No F1 thread?

[JonMad]

Sainz Jr apparently.

(edit: I realise including Jr is probably unnecessary)

[Orange Cola]

Probably just rumours and nothing more but have seen something claiming seb has already done his last race- Giovinazzi to move up from Alfa for whatever 2020 races happen before whoever gets the permanent drive joins

Shit, if so that's a genuine opportunity to put Kimi back in the car for a few races.

Yeah, he is a known driver. I’d love to see that.

[Gavin]

I don't think it will happen but would be very interesting to see how LeClerc went against Alonso, even a slightly rusty Alonso.

All the "sources say" articles seem to agree it is Carlos Sainz.

[Rich B]

I still don’t get the love for Alonso, he can’t work with others, makes terrible decisions and is a bit of a whiner.

[Mito Man]

Alonso also threw away the championship in 2010, it was his first season at Ferrari so it couldn’t have been years of pressure and frustration building up. Everyone points to the Ferrari strategy mess up at Abu Dhabi but he drove with all the consistency of a 2019 Vettel for the first half of the season. Then Ferrari did the usual end of season important staff cull

[Gavin]

I still don’t get the love for Alonso, he can’t work with others, makes terrible decisions and is a bit of a whiner.

More a respect from me at least, than a love. He is bloody good at his profession which is driving. As an employee and a teammate maybe not so great but then we have no idea the UK media may "edit" as the hatchet job he did on McLaren turned a lot of the UK press against him.

What he has done outside the sport has been praise worthy though, moving back to Spain and persuading other Spanish sports stars to move back to pay fair tax to help Spain recover is laudable.

I guess having been out for a year or so and having been in crappy cars for years prior to that it is hard to tell if he would be at his best against CL. If Alonso beat him though, that would certainly be an eye opener.

[Rich B]

I still don’t get the love for Alonso, he can’t work with others, makes terrible decisions and is a bit of a whiner.

More a respect from me at least, than a love. He is bloody good at his profession which is driving. As an employee and a teammate maybe not so great but then we have no idea the UK media may "edit" as the hatchet job he did on McLaren turned a lot of the UK press against him.

What he has done outside the sport has been praise worthy though, moving back to Spain and persuading other Spanish sports stars to move back to pay fair tax to help Spain recover is laudable.

I guess having been out for a year or so and having been in crappy cars for years prior to that it is hard to tell if he would be at his best against CL. If Alonso beat him though, that would certainly be an eye opener.

Much like Seb, I expect he’d lose to his teammate, get in a big huff when he wasn’t treated as a god and leave the team (again).

Alonso would already be in the Ferrari seat anyway if he was as good as he thinks he is.

[Gavin]

I still don’t get the love for Alonso, he can’t work with others, makes terrible decisions and is a bit of a whiner.

More a respect from me at least, than a love. He is bloody good at his profession which is driving. As an employee and a teammate maybe not so great but then we have no idea the UK media may "edit" as the hatchet job he did on McLaren turned a lot of the UK press against him.

What he has done outside the sport has been praise worthy though, moving back to Spain and persuading other Spanish sports stars to move back to pay fair tax to help Spain recover is laudable.

I guess having been out for a year or so and having been in crappy cars for years prior to that it is hard to tell if he would be at his best against CL. If Alonso beat him though, that would certainly be an eye opener.

Much like Seb, I expect he’d lose to his teammate, get in a big huff when he wasn’t treated as a god and leave the team (again).

Alonso would already be in the Ferrari seat anyway if he was as good as he thinks he is.

Look at his season against Stoffell, a man who had an ever more illustrious career than LeClerc prior to F1. He hammered him. I am not saying you are wrong but having watched SvD come up I honestly expected him to at least match Alonso. As I said, I doubt it will happen but it would be an interesting season for any non Fezza fan.

[Mito Man]

Reading between the lines Seb wasn’t offered a contract as he presumably wasn’t offered number 1 status? Can’t see Alonso agreeing to being a no. 2 driver either. It is perfect for someone like Sainz as he’s like Bottas, fast enough to close out the podium but not so much that he’ll bother LeClerc too much.
Ricciardo would have been interesting but too much risk of clashing.

[Rich B]

More a respect from me at least, than a love. He is bloody good at his profession which is driving. As an employee and a teammate maybe not so great but then we have no idea the UK media may "edit" as the hatchet job he did on McLaren turned a lot of the UK press against him.

