Silly Season 2020/2021 (starting with silliness in 2019)

[Big Tea]

What???

I'm speaking nonsense don't mind me. I know Hamilton won't go to Aston and I know Toto would not either and never in a million years Maldonado as well. Don't mind me I'm drunk...

drunk men speak truth.

In vino veritas.

If yous can follow whet i shay

[FrukostScones]

LOL, VET having the last laugh.

I wouldn't call getting kicked out of Ferrari into a midfield team "the last laugh"

ROFL

[Racer X]

LOL, VET having the last laugh.

I wouldn't call getting kicked out of Ferrari into a midfield team "the last laugh"

ROFL

Aston Martin will be a strong B Team but still a B Team. Maybe Vettel just wants to drive around fast like Kimi. Just to go fast ala Ricky Bobby'.

[alexx_88]

LOL, VET having the last laugh.

I wouldn't call getting kicked out of Ferrari into a midfield team "the last laugh"

ROFL

Yeah, that didn't age well

However, Aston Martin will never be more than a B-team for Mercedes and I somehow doubt they'll ever be able to challenge for wins under normal circumstances. What happens when father Stroll gets bored of financing his son's F1 attempt?

[Shrieker]

I don't understand why Red Bull would not replace Albon with Vettel. Especially Albon's run of poor showings...

[raymondu999]

Hamilton to Aston Martin with a bunch of Totos people and Toto coming along for the ride. As Mercedes might become an engine supplier only..... Jumping ship before it sinks like he did at McLaren... That's not even that much of an impossibility.... 2020 is a wild year.... I wouldn't be surprised if Aston Martin announced Maldonado*...

You know before you posted this RP already announced Vettel right

[alexx_88]

Because most likely they have the data on all and can see that Vettel wouldn't be a significant improvement (if any) over Albon. I genuinely think Max is that good and that any driver put next to him would be made to look quite ordinary. Out of the current crop, I think the only one who could hold his own today is Hamilton. Just look at what he was making of Danny Ric in his final season with RB.

[Big Tea]

Because most likely they have the data on all and can see that Vettel wouldn't be a significant improvement (if any). I genuinely think Max is that good and that any driver put next to him would be made to look quite ordinary. Out of the current crop, I think the only one who could hold his own today is Hamilton. Just look at what he was making of Danny Ric in his final season with RB.

It probably depends on how much they are allowed to have the car altered. If the car is 'snappy' which it apparently is, as it gives the best performance, if the driver does not trust it, he will not push it close to the 'snap point'.

If the snap point is consistent, the driver can be say 2% off, but if inconsistent could be considerably more.

[wickedz50]

I wouldn't call getting kicked out of Ferrari into a midfield team "the last laugh"

ROFL

Yeah, that didn't age well

However, Aston Martin will never be more than a B-team for Mercedes and I somehow doubt they'll ever be able to challenge for wins under normal circumstances. What happens when father Stroll gets bored of financing his son's F1 attempt?

Vettel was getting kicked out of F1 so now atleast he has a drive for 2021 which is faster than the team which kicked him out. I will say that its much better proposition.
Ferrari is currently lower in the midfield standing so will be like that come 2021 so who is having the last laugh only time will say.

[raymondu999]

Because most likely they have the data on all and can see that Vettel wouldn't be a significant improvement (if any). I genuinely think Max is that good and that any driver put next to him would be made to look quite ordinary. Out of the current crop, I think the only one who could hold his own today is Hamilton. Just look at what he was making of Danny Ric in his final season with RB.

It probably depends on how much they are allowed to have the car altered. If the car is 'snappy' which it apparently is, as it gives the best performance, if the driver does not trust it, he will not push it close to the 'snap point'.

If the snap point is consistent, the driver can be say 2% off, but if inconsistent could be considerably more.

I agree. Vettel is not (Vettel fan as I am) the man to be able to wrestle that

[taperoo2k]

I don't understand why Red Bull would not replace Albon with Vettel. Especially Albon's run of poor showings...

Simple - they will not want to upset Max Verstappen (Mercedes would snap him up in a heartbeat) and Vettel might just want to drive for the pleasure of it without the intense pressure he'd be under to beat Max if he'd gone back to Red Bull. If Red Bull replaces Albon, it'll probably be with Gasly.

For a team like RP/Aston Martin, taking a punt on Vettel is worth the risk. No pressure on Vettel might well see him find his form and get some decent results for himself and his team. I think he'll probably want to prove to himself that he's still a decent racing driver. Ferrari looks to have sucked the life out of him. I'm not a massive Vettel fan by any means, but I think he gets criticised a bit too often.

[Jolle]

I don't understand why Red Bull would not replace Albon with Vettel. Especially Albon's run of poor showings...

Well... quite a list...

First off, how good is Vettel (at the moment?) Over the past six seasons his record against teammates and individual aren't really impressive. Yes he was the only real challenger for Hamilton in recent years but also struggled from time till time agaist Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Leclerc. Next to that, his unforced errors are quite high.

Second, for this unknown, he's quite expensive. Probably not his 30+mln a year that he gets at Ferrari, but a lot more then the whole junior program put together

Third, he left RedBull in a bit of a strange way... you could even say he almost sabotaged his year to get out of his contract to be able to join Ferrari

Fourth, They don't need a 4time world champion. They need a solid number two who can be backup to Verstappen and to solid tire and correlation testing during the weekends.

Fifth, they keep loyal to their program. If they would deviate from this, there are better candidates for that seat, like Perez or even Bottas.

[PlatinumZealot]

As Montezemolo said, Vettel is one of those drivers that need to be coddled with love an affection to perform at his best. That means no fast team mates and a good car. Quite frankly, he is elite under these conditions. It is yet to be seen the dynamic between Stroll Junior and Vettel in the team. Vettel will get a great easy going, no pressure environment, but I have a feeling Daddy stroll will be giving junior most of the attention if not better engineers and strategies. At best it will be Vettel given the power to guide the team, and at worst it will be a similar dynamic to what is there now with Perez and Stroll. So I don't quite expect the elite Vettel to appear, but it should be a good partnership overall.

[Shrieker]

As Montezemolo said, Vettel is one of those drivers that need to be coddled with love an affection to perform at his best. That means no fast team mates and a good car. Quite frankly, he is elite under these conditions. It is yet to be seen the dynamic between Stroll Junior and Vettel in the team. Vettel will get a great easy going, no pressure environment, but I have a feeling Daddy stroll will be giving junior most of the attention if not better engineers and strategies. At best it will be Vettel given the power to guide the team, and at worst it will be a similar dynamic to what is there now with Perez and Stroll. So I don't quite expect the elite Vettel to appear, but it should be a good partnership overall.

Frankly, I get a bit of Villeneuve at Sauber vibes from this move. Probably a couple tiers above, but you catch my drift.

[gshevlin]

Michael Schumacher also had the focus of attention while he drove for Ferrari, with team-mates who were contractual #2 drivers, and a custom tyre development program from Bridgestone.
Vettel had Michael as a role model, but he left Red Bull after a period where Daniel Riccardo had been beating him and winning races, and now it looks like he was destabilized when Ferrari began to regard and treat Charles Leclerc as his equal.
When a driver is destabilized emotionally, he stops being able to perform at 100%. Lewis Hamilton was in that zone for a while while at McLaren, and Jenson Button was equalling him and occasionally beating him for a while as a result.