Mercedes New F1 Driver?? 2017 F1 season

Classic Maldonator.

I hope no Alonzo for Mercedes. It would be a repeat war between Lewis and Alonzo...

It's apparantly done, sources confirm Bottas to Benz for free engines to Williams and conditional on Massa un-retiring and coming back to help hone Stroll.

 

MASSA IS BACK BABY!

WHO SAID EARLIER: BOTTAS TO BENZ?

I hope he could smoke Hamilton. It is a tall order but Bottas is quick also.

Remember Bottas was often faster than Massa. And Massa was often faster than Vettel or Kimi on Ferrari.

WHO SAID EARLIER: BOTTAS TO BENZ?

I hope he could smoke Hamilton. It is a tall order but Bottas is quick also.

Remember Bottas was often faster than Massa. And Massa was often faster than Vettel or Kimi on Ferrari.

Might want to reread the thread...

Looks like Bottas is off to Mercedes as Massa unretires back to Williams.

Looks like Bottas is off to Mercedes as Massa unretires back to Williams.

 

It will be an interesting season with that news.

Looks like Bottas is off to Mercedes as Massa unretires back to Williams.

 

Is this true?

Yup.

 

 

Not a great move imo by Williams but the team are limited. They do well financially but do not have a lot of funds and are really dependant upon their sponsor. Being a booze brand they cannot market anyone under 25 so straightaway they lose out on a lot of the great drivers that they could pick up on a budget hone the talent and then cash in on when they sell to another team.

 

Yet Paul Di Resta is available.

This will be very interesting! I can't wait till March.

Yup.

 

 

Not a great move imo by Williams but the team are limited. They do well financially but do not have a lot of funds and are really dependant upon their sponsor. Being a booze brand they cannot market anyone under 25 so straightaway they lose out on a lot of the great drivers that they could pick up on a budget hone the talent and then cash in on when they sell to another team.

 

Yet Paul Di Resta is available.

 

True, but Di Resta sucks!

True, but Di Resta sucks!

I don't think he got the chance to shine and really demonstrate his talent. He was the reserve driver for Williams in 2016, not sure about this year but the court case he had with Hamilton's dad really did kick him out of F1.

 

I just think Massa is past is, he is not hungry enough imo whereas I would say Paul has more of a point to prove.

 

I agree he did moan a lot though.

So much for Vettel being past his prime...season is looking promising. Bottas looking solid. Was a fairly boring race, but still better than watching the Mercs leave everyone else behind.

First race was a snooze fest, terrible show. Nice to see Ferrari win for a change but nobody in the top 10 is actually racing each other .

First race was a snooze fest, terrible show. Nice to see Ferrari win for a change but nobody in the top 10 is actually racing each other .

Bad pit strategy, and an unfortunate bit of traffic. Rest assured Hammy won't let it happen again.

I hear Hamilton got a bad set of tires when he pitted.

Changing the thread title to discuss the 17 season so far.

 

How did Alonso get to 7th?

How are Mclaren so fucked? I mean the options are stick with Honda and keep money coming in but no results and no one will want to drive for them or lose all of their money from Honda and buy 2016 merc engines. They are promising a mid season turn around from Honda and other than that the car is good. But Honda keep promising and they do not deliver.

Are we going to get a mega two team season? It looks it and Merc turned up with big upgrades in Spain.

Will tomorrow be a true clash of the titans between Vettel and Hamilton?

I think Hamilton will get smoked off the line and then it is a processional affair. Zero overtakes.

 

Great race so far

Best season in years so far.

Front is packed with two teams and whole midfield is absolutely tight packed! And very good racing and overtakings.

 

 

Bottas had previous engine in car and no practice time in third practice session that was on saturday before qualifying. That cost in race pace hugely until that old engine blew up.

 

Kimi showed great pace in q1 and q2 but again vettel did amazing lap at the end of q3. Sad that his race was 500m long.

 

 

 

 

 

Great race. Ferrari has caught it for sure and Bottas has shown that he can be faster than Lewis. Lewis has his work cut out for him.

Honda are going to power Sauber.

What would you do if you were McLaren? Do you stick with Honda given they get a lot of money from them or do you buy a year old Merc engine and find sponsors?

Reports are that they are finding power and Alonso's 7th place qualifying suggests that but reliability are an issue. But their driver budget alone is horrific.

 

Also, I have a gut feeling about Alonso and Red Bull.

McLaren is not going to get a better deal becoming a customer team of Renualt or Mercedes (Honda brings a lot of $$$ to the team). With Sauber going to Honda power, there is going to be a lot more development and testing, so very likely the Honda power unit will improve.

 

As for Alonso I think he ends up at Renault, but anything is possible during F1's silly season

McLaren can not get enough money from their sponsors so they are stuck with Honda.

Loads of barrier contact in practising already! These long and wide cars could be a real test to pilot through the streets.

 

Also, how red bull built their "barge"

 

Incredible

The Mercedes being the longest car, seems to not do as well on the streets of Monaco, and the McLarens did not look to bad.