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Sakae

Silly Season

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Sakae: I still remember all those "definite" stories about Bottas goes to Ferrari.

Actually, I think it was close to a done deal, but Williams held out for a big fee to release Bottas (my memory says $14 million). Needless to say Bottas was not worth another $14 million, so Kimi got to keep his job for another year. There are also lots of interesting options for Ferrari for 2017.

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Greatest public secret is probably for how long Rosberg will pretend that he is negotiating, before resigning for Mercedes as silently accepted No. 2 by decision of management. The guy has nowhere to go and pick a car which would be even close to what he has now. They hold upper hand. Reminds me of a guy who felt off the cliff-edge, and during downfall saying, it's OK for now. He has however one solution to his predicament, namely, beat assertively daylight out of Hamilton race by race, and if ordered to yield, let media and fans know that; again, and again, and again...

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I still can't grasp this yet because if kimi is being replaced then he must be retiring because Ferrari would've been vocal by now if kimi wasn't doing his job. I can't see where this story is coming from, merc will keep Rosberg as he has no where to go same as Ricciardo. I just wonder if Perez is the altermative Ian not saying this is the true, this is more for sakae but let's say Vettel wasn't to keen on dan joining Ferrari, is Perez the altermatum? Or is Perez there to fill in the gap until someone like Ricciardo is available? I find it all to hard to believe ATM as the seat available still looks pretty taken to me.

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It is not secret that F1 media are immensely creative with headlines they print between races, facts on the ground notwithstanding. I am also suspicious of "sources on the inside". We are still waiting for word from BE on the matter. BTW, where is that guy? He used to be in the news several times a day, yet recently the scene seems almost empty without him saying something which would make even Villeneuve look amateurish.

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Yeah he has been suspiciously ducking headlines now you mention it hey?

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Hamilton has a multi-year contract (as does Vettel). Furthermore, Hamilton has been outqualifying Rosberg whenever he has a working car. Rosberg has to either re-up with Mercedes or move on. Not sure what will happen, as there are only three places to move to for him (Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull). I think this is Kimi's last year in F1. They are not complaining about his performances anymore (which remain weaker than Vettels) because they know they are replacing him. With whom is the question.

Last year, almost no one moved. This year, we could see a lot of movement.

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I think that in reality there are more question-marks than depicted in the picture above.

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It looks like Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso all remain to anchor their respective teams. They are the three best drivers in F1 (still), have multi-year contracts, and don't have a better place available to move to. Obviously Verstappen has been secured at Red Bull. This leaves on the market Rosberg (betting he will stay), DR (betting he will stay), Kimi (pretty sure he is going) and Button (he is probably going). The rest of the seats are probably up in the air until the four big teams have settled.

The interesting option is the Renault team, which is not showing much now, but as the engine improve could come back to being a race winner. Can they draw a big name driver to them?

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I think Renault might migrate from no-name drivers to couple of hopeful (mid-to potentially high) drivers, thus both their current drivers are probably for sale. Interested could be: Nasr, both current TR drivers, Hulk, and could be more names in the hat.

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Hamilton has a multi-year contract (as does Vettel). Furthermore, Hamilton has been outqualifying Rosberg whenever he has a working car. Rosberg has to either re-up with Mercedes or move on. Not sure what will happen, as there are only three places to move to for him (Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull). I think this is Kimi's last year in F1. They are not complaining about his performances anymore (which remain weaker than Vettels) because they know they are replacing him. With whom is the question.

Last year, almost no one moved. This year, we could see a lot of movement.

I don't think we will se hardly any change tbh, Ferrari have already mentioned they were in talks with kimi for 2017 and I feel there's no need to replace him so if that's anything to go of Ferrari will remain the same as will merc and redbull. The only big moves I can see is button to Williams to replace a retiring Massa and vandoorne alongside alonso.

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Emmcee: Well, maybe my bias is showing through here in that I would replace Kimi. I think most teams a looking for a young charger who can give the team a long-term push. Stay with safe but slightly underperforming Kimi....or put in a younger hungrier driver to help push the team forward? Are drivers like Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel better when they are pushed by their teammate....or better when their teammate is a safe #2?

