[Vysakh]

What are the odds of someone signing maldonado? The races wouldn't be boring with him on the grid.

[ecenandu]

Source: WTF1.

[motorworks]

So Horner has gone on record to state that RBR would never hire Alonso since he supposedly brings chaos in to the teams!

And he has also stated that their preference is to retain Sainz or Gasly. So there you go!

My guess is that Alonso will take a break from F1 for the next 2 years and race in Indy. If Kimi can come from Rallying, so can Alonso. May be after 2 years if some of the top teams want him for 2021.

[Monolithic]

Originally Posted by Vysakh

What are the odds of someone signing maldonado? The races wouldn't be boring with him on the grid.

He is a safety hazard. That's what he is.

Also, pretty sure Maldonado is out of sponsor money.

[Epic]

Originally Posted by motorworks

So Horner has gone on record to state that RBR would never hire Alonso since he supposedly brings chaos in to the teams!

Horner has also gone on record to say that he believes that Ricciardo has left the team because he was insecure of Verstappen being better than him. I don't think that a team boss should be commenting such things publicly. I personally believe that Verstappen on many occasions has just been lucky!

Originally Posted by motorworks

My guess is that Alonso will take a break from F1 for the next 2 years and race in Indy. If Kimi can come from Rallying, so can Alonso. May be after 2 years if some of the top teams want him for 2021.

I personally think Alonso will stick with McLaren with some sort of a performance clause. He currently does not have one.

[aditya116]

Looks like raikkonen is set to extend his Ferrari contract for 2 more years, till 2020 the last year before new regulations kick in.
https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/2...ari-extension/

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by Epic

Horner has also gone on record to say that he believes that Ricciardo has left the team because he was insecure of Verstappen being better than him. I don't think that a team boss should be commenting such things publicly. I personally believe that Verstappen on many occasions has just been lucky!







I personally think Alonso will stick with McLaren with some sort of a performance clause. He currently does not have one.

Not defending Horner here, he actually said this during an F1 official podcast that happened right after the day Ric announced his decision to move from RBR. I listened to the entire podcast and it looks like RBR were almost convinced that Ric was going to stay back. And Horner even states that they had agreed to even an one year deal with Ric, just in case any of Merc or Ferrari wanted him in 2020. And I guess what Horner said was in the moment, in a podcast that was quite casual and about one hour long. I guess what happened a day before would have sort of led him to say this.

Well I do not think what he said was right, but his actual words were more like that Ric does not want to play a supporting role to Max. So yeah Horner is sort of stating that Max is better than Ric.

Also with Alonso, I think he exercises far greater control in McLaren than what we know of. He suffered for 3 years with the Honda engine and you think he would have re-signed with McLaren without a performance clause? I remember when he signed last year there were reports that it was a multi year deal with some clauses. And if there was no clarity on exactly how many years the current contract is, then for sure it was a minimum one year deal with some clause built in.

[MCR]

Its astonishing, the number of Young drivers whose Careers have gone no where thanks to #McLaren. This was never the case in Ron Dennis era.

1. Kevin Magnussen got dumped, but today is in 8th Place driving for Haas. He has driven very well entire of this year.

2. Sergio Perez got dumped too, but he is currently in 10th Place. He has had a few good races this year.

Link : https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/d...ship/standings

Now the great CEO of #McLaren has a foot in the mouth moment when he claims that they were close to signing Ricciardo! This is absolutely foolish considering now #McLaren is focussing on spoiling Stoffel Vandoorne's Career. Sick.

Link : http://www.espn.in/f1/story/_/id/242...ricciardo-2019

[Epic]

Originally Posted by motorworks

Not defending Horner here, he actually said this during an F1 official podcast that happened right after the day Ric announced his decision to move from RBR. I listened to the entire podcast and it looks like RBR were almost convinced that Ric was going to stay back. And Horner even states that they had agreed to even an one year deal with Ric, just in case any of Merc or Ferrari wanted him in 2020.

Well, all the above is true. But Horner was trying to convince Ricciardo to stay back not because he believed he was a better driver but only to play second fiddle to Max which is not worth it. Max is being paid higher than Ricciardo at the moment; and as I said earlier, Max looks better because he has been lucky. Horner is also bitching about Ricciardo because he has joined the works team which he and Red Bull despise. It's like a slap on the face to him and Red Bull and his ego is unable to take it. And in all this, also afraid that the driver they would have to hire might kick Max's ass in 2019!