What he has done outside the sport has been praise worthy though, moving back to Spain and persuading other Spanish sports stars to move back to pay fair tax to help Spain recover is laudable.

I guess having been out for a year or so and having been in crappy cars for years prior to that it is hard to tell if he would be at his best against CL. If Alonso beat him though, that would certainly be an eye opener.

Much like Seb, I expect he’d lose to his teammate, get in a big huff when he wasn’t treated as a god and leave the team (again).

Alonso would already be in the Ferrari seat anyway if he was as good as he thinks he is.

Look at his season against Stoffell, a man who had an ever more illustrious career than LeClerc prior to F1. He hammered him. I am not saying you are wrong but having watched SvD come up I honestly expected him to at least match Alonso. As I said, I doubt it will happen but it would be an interesting season for any non Fezza fan.

Alonso beat SvD by 4 points on his debut season...

[Orange Cola]

Much like Seb, I expect he’d lose to his teammate, get in a big huff when he wasn’t treated as a god and leave the team (again).

Alonso would already be in the Ferrari seat anyway if he was as good as he thinks he is.

Look at his season against Stoffell, a man who had an ever more illustrious career than LeClerc prior to F1. He hammered him. I am not saying you are wrong but having watched SvD come up I honestly expected him to at least match Alonso. As I said, I doubt it will happen but it would be an interesting season for any non Fezza fan.

Alonso beat SvD by 4 points on his debut season...

Bit tricky to compare, they were hardly fast or reliable cars.

[Orange Cola]

Reading between the lines Seb wasn’t offered a contract as he presumably wasn’t offered number 1 status? Can’t see Alonso agreeing to being a no. 2 driver either. It is perfect for someone like Sainz as he’s like Bottas, fast enough to close out the podium but not so much that he’ll bother LeClerc too much.
Ricciardo would have been interesting but too much risk of clashing.

I wonder what CL's contract says, did Ferrari offer him a number 1 drive in the first instance and then they went to SV and offered him a number 2? Or is CL now asking Ferrari for a number 1 drive? I bet it's the former...

[Marv]

Look at his season against Stoffell, a man who had an ever more illustrious career than LeClerc prior to F1. He hammered him. I am not saying you are wrong but having watched SvD come up I honestly expected him to at least match Alonso. As I said, I doubt it will happen but it would be an interesting season for any non Fezza fan.

Alonso beat SvD by 4 points on his debut season...

Bit tricky to compare, they were hardly fast or reliable cars.

96 place grid penalty, then car breaks down on the outlap kind of reliable, IIRC

Alonso was an amazing talent. Beat Schumacher when Schumacher was still in his prime. One of the few drivers of the modern era clearly capable of dragging far better results out of a mediocre car.

Made terrible decisions career wise though, as Rich says.

[Gavin]

Alonso beat SvD by 4 points on his debut season...

Bit tricky to compare, they were hardly fast or reliable cars.

96 place grid penalty, then car breaks down on the outlap kind of reliable, IIRC

Alonso was an amazing talent. Beat Schumacher when Schumacher was still in his prime. One of the few drivers of the modern era clearly capable of dragging far better results out of a mediocre car.

Made terrible decisions career wise though, as Rich says.

I was referring to the whitewash in Quali or am i misremembering?

[integrale_evo]

Looks like sainz to Ferrari and ricciardo to mclaren according to the BBC.

[Rich B]

I hope Ricciardo doesn’t end up wandering the grid forevermore...

[NotoriousREV]

I think Ricciardo at a rejuvenated McLaren would be brilliant, if they can continue their improvement, especially in 2022 under the new regs.

[Rich B]

I think Ricciardo at a rejuvenated McLaren would be brilliant, if they can continue their improvement, especially in 2022 under the new regs.

or they go backwards again and he ends up jumping another ship the following season like Mr Alonso...

Fingers crossed, I’d love to see Mclaren back at the top.

[integrale_evo]

Ricciardo and Norris will be the most fun pairing on the grid too. Not quite sure how that fits in with the traditionally serious mclaren teams though.

[Orange Cola]

Ricciardo and Norris will be the most fun pairing on the grid too. Not quite sure how that fits in with the traditionally serious mclaren teams though.

Fine, I think. Zack is serious but has a more human and less robotic side which Ron didn’t seem to have. It’ll continue make McLaren appeal to a younger audience with more engagement too so it’s no bad thing.