Next season

[radical-one 0]

19 hours ago, Sakae said:

I recall quite a few races in Japan under blue skies, back in 90ties.

Yeah I recall come good races back then as well but I guess it applies globally specially these days. For ex; there's still heavy typhoon in the Philippines in December, strange weather. Perhaps the F1 calendar needs reviewing soon to have better weather conditions. It goes with the spectators who attends the races as well.

 

[Sakae 0]

46 minutes ago, radical-one said:

Yeah I recall come good races back then as well but I guess it applies globally specially these days. For ex; there's still heavy typhoon in the Philippines in December, strange weather. Perhaps the F1 calendar needs reviewing soon to have better weather conditions. It goes with the spectators who attends the races as well.

May I ask whether there are any discussion with promoters in the background along the lines you have raised? The only rumor I've heard was, that Suzuka circuit wasn't keen to review contract with FOM, but then other headlines overpowered that one, thus I am not sure what is the deal today regarding this subject. (Is Honda still the owner of the track?)

[Emmcee 0]

Schumachers drives there in the late 90s/00s were epic as well as mika hakkinens. Back then it was a circuit were you had to be a fast driver to be quick there, today, not so much unfortunately as the only pit strategy available is tyre changes. Suzuka was a circuit that massively benifited from fuel strategies as you could be mega quick there on a light fuel load but really slow with a heavy load, more so than any other circuit.

[maure 1]

Yep. It's another of F1 messes.

[radical-one 0]

18 hours ago, Sakae said:

May I ask whether there are any discussion with promoters in the background along the lines you have raised? The only rumor I've heard was, that Suzuka circuit wasn't keen to review contract with FOM, but then other headlines overpowered that one, thus I am not sure what is the deal today regarding this subject. (Is Honda still the owner of the track?)

Rumors has been around for several years. Attendance has lessen and all. the reason being crappy weather during race weekend, no Japanese driver to watch and the poor performance of Honda. But yes Honda still owns Suzuka. 

[Sakae 0]

2 hours ago, radical-one said:

Rumors has been around for several years. Attendance has lessen and all. the reason being crappy weather during race weekend, no Japanese driver to watch and the poor performance of Honda. But yes Honda still owns Suzuka. 

Thanks for clarifying it.

Not much of anything worth discussing is going on as 2016 is winding down.  Perhaps bow of Rosberg is interesting, as he purportedly gave up min. 50 MM EUR. (6000 MM JPY) of direct payments for 2017/18 from Mercedes. Other income was not included. Impressive and mind boggling decision by him.

[Emmcee 0]

Obviously he has his head and heart in the right place, money means crap, you can't take it with you. Enjoyment of life far outweighs any money or material items. Iam very proud that there is such on honest person like that in f1, someone who is honest to himself and not tries to brainwash himself with things he doesn't need, good on him I say. Lewis can learn a lot from him that he doesn't realise.

[Unknown? 0]

I still can't help there's more to it than Nico's honesty and wanting to spend time with his family. Something happened at Mercedes this season, especially after Spain, and there's more going on behind the scenes we don't know about. Who walks away from F1 at 31 years old having just won his first title other than a man who was gifted it in the first place? Maybe he was told he'd win the title and then he'd have to walk, or maybe he decided to walk anyway having received the title and he knows in his heart he doesn't deserve it. That's not even touching on the 50+ mil he's walked away from. Not that he needs the money anyway. 

 

Or maybe he beat Hamilton fair and square and he genuinely wants to spend time with his family and he's achieved what he set out to achieve. Who really knows at this stage.

[Sakae 0]

Ever since he got to partner Hamilton, quite a few well adjusted people were under impression, that he was probably feeling wronged by Mercedes treatment after fact on numerous occasions. It started with Ross Brawn ordering him to hold position, and not attack Hamilton. It went basically downhill ever since. Deserved or not, British media got involved putting under pressure Wolff to understand mind of a racer and excuse Hamilton. Some of us do think that Nico got consequently thick side of the stick behind closed door in politically charged atmosphere and in totality more, than he could bear. 

His own family obviously plays a role in this decision, maybe his interest in racing faded, but I would not be surprised to learn that he had enough of Hamilton, antagonistic media, and Merc's management alike. AD incident probably was the last straw, because his announcement came about just in that time when Wolff began to excuse Hamilton yet once again. Maybe it was coincidence, maybe it was the tipping point.

Mercedes was under pressure to let one guy go, or force him to play second fiddle, but equal partnership in that garage seems to crumble, if unattended.  

[Unknown? 0]

What about German media? National media is usually slanted in favour of the national interests so of course generally LH gets the favour from Fleet Street & NR got the stick.

I think Rosberg has retired because this season is the best he can do. He won the world title. He beat his lifelong rival LH. I think he knows barring reliability issues Hamilton would have cruised to the title and it's this fact, that even though he won the title, NR's talent simply isn't the same as some of the others on the grid and he knows in a toe-to-toe season with equal reliability issues he will nine times out of ten come off second best.

 

I've heard people say Hamilton will be upset not to hav e a crack at Rosberg next year but I honestly think Rosberg will end up feeling the more pain out of the two men. Hamilton knows he has the beating of Rosberg. Rosberg can never turn around and say: listen, I nailed you fair and square. No reliability talk. No team conspiracies. He walked away from his chance to defend his crown and for me, this is why he'll feel a bitterness when the champagne dries up.

