Big Ron's drivers for 2006
Discussion
i was thinking about this and i have come up with the following scenarios:
now that Raikkers is going to be confirmed at ferrari, next year Ron is going to start the season with Fonzo and PDLR. with hamilton as third driver. then at about the mid point of the season, PDLR will step down and Hamilton will be promoted,Paffet will then be the third driver. However as a complete wild card what about Paffet going to ART for Gp2 action, or even champ cars?
i am thinking this way because of Kubica's performances with BMW and that big Ron will try and emulate it.
am i close to the mark ?
now that Raikkers is going to be confirmed at ferrari, next year Ron is going to start the season with Fonzo and PDLR. with hamilton as third driver. then at about the mid point of the season, PDLR will step down and Hamilton will be promoted,Paffet will then be the third driver. However as a complete wild card what about Paffet going to ART for Gp2 action, or even champ cars?
i am thinking this way because of Kubica's performances with BMW and that big Ron will try and emulate it.
am i close to the mark ?
I don't think de la Rosa will or should be given a race drive. He's given a few strong performances but I don't think he's good enough for a full time race drive. Saying that, I'd be happy for him to prove me wrong. I think Paffett should be given a chance, otherwise what is the point in giving him the test role? I'm not saying I think he'll be better than de la Rosa but it's worth finding out.
Any changes that might be made mid-season have got to be influenced by McL's standing in the Championships.
If they've got a decent shot at the Constructors', presumably they would lean towards whoever is likely to produce the most points in his own right.
If Alonso's in the running for the Drivers', they would be looking to whoever is likely to be the most effective in support.
If they're in similar mid-season '07 position to where they found themselves this year, they'd be more willing to give a race drive to Hamilton (and it's far from a foregone conclusion that Paffett wouldn't get some races before Hamilton does).
Also, if Prodrive end up being the McL "B" squad, we could see either LH or GP spend a year with them in '08.
Finally, as I've said before, sad though it will be to see Raikkonen leave (and especially sad to see him go to the cheating whingers at FIA, er, I mean Ferrari), McLaren's ability to put the $25-30 million that otherwise would be paid to Raik into additional development of the car may actually be more helpful to the team's results.
If they've got a decent shot at the Constructors', presumably they would lean towards whoever is likely to produce the most points in his own right.
If Alonso's in the running for the Drivers', they would be looking to whoever is likely to be the most effective in support.
If they're in similar mid-season '07 position to where they found themselves this year, they'd be more willing to give a race drive to Hamilton (and it's far from a foregone conclusion that Paffett wouldn't get some races before Hamilton does).
Also, if Prodrive end up being the McL "B" squad, we could see either LH or GP spend a year with them in '08.
Finally, as I've said before, sad though it will be to see Raikkonen leave (and especially sad to see him go to the cheating whingers at FIA, er, I mean Ferrari), McLaren's ability to put the $25-30 million that otherwise would be paid to Raik into additional development of the car may actually be more helpful to the team's results.
Edited by flemke on Saturday 9th September 21:08
Rn's under a bit of pressure. I'm convinced that in an ideal world he'd rather like to win the constructor's next year and the driver's too...having had several seasons with one superb driver and one who is inconsistent in the extreme, Ron sees that the best strategy to achieve his aims would be to pair his star with a reliable point scorer, but DC has long departed for Red Bull...
...but he has this absolute young star driver banging on his door for an F1 seat and the option on him has to be taken up. He has a solution - stick this youngster into GP2 - it'll take him a couple of years to win the title, just look at Piquet. That gives Ron time to sort his drivers out and prepare that yuongster for an F1 debut, ideally in a team that Jean Alesi and a rather attractive (female!) Japanese CEO are keen to set up using McLaren's Woking facility etc....
...then disaster....unsurprisingly DR gets the nod over Alesi and that youngster looks odds on to win GP2...so what does he do?...he doesn't really want to do a deal on just engines, he'd much rather offload Woking too - which rules out DR...
...but he has this absolute young star driver banging on his door for an F1 seat and the option on him has to be taken up. He has a solution - stick this youngster into GP2 - it'll take him a couple of years to win the title, just look at Piquet. That gives Ron time to sort his drivers out and prepare that yuongster for an F1 debut, ideally in a team that Jean Alesi and a rather attractive (female!) Japanese CEO are keen to set up using McLaren's Woking facility etc....
