2014/15 Silly Season

[mikeerfol]

Has Bernie been hacking his account?

I assume we know that that's an official account and not someone pretending to be Adam Parr?

They mentioned it at Sky as well so I guess it's official.

[iotar__]

https://twitter.com/adam_s_parr/status/ ... 1158125568

Interesting to say the least.

...and customer teams and kit cars in 2016, that's why Haas delayed. They can stick their three cars joke teams as far as I'm concerned. They have trouble providing any competitiveness and opportunities for two drivers, nevermind three. Private sandbox of RB, Ferrari, Merc etc. part owning and part running it. "Lunatics running an asylum" only in their favour with "mastermind" (buy for nothing with bribes and personal connections, move to Middle-East, sell = profit) Ecclestone.

I hope they researched market thoroughly and won't be surprised, again, with dropping audience figures of DTM-F1. The only way to influence it is to completely ignore this garbage. Speaking of which, do you know where where your 5 euros for basic free service but "on MY iphone galaxy 5000" went? Straight towards "buy your way out of jail" card =D>.

[efuloni]

I guess everyone knows, but Bottas and Massa are officially confirmed as Williams first drivers for 2015. I thought there was a chance of Bottas in McLaren next year. Well, maybe in 2016.

[Waywardism]

Has Bernie been hacking his account?

I assume we know that that's an official account and not someone pretending to be Adam Parr?

They mentioned it at Sky as well so I guess it's official.

If it was happening in 2015 I'm sure at least one of the teams would've signed a 3rd driver by now. It doesn't seem credible that they'd decide on such a huge change so late into the previous season. It also means 3 teams would disappear next year. Caterham, Marrussia, Toro Rosso, Sauber, Lotus, Force India would be the contenders, can anyone honestly see 3 of those teams disappearing?

[WaikeCU]

Has Bernie been hacking his account?

I assume we know that that's an official account and not someone pretending to be Adam Parr?

They mentioned it at Sky as well so I guess it's official.

If it was happening in 2015 I'm sure at least one of the teams would've signed a 3rd driver by now. It doesn't seem credible that they'd decide on such a huge change so late into the previous season. It also means 3 teams would disappear next year. Caterham, Marrussia, Toro Rosso, Sauber, Lotus, Force India would be the contenders, can anyone honestly see 3 of those teams disappearing?

Toro Rosso has...

[Manoah2u]

https://twitter.com/adam_s_parr/status/ ... 1158125568 Interesting to say the least.

let's say this isn't bullocks and is genuine intel.....
how on earth are they gonna solve the points a team can gain if there is no 'balance'?

If Toro rosso and Force India run 3 cars per team and Sauber with 2 cars per team,
then it's an unfair possiblity for both toro rosso and force india to be able to get points?

Or imagine Ferrari runs 3 cars and Mercedes 2. Mercedes wins all races, and Ferrari still wins
the constructor championship because of having a extra car to score points every single race.

how on earth is this gonna be possible to actually be 'implemented'?

IMHO, 3 cars per team is completely rediculous and insane and completely un-f1.
However, if it is unavoidable that it is going to happen anyway, then shouldn't it be all or nothing? thus,
it's EVERY team runs 3 cars and not just some do, some don't?
And how is budget cutting gonna be taken seriously when you are gonna add a 3rd car which will cost a couple
of millions extra (dozens)?

[ScottB]

Presumably the third car would be 'non constructors championship' or something, unless every team had a third car.

Perhaps if you had the third cars and they had to have drivers with less than 2 years experience? Stops say Mercedes lining up with Hamilton, Rosberg and Alonso for example.

Three car teams for me though, just seems unlikely. For a start, wouldn't every pit lane in the calendar have to rework things since they are clearly designed for 2 car teams? I'd rather some of the other top teams ran a junior squad than have three car teams, or just redistribute income, particularly away from CVC towards the teams.

