2016 Silly Season Thread

Collieafc · Post by **Collieafc** » 20 May 2015, 12:05

CoopsII wrote:
Collieafc wrote:If Hamilton is in F1 in 2016 it will be either with Mercedes...or Ferrari as a replacement to Raikkonnen

You heard it here first...

You think? Nice one Nostradamus. If Hamilton is in F1 in 2016 you think he'll be in one of the current top two teams? Uncanny. Do you also have last weeks lottery numbers?

Last Wednesday or last Saturday?

Besides, Merc could nosedive hard next (though thats probably stretching it)

Jan Magnussen · Post by **Rob Dylan** » 21 May 2015, 11:28

Me and a friend worked out Hamilton earns £1.06 a second as of next year's contract.

I love working minimum wage

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 21 May 2015, 23:07

Rob Dylan wrote:Me and a friend worked out Hamilton earns £1.06 a second as of next year's contract.

I love working minimum wage

If only it was like that xkcd What If so it appeared in front of him in real time....

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » 24 May 2015, 20:55

Think Mr Hamilton might be contacting Ferrari now.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 24 May 2015, 21:24

James1978 wrote:Think Mr Hamilton might be contacting Ferrari now.

Yeah.... I don't think Ferrari have any interest in trying to buy a £100 million contract for a guy who's only gonna wind up being a number 2 to Vettel...

Post by **Londoner** » 29 May 2015, 08:49

Meanwhile, the news from Germany keeps getting worse. It looks like it's gonna be the next country to lose free-to-air F1 coverage.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 29 May 2015, 09:24

Salamander wrote:
James1978 wrote:Think Mr Hamilton might be contacting Ferrari now.

Yeah.... I don't think Ferrari have any interest in trying to buy a £100 million contract for a guy who's only gonna wind up being a number 2 to Vettel...

Plus, in the real world away from the internet, professional drivers don't just dump everything because of one small incident which only cost him ten points during a championship year which he's highly likely to win.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 29 May 2015, 11:03

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119207

An new team for 2016? With the decision taking place in the 30th of September? I will be surprised if they find anyone who actually manage to be there come the first race...

Or maybe they know something we don't and some manufacturer will be lobbying to enter the sport next year from scratch :roll:

.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 29 May 2015, 11:30

East Londoner wrote:Meanwhile, the news from Germany keeps getting worse. It looks like it's gonna be the next country to lose free-to-air F1 coverage.

The amount of countries that have the entire season live and free-to-air has shrunk considerably now. Only Azerbaijan, China, Israel, Macedonia, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela still have it. I refuse to count Globo in Brasil given the pretty bad job they do at times. Missing most of quali, missing parts of the race to show other things if the race gets delayed for some reason, or missing the start of the race because they wanted to finish showing something else pointless...they are really unreliable in this way.

At least Kvyat and Maldonado fans will be happy, I guess :roll:

Post by **tommykl** » 29 May 2015, 12:02

Biscione wrote:
East Londoner wrote:Meanwhile, the news from Germany keeps getting worse. It looks like it's gonna be the next country to lose free-to-air F1 coverage.

The amount of countries that have the entire season live and free-to-air has shrunk considerably now. Only Azerbaijan, China, Israel, Macedonia, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela still have it. I refuse to count Globo in Brasil given the pretty bad job they do at times. Missing most of quali, missing parts of the race to show other things if the race gets delayed for some reason, or missing the start of the race because they wanted to finish showing something else pointless...they are really unreliable in this way.

At least Kvyat and Maldonado fans will be happy, I guess

I'm fairly sure Wallonia still does completely free-to-air qualifying, pre-race and race for the whole season, unless things have massively changed since I've left...

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 29 May 2015, 13:00

...I wonder if my satellite dish can pick up Slovenian or Spanish TV?

Warren Hughes · Post by **Warren Hughes** » 29 May 2015, 15:01

Biscione wrote:
East Londoner wrote:Meanwhile, the news from Germany keeps getting worse. It looks like it's gonna be the next country to lose free-to-air F1 coverage.

The amount of countries that have the entire season live and free-to-air has shrunk considerably now. Only Azerbaijan, China, Israel, Macedonia, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela still have it. I refuse to count Globo in Brasil given the pretty bad job they do at times. Missing most of quali, missing parts of the race to show other things if the race gets delayed for some reason, or missing the start of the race because they wanted to finish showing something else pointless...they are really unreliable in this way.

