Silly Season 2018/2019

[ESPImperium]

The way i see the rest of the grid now is this:

Scuderia Ferrari: Vettel/Le Clerc - Vettel is on till 2020, Le Clerc will take his seat as i think they want to get rid of Kimi now and its time to see what Le Clerc can do.

Team Silverstone-Mercedes: Perez/Stroll - Perez will sign a 2 year deal, bring his sponsor money, Stroll will join his dads team. Stroll will bring more luxury branding to the F1 grid, to witch BWT will be looking for a new team to go to... More later.

Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda: Vandoorne/Vergne - I can see this pairing for a year, with both drivers facing off for a 2020 deal. As i think Red Bull will place Ticktum there in 2020.

Haas-Ferrari: Grosjean/Magnussen - No change, Kevin has done a great early season job, and Romain has been great mid season so far. If they can give them a car that is great on the breaks for Romain and better in the lower speed corners for Kevin, watch them fly for 2019.

Alfa Romeo Sauber-Ferrari: Ericson/Giovinazzi - Markus backers will want to see another year for him before they decide to see what they want to do from 2020 onward, Antonio will be placed here for Ferrari to get him a year, and give Sauber a discounted supply.

BWT Williams-Mercedes: Ocon/Russell - Two Mercedes drivers, yes, Toto will offer both to Paddy and Claire for them to have a massive discount on the Mercedes bill and for more engine software. Williams will have the pick on drivers, and both will be the best of the rest on show.

As for BWT, they will be shopping for a new team as BWT are seeing a massive increase in their sales since F1 Sponsorship began, they gave Force India €27.5m a season, and Williams need a replacement for Martini (€35m) and Rexona/Sure/Degree (€13m) from next year, and id be confident to say that if BWT offered €30m a season for title sponsorship they would have it here, as long as Williams could find two or three other companies to take up the €18m shortfall. Unilever (Owners of Sure/Rexona/Degree) could have shopped for a new team in F1, or have been pitched by another, higher up the grid.

[PlatinumZealot]

BWT doesn't have that much cash floating around! Check their arrangement with Force India. It is almost a rolling basis.

[ScottB]

Wasn’t it also partly a loan? BWT were listed as a creditor.

[Big Tea]

Wasn’t it also partly a loan? BWT were listed as a creditor.

If they coughed up the years worth of sponsorship, and only got half, they are still owed the other half, or a rebate.
It seems a strange sort of arrangement. The 'cash' paid up before the season and the capital reduced by 1/20 per race?

[Jolle]

Wasn’t it also partly a loan? BWT were listed as a creditor.

If they coughed up the years worth of sponsorship, and only got half, they are still owed the other half, or a rebate.
It seems a strange sort of arrangement. The 'cash' paid up before the season and the capital reduced by 1/20 per race?

could also be a clever trick, you hand out a loan for a season, with all the tax benefits and the securities of when a team goes bust (like it did now) and at the end of the period you sponsor the same som as the outstanding debt or you just write off the debt (with all the tax benefits that gives)

[ESPImperium]

It makes sense when you all put it like that.

It may be worth them to take out a smaller sponsorship with Williams, for a side-pod or air box sponsorship.

It hasn't been confirmed that Unilever have decided to stay with Williams for the €13m a year they bring. It could be that the exposure that Williams give them, the best exposure for the money they give them, maybe other teams were offering them a lesser area of the car like a cockpit side for the same or more dough.

Seemingly, another thing doing the rounds is the money that os being touted to Williams to get Stroll out of the team, a rumour that i read was that the team are holding him and his father to the 5 year deal they signed. They pay €35m a season, so id suggest they will settle for a €90m sum. This will be more than enough to give Paddy Lowe the money to be able to renovate and get the Williams Gearbox department up to present day Carbon Case with a Gearbox cassette standard and not the Aluminium all in one they presently run giving them a better weight distribution and more weight for ballast.

And the final thing, Buemi in a Toro Rosso getting a seat fit!!! Could we be seeing two Formula E Title Winners in Buemi/Vergne in at Toro Rosso? Stranger things have happened, Vergne still hasn't been announced at Techeetah, Buemi has been announced at Nissan in FE, however id a second bite at F1 was to come, im sure that both would jump at the chance and be away from FE asap. Im sure that Buemi may even ditch WEC, and Toyota would have to put Davidson in the seat.

