Silly Season 2017/2018

[Cold Fussion]

kyvat is the best candidate for the Williams seat.
He has been seen talking to Paddy Lowe at the US GP weekend.
He is more talented than the available options. i feel once he is managed correctly he can be much improved as a driver. Similar to Grosjean who had issues and got himself sorted out.
The good thing is that he isn't taken seriously, unfortunately, to be a long term driver so would not be a threat to Stroll career.
But he is fast for sure and cheap, and available. Williams stand to gain by hiring him. Massa is more expensive and basically washed up.

I hope you're ready to be bombarded by people saying the second driver must be over 25.

[Manoah2u]

kyvat is the best candidate for the Williams seat.

He is more talented than the available options.

Williams stand to gain by hiring him.

sorry but i literally lol'd at this.

I have nothing against the bloke but he's done and dusted and not worthy.
He is in the same category as Bourdais, Speed, etc. not absolutely terrible, but well.....not worthy either.
Alguersuari was much better but he terminated his career by bigmouthing Marko. And even then i think he was 'the bomb' either.

The only genuinly great guys i've seen pop up in F1 'recently' is Sainz, Verstappen, Ocon. And before/added to that, Kobayashi, Perez, Bianchi (R.I.P.), Hulkenberg and Ricciardo. Oh and Bottas is also pretty fine.

'Average' F1 drivers (so not total numn*ts) of recent imho:

Grosjean, VanDoorne*, Stroll*, Kvyat, Magnussen, Vergne, Petrov.

* deserve more time for proper judgement

Totally embarassing drivers of recent:

Ericsson, Palmer (probably wears the crown), Haryanto, Guiterrez, Chilton.

But Kvyat is dropping between average and embarassing somehow. He had the speed, but only at times.
It was indeed unfair how he got treated, but then he also was rather 'privilidged' and got his seat on many benefits.

The only sad thing imho is that i don't see Gasly being any better or improvement there. Hartley is a question mark, but i'm not sure a Gasly & Hartley combo is the way to go for 2018 for Toro Rosso - Honda, but the options are limited.

I think 2019 is going to see a big shift too. Grosjean is 100% stepping out of F1 by then. Kimi 100% guaranteed too. Magnussen might stay to maintain stability @ Haas, but beyond that, if he doesn't improve, he's out soon too.
If 2018 doesn't bring any goods to Alonso, i'm confident he'll pass on F1 for 2019 too.

Massa won't be in F1 in 2018 anymore and same goes for Kvyat and Ericsson.

2020 will then be interesting to see whether Vettel and/or Hamilton will stay in F1.
If Hamilton will have set his sights on beating Schumacher's records, he'll surely stay.
Schumi had 7 WDC titles, hamilton will have 4 in the bag this weekend.

That leaves him 4 titles to cling before retiring - if he has any desire to beat 'Der Weltmeister',
which i'm doubtfull of. I think if Hamilton grabs a 5th, he'll lose motivation afterwards.

He has as much as his Idol Senna now, and another one - this one - will satisfy him personally.
Then the 5th becomes optional and another goal but after that? I'd doubt it.

Then again, he might relish the challenge against young Verstappen.

[FrukostScones]

kyvat is the best candidate for the Williams seat.
He has been seen talking to Paddy Lowe at the US GP weekend.
He is more talented than the available options. i feel once he is managed correctly he can be much improved as a driver. Similar to Grosjean who had issues and got himself sorted out.
The good thing is that he isn't taken seriously, unfortunately, to be a long term driver so would not be a threat to Stroll career.
But he is fast for sure and cheap, and available. Williams stand to gain by hiring him. Massa is more expensive and basically washed up.

Only the GRO part made me notice that I did not write that myself. Absolutely spot on.

[Jolle]

kyvat is the best candidate for the Williams seat.
He has been seen talking to Paddy Lowe at the US GP weekend.
He is more talented than the available options. i feel once he is managed correctly he can be much improved as a driver. Similar to Grosjean who had issues and got himself sorted out.
The good thing is that he isn't taken seriously, unfortunately, to be a long term driver so would not be a threat to Stroll career.
But he is fast for sure and cheap, and available. Williams stand to gain by hiring him. Massa is more expensive and basically washed up.

Only the GRO part made me notice that I did not write that myself. Absolutely spot on.

Isn’t there this story that they need a 25 y/o plus driver? Kvyat is just 23 or something?

[Manoah2u]

I hope you're ready to be bombarded by people saying the second driver must be over 25.

Isn’t there this story that they need a 25 y/o plus driver? Kvyat is just 23 or something?

anyway to answer and once again debunk that story

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/will ... f1-969007/

age not an issue

Lowe confirmed Mercedes-backed Pascal Wehrlein “absolutely” remains in contention, despite title sponsor Martini’s preference for an older driver.

“Somebody like Pascal, I don’t need to put him in a car, because he’s in a car every week,” Lowe added.

“What’s most important for the team is to pick a driver line-up that gives us the best performance and the most exciting racing potential for 2018.

“There are some issues around advertising and Martini, but if it came to it I’m sure Martini will understand the importance, if that’s what we were to choose, to have the best line-up for racing rather than for advertising.

