2022-2023 Silly Season Thread

[chavez]

Originally Posted by Greem

The situation in Ukraine renders any discussion of Kvyat moot. The FIA currently will not permit any Russian drivers to race (unless they quietly removed that rule).

Apart from the bloke that won in F3 at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

If the rule hasn't been reversed, there must loopholes.

[Richard C]

I don't think any team F1 team would touch Daniil Kvyat given the optics. Even if he agreed to race under a neutral flag (which I think he has been critical of and might face backlash at home if he did) Plus I think there are local bans (UK?) that would stop him from racing in some locations regardless of what flag he uses. Plus, he had had plenty of opportunity to shine in F1 and really hasn't. Why bring him back again? I think the NASCAR deal is with a small team that is self sponsored (or uses small sponsors).

I know Buemi is a current RBR reserve, but I just don't see him coming back as a full time drivers. Same for Vergne. We keep talking about the wealth of young drivers being blocked by older/existing drivers. Why bring back drivers who were pushed aside years ago?

Related, someone should do the super license points analysis to see who might be eligible for a super license.

Richard

[GreenMachine]

Optus (Aussie telco) has just resigned Dan as an ambassador. I am choosing to believe that is a sign he expects to be driving for someone next year, others may think it signals other things.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

I don't think any team F1 team would touch Daniil Kvyat given the optics. Even if he agreed to race under a neutral flag (which I think he has been critical of and might face backlash at home if he did) Plus I think there are local bans (UK?) that would stop him from racing in some locations regardless of what flag he uses. Plus, he had had plenty of opportunity to shine in F1 and really hasn't. Why bring him back again? I think the NASCAR deal is with a small team that is self sponsored (or uses small sponsors).

I know Buemi is a current RBR reserve, but I just don't see him coming back as a full time drivers. Same for Vergne. We keep talking about the wealth of young drivers being blocked by older/existing drivers. Why bring back drivers who were pushed aside years ago?

Related, someone should do the super license points analysis to see who might be eligible for a super license.

Richard

For me, the thought of Kvyat coming back - yet again - borders on the absurd, even by F1 standards, Whatever his nationality.....

[peebee2]

I doubt Kvyat is coming back again any time soon, although he is a much better driver than he is given credit for.

The claim was that he couldn't because of nationality which is not true at all.

[S griffin]

Kvyat might have wanted to come back this year, but it probably would have been his last. But he can find another series next season. Maybe he could find something like the DTM if they let him?

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by peebee2

I doubt Kvyat is coming back again any time soon, although he is a much better driver than he is given credit for.

Hmmm. I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that one.

[Sandgroper]

Nice to see Danny requesting his redundancy package
Good for him.

Hope he ends up back at AP, seems like something closer to the front than the rest which are already taken.

[Greem]

Alpine are taking Piastri to court, to claim the money back that they invested in his career.

If I was Piastri's legal adviser I think I'd be changing "the value of your investment can go down as well as up" today.

I guess it all depends on the various contracts he's had and whether any repayment clauses still apply. I would surmise that once a contract expires, any repayment clauses end - or the contract hasn't actually expired in the first place. Either way, a lot of dirty washing could be aired in public soon although I expect a deal will be done quietly. If this does come to court then we'll all get a glimpse of the way things are.

[Casper]

I wonder what jurisdiction the court case will be held in if it even gets that far. From the commentary I have seen and all the expert fans offerings no one outside those involved know anything about anything. Where do I find information that is based on fact, have Alpine announced court action?

[Greem]

High Court in London - if it gets that far:

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sp...ss-2022-08-08/

[Alan52]

Originally Posted by Greem

High Court in London - if it gets that far:

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sp...ss-2022-08-08/

I thought part of the teams agreement was that they had to accept rulings from the FIA and weren’t allowed to go to other legal remedies.Threat of exclusion from the Championship if they did.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Alan52

I thought part of the teams agreement was that they had to accept rulings from the FIA and weren’t allowed to go to other legal remedies.Threat of exclusion from the Championship if they did.

I doubt contracts would be legally covered by FIA decisions, team affairs and rulings of the FIA would make sense but the team signing a driver to race for their team and then assigning them to F1 vs other series or a driver saying well if I can't race for another I'm not racing would appear be a bit out of the FIA's purview other than determination of Super License status. Teams have deals based on driver x in car, without driver x in the car and his attached personal sponsors paying in as well they would have remedy to recover expenses in violation of the contract terms.

[chavez]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

I doubt contracts would be legally covered by FIA decisions, team affairs and rulings of the FIA would make sense but the team signing a driver to race for their team and then assigning them to F1 vs other series or a driver saying well if I can't race for another I'm not racing would appear be a bit out of the FIA's purview other than determination of Super License status. Teams have deals based on driver x in car, without driver x in the car and his attached personal sponsors paying in as well they would have remedy to recover expenses in violation of the contract terms.

