Nyck de Vries, Prema, Monte-Carlo, F2, 2018

De Vries not in consideration for 2019 F1 drive – Brown

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In the round-up: McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says the team is not considering a Formula 1 role for its junior driver Nyck de Vries, who is currently tied for fourth place in the F2 points standings.

What they say

Nyck’s been with us for some time. He’s one of our simulator drivers and we’re a big supporter of Nyck’s.

We have a variety of different racing activities in the future so he’s someone that we’d like to keep in the family but I wouldn’t say he’s under heavy consideration for our Formula 1 seat at this point.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Shimks addresses Red Bull’s next move:

This is what I think will happen:

Red Bull have learnt their lesson and will not ruin Gasly’s career by promoting him too early – they will leave him at Toro Rosso for another year.

In the meantime, they will bring Sainz in. He’s a safe pair of hands, a known quantity, and he even may shine very brightly.

Just because they haven’t mentioned Sainz yet doesn’t mean they won’t take him. They are just weighing up all their options. And I believe he’s the best one.

After a year, they can weigh up what to do with Gasly. Perhaps he will also be making strong demands for a long-term contract at the top team, just like Verstappen did. And I doubt very much that Verstappen has a clause that he can veto driver placements alongside him. He’s already got so much out of Red Bull.
Shimks

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On this day in F1

  • 40 years ago today Ronnie Peterson scored his final F1 win in a rain-hit Austrian Grand Prix which was red-flagged after seven laps, then restarted.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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25 comments on “De Vries not in consideration for 2019 F1 drive – Brown”

  1. To be more precise, how exactly the more simplified front wing design or what in it could force the drivers to alter their driving styles? I don’t entirely get it.
    – I agree with the COTD.
    – Alonso’s tweet, though.

    1. That Rowland interview is weird; read it carefully and still confused what to expect for drivers and racing. @jerejj

      COTD and second RBR I come to a different conclusion. Agree that Gasly should learn a bit more at STR. But as a team leader I would not put Sainz next to Verstappen. Verstappen will not learn, and there is a risk the atmosphere in the team will deteriorate.
      (Very unlikely but if I were the team manager) I would find Best and most experienced driver to partner with Verstappen one year; even if that driver has a bad reputation. Only if both were to be in the race for the WDC, then this could backfire. But those chances are super slim.

      PS interesting to learn that Salo and Irvine permanently swapped the trophees.

      1. georgeboole (@)
        13th August 2018, 13:52

        As much as i d love to see that specific experienced but chaotic driver next to Verstappen, i know it won’t happen.
        But then again, who did expect Ricciardo’s move to Renault?

  2. Totally off subject: I saw Ross Brawn on the grid for the Austrian MotoGP at the RBRing, I don’t think he was there for the grid-girls (though there were some very pretty young ladies there) and the race was an absolute cracker even if it started a little slowly, the final 10 laps were thrilling with 2 multiple world champions swapping paint and the lead time after time. Question for Ross, “at which, if any, stage did you think the race would have been improved by a mandatory tyre change” ?

    1. I think the problem is that most people think they like races with pitstops, but since it has been 25 years since races without pitstops, most fans haven’t seen a race without a pitstop. I wish in this age there was at least an option to pay to not have to see them on the coverage. Nothing worse than a race developing over time and then all of a sudden you see a car heading down the pit lane at 50 mph. So tedious and harmful to the flow of a race.

      1. @darryn, I think it is more that people remember the 2005 season, where the idea of a tyre that lasted all race was introduced, and resulted in a season with the lowest amount of on track action in nearly 40 years and a 30% decline in overtaking moves between the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

        1. But I relate these comments to aero downforce that requires clean air. In MotoGP it doesn’t exist in a harmful way to the racing. So no need to try to shake things up with a forced stop. And in 04/05 the long lasting tires were on cars that were also dependent on clean air as they are today. Proper racing tires on cars (and bikes) that can actually follow each other and pass, without ruining the tires or needing drs, are what is needed and is why Brawn is addressing that. But really though we’ve seen F1 cars on longer lasting tires and we’ve seen them on terrible tires, and we’ve probably seen them on perfect tires too, but the leading car is on the same ones as the trailing car, so it still comes down to how dependent the cars are on clean air.

