I’m sure he’ll feel the full force of the law…

The lights are out and its Go! Go! Go!

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.statement-from-f1-ceo-chase-carey-target-is-to-begin-season-in-austria.5zn2chyMjrqC8n0BkEt9e.html?utm_keyword=BreakingNews&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Ogilvy&utm_campaign=20200427_BreakingNews_Engaged&utm_term=20200427_BreakingNews_Engaged

Now that’s a simulator!… 🙂

Fan crafts incredibly authentic ‘Senna Monaco 1991’ simulator using rFactor 2

that’s brilliant!

Want! I have a reasonable wheel etc. need to give it some action I think 🙂

very impressive though the pick up out of very slow corners does sound quite right to me, sounds like they are spinning up far to quickly.

Looks like the 2021 merry-go-round is up and running at last:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/52612216

So will any decent team actually want Vettel? So probably Ricciardo or Sainz to Ferrari, with McLaren the second prize. That gives Vettel a choice between Renault or Racing Point. Potential for a Damon Hill level end-of-career slump there.

I can’t see him going anywhere, for various reasons. Five quid says it’s retirement time.

The bunfight over Ricciardo vs Sainz will be a good one, though. Cyril’s not going to be a happy chappy, that’s for sure, though I can’t see Ricciardo swapping over to McLaren if Sainz gets the Ferrari seat.

Outside bet on a little reshuffle down the grid that sees Hulkenberg back and in a car that’s not capable of a podium? 🙂

I can’t see any team wanting to pay Vettel the big bucks. Even with the wunderkind LeClerc, I reckon Ferrari will want an experienced driver rather than taking a chance on younger talent. Sainz & Riccardo certainly tick those boxes though. Perez is also an outside chance, and brings a whole new marketing opportunity with him. Then of course ‘he’ is still out there – as the song goes, “They were shining there for you and me, for Liberty and if I had to do the same again I would my friend… Fernando”

The way he’s talking (family, priorities) makes it look like the end.

But that could always be a fall back position if no-one offers him a top seat.

Vettel will retire from F1. It was pretty clear for most of last year that his head wasn’t really in it any more. He can take a break then go and win Le Mans.

I think it will probably be Ricciardo to Ferrari. You have to imagine when he moved from Red Bull to Renault there was some sort of performance clause in the contract or was it 1 year with an option to extend?

Sainz seems very happy at Mclaren, they seem like a team that is very good at retaining drivers.

Hard to begrudge Ricciardo, Sainz, or Perez the Ferrari seat, but my money is on Ricciardo because he’s shown he can win races and work alongside a top level teammate without throwing sulky tantrums. Sainz looks to be very good, Perez too, but Ricciardo is definitely top level.

Signing Alonso would be perhaps the stupidest thing Ferrari could do, IMO.

I think Ricciardo will be on the phone more urgently than Sainz. He’s clearly frustrated by the lack of progress with the Renault so far and he wants to be back in a race-winning car. McLaren as a team and their car are both improving year on year and Sainz is in a good place if he’s patient: he’s got a teammate who he gets on with and who he has an edge over, and the team is growing around him. They’ve got Merc PUs on the way and in a couple of years’ time they could well be right at the sharp end.

But then they’re both decent choices for Ferrari, and Binotto’s going to be able to take his pick, so it could absolutely go either way.

Sainz looks to be very good, Perez too, but Ricciardo is definitely top level.

Ricciardo does make mistakes on occasion, though. Sainz has been hugely impressive recently, especially in races. Perez always feels an odd one: very fast, very good at managing tyres, pretty good at wringing what he can out of a car, but for some reason unconvincing as the full package. In the long term I’d have Sainz down as the safest bet, but if you want race wins in the short term then Ricciardo gets the nod.

The question is maybe how will Ferrari handle the relationship between Leclerc, who they’re now clearly fully behind, and either Sainz, who might be reluctant to lose the de facto team leader status he has at McLaren, or Ricciardo, who is going to be hungry like a dog? Or do they even overlook those two in favour of someone who’ll reliably bring the second car home one place behind Charles?

I can’t see Ricciardo going for a no.2 driver position

I can’t see Ricciardo going for a no.2 driver position

Of course, but then Ferrari wouldn’t phone him up and say “we’d like to pay you to finish behind Charles every weekend” and that probably isn’t their intention anyway: they’ve got Leclerc for a few years now, and if they think they can get someone in next year and get a WDC with either of them then they’ll take it. Again I think Ricciardo fits this dynamic a little better than Sainz. If they didn’t already have Leclerc well settled then it might be different.

My guess is that they will want a top driver like Ricciardo or Sainz so they can fight for the constructor’s championship and they will tell the drivers that they can race, but are expected to not crash into each other. Basically like Merc have been doing.

That works great when you’ve got a dominant car (Hamilton vs Rosberg/Bottas in the Merc; Senna vs Prost in the McLaren; Mansell vs Piquet at Williams etc) but not so well when you’re nip-and-tuck with two other teams (Hamilton vs Alonso at McLaren; etc). Though I agree it’s almost certainly the route they’ll take initially at least.

Andrew Benson is saying Vettel has already driven his last race and Giovinaccci will drive this season (if there is one)

Interesting but, ultimately, not surprising news. Seb didn’t do himself any favours the last two seasons and the way LeClerc has settled into the team meant that it wasn’t going to look good for Seb going forward. I also can’t really see any other team wanting to pick him up. Could be intriguing to see which way all this goes. Hulk’s not a bad driver but there’s also Occon waiting in the wings. I suspect he is waiting for Mercedes to drop Bottas but then how long does he want to wait around. Not sure I can see Sainz and LeClerc working so well together in the same team so perhaps Riciardo might end up being a decent option.

