Silly season 2016

[basti313]

Considering Maldonado's money though if either contracted driver gets the boot it's likely to be Palmer.

I think we can forget Maldonado's money. Several people already calculated, that Maldo's crashes and thrown away possibilities to score cost way more money, than he brings in a competitive car.
Lotus needed the money to have cash to pay the bills to be able to start. Renault does not need this money. I see no reason for Maldo in the Renault when his contract ends.
The next year he will be in the car as the Renault will not be competitive and Renault will just take the 50mil. They need to catch up the missed development by Lotus due to the lack of money, a different driver will not make a big difference.

[turbof1]

This might actually be very relevant:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122156

If Infiniti takes its 70m to Renault, the team will have a big boost in money and possibly it is enough to make them consider to ditch Maldonado.

[ME4ME]

They paid (rumored) $70 million to be the title sponsor of what was the #1 team over several years, a team which dominated in 2011 when Infiniti entered, and won all races in the second half of 2013. That does not automatically mean they are willing to pay Renault 70 million. Renault is nowhere near the as competitive (=TV time) as Red Bull was.

I do agree with the point you are making though. Let's hope for some money going Renaults way to make Maldonado go away

[ScottB]

This might actually be very relevant:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122156

If Infiniti takes its 70m to Renault, the team will have a big boost in money and possibly it is enough to make them consider to ditch Maldonado.

I know they are more an alliance than the same company, but would that count as money they didn't already have?

Also, wouldn't the concern they had previously, that Infiniti got more attention than Renault, apply equally if it was a Renault car with Infiniti plastered all over it as it was when it was on a Red Bull?


I still have a suspicion that if there is a non Renault car company brand involved from the 'alliance' then it could well be Alpine...

[turbof1]

This might actually be very relevant:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122156

If Infiniti takes its 70m to Renault, the team will have a big boost in money and possibly it is enough to make them consider to ditch Maldonado.

I know they are more an alliance than the same company, but would that count as money they didn't already have?

Also, wouldn't the concern they had previously, that Infiniti got more attention than Renault, apply equally if it was a Renault car with Infiniti plastered all over it as it was when it was on a Red Bull?


I still have a suspicion that if there is a non Renault car company brand involved from the 'alliance' then it could well be Alpine...

If it was their own money they were investing, then it is still 70m net gain. In that case they simply saved up 70m on sponsoring.

[aral]

I still have a suspicion that if there is a non Renault car company brand involved from the 'alliance' then it could well be Alpine...

I trust that you are aware that Alpine is owned by Renault, so it is their brand.

[xDama]

Maldo tries too hard and makes mistakes, if he calmed down he might be a decent driver, he has the speed. I doubt he ever will calm down tho.

It's quite often I see people claiming that Maldo has 'the speed', but I really can't understand why people think so. Grosjean has litteraly destroyed MAL in qualy, not to mention the races. If there's one guy in the field who deserves the boot, it's MAL.

Qualy head2head

GRO VS MAL - 15
17 - 2

GRO VS MAL - 14
14 - 5

[Cold Fussion]

Maldonado had one good race 4 years, while the rest of the time he's been in F1 he's being doing an Uji Ide impersonation. There's no evidence to suggest that this guy is capable of achieving anything in F1.

[ScottB]

I still have a suspicion that if there is a non Renault car company brand involved from the 'alliance' then it could well be Alpine...

I trust that you are aware that Alpine is owned by Renault, so it is their brand.

I meant in terms of brand names, if there's going to be a brand name from the alliance / group on the car other than Renault itself, I'd think Alpine would be more likely than Infiniti, but then again, if it was feeling like they lost exposure with Infiniti being plastered all over the Red Bull, maybe they will go with just Renault.

[djos]

Maldo tries too hard and makes mistakes, if he calmed down he might be a decent driver, he has the speed. I doubt he ever will calm down tho.

It's quite often I see people claiming that Maldo has 'the speed', but I really can't understand why people think so. Grosjean has litteraly destroyed MAL in qualy, not to mention the races. If there's one guy in the field who deserves the boot, it's MAL.

Qualy head2head

GRO VS MAL - 15
17 - 2

GRO VS MAL - 14
14 - 5

For sure, the thing is Grosjean had calmed down and isn't over driving the car anymore and that's why he crushed maldo. maldo is just making too many mistakes.

I'm not saying he's faster than Grosjean cause we don't know for sure but we do know maldo is capable of driving exceptionally well when he's not trying too hard, see his win in Brazil.

Btw, I'm not a maldo fan and I do think he's a bit of a menace to say they least, however I do wonder how he'd go in a quality car.

[PlatinumZealot]

Maldonado showed well against Rookie Bottas.

[Manoah2u]

against bottas, he should have pulvarised him.

former gp-winner, more experience within F1, years of GP2 experience prior entering F1.
Maldonado supposedly is fast, so he should have outpaced his teammates.
Maldonado has more experience, so should have been more consistant than his teammates.

has he achieved this? nope.

Maldonado's run in F1 is over, he simply has not got the needed talent. he's not talentless,
but he's not talented enough. just think about Vitantonio Liuzzi. Liuzzi wasn't talentelss either,
but definately wasn't talented enough to remain in F1.

that's all to it ,really.
the only reason he's in F1 was his PVDSA backing.
And that's gone now, especially with the new path Venezuela is going with the new elections.
so it's really over, point zilch squad.

[SiLo]

I can honestly say if he leaves I will be pleased. Always the risk of him crashing into someone else who was having a good race.

Did he ever cause any safety cars? I always find those fun.

[OneAlex]

In terms of comparing Maldonado to "first lap nutcase" Grosjean, obviously Grosjean ended up getting a lot of behind-the-scenes help, including a sports psychologist etc, which he says helped improve his driving.

Does anybody know if Maldonado has had any similar sort of help?

I'm not convinced Renault will drop him and/or Palmer depending on the contracts they signed with Lotus. Not that I think either of them necessarily deserve a Renault seat, but I think the company may have enough on their plate for the next year with debt restructuring and team re-building without any potential litigation woes to add on top. Plus Pastor does at least know the team and have experience... better than putting two rookies into the new car during a development year.

[kptaylor]

In terms of comparing Maldonado to "first lap nutcase" Grosjean, obviously Grosjean ended up getting a lot of behind-the-scenes help, including a sports psychologist etc, which he says helped improve his driving.

Does anybody know if Maldonado has had any similar sort of help?

The difference is Pastor doesn't feel he's doing anything wrong, just that everyone else is wrong. Grosjean recognized his shortcomings and worked to improve.