2016 F1 Season

[SoupyFIN]

Button was so pished.



Never realised how much Nico looks like Keke when he was younger, dat 'stache though.

 

[Tryamkin]

All indications point to Wehrlein racing for Sauber next year. Looked quite strong for another very bad team in Manor.

 

[Tryamkin]

Also, Ericsson is already confirmed as the 1st Sauber driver for next year.

 

[Tryamkin]

As for the race, I for one don't like Hamilton, but I expected these antics.

I hope he gets punished for it, especially after dis-obeying Paddy.

Thought the whole hand-shake and "we're good man" scheme was dry and really fake. They do a bad job of hiding their distaste for eachother.

I think Vettel could have pushed harder at the end, he had WAY fresher tires than both of them. He's such a good guy. He sits in a room with bitter rivals and talks colourfully with both of them, trying not to hold a grudge. We saw a different side of him this year with the swearing and frustration, but he's still same old Vettel.

 

[Tryamkin]

championship predictions:
1. lewis hamilton- follows up last year with some good performances. Team favors him and takes more risks on nico resulting in another championship

2. nico rosberg- nico gets fed up with being the second choice after another season of hiding in the shadows of hamilton.

3. sebastian vettel- much like last season, he shows signs of challenge towards the top two, but the ferrari power is just too weak compared to the mercedes.

4. kimi raikkonen- showing signs of decreasing skill, but still enough to hold off the surging williams duo.

5. valterri bottas- williams car looks even better than last year but just can't catch ferrari power. Bottas improves drastically.

6. felipe massa- williams puts up a fight to ferrari and just can't close the gap. Massa sustains another small injury.

7. nico hulkenberg- force india shows more improvement and a decent following considering the indian grand prix has been cancelled for 2016.

8. danil kvyat- red bull slows down this year while surging teams like force india and toro rosso hunt them down. Kvyat signifigantly outraces ricciardo.

9. max verstappen- another season of improvement for the youngster as he struggles with consistent finishes.

10. daniel ricciardo- a down year for red bull and ricciardo who just doesn't perform up to standard.

11. sergio perez- a good year for force india, but perez who is one of the more reckless drives, crashes a few times and has some bad engine problems late.

12. carlos sainz- good car this year, but finds himself with car issues and retirements that aren't his fault. There's always one every year.

13. fernando alonso- mclaren looks better this year, but still not able to compete with the "slightly above average" group. Alonso edges button with experience and skill.

14. jenson button- button tries to compete with alonso but another half sad mclaren effort ensues and the legends finish in the bottom half.

15. marcus ericsson- shows light for a semi improved sauber team, way outcompeting nasr.

16. kevin magnussen- looked okay last year for a bad team. Renault loses power and drops in the constructors. Magnussen smashes teammate palmer.

17. roman grosjean- haas drives better than expected but notoriously reckless drives grosjean crashes a few too many times trying to push for good points. Has to use engine penalties too many times.

18. felipe nasr- decent year from the brazillian in an improving car. May push into the middle class next year.

19. esteban gutierrez- drives too protective with the new haas car and falls down to 19th late in the season.

20. jolyon palmer- at the age of 25, palmer didn't look very impressive at gp2 even though he won an easy year in gp2 in 2014. He fails to stick with renault after testin with them for years.

21. pascal wehrlein- manor looks better, but still can't get out of the f1 cellar. Pascal shows promise and beats out teammate rio.

22. rio haryanto- shows little promise with some flashes of skill, but is a bit reckless trying to move up the pack and crashes one too many times.

season predictions:
-nico rosberg gets fed up with being the team's second choice and leaves mclaren in the off season to partner up with his german country-man seb vettel at ferrari.

-kimi raikonnen retires after many successful years in f1.

-valterri bottas moves to mercedes to succeed rosberg after another great year.

-williams will compete for the title and 2017-2018 season will be very competitive as opposed to the 2015 and 2016 mclaren run away seasons.

-new renault driver jolyon palmer can't sustain his job with renault after a bad season and falls back to gp2 for the rest of his life.

1 Nico Rosberg
2 Lewis Hamilton
3 Daniel Ricciardo
4 Sebastian Vettel
5 Max Verstappen
6 Kimi Raikkonen
7 Sergio Perez
8 Valtteri Bottas
9 Nico Hulkenberg
10 Fernando Alonso
11 Felipe Massa
12 Carlos Sainz
13 Romain Grosjean
14 Daniil Kvyat
15 Jenson button
16 Kevin Magnussen
17 Felipe Nasr
18 Jolyon Palmer
19 Pascal Wehrlein
20 Esteban Gutierrez
21 Marcus Ericsson
22 Rio Haryanto / Esteban Ocon

Well....... I tried okay?

 

[Shrimper]

Rosberg retired

 

[Kane One]

Rosberg retired

I just heard. Pretty shocking.

Who gets his seat?

 

[Soedy]

Alonso, please. Wehrlein might be in the hunt as well.

 

[SoupyFIN]

Kind of feels like a Senna/Prost situation, when Prost retired because he didn't want to drive as Senna's teammate anymore.

I just heard. Pretty shocking.

Who gets his seat?

Probably Wehrlein, he's their development/test driver and Mercedes got him that Manor seat. There was some rumours that he might be going to Sauber, but I would assume that Rosberg had made this decision known to Mercedes prior to today and that's why Wehrlein hasn't commited to Sauber/Manor yet.

Alonso, please. Wehrlein might be in the hunt as well.

Tbh I can't see any top tier driver going to Mercedes as long as Hamilton is there, unless Ferrari/RB route is blocked or/and one of their drivers leaves and doesn't have better options.