I’m not convinced Ricciardo would be a good fit…he didn’t cope well when Max came into Red Bull effectively as their No.1, which is what LeClerc seems to be (or thinks he is) at Ferrari

he didn’t cope well when Max came into Red Bull effectively as their No.1

I thought he coped pretty much as well as any driver ever has when he gets teamed with a very fast and aggressive teammate. Max was throwing tantrums, DR was behaving like an adult from what I remember.

there’s also Occon waiting in the wings. I suspect he is waiting for Mercedes to drop Bottas but then how long does he want to wait around

He’s driving for Renault until the end of 2021…

Ricciardo would be good at Ferrari; he even sounds Italian!

His experience would be valuable as LeClerc is still relatively inexperienced.

I couldn’t help but read ahead slightly in the revised BBC report.

Vettel’s departure from Ferrari signals an ignominious end to his career at the Italian team, who he joined in 2015 with the aim of following in the footsteps of his childhood hero Michael Schumacher by winning the title with them who also joined a new team to spend a few years having an ignominious end to his career.

I thought he coped pretty much as well as any driver ever has when he gets teamed with a very fast and aggressive teammate. Max was throwing tantrums, DR was behaving like an adult from what I remember

he quit, from what I remember

If Ricardo moves, who will take his place ? Hulkenburg back in the seat ? Or just to mess it up a bit, Hulk to Ferrari as a no. 2 driver.

Andrew Benson is saying Vettel has already driven his last race and Giovinaccci will drive this season (if there is one)

This wouldn’t surprise me – hardly a great swan-song final year racing behind closed doors trying to dodge a killer virus and a good chance of having to isolate from family for months on end.

My reckoning – Alonso in this season on a one year deal in an ‘old fighter back for one last shot at the big-time!”style 🙂

If they do need a seat-warmer for this season they’d be better dragging Kimi back than Giovanwhatsit.

And as I’ve always said Hamilton in Red for next season.

Alonso in this season on a one year deal in an ‘old fighter back for one last shot at the big-time!”style

No one wants that old moaning cheater back.

he quit, from what I remember

He also outscored Max, which really got under Max’s skin. The Renault move was a shock to everyone, especially Red Bull, who thought it was a formality that DR would re-sign with them. It was a big gamble – DR wanted to drive a title contending car and the Honda move by Red Bull was risky, plus Renault offered him a huge bag of cash. Max has established himself as an exceptionally fast driver and I don’t think anybody thinks DR was made to look second rate. He came across as much more mature than Max, maybe not as blindingly fast, but a very solid points scorer, much less likely to get into silly fights.

e also outscored Max, which really got under Max’s skin. The Renault move was a shock to everyone, especially Red Bull, who thought it was a formality that DR would re-sign with them. It was a big gamble – DR wanted to drive a title contending car and the Honda move by Red Bull was risky, plus Renault offered him a huge bag of cash. Max has established himself as an exceptionally fast driver and I don’t think anybody thinks DR was made to look second rate

all that is true, but at the end of the day, he didn’t want to stay in a team where he was competing against the team’s “golden boy”…..I think he’d find the same problem at Ferrari. Anyway, we’ll just have to wait and see…I just hope Hamilton doesn’t fall for it

If—if—Vettel doesn’t drive this season (which seems far-fetched in contractual terms but not so much in human ones) then the question of who might drive this year, and probably only this year, is a tantalising one.

Of the current grid, the two Alfa drivers would seem the only possibilities. More than a few people would argue that one of them would even be a championship contender; I’m not sure I’d agree, but it’d be an interesting twist. The other would perhaps be more a case of auditioning for the seat in 2021, but is he actually good enough?

Ex-drivers? Alonso and Hulk are options. Alonso would get a genuine punt at the title and if it was a one-season deal he’d be unable to rock Leclerc’s boat too much. Hulkenberg is a safe pair of hands to back up Leclerc. I suspect either of them would bite Binotto’s arm off; meanwhile Binotto must be well aware that Ferrari are looking third-best after testing, and equally aware that if there’s one person who can get the third-best car to within sniffing distance of the WDC it’s Alonso. A “2020-only” glory drive fits him, and Ferrari, infinitely better than a long-term return.

Then there’s a leftfield option that’s a huge gamble in terms of race results but makes for a very PR-friendly story: Mick Schumacher.

Ferrari need a reliable point scorer, they already have their superstar. Sainz fits that role better than Ricciardo IMHO. Sainz, Perez and maybe Giovinazzi would fit the bill. Sainz to Ferrari, Ric to McLaren seems plausible – Ric and Lando together would be funny.

Waaaay to early for Mick – he could be more Ralph than Michael! But they may put Gio in the Ferrari for this year and Mick in the Alfa, see how he goes against Kimi.

Waaaay to early for Mick – he could be more Ralph than Michael! But they may put Gio in the Ferrari for this year and Mick in the Alfa, see how he goes against Kimi.

I’d go for a variation on that theme: stick Kimi in the Ferrari for 2020 as either a wingman or on one last shot at glory, then pit Schumacher against Giovinazzi to gauge who’s the hotter ticket for the longer term.

Obviously if Vettel sees out the season it’s all moot, but still 🙂

That could work too. *Runs off to buy shares in Italian carbon fibre manufacturers*

I was thinking the same thing about Alonso – nobody’s going to want him long term, but seeing as this season is a disaster anyway, why not put him in the car for some publicity.

Italian press are saying Sainz will be confirmed within 48 hours

Sainz is off to Ferrari

Will Seb be going the other way or retiring??????????

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/f1/11987316/the-8216shutdown8217-notebook