on where Gasly ends up.

Edited by Joey Deacon on Friday 23 September 10:09

[Muzzer79]

ajprice said:

Latifi out

https://www.williamsf1.com/posts/15cd587a-57fd-4a0...

Not unexpected.

Surely their shortlist must therefore be De Vries, Sargeant or Ricciardo?

I reckon De Vries is on for Alpine or AT and Ricciardo seems unlikely so they might try Sargeant.

[Callum43]

Pflanzgarten said:

Max to become a dad in '23.

Jos Verstappen and Nelson Piquet as grandfathers! Not necessarily ones first choice .

[vaud]

Muzzer79 said:

Not unexpected.

Surely their shortlist must therefore be De Vries, Sargeant or Ricciardo?

I reckon De Vries is on for Alpine or AT and Ricciardo seems unlikely so they might try Sargeant.

I think they will decide after Singapore; I think De Vries will be racing for at least one more race as sub.

[Petrus1983]

As a person I liked Latifi and thought he came across well - but I’m also glad that one of those coveted 20 F1 seats will now be with a more deserving driver.

[HustleRussell]

I thought the Verstappen Piquet baby story turned out to be a miscommunication?

[Muzzer79]

Petrus1983 said:

As a person I liked Latifi and thought he came across well - but I’m also glad that one of those coveted 20 F1 seats will now be with a more deserving driver.

+1.

For all his apparent lack of pace compared to Russell and Albon, he wasn't completely incompetent and seemed to have a good attitude.

It seems to me that as the value of teams has risen, the necessity for drivers bringing budget may be shifting away and teams can focus more on quality rather than funds.

I see this only as a positive.

[HTP99]

Gtom said:

Kelly managed to get a purple sector.

[vaud]

HustleRussell said:

I thought the Verstappen Piquet baby story turned out to be a miscommunication?

https://twitter.com/cytrusf1/status/15729846833773...

Looks like fake...

[Fundoreen]

Latifi out then . Like most of the grid he was unlikely to ever win an f1 race or get a podium finish so he is freed to taste some success in another racing series.
My opinion from ages ago was that red bull would be interested in da vries. If they get him no need for Alpine paying Gasly compo to red bull ,why would you?. Alpine could save a fortune by just employing Vreis themselves. Works car vs 2nd rated jr team after all.
Ricciardo could pop up in the williams to get a bit shown up by Albon I suppose. This but involving shumi jr,ric and the other ex drivers is anyones guess.
All these modestly competent teams are too weak to waste time running untried rookies . Why are they seen as some sort of f1 petri dish?
Its like saying they are st so it doesnt matter who drives. Cut it out F1 media people.

[Gad-Westy]

Fundoreen said:

Latifi out then . Like most of the grid he was unlikely to ever win an f1 race

11 out of the 20 already have won a race….

[KaraK]

Fundoreen said:

Latifi out then . Like most of the grid he was unlikely to ever win an f1 race or get a podium finish so he is freed to taste some success in another racing series.
My opinion from ages ago was that red bull would be interested in da vries. If they get him no need for Alpine paying Gasly compo to red bull ,why would you?. Alpine could save a fortune by just employing Vreis themselves. Works car vs 2nd rated jr team after all.
Ricciardo could pop up in the williams to get a bit shown up by Albon I suppose. This but involving shumi jr,ric and the other ex drivers is anyones guess.
All these modestly competent teams are too weak to waste time running untried rookies . Why are they seen as some sort of f1 petri dish?
Its like saying they are st so it doesnt matter who drives. Cut it out F1 media people.

The thing is though someone has to run "untried rookies" or there will never be any more F1 drivers. The likes of Max, Charles and Lewis aren't going to be knocking on Williams' door any time soon because they aren't in a position to give them a car capable of winning races and championships. So realistically their best chance to maximise driver talent is to offer a seat to some up-and-coming hotshot rookie. Sure for every George Russell there's going to be a Jolyon Palmer but them's the breaks.

This isn't the "F1 media people" doing this - just the natural pecking order of the sport at this point in time. If anything the only team completely immune to the pecking order in terms of what drivers they can realistically attract is Alpha Tauri, with the flipside being they have no say in who drives for them.