Even the bottom place team in the EPL will get something insane like £65million in TV money this season, how many F1 teams get anything like that out of the sport? Too much of the money is going to people who aren't competing.

[alexx_88]

Having more top drivers with the same machinery can only mean good things in terms of improving popularity among casual fans. It would also make judging drivers' ability a bit easier since there will be two guys to compare against, rather than just one.

[WaikeCU]

Would be nice if the rules say that the third car can only be driven by a rookie.

[iotar__]

Having more top drivers with the same machinery can only mean good things in terms of improving popularity among casual fans. It would also make judging drivers' ability a bit easier since there will be two guys to compare against, rather than just one.

No. Top drivers as Kovalainen at McLaren, Barrichello and Irvine at Ferrari (if you don't like him you might add Massa 2010-2013) etc.? This is against reality when they barely provide equal opportunities and treatment for two drivers nevermind three. It's going to be some stooge, teenager from drivers program, favourite of team boss, veteran, local driver, marketable huge under-performer (naming no names), anyone who pays.

In the era of expensive and difficult to handle and fix engines they're adding the third car? Who can afford three instead of two? Engine manufacturers focused on one team are barely tolerating their paying customer cars, if you add the third one at Sauber Ferrari engine people might not even know it exists . Now imagine two failures in FP3 and teams choosing which one to fix. Add strategy (three drivers racing each other in a perfect world), pitstops, limited testing time, three x driving preferences and set ups, three pit crews, three strategies/REs during the race.

Imagine third driver mixing it up at Merc this season, let's say someone who can beat randomly Rosb/Ham, either he disappears or is used by the others. Do you think he's getting equal opportunities as the other two? Now imagine someone from the competition offering him a contract (it's the third car so who cares)? Do you think Merhi/Ericsson/Lotterer or Koba/Frijns will get third seat at Sauber? Forget Sauber - most importantly only "some teams" will line up three cars.

[Racer X]

If all teams line up with 3 cars... its 33cars keeping in mind the additional teams Forza Rossa and HAAS F1 the Grid would be busy the logistics and garage sizes.. not all teams could afford it not to mention lack of fairness for teams with only 2 cars...

[Gaz.]

Would be nice if the rules say that the third car can only be driven by a rookie.

Then what happens the following year if that driver isn't illegible for the 3rd car and the two other cars have contracted drivers? They can't go back to GP2 so that would be their single seater career effectively over unless they went to Indycars.

[WaikeCU]

Would be nice if the rules say that the third car can only be driven by a rookie.

Then what happens the following year if that driver isn't illegible for the 3rd car and the two other cars have contracted drivers? They can't go back to GP2 so that would be their single seater career effectively over unless they went to Indycars.

Either one or two of the main drivers will leave, so that the rookie driver can be promoted to main driver or he has proven himself to other teams that (s)he's good enough for a main seat at their teams.

What would be interesting to see is that the business model of F1 should be revised. The revenue of F1 should be shared between the teams evenly each season. Rookies driving the 3rd car, should be picked with a drafting system. Draft ranking is in ascending order. Worst team gets to choose first and the Constructors Champions will pick last. With this system, F1 will remain competitive and guarantee financially healthy! Bernie wouldn't have to go to Azerbijan for a GP and leave classics like Monza for example off the calendar.

[ScottB]

Sky Italia reporting an Alonso / Vettel seat swap is in the offing.

Seems... Unlikely to me. Vettel to Ferrari, Alonso to Mclaren and an RBR driver to Red Bull would seem a little more likely, but even then.

[f1universe]

Sky Italia reporting an Alonso / Vettel seat swap is in the offing.

Seems... Unlikely to me. Vettel to Ferrari, Alonso to Mclaren and an RBR driver to Red Bull would seem a little more likely, but even then.

I looks like a bad deal for Alonso, he can't be that stupid, but he jumped to mclaren-renault-ferrari, so probably that is his thing, endless pain