Think of the agreement as being a gentleman's agreement not to air dirty laundry in public.

[GTRMagic]

Doohan to Alpine?

[E.B]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Doohan to Alpine?

Doohan might think he is ready but most wouldnt see it.
Danny Ric would be a much better bet

[GreenMachine]

Originally Posted by Greem

High Court in London - if it gets that far:

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sp...ss-2022-08-08/

Hot air, posturing, game playing.

This will play out behind closed doors. Deals will be done - Piastri to McLaren, Ric to Alpine, maybe Mick Doohan gets Piastri's role, McLaren will pay off Ric, less what he will get from Alpine. All we will know for sure is what we see in the resulting press releases.

[bathurst77]

Doohan 9th in f2 with only 2 wins, but its only his 1st year.

He might have the right stuff (he certainly has a pedigree) but its too soon. He needs another year or two "apprenticing"
If he was somehow to land a drivers seat in f1 next year and is not ready and up to speed/consistency it could ruin his career.

Like any ambitious youth, he needs to be patient and earn some stripes, make mistakes where fewer people are watching.

Would be crazy tho, if in all this somehow both Oscar and Dan end up unemployed and Doohan has a full time f1 seat!

[GreenMachine]

No, I agree too soon for Mick, best he can hope for is OP's testing/sim/reserve role, but even that is a stretch.

[Sandgroper]

Originally Posted by E.B

Doohan might think he is ready but most wouldnt see it.
Danny Ric would be a much better bet

This !!!!!
maybe 2024 for Doohan

[P38 in workshop]

Originally Posted by Greem

High Court in London - if it gets that far:

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sp...ss-2022-08-08/

It might be interesting to learn how many layers of companies are involved.Very often a driver is represented by a management company who undertake to contract with a driver services company to make the driver available.The driver may then have a contract with the driver services company and either may have individual sponsorship contracts.Goodness knows how many different countries might be involved,but some will be located advantageously for tax purposes.At what level might Alpine have agreed a contract?

[S griffin]

Hopefully it gets sorted out away from the courts. The problem is it's not so clear cut. Drivers can always find a way out of a contract. I just think it's not worth it. I do wonder if Alpine haven't quite got the contract they thought they had with the likes of Ocon, Alonso and Piastri?

[darcym]

this whole thing shows you the relationships teams and drivers have,

there is very little trust / respect / honour between them.

how a driver can have so much investment put into them and just walk away without any notification / interaction with the team is beyond me.

How the team can announce a drivers plans without any interaction / discussion with the driver escapes me.

How a seasoned professional driver can announce he's joining a new team without the professional courtesy to say 'negotiations are over, I've found another team' lets handle this together - I cannot grasp.

it feels very unprofessional for such a professional sport, no-one comes out of this looking good.

The moves are exciting, but this cannot be how teams and brands as big and professional as those involved, and sports people as seasoned and professional (surrounded by people with even more experience) conduct themselves.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by darcym

this whole thing shows you the relationships teams and drivers have,

there is very little trust / respect / honour between them.

I have no experience in professional racing, but the above post is interesting in how there are expectation of how the professional relationship should exist between teams and drivers being completely foreign to the rest of the business world. Or at least my perspective here in the US.

But to your point, it comes across as something particularly toxic going on inside Alpine? I expect Piastri is rightly keeping his mouth shut as to "why" he ejected out of Alpine. But it would be interesting to hear his perspective. My guess is that if you look at the F1 driver market. It's hard to find seats in general for new drivers. And hard for anyone to get a seat in a mid-field or better team. So with the potential for a significant portion of a drivers career to languish in a team at the end of the grid (look at Russel's comments about him saying while his Williams experience was good, he was there too long) and watching their chance to move up evaporate over time, I can imagine why he might have been tired of waiting and being parked elsewhere without any REAL guarantee of a more significant drive at a later date.

Richard

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by darcym

this whole thing shows you the relationships teams and drivers have,

there is very little trust / respect / honour between them.

how a driver can have so much investment put into them and just walk away without any notification / interaction with the team is beyond me.

How the team can announce a drivers plans without any interaction / discussion with the driver escapes me.

How a seasoned professional driver can announce he's joining a new team without the professional courtesy to say 'negotiations are over, I've found another team' lets handle this together - I cannot grasp.

it feels very unprofessional for such a professional sport, no-one comes out of this looking good.

The moves are exciting, but this cannot be how teams and brands as big and professional as those involved, and sports people as seasoned and professional (surrounded by people with even more experience) conduct themselves.

Someone the other day posted a link of Peter Windsor talking about 'the moves,' and concluding with talking about the relationship between Ken Tyrrell and Jackie Stewart. (It is not mentioned, but I believe it was very much the same with Cevert). Different era.