[Muzzer79]

Fundoreen said:

Latifi out then . Like most of the grid he was unlikely to ever win an f1 race or get a podium finish so he is freed to taste some success in another racing series.
My opinion from ages ago was that red bull would be interested in da vries. If they get him no need for Alpine paying Gasly compo to red bull ,why would you?. Alpine could save a fortune by just employing Vreis themselves. Works car vs 2nd rated jr team after all.
Ricciardo could pop up in the williams to get a bit shown up by Albon I suppose. This but involving shumi jr,ric and the other ex drivers is anyones guess.
All these modestly competent teams are too weak to waste time running untried rookies . Why are they seen as some sort of f1 petri dish?
Its like saying they are st so it doesnt matter who drives. Cut it out F1 media people.

You have a very, very strange viewpoint on this sport.

You say this.

Fundoreen said:

My opinion from ages ago was that red bull would be interested in da vries. If they get him no need for Alpine paying Gasly compo to red bull ,why would you?. Alpine could save a fortune by just employing Vreis themselves. Works car vs 2nd rated jr team after all.

Then you say this

Fundoreen said:

All these modestly competent teams are too weak to waste time running untried rookies . Why are they seen as some sort of f1 petri dish?
Its like saying they are st so it doesnt matter who drives. Cut it out F1 media people.

You realise that De Vries is (aside from one race in Monza) an "untried rookie"?

And if the "modestly competent" teams don't run rookies, how will rookies get into the sport?

You think that Red Bull or Ferrari should take drivers straight from F2 because they produce a good car?

[HustleRussell]

Gad-Westy said:

Fundoreen said:

Latifi out then . Like most of the grid he was unlikely to ever win an f1 race

11 out of the 20 already have won a race….

Probably a pretty unusual statistic in F1 really (more than half of current drivers being F1 race winners). Will be less than half again next year though with no Vettel and probably no Ricciardo.

[Muzzer79]

Gad-Westy said:

Fundoreen said:

Latifi out then . Like most of the grid he was unlikely to ever win an f1 race

11 out of the 20 already have won a race….

Indeed, let's look at our grid

Verstappen: Race winner
Perez: Race winner
LeClerc: Race winner
Sainz: Race winner
Hamilton: Race winner
Russell: Surely a soon-to-be race winner
Alonso: Race winner
Ocon: Race winner
Norris: Surely a soon-to-be race winner
Ricciardo: Race winner
Gasly: Race winner
Tsunoda: Not a race winner
Vettel: Race winner
Stroll: Not a race winner
Bottas: Race winner
Zhou: Not a race winner
Albon: Not a race winner
Latifi: Not a race winner
Magnussen: Not a race winner
Schumacher: Not a race winner

So, basically, 65% of the drivers have won a race or will surely do so soon.

[Gad-Westy]

HustleRussell said:

Gad-Westy said:

Fundoreen said:

Latifi out then . Like most of the grid he was unlikely to ever win an f1 race

11 out of the 20 already have won a race….

Probably a pretty unusual statistic in F1 really (more than half of current drivers being F1 race winners). Will be less than half again next year though with no Vettel and probably no Ricciardo.

Maybe GR might bag a win before the end of the season. Less hopeful for Lando but it'll happen eventually.

[thegreenhell]

HustleRussell said:

Gad-Westy said:

Fundoreen said:

Latifi out then . Like most of the grid he was unlikely to ever win an f1 race

11 out of the 20 already have won a race….

Probably a pretty unusual statistic in F1 really (more than half of current drivers being F1 race winners). Will be less than half again next year though with no Vettel and probably no Ricciardo.

Over the entire history of the World Championship, approximately 1 in 7 of all drivers who have started a race have won a race. Having more than half of a single grid being race winners may or may not be an anomaly, but you have to factor in that drivers who are proven winners tend to have much longer careers than average so there will be more of them around at any given time, while many others will come and go more quickly in the meantime without troubling the scorers.

[Sandpit Steve]

Muzzer79 said:

Petrus1983 said:

As a person I liked Latifi and thought he came across well - but I’m also glad that one of those coveted 20 F1 seats will now be with a more deserving driver.

+1.

For all his apparent lack of pace compared to Russell and Albon, he wasn't completely incompetent and seemed to have a good attitude.

It seems to me that as the value of teams has risen, the necessity for drivers bringing budget may be shifting away and teams can focus more on quality rather than funds.

I see this only as a positive.

Indeed. Nicholas is a nice guy, but not quick enough and prone to over-extending himself.

Thankfully, F1 is continuing the slow move away from a money-based sport to a merit-based sport, as far as driver selection at the lower end of the grid is concerned.

There’s an excess of talent around at the moment, won’t be too difficult for Williams to find someone to fill the seat. The guy who did just that 10 days ago, should be high on the list.