At least Kvyat and Maldonado fans will be happy, I guess

That's it, I'm moving to Macedonia! Who's with me?!

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 29 May 2015, 15:44

Awwwwwwwwww......

Still things should improve a bit here.

The Dutch Bear · Post by **The Dutch Bear** » 29 May 2015, 18:29

tommykl wrote:
Biscione wrote:
East Londoner wrote:Meanwhile, the news from Germany keeps getting worse. It looks like it's gonna be the next country to lose free-to-air F1 coverage.

I'm fairly sure Wallonia still does completely free-to-air qualifying, pre-race and race for the whole season, unless things have massively changed since I've left...

Bugger, RTL Deutschland is my alternative for when the BBC doesn't show the race live. Well, since acquiring pay TV won't happen after I have finished my studies and get a full time job, crappy internet live streams it is then for half of the year.

Although I haven't been living under a rock, this is the first time I hear that the marriage between Flanders and Wallonia has ended in divorce. Not that I'm surprised, the divorce has been coming for several centuries now.

FMecha · Post by **FMecha** » 29 May 2015, 18:34

Have Renault already bought Lotus?

Talk about infinite loop at Enstone. :facepalm:

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 29 May 2015, 18:45

FMecha wrote:Have Renault already bought Lotus?

Talk about infinite loop at Enstone.

Hey - this is good news, if it's true. One less team that is in horrendous financial difficulty - though that may also lead to Enstone leaving the "we need to lower costs NOW" brigade... which needs all the voices it can get.

novitopoli · Post by **novitopoli** » 29 May 2015, 21:35

DanielPT wrote:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119207

An new team for 2016? With the decision taking place in the 30th of September? I will be surprised if they find anyone who actually manage to be there come the first race...

Or maybe they know something we don't and some manufacturer will be lobbying to enter the sport next year from scratch .

Some websites report GP2 frontrunners ART would be interested in entering Formula 1, thus becoming to McLaren what Haas will be to Ferrari. The driver lineup would be pretty clear, with Vandoorne and Magnussen going on to become what could arguably be the fourth best current lineup (after Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren).
Can't see that happening next year, though.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 29 May 2015, 21:49

DanielPT wrote:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119207

An new team for 2016? With the decision taking place in the 30th of September? I will be surprised if they find anyone who actually manage to be there come the first race...

Or maybe they know something we don't and some manufacturer will be lobbying to enter the sport next year from scratch .

#AudiF1Confirmed

Anyway, whatever happened to Forza Rossa? There's been very little said about them since November.

Post by **tommykl** » 29 May 2015, 22:49

The Dutch Bear wrote:
tommykl wrote:I'm fairly sure Wallonia still does completely free-to-air qualifying, pre-race and race for the whole season, unless things have massively changed since I've left...
Bugger, RTL Deutschland is my alternative for when the BBC doesn't show the race live. Well, since acquiring pay TV won't happen after I have finished my studies and get a full time job, crappy internet live streams it is then for half of the year.

Although I haven't been living under a rock, this is the first time I hear that the marriage between Flanders and Wallonia has ended in divorce. Not that I'm surprised, the divorce has been coming for several centuries now.

What divorce? The TV channels are separate in Wallonia and Flanders, because, you know, language barrier. It's been that way as long as I can remember, and all the channels, Dutch or French, are free to air in the whole country.

The Dutch Bear · Post by **The Dutch Bear** » 29 May 2015, 23:25

tommykl wrote:
The Dutch Bear wrote:
tommykl wrote:I'm fairly sure Wallonia still does completely free-to-air qualifying, pre-race and race for the whole season, unless things have massively changed since I've left...
Bugger, RTL Deutschland is my alternative for when the BBC doesn't show the race live. Well, since acquiring pay TV won't happen after I have finished my studies and get a full time job, crappy internet live streams it is then for half of the year.

Although I haven't been living under a rock, this is the first time I hear that the marriage between Flanders and Wallonia has ended in divorce. Not that I'm surprised, the divorce has been coming for several centuries now.

What divorce? The TV channels are separate in Wallonia and Flanders, because, you know, language barrier. It's been that way as long as I can remember, and all the channels, Dutch or French, are free to air in the whole country.