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I think that focus on your teammate is a flawed concept which perhaps might distract you from a big price. Looking over your shoulder slows you down. Points are set up that way. "Beating" your teammate will yield absolutely nothing useful. Your mark needs to be a guy in P1, and once you overcome him, than you pick a legend, and try to better him. That would be my approach.

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Emmcee: Well, maybe my bias is showing through here in that I would replace Kimi. I think most teams a looking for a young charger who can give the team a long-term push. Stay with safe but slightly underperforming Kimi....or put in a younger hungrier driver to help push the team forward? Are drivers like Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel better when they are pushed by their teammate....or better when their teammate is a safe #2?

That's a tough one mate, you made some real good points there, but Ferrari haven't been the team to hire younger drivers, I was very critical of kimi and his performances in 2014/15 but he has improved immensely and if he wants to stay, why not keep the ball rolling instead of having to cater for someone else who you have no idea works or fits in the team, catch 22 really. Ferrari will never have a shortage of drivers so sticking with kimi for another season might not be such a bad idea as there won't be to many moving next season I feel.

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Sakae: I think that focus on your teammate is a flawed concept which perhaps might distract you from a big price. Looking over your shoulder slows you down. Points are set up that way. "Beating" your teammate will yield absolutely nothing useful. Your mark needs to be a guy in P1, and once you overcome him, than you pick a legend, and try to better him. That would be my approach.

Not so sure about that. Competition inside the team may make both drivers faster.

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Emmcee: That's a tough one mate, you made some real good points there, but Ferrari haven't been the team to hire younger drivers, I was very critical of kimi and his performances in 2014/15 but he has improved immensely and if he wants to stay, why not keep the ball rolling instead of having to cater for someone else who you have no idea works or fits in the team, catch 22 really. Ferrari will never have a shortage of drivers so sticking with kimi for another season might not be such a bad idea as there won't be to many moving next season I feel.

Kimi has always had motivation issues. Even the year he won the world championship people were commenting about a number of lackluster performances. Not sure which Kimi you will get from race to race. Also.....does Vettel need a little pressure? Is he prone to taking it easy if he does not have a winning car? Perez to me sounds like the perfect fit.

I guess someone at Ferrari needs to look at the long term. Not sure how long Arrivabene will last, as it appears he fired everyone who was improving the car. They have been surpassed by the Renault-powered Red Bulls.

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Massa to FE ? possible

Button to Williams ? possible but I don't see the point

Perez to Ferrari ? LOL Now that's a real joke ! dam.gif

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Emmcee: That's a tough one mate, you made some real good points there, but Ferrari haven't been the team to hire younger drivers, I was very critical of kimi and his performances in 2014/15 but he has improved immensely and if he wants to stay, why not keep the ball rolling instead of having to cater for someone else who you have no idea works or fits in the team, catch 22 really. Ferrari will never have a shortage of drivers so sticking with kimi for another season might not be such a bad idea as there won't be to many moving next season I feel.

Kimi has always had motivation issues. Even the year he won the world championship people were commenting about a number of lackluster performances. Not sure which Kimi you will get from race to race. Also.....does Vettel need a little pressure? Is he prone to taking it easy if he does not have a winning car? Perez to me sounds like the perfect fit.

I guess someone at Ferrari needs to look at the long term. Not sure how long Arrivabene will last, as it appears he fired everyone who was improving the car. They have been surpassed by the Renault-powered Red Bulls.

I don't think kimi has motivation issues otherwise why put yourself out with all the travel and media crap, he already has enough money so I think he still enjoys it. Kimi just wants to race and not have to do the other side stuff with it, that's where that demotivational look comes from I think.

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Massa to FE ? possible

Button to Williams ? possible but I don't see the point

Perez to Ferrari ? LOL Now that's a real joke ! dam.gif

Perez to Ferrari isn't as much of a joke as you may think, he is a Ferrari academy driver, at this stage of his career he has achieved more than Massa did when Ferrari signed him as he was a Ferrari academy driver as well. We know Ferrari won't hire "young guns" drivers with little experience or for that matter a rookie, you need experience to drive for Ferrari and Perez has that now, I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see him in red next season, Ferrari seem to have a soft spot for very short South Americans.

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Sakae: I think that focus on your teammate is a flawed concept which perhaps might distract you from a big price. Looking over your shoulder slows you down. Points are set up that way. "Beating" your teammate will yield absolutely nothing useful. Your mark needs to be a guy in P1, and once you overcome him, than you pick a legend, and try to better him. That would be my approach.