“We’ll cross that bridge if we need to. Age is not a factor in our primary objective, which is to pick the best line-up.”

And then, again, if DiResta stays as a Reserve Driver, the issue is non-existant anyway.

[Thunder]

Can you guys at least write something? Just posting smileys isn't a very helpful contribution.

[AMG.Tzan]

Massa is acting like an idiot or even better like a kid! Every single day calling publicly Williams to retain him and calling Kubica and Di Resta not ready to do the job! Go home Felipe...you were called back just because Bottas left! The world wants to see Kubica back in there...and i'm pretty sure that Kubica can be faster than Massa!
On the other hand Kyvat and Wehrlein are also options for Williams! But i don't think any of them partnering Lance Stroll will be great! Maybe Wehrlein has some potential in there to produce good drives...but he is under 25 and Martini has contract issues with that if i am not mistaken!

[ChrisDanger]

It looks like Kvyat is out of Toro Rosso permanently.

"Kvyat will not return again," Marko told Germany's Auto Bild.

"We do not believe he can make the turnaround in the long term."

Marko also confirmed that the Hartley-Gasly pairing would remain in place for the final three races of 2017.

"Gasly and Hartley will finish the season," he said. "Then we'll see what happens."

http://en.f1i.com/news/283740-kvyat-dro ... ently.html

[WaikeCU]

...
But Kvyat is dropping between average and embarassing somehow. He had the speed, but only at times.
...

Yet, that between average and embarassing Kvyat is still the only one to beat our beloved Daniel Ric at Red Bull in a season.

I'm sure we haven't seen the best of Kvyat yet and how he has been treated within the Red Bull programme has alot to do about it. Demoted multiple times is hard. I've never seen any other driver having this kind of treatment before tbh.

Bad luck at times due to technical problems while running in a points finish has cost him dearly as well. Look at Monaco where Perez caused a lot of damage on that Toro Rosso, which puts a DNF behind Kvyat's name:



He was running strong in the Canadian GP up to 7th from a 11th starting position and then he had to come in for his stop and what happened there is just no words whatsoever...



Then he fought his way back to 9th, back into the points, before retiring with PU issues.

Of course there are races where he has bottled it himself. Just look at Austria, British GP and Singapore.

On pace I believe he's up there with Carlos tbh, but needs to handle the pressure better especially at the start of a GP.

[nokivasara]

kyvat is the best candidate for the Williams seat.
He has been seen talking to Paddy Lowe at the US GP weekend.
He is more talented than the available options. i feel once he is managed correctly he can be much improved as a driver. Similar to Grosjean who had issues and got himself sorted out.
The good thing is that he isn't taken seriously, unfortunately, to be a long term driver so would not be a threat to Stroll career.
But he is fast for sure and cheap, and available. Williams stand to gain by hiring him. Massa is more expensive and basically washed up.

Only the GRO part made me notice that I did not write that myself. Absolutely spot on.

I agree, Kvyat is performing quite badly at the moment but I'm sure he is very unhappy with his situation, I know I would be. RedBull and Toro Rosso seems to be the worst teams to drive for, management wise.
I hope we'll see him in the Williams next year.

[nacho]

Well Kvyat finished higher on points than Ricciardo in 2015.

I don't remember any driver being sacked three times mid season.

[Jolle]

Well Kvyat finished higher on points than Ricciardo in 2015.

I don't remember any driver being sacked three times mid season.

Jos Verstappen comes to mind... or was that just twice?

[NathanOlder]

kyvat is the best candidate for the Williams seat.
He has been seen talking to Paddy Lowe at the US GP weekend.
He is more talented than the available options. i feel once he is managed correctly he can be much improved as a driver. Similar to Grosjean who had issues and got himself sorted out.
The good thing is that he isn't taken seriously, unfortunately, to be a long term driver so would not be a threat to Stroll career.
But he is fast for sure and cheap, and available. Williams stand to gain by hiring him. Massa is more expensive and basically washed up.

Could it be? As he's just been fired from Red Bull

[Manoah2u]

Well Kvyat finished higher on points than Ricciardo in 2015.

I don't remember any driver being sacked three times mid season.

Kvyat's the real life 'stig' then

Don't get me wrong though, i feel bad for him. Apart from being simple in that he doesn't make the cut, and i don't see how we should feel any 'worse' for him compared to how we should rather feel worse for someone like Kamui Kobayashi, who was double the driver Kvyat was, it's never a pleasant thing though and i am somewhat surprised to see him not returning despite having a not at all negative attitude in USA AND scoring a valuable point.

I think Kvyat is better off being free from the confinements of RB's warehouse. Seems like it's either a pot of never-ending gold, rainbows, and excess when in the right spectrum of RedBull's camp, OR, you find yourself on the side of the outdoor wooden shed cr*phouse with a leak roof which is also your sleeping quarters and not to forget you're not allowed to speak unless mr Marko allows it to. Kvyat found himself on that side unfortunately, whilst Vettel, Ricciardo and Max found themselves on the 'pot of gold' side.

[WaikeCU]

Any possibility to see Kvyat end up as a reserve driver somewhere else? Imagine other teams proving Red Bull wrong.