Horner also made a comment on ruling out Alonso as the driver to replace Ricciardo as he believes he 'creates chaos' in the teams he's been with. Was this silly comment really necessary? Does he really believe Alonso will join a team with a Honda engine, because Alonso definitely doesn't think so!

Another reason is because of Red Bull's switch to Honda engines in 2019. Ricciardo doesn't believe that the Honda engines might be as competitive as the Renault engines in 2019. He also had an attractive offer from McLaren who are using the Renault engines, but they still have to sort out their chassis issues.

The best option was Renault Racing as they are developing quickly and catching the front runners. Being 4th in the constructors is proof of that.

Originally Posted by motorworks

And I guess what Horner said was in the moment,

Exactly! Being a team boss, you have to be very careful of what you are saying to the press. But his ego has overtaken that.

Originally Posted by motorworks

Also with Alonso, I think he exercises far greater control in McLaren than what we know of. He suffered for 3 years with the Honda engine and you think he would have re-signed with McLaren without a performance clause? I remember when he signed last year there were reports that it was a multi year deal with some clauses. And if there was no clarity on exactly how many years the current contract is, then for sure it was a minimum one year deal with some clause built in.

Alonso did not have a performance clause when he joined McLaren in 2015 as Ron Dennis made the contract water tight and Ron was not willing to accept anything less than a 03 year contract. But due to the Honda engine (as everyone thought) the team's performance was in shambles.

As you rightly said, Alonso has a lot of power in McLaren and he was very instrumental in ensuring McLaren ditched the Honda engines for 2018 and replace them with Renault. He & everyone else was sure that they will be able to fight in the front in 2018. Hence he only signed for a year. Even though there has been a significant improvement, they are still not fighting in the front and this is due to the fact that the McLaren chassis was also part of the problem. This was something no one wanted to admit from 2015 to 2017. But in 2018, Mclaren have been caught with their hand in the cookie jar! Hence the entire change of key Management including Eric Boullier.

[anachronix]

There is a dark rumor in the paddock that, junior Stroll might find a place in the Force India by Spa, Ocon will move to McLaren replacing Stoff and Kubica taking Stroll's seat in the Williams.

If this is true, feel bad for Stoffel for getting his career ruined in the Mclaren.

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by anachronix

There is a dark rumor in the paddock that, junior Stroll might find a place in the Force India by Spa, Ocon will move to McLaren replacing Stoff and Kubica taking Stroll's seat in the Williams.

If this is true, feel bad for Stoffel for getting his career ruined in the Mclaren.

While Stroll driving for Force india by Spa or one of the latest races this year is very much possible, not sure about the Ocon to McLaren angle. Ocon is part of Mercedes driving academy or something like that, so I do not know if Ocon would move to McLaren Renault. At best they may swap seats, with Ocon coming to Williams. And probably Ocon has to hope for a better 2019 when Mercedes extend their additional technical support to Williams as is rumoured.

Alternatively, if the Stroll family gets Mercedes to collaborate with them on the Force India project, then it may be Perez who may be left out in the cold and may be even forced to move to Williams or if he is lucky may be Haas.

[avdhesh15]

Seems something interesting is coming today from Fernando!

LINK

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by avdhesh15

Seems something interesting is coming today from Fernando!

LINK

Might be moving full-time to Indy Car

[anachronix]

Agree! This was a rumor reported in some of the Hungarian sports mags. All these news will gain more traction from Alonso's announcement today.

Strong rumor that Alonso is leaving F1 for IndyCar. Either ways, all this news is giving something to talk about during this long summer break.

Originally Posted by motorworks

, not sure about the Ocon to McLaren angle. Ocon is part of Mercedes driving academy or something like that, so I do not know if Ocon would move to McLaren Renault.

[arun_josie]

Carlos Sainz to replace Fernando Alonso at McLaren. This also means that Gasly has a very good chance for a promotion to Red Bull.

Source: http://www.espn.in/f1/story/_/id/243...alonso-mclaren

All of a sudden lot of movements happening between teams. And there is still a question mark over Ocon and Perez for a 2019 seat.