[Emmcee 0]

Another way to look at it is that these two have been rivals for a heck of a long time. As kids they were probably good mates but when it came to the top level, truth is the probably hate each other. Nico achieved something some people spend there whole lives trying to find and that's that ever elusive victory within. Lewis will never find that as he is never satisfied with anything. He can walk away now knowing he beat Lewis and nothing can be done about it, Lewis can't take it back, nico is on top and that would be distroying Lewis inside, you can see it and the comments he said like "it's the first time he beat me in 18 years" proves just that, he's dirty nico took it and ran so to speak. Good on him I say, he's doing what he wants to do now and gave Lewis a swift kick up the balls on the way out. How sweet that would be for him. Nico is so humble that he can admit Lewis is the benchmark ATM and yet Lewis can't even genuinely admit he got beaten fair and square, there's always an excuse or some coy remark after something positive he has said about nico.

[Unknown? 0]

Yea that's a fair point.. maybe he has just reached his goal and is genuinely ready to call it a day. Hamilton won't be happy and I agree he needs to chill out and mature - quickly. 

I do think Rosberg will always have a dark cloud inside though, one that can only be dissipated by proving beyond reasonable doubt that he's more than match enough for Hamilton. 

[Emmcee 0]

It will be quite interesting to see how Lewis will cope with out nico tbh as these two needed each other to bring the best out of each other. As far as these two are concerned, there was only ever one rival they so badly wanted to beat and that was each other. Nico is more satisfied beating Lewis than when he beat Michael and Michael is leagues above Lewis on every aspect IMO.

[Unknown? 0]

Mmm I dunno, Nico has only featured in Hamilton's F1 world since 2013. Prior to that they were on opposite sides of the grid and Lewis didn't struggle for motivation against Alonso or Button etc. On Schumi.. He was never the same after his mini retirement. I think Nico must have known that too. He HAD to beat Michael for career survival. Imagine being owned by a 42 year old with three years on the sidelines? A Schumi at the peak of his powers is another story completely. He would have destroyed anybody. Anybody.

I mean if you make it onto a rap song (on the subject of rap) without anyway being affiliated with rappers, you know you're a top gun in your field..

'I'm poisoning my mind, trying to find relief, but I can't get no sleep, 'cause Schumacher's been chasing me!'

Scarface - Look Me In My Eyes

Of course, there could be additional Schumachers chasing Scarface but I like the Michael theory

[Emmcee 0]

Sounds like bottas is on his way to Mercedes as I've read a few stories now stating that Williams won't stand in Mercedes way if they want bottas. But the other rumour is that Williams are trying to convince massa to delay his retirement for one season and want him back for 2017. That alone to me says the bottas Mercedes deal is done, just need to pick a time to announce it. Gerhard Berger also believes Vettel is targeting 2018 merc seat to.

[radical-one 0]

On 12/15/2016 at 4:15 PM, Sakae said:

Thanks for clarifying it.

Not much of anything worth discussing is going on as 2016 is winding down.  Perhaps bow of Rosberg is interesting, as he purportedly gave up min. 50 MM EUR. (6000 MM JPY) of direct payments for 2017/18 from Mercedes. Other income was not included. Impressive and mind boggling decision by him.

Yes. 50MM is a whole lot of money Nico may miss it down the road. His accountant and or adviser wasn't all that good making him lose 50MM. 

If i were Nico, I would have drove a season more , enjoy yhe new 2017 car, even if I don't push but just earn a year's salary (more/plus) than a 50MM minus.

 

[radical-one 0]

6 hours ago, Emmcee said:

Sounds like bottas is on his way to Mercedes as I've read a few stories now stating that Williams won't stand in Mercedes way if they want bottas. But the other rumour is that Williams are trying to convince massa to delay his retirement for one season and want him back for 2017. That alone to me says the bottas Mercedes deal is done, just need to pick a time to announce it. Gerhard Berger also believes Vettel is targeting 2018 merc seat to.

True as I heard as well. I'm sure Massa would be delighted. 

Seems like we will have an even crazier winter test and 2017 championship -  Makes up for good excitement. 

[Unknown? 0]

That's if Massa will want to come out of retirement.. Maybe he will actually fancy the quiet life as he's no spring chicken. On the other hand though things look better for wiliams next year so maybe he can be tempted. 

I fear for Wehlein's career if Bottas goes to Mercedes. 

[Sakae 0]

Massa is on the record that he still wants to race next year. I am not sure if he mentioned where, or under what conditions. I think he is not a problem. Problem might be however unreasonable demands on the other side of the equation. Bottas became a piece of meat at a butcher's shop.

[Emmcee 0]

Yeah that's 100% true but like "unknown" said and like I've mentioned also before, werhlein's career is toast if bottas goes there. What I can't understand is why then did Mercedes step in the way of werhlein's contract talks with sauber then?

[radical-one 0]

Pascal to Sauber

Bottas to Merc

Massa back to Williams

The rest of the field scrambles in a musical chair....

[Unknown? 0]

He'd be better off staying at Manor instead of going to Sauber with a year old Ferrari engine. Career homicide by Mercedes if they turn him over. 

[Unknown? 0]

There's also nothing stopping Mercedes from dropping him if it doesn't work out, I.e. Kvyat at RB.. Give the kid a shot at least..

[Emmcee 0]

Yeah that's right, you would think with all the money Mercedes invested in him that they would want some return wouldn't you?

[radical-one 0]

Obviously Merc is feeling the pressure. They know the Gap was closer at the end of 2016 season and 2017 could be closer if not equal with the top teams. They need a constant points scorer and and experienced driver who can help them with the setup and development. I feel sorry for Pascal's chances....