  3. COTD doesn’t make much sense and this is why, Sainz doesn’t give Red Bull a lot of strategical options during a race because he’s basically a one trick pony. Yes he’s a decent qualifier (much better as it has appeared to be because he’s been struggling with problems with the Renault car most of this season) and he does have good race starts in the midfield, but making gains at the front of the grid is much more difficult. He’s also not very good in w2w and which includes defending, besides him not being very good with tyre management (both deficits aren’t that usable when making strategic decisions during a race).

    Red Bull will lose leverage if they already let Sainz go and at the moment they’re still negotiating with McLaren over Key and Norris. They also don’t want to sign a driver up for only one year because they reckon in ’20 they might have a shot at the World Championship title and the last thing they would want is to have a driver who’s not settled in by then.

    Now unless Red Bull really has major doubts about Gasly, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for Red Bull to take Sainz over Gasly (who might be much more useful strategical).

    Gasly also won’t be able to make any strong demands because he has been a driver who has been supported by Red Bull during his junior career (unlike Verstappen). Normal Red Bull junior drivers have a 5 year contract which makes them being at the mercy of Red Bull in F1 for that period.

    1. Those are some solid arguments, mister.

    2. There is also the question of whether Redbull feel they harmed any drivers long term prospects by promoting them to early. They might feel totally justified with their actions, think that they saved time and these drivers where never going to be the top tier performers they wanted. I got a feeling this is their perspective.

      They will have all the necessary data to compare the two – and will simply promote the best – UNLESS want to use Sainz as a pawn in the bigger scheme of things.

      They got a lot of options for the Rebull seat – really any driver besides Ham, Vet, Bot, Ver, Ric and Hul (Lec?) – makes sense to take some time to consider all scenarios.

    3. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      13th August 2018, 9:57

      I’m not so sure that Sainz is a good qualifier. First off, Kvyat pretty much matched him when they were team mates. When Kvyat and Ricciardo were team mates, Ricciardo dominated Kvyat in qualifying. And now Verstappen is heavily beating Ricciardo in this area. I think Verstappen has got significantly better with his one lap pace, and I get the feeling Sainz is going to be nowhere close to him. Last year, Sainz also caused more retirements than any other driver on the grid. Involving 2 very dangerous incidents taking himself and another driver out (Bahrain and Canada) and then ruining his own race in Japan. That was also his last race for Toro Rosso. And not a good end. He did at the same time get a lot of points for the team. But I’ve always seen Sainz as rather inconsistent. Very good at times but keeps making mistakes or under performing.

      He’s looked decent in qualifying this year. But the first few races didn’t look great. Especially the first 2. He ran wide and went off track one or two times in Australia which won’t have done the underside of his car much good. But I can say he’s looked strong more recently. But given the pattern with him, it doesn’t always seem to last. But that Said, given his experience, I don’t know if there is a better option for Red Bull. Verstappen worked out ok. He was put in the team after a season and a few races. Gasly will have had more experience than Verstappen did if he gets moved up next year. Maybe it could work out? I’m not sure. I just don’t see Sainz to be all that great given how long he’s been in F1 now.

      1. Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
        13th August 2018, 10:10

        I’m concerned that Verstappen will walk over Gasly though. I know we thought the same with Ricciardo and Vettel but Gasly only has a year of experience and has had only 3 Impressive performances. The only reason I see for RBR bringing him in is as a safe pair of hands. I think he needs a proper benchmark. But who? RBR are taking enough of a risk with Honda as it is without a near rookie. I would like to see Gasly in the Red Bull in circa 2020. If Leclerc is struggling to get a top team, why would Gasly get one.
        I will get lynched for this but go Sainz.

        1. @felipemassadobrasil

          RBR are taking enough of a risk with Honda as it is without a near rookie…. I will get lynched for this but go Sainz.