...then disaster....unsurprisingly DR gets the nod over Alesi and that youngster looks odds on to win GP2...so what does he do?...he doesn't really want to do a deal on just engines, he'd much rather offload Woking too - which rules out DR...
rubystone said:
Rn's under a bit of pressure. ..
I wouldn't say so, there have been lots of rumours of a Mercedes buy out for some time with Ron and Mansour Ojeh selling their remaining 60% for a big wedge. Win or not it won't change Mercedes's ambitions to own McLaren now those Bavarian upstarts have got their own team to play with.
It was a tongue-in-cheek posting, as I'm sure you guessed. To be honest, Mercedes are very "light touch" - they've never pushed for German sponsors nor German drivers, and clearly value what Ron Dennis has done. Norbert Haug could probably run the whole show but I am sure he realises that he couldn't do a better job than Ron. But Whitmarsh is clearly groomed to take over Ron's role and as such, I agree with you that DaimlerChrysler will buy out Ojjeh and Dennis in the not too distant future.
I really like the way that Mercedes approach their motorsport activities in general, although I have my suspicions about the DTM - favoured drivers and the like. Both BMW and Mercedes really seem to know how to generate that halo effect - the latter to my mind, don't really have true "sporting" cars in their range, but still seem to successfully connect their road and motorsport activited together.
I really like the way that Mercedes approach their motorsport activities in general, although I have my suspicions about the DTM - favoured drivers and the like. Both BMW and Mercedes really seem to know how to generate that halo effect - the latter to my mind, don't really have true "sporting" cars in their range, but still seem to successfully connect their road and motorsport activited together.
I don't know about you guys, but I was always a bit sceptical that a money manager (isn't that what Direxiv do?) had either the depth of resources or the mentality to pay for an F1 team for even one season, much less for the foreseeable future. Witness the alacrity with which Direxiv headed for the exits of GP2 once their F1 application was rejected.
Furthermore, in light of all the disagreements that he's had with the FIA, Ron cannot have believed that a McLaren-linked entry had a real chance of getting the twelfth spot.
Back when there was talk of open entries and more cars than qualifying spaces, it was plausible. Once the entrant field was cut to 24, it was all over.
As for D-C's light touch, let's just say that not too many years ago an independent DTM entrant whose Mercedes was developed to the point where it was on level pegging with the proper works machines got paid a visit by a factory technician one day. The technician plugged into the independent's ecu's and tinkered a bit to make it impossible for the works cars ever to be upstaged by the independent again.
It's my sense that D-C's light touch extends only to the current McLaren-Mercedes confirmation with Ron at the top. What sane person would overrule him - even if that were possible?
Look, however, at the craziness that went on with Ilmor after Paul Morgan was killed. Not the lightest of touches.
Furthermore, in light of all the disagreements that he's had with the FIA, Ron cannot have believed that a McLaren-linked entry had a real chance of getting the twelfth spot.
Back when there was talk of open entries and more cars than qualifying spaces, it was plausible. Once the entrant field was cut to 24, it was all over.
As for D-C's light touch, let's just say that not too many years ago an independent DTM entrant whose Mercedes was developed to the point where it was on level pegging with the proper works machines got paid a visit by a factory technician one day. The technician plugged into the independent's ecu's and tinkered a bit to make it impossible for the works cars ever to be upstaged by the independent again.
It's my sense that D-C's light touch extends only to the current McLaren-Mercedes confirmation with Ron at the top. What sane person would overrule him - even if that were possible?
Look, however, at the craziness that went on with Ilmor after Paul Morgan was killed. Not the lightest of touches.
flemke said:
As for D-C's light touch, let's just say that not too many years ago an independent DTM entrant whose Mercedes was developed to the point where it was on level pegging with the proper works machines got paid a visit by a factory technician one day. The technician plugged into the independent's ecu's and tinkered a bit to make it impossible for the works cars ever to be upstaged by the independent again.
Yes, as I said, their DTM attitude is somewhat suspect and has always been. But in Ilmor's case, anyone can see that without Paul, Mario went to pieces - Paul managed the business, Mario did it, as it were...
To back up my (and your) DTM point, didn't Mercedes get accused of using another driver to baulk Kristensen's quali lap at a recent DTM round?
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