Not so sure about that. Competition inside the team may make both drivers faster.

Question whether team-mates internal competition makes them slower or faster is an interesting one, but having made no studies about this subject, I am rather doubtful about the excessive obsession with team-mate competition.

1. Electing P1 as main competitor and a benchmark drives you forward with incentives to do better.

2. Being ahead of your team-mate might involve often defense of your position, which definitely slows you down.

3. Being ahead of your team-mate could put you into false sense of security, laziness and self-satisfaction from misguided accomplishment, because target that actually makes difference on a score board is elsewhere.

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Course drivers want to fight for priority because there will be times new parts will be developed and they won't have the time or resources to make multiple items so it would go to the driver with priority over the other. I struggle to comprehend how some people think every team treats there drivers the same, fact is they don't. Monaco was a classic example with renaults new engine, not all Renault powered drivers got it.

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Intent of balanced approach to treatment of drivers might be more than just a myth. Problem is with implementation of that intent. As it was said so many times in the past, each person is different, his physical and mental state are different, equipment setup and drivers comfort with it varies, race conditions induce additional variables and randomness, which for an observer creates false impression of unfairness and preferential treatment. On that note I like Kimi, who takes his downtime in strides and without unnecessary comments; it is what it is, and that's it. Having said that, fact also si, that people do tend to lean towards success, and if a driver is more successful than his team-mate, he might receive more from others. That's in human nature, and nothing much wrong with it. Equipment within one team is similar as it can be, but due to known sources of variables, it is for all practical purposes a different car. It is false to say, that team-mates drive the same car; it is never is the same. (Case of Alonso v. Raikonnen at Ferrari).

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Well, Arrivabene is hinting that Kimi is staying, but this early in the season, he kind of needs to say that.

To quote from a website with a defunct forum:

When asked to name the ideal teammate for German Vettel in 2017, boss Arrivabene answered: "I'll tell you next year. "We have the ideal pairing, with both of them pushing forward. What more do we want?" he told the Swiss newspaper Blick.

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Räikkönen staying is the only thing that makes any sense. The driver lineup is not the problem at Ferrari. If Räikkönen wants to be there (and I think he does), he ought to be.

On Pérez to Ferrari, beyond the fact it was a crappy Internet blog "here's a provocative headline, followed by some speculation, and burying for last what the comments actually meant" post, the thing to remember with him is that he's not really well-regarded in the paddock. His maturity and attitude have always been questioned. At McLaren, Jo Ramírez was very critical of Pérez. During his first year at Force India, Adrián Fernández split with Pérez as his manager and he, too, tore Pérez apart in the media over his attitude. Then, there were the comments about Susie Wolff that were just in terrible taste.

Things like that catch up to you, especially when trying to move into Ferrari. Ferrari is the highest pressure team in all of motor racing (Toro Rosso is second, with their up-or-out policy, and that out is a big out, because I think the only driver STR fired who ever raced in F1 again was Liuzzi...Speed, Bourdais, Buemi, Alguersuari, and Vergne never returned. I could write for days on why that is, but the main thing is that those who come up in the Red Bull Junior Program, which is admittedly not Bourdais but all the others, have zero marketing skills and no network. Their entire careers are funded by Red Bull, so they never have to hustle to attract investors and partners. And their entire careers are contained within Red Bull, so they have few connections elsewhere. And because Red Bull tends to like to market an edgier, brasher image, you can actually get media and sponsor training from Red Bull that alienates all other sponsors. Plus, Red Bull mandates you keep Red Bull on your helmet for $0.00 for THREE YEARS after you are dropped from the program, so you can't sell any helmet sponsorship to anyone else, which really hurts your ability to raise money through personal sponsorship. It's a high-risk program to be part of. If you fail, you'll never race in F1). The higher the pressure, the more your maturity, attitude, and poise in the media matter. And when people like Ramírez and Fernández, who both know Pérez very well and are greatly respected, have nothing nice to say at all about the guy, that's just not someone I see succeeding in a high-pressure environment like Ferrari.

Which is all a big shame, I have to say. I really like Checo's family (they were part of our broadcast team here in the United States on Univision Deportes), and I loved his aggressive driving against Button at McLaren. But it's hard to support him.

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