 

[Shrimper]

Wehrlein did tests at Abu Dhabi recently apparently in Mercedes tyres

 

[Preds Partisan]

Big shock. I was half reading/skimming the article in my news feed and I literally read it as "If I hadn't won, I would have retired", and then I thought it said "if I win again, I'll retire". I'll blame my lack of reading comprehension on my cold.

Anyway, Wehrlein has got to get that seat. If there was some advanced notice I could see a more veteran driver there, but this timing points to him being the logical choice. With the new regs next year and no Rosberg, at least we should get some better mix on the podium since Mercedes won't be locking up 2/3 of it.

 

[SoupyFIN]

Anyway, Wehrlein has got to get that seat. If there was some advanced notice I could see a more veteran driver there, but this timing points to him being the logical choice. With the new regs next year and no Rosberg, at least we should get some better mix on the podium since Mercedes won't be locking up 2/3 of it.

Wehrlein has kept up with Hamilton/Rosberg in testing, though how much weight you can put on that is debatable. He also has experience with the team, so he won't have to give handicap in that regard like a new driver would.

However, he's still young with limited experience, so I'd expect at least a few rookie mistakes. The marching order should be pretty clear, so Hamilton is probably pretty happy right now.

 

[Flukeshot]

Shocking stuff. I didn't get to follow this season very much. Glad Nico won. I appreciate him noting how big a family effort it was. The modern athlete makes enough money in a short period of time to accomplish his goals and retire wealthy. Good for him.

Though I do wonder if this is really the last we have seen of him.

 

[Zorf]

I wonder if Button would come out of retirement for the Merc seat?

With all of the new regulations coming for 2017, I wouldn't be surprised if Mercedes wants experienced drivers to develop the cars? Wehrlein would likely get the seat in 2018.

I bet Hulkenberg regrets committing to Renault so early. Haha.

 

[Mount Suribachi]

I wonder if Button would come out of retirement for the Merc seat?

With all of the new regulations coming for 2017, I wouldn't be surprised if Mercedes wants experienced drivers to develop the cars? Wehrlein would likely get the seat in 2018.

I bet Hulkenberg regrets committing to Renault so early. Haha.

I dunno, the last few races his whole demeanour changed, mentally he was already out the door, and it was very clear at Abu Dhabi that he considers himself retired and is very happy with that.

I think they'll go with Wehrlein, if only to avoid all the aggro they had with having a 1a and 1b driver. PW would be a clear #2 to LH.

 

[SoupyFIN]

According to BBC, Mercedes wants Bottas and they'd be willing to give Williams a discount of around 10M euros on their engine deal, which is more than half of that engine contract. Williams would also get an option to replace Bottas with Wehrlein. Williams has declined the offer, but negotiations are expected to continue next week.

In related Mercedes/Williams news, current Mercedes executive technical director Paddy Lowe is about to finalize a contract to work with Williams next year. His current contract with Mercedes ends with the calendar year changing.

 

[Tryamkin]

According to Sky Sports, Massa could come out of a short one month retirement to replace Bottas at Williams if he does indeed leave.

If anyone was wondering, the reason Williams doesn't want Wehrlein and wants to keep Bottas is because they have young Canadian 18 year old Lance Stroll in a seat next year and want to pair him with an experienced driver, thus explaining Bottas staying or Massa coming in and not the young 22 year old Wehrlein.

 

[SoupyFIN]

According to Sky Sports, Massa could come out of a short one month retirement to replace Bottas at Williams if he does indeed leave.

If anyone was wondering, the reason Williams doesn't want Wehrlein and wants to keep Bottas is because they have young Canadian 18 year old Lance Stroll in a seat next year and want to pair him with an experienced driver, thus explaining Bottas staying or Massa coming in and not the young 22 year old Wehrlein.

It's not an ideal situation because Massa is a bit washed up at this point, but there isn't really other veteran drivers out there. Button was more adamant than Massa about retiring, so I don't think he'd change his mind.

Selling Bottas would be wise asset management for Williams, because he would've probably left after next season anyway.

 

[SoupyFIN]

Sky Sports Italy is reporting that Massa has accepted the one year 6M euros offer Williams made to him, thus releasing Bottas to be sold to Mercedes. News about the driver changes aren't expected until some point in January.

 

[SoupyFIN]

Mercedes & Sauber have come to an agreement to have Wehrlein drive for Sauber in 2017, according to motorsport.com.

 

[Preds Partisan]

Maybe someone can pin a new 2017 F1 thread. New cars, new Pirelli rubber, some new driver lineups, no defending champion, new American F1 owners in Liberty Media, same old F1 politics and buffoonery...lots of things to talk about.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Manor have gone into administration

 

[SoupyFIN]

Williams confirmed Bottas leaving for Mercedes and Massa returning, then Mercedes confirmed Bottas joining them about an half hour later.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Williams confirmed Bottas leaving for Mercedes and Massa returning, then Mercedes confirmed Bottas joining them about an half hour later.

Massa is only confirmed for 2017 at Williams...

 

[SoupyFIN]

Massa is only confirmed for 2017 at Williams...

Not sure I understand your point, you mean Bottas might go back to Williams after one year or..?

Massa is retiring (from F1) after this season, 100% guaranteed. Only reason why Williams signed him is that there's literally no one else left, Button had already committed to his off-year (also asked too much $$ when Williams was negotiating with him during the summer before they decided to bring along paydriver Stroll) and no other veterans available. This is just buying them time to get someone else for 2018 to pair with Stroll.