This Silly Season is getting sillier and sillier by the hour, let alone day. Teams are trolling us, and we are falling for it. However, its been the best silly season for bloody years, stranger in reality than on a piece of paper or a F1Technical forum.

[Zynerji]

Let's not forget that the STR may be the Dark Horse of 2019 with the listed parts agreement and full PU integration from RBR.

Even if they only hit 95% off RBRs aero efficiency, they may be a real contender next year!

[alexx_88]

Yes, but RB doesn't expect anything better than being 3rd in the constructors. So the best TR can hope for is 4th. As Vergne said on Sunday, he'd come back if he had a chance to fight for the top positions, but points don't interest him. I'd think Buemi would be in the same boat, especially with the WEC drive.

[jjn9128]

Anyone seen this? Buemi back in a Toro Rosso either this year or next looking likely.

[WaikeCU]

A little bit gutted with bringing back these former F1 drivers who haven't succeeded previously. It's a personal thing for me, but I can't stand Buemi after his antics in the 2017 FE championship decider, where he confronted other drivers and made a drama out of everything. Would have liked to see Vandoorne as I think he needs a proper car to show his true capabilities. I know Kvyat is also a former F1 driver, but I believe he's really treated unfairly. Pairing up with Kvyat would be interesting as I believe Kvyat has raw speed, but needs a proper season to truly show that instead of being in and out of the car throughout the season.

[alexx_88]

100% agreed WaikeCU. I really hope it's nothing more than some (bad) marketing attempt. Vandoorne definitely deserves to be measured in a decent car against a driver that's not considered one of the best drivers on the grid at the moment. He's been no worse than Bottas or Kimi, when measured against their teammates, I hope he gets a drive for next year. Kvyat as well, although you could argue he got his chance in F1 already.

[ScottB]

I suspect Red Bull will see putting ex drivers in the STR as better for the program, than going outside it. Though personally I'd rather they 'pulled a Max' again and just sign up a talented kid and put them in; Alexander Albon maybe, rather than bring back capable, if unexciting choices like Buemi or Kyvat.

[WaikeCU]

100% agreed WaikeCU. I really hope it's nothing more than some (bad) marketing attempt. Vandoorne definitely deserves to be measured in a decent car against a driver that's not considered one of the best drivers on the grid at the moment. He's been no worse than Bottas or Kimi, when measured against their teammates, I hope he gets a drive for next year. Kvyat as well, although you could argue he got his chance in F1 already.

To me it was a marketing attempt with Max as well. Max was the hype of the paddock. Red Bull saw $$$, so Kvyat got demoted. Tbh, we still need to see Max' true potential as he still makes those rookie, immature mistakes. I believe a race win for Kvyat could have happened sooner or later with Red Bull, but yeah Red Bull went for the hype around Max, which was understandable at that time, but it affected Kvyat for sure, but would he take it, if he was thrown a bone?

I see potential in Vandoorne joining the Red Bull Athlete program. Would be cool to have Max, Stoffel and Pierre representing their countries who are close to each other and all three of them in F1.

[TwanV]

I agree too WaikeCU, Vandoorne's standing against Alonso feels Schumacheresque. Schumacher too had some decent teammates in his time with Benetton but the difference in pace was extreme. Similarly at Ferrari. Patrese, Verstappen, Herbert, Irvine, Barrichello, Massa, all very fast drivers in their own right, but when the focus is so strongly on the star driver it seems there no chance for a "second" driver to truly show his potential. When Schumacher broke his legs at Silverstone in 1999 Irvine suddenly stepped up considerably and Massa too nearly won the championship with more equal status to Raikkonen later on. It would be a big shame if Vandoorne lost his seat, I think he's worth much more. Although he does lack a bit of on-track personality. On the other hand McLaren seem more like an experimental R&D project than a competitive racing team the last couple of years and it must be hard to keep charging on for minimal gain.

[Big Tea]

Sorry to repeat myself, but I saw nothing wrong with Kvyat, at least as good as Buemi and he was treated very badly. He has had far less crashes than Max and he gets praised for it.
I really can not understand why he is not in the STR. Unless ofourse it is his choice not to.