          Gasly knows the Honda engine already, it might help a bit. But i agree, Sainz would be better in the RBR seat for a couple of years. But VER would walk over both SAI or GAS anyway, given how close he is to Danny Ric (which i personally rate as one of the best 3 drivers currently in F1)

  4. I love that Salo article. he was one of my favourites. the picture of the 1995 tyrrel is excellent, what a beauty. it’s interesting how much emphasis he puts on developing cars for specific drivers (i.e. he developed the toyota but the drivers who replaced him might not like it). I’m always a bit sceptical about ‘development’ drivers but perhaps there’s some truth in that – the good development driver can help develop a car which suits everyone, not just themself.

    I think my favourite drive of Salo’s was monaco in 1997 when he finished 5th despite not making a pit stop (this was in the refuelling era, but the race was wet and only ran to ~62 laps when it hit the 2 hour mark). really remarkable drive.

  5. One thing Red Bull could do is promote Gasly and get Sainz back to Torro Rosso. I agree that it isn’t a logical step for Sainz (he might even take it as an insult) and it doesn’t make a lot of sense for Red Bull, but depending on contracts/options it could be a viable thing to do for Red Bull. That way they have at least 1 experienced driver in Torro Rosso (and partner him up with Wehrlein if you can’t promote from within the Red Bull family.

    What other options does Sainz have? It might be McLaren, but if rumours are true, then Ocon might be heading that way. With Stroll taking over Force India, the silly season has gotten in full swing. Unless Alonso has his farewell party at the end of the year, there might not be a place at McLaren. So then what? Haas (Magnussen, Grosjean/Leclerc)? Sauber (Giovanazzi, Leclerc, Ericson)? Williams (would rather drive a TR if I were Sainz)?

    Sainz and Ocon deserve a spot in F1. Let’s hope they get in a decent team.

    1. @MCBosch Unlikely to happen, though. There’s no going back to STR for Sainz as he’s driven almost three full seasons there already, so it’s basically either RBR or some other team (reportedly Mclaren), which would mean that he’d have to leave the entire RB family same as Ricciardo.

  6. Alonso’s announcement tomorrow seems sadly not to be a Red Bull move since the ‘Nothanks’ tweet to the Horner Sky article, and since McLaren is going to be no hope until 2021 at least, my guess it’s on to Indycar.

    1. I just really can’t envision FA wanting to have a Honda Pu again, and I think he will want to stay at Ma

      1. Oops posted by mistake…I think he will want to stay at Mac while they help him with another Indy 500 opportunity.

  7. Mercedes – Hamilton Bottas
    Ferrari _ Vettel Raikonnen
    Redbull – Verstappen Sainz
    Renault- Hulkenberg Ricciardo
    Haas – Magnusen LeClerc
    Torso Rosso – Gasly Hartley
    Force India – Perez Stroll
    McLaren – Alonso Vandorne
    Williams – Sirotkin Ocon
    Sauber – Grosjean Giovanassi

    Just my predictions. I don’t really see why Verstappen needs an ‘experienced’ team mate it will be his 4th (?) Year in F1 he should be experienced enough by now and Sainz was a match for him at Torso Rosso. Unless of course he has the rumoured Veto on team mates.

  8. Bit of an error in the Salo F1 article:

    “They unravelled two races earlier at Silverstone when Michael Schumacher, not knowing that the race had been red flagged as Alex Zanardi’s Lotus and Jacques Villeneuve’s BAR were left stalled on the start line”

    Think that should be Williams.

    1. @ecwdanselby
      Yep. My thoughts exactly.
      On the other hand, Salo’s assessment of how the Belgian GP in 1999 went, isn’t all to faithful to the truth, either.
      But that’s just how it goes with former drivers who never achieved the greatness they feel they deserved. Michael Andretti’s interview from last week boiled down to “I kinda almost raced Senna in Donington, and the rest was just bad luck”.

  9. Sainz probably won’t drive for Red Bull because Red Bull will draw the same conclusion as Renault.
    Renault were only too happy to pay top dollar for Ricciardo and let Sainz go while they kept Hülkenberg.

    Gasly shows improvement and promise. Sainz not so much.
    Even if Sainz is quicker now, he might not be in 2 years time. And that’s where Red Bull’s focus is.

  10. The Verstappen Sainz combination was toxic at TR. Sainz also showed to much distrust to Redbull and to much love for Renault. I just cant see him staying in the RedBull family.
    Fernando will like to have him as a teammate at McLaren.

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