George Russell has officially been confirmed as a Merc driver for 2022.
George Russell has officially been confirmed as a Merc driver for 2022.
And just like that, the dominos are falling into place, with only the lone Alfa seat remaining genuinely open after Williams confirm their line-up.
Really good to see Albon back in an F1 car next year. The Williams isn't great but it's good enough for a great driver to show their talent, as we've seen. Albon's underperformance at RB is a bit mysterious given he's been fairly strong up to that point, so really keen to answer that conundrum one way or the other. He has proven ability/experience to be an adequate F1 driver and retains the real possibility of becoming excellent, which is a decent punt for Williams IMO.
Keeping Latifi is fine, gives them continuity and extra funding, when he was gifted a place in Hungary he didn't throw it away and hasn't made too many mistakes, neither under nor outperforming the car.
Are Andretti and Gainbridge going to purchase Sauber?
I don't know, I haven't read anything, but with the "American Push" I wouldn't rule it out.
acket.
Ever since Mario Andretti, American drivers and teams have always managed disappoint... so I would not keep my hopes up even if there is such a purchase.
We need somebody who really loves the sport with really deep pockets willing to make long term commitments. Toyota couldn't do it. Honda has the passion and barely are able to do it twice, but still thinking of pulling out on the verge of success...
So in a pandemic, during a time when ICEs have unknown future, I don't see anyone in the US capable of doing better than Honda/Toyota.
Haas has been a joke. Will Andretti's be able to pull it off? I'm not so sure that their pockets are that deep.
Ideal situation would be Mercedes decided to pullout and some US big shot buys that. By buying a small team or build one from scratch will just take a long time... and Americans don't usually have such patience. Another issue is an American driver in the sport. Who will that be? That is more critical in order to capture more American audiences.
Last edited by Crazed_Insanity; September 8th, 2021 at 07:27 AM.
An American team will have to be American in name only. They will absolutely have to be based in Europe, probably in the UK too. If Danny Ricciardo moves on from McLaren after 2022, and he might, I reckon McLaren would go for Pato O'Ward if he wins the title in indycar. He's getting a test in Abu Dhabi at the end of the season and they're considering him I'm sure.
Yeah, I suppose Mclaren now is actually an American company in CEO only!
Zak Brown will probably need to pull some strings to get an American driver there… but 1st things 1st. Get Mclaren back to winning form before doing anything else.
Not in the scope of things 2022, but... AMuS is reporting that new engines are being delayed to 2026. That it is pretty much fact that the MGU-H is going to swim with the fishes.
And that discussions are being held between the FIA and 6 manufacturers.
acket.
Scarbs reckons this is what it'd be like. Moah powah! from front wheel harvesting.
acket.
Oh! So it’s purely electric FWD and purely ICE RWD? Interesting.
It makes sense I suppose because it’s more efficient to recover energy from front wheels during braking…
Wait, is it driving the front wheels? Or just recovering from front?
Last edited by Crazed_Insanity; September 11th, 2021 at 07:43 AM.