I read your comment wrong I'm afraid, The "I'm fairly sure that" made me think that you were surprised that Wallonia wasn't on the list of countries that still have free to air. I ****ed up, sorry about that. I'm aware off the television situation in Belgium, we get Flemish public TV here although not RTBF. I made a stupid mistake and you may disregard my comments.

Post by **mario** » 30 May 2015, 10:03

novitopoli wrote:
DanielPT wrote:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119207

An new team for 2016? With the decision taking place in the 30th of September? I will be surprised if they find anyone who actually manage to be there come the first race...

Or maybe they know something we don't and some manufacturer will be lobbying to enter the sport next year from scratch .

Some websites report GP2 frontrunners ART would be interested in entering Formula 1, thus becoming to McLaren what Haas will be to Ferrari. The driver lineup would be pretty clear, with Vandoorne and Magnussen going on to become what could arguably be the fourth best current lineup (after Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren).
Can't see that happening next year, though.

ART have expressed an interest in joining F1 in the past, and I agree that there would be a certain incentive for them if they could operate in partnership with McLaren and Honda - after all, there could be a certain attraction for Honda to place some of its favoured drivers in the same team too.

As you say, though, it is hard to see how ART could manage to prepare a car that was ready for the 2016 season in a relatively short period of time - I can only really see a team managing to do that if it has already been working on their car for an extended period of time, with the FIA's entry process being a mere formality. If that was the case, I would have thought that ART would have struggled to hide news of that for so long.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 30 May 2015, 11:41

I do wonder if McLaren will try to use the Strategy Group, or some other means, to push through legalising customer cars once again. If ART can turn up next year with the end of 2015 spec McLaren-Honda with the minimum of modifications for rule legality, they could conceivably get going next year with Magnussen/Vandoorne at the helm.

At least to my mind, somehow orchestrating that rule change being implemented quickly seems the easiest way to allow ART to get off the ground. Ferrari and RBR would likely be onboard with such a proposal. Straight off the bat, 3/4 of the biggest teams in F1 are for it. Of course, I'm sure Sauber, Lotus et al would be vehemently opposed, but who cares about them, right? Only the big teams get to call the shots. I could certainly see it going down like that.

Post by **mario** » 30 May 2015, 19:23

Biscione wrote:I do wonder if McLaren will try to use the Strategy Group, or some other means, to push through legalising customer cars once again. If ART can turn up next year with the end of 2015 spec McLaren-Honda with the minimum of modifications for rule legality, they could conceivably get going next year with Magnussen/Vandoorne at the helm.

At least to my mind, somehow orchestrating that rule change being implemented quickly seems the easiest way to allow ART to get off the ground. Ferrari and RBR would likely be onboard with such a proposal. Straight off the bat, 3/4 of the biggest teams in F1 are for it. Of course, I'm sure Sauber, Lotus et al would be vehemently opposed, but who cares about them, right? Only the big teams get to call the shots. I could certainly see it going down like that.

Mercedes have indicated in the past that they are not keen on customer cars, and as one of the larger teams in the sport they will have at least some leverage on proceedings. Williams have also made their long standing opposition to customer cars clear too, so they might contest this issue particularly forcefully (even if their influence is perhaps no longer what it once was).

As for Ferrari, whilst Montezemolo was openly in favour of customer cars, Arrivabene seems to be less receptive to the idea - they might not be completely hostile to the idea, but I would say that their position now seems to be more neutral on the matter than once they were (it is Ron Dennis who is being cited as the main figure pushing customer cars right now).

Probably, though, they could force through customer cars if they wanted - Bernie would no doubt vote in favour, and I would expect the FIA's delegates will be encouraged to vote along with FOM, which would therefore provide them with a comfortable majority.

SuzukiSwift · Post by **SuzukiSwift** » 31 May 2015, 03:41

Warren Hughes wrote:
Biscione wrote:
East Londoner wrote:Meanwhile, the news from Germany keeps getting worse. It looks like it's gonna be the next country to lose free-to-air F1 coverage.

The amount of countries that have the entire season live and free-to-air has shrunk considerably now. Only Azerbaijan, China, Israel, Macedonia, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela still have it. I refuse to count Globo in Brasil given the pretty bad job they do at times. Missing most of quali, missing parts of the race to show other things if the race gets delayed for some reason, or missing the start of the race because they wanted to finish showing something else pointless...they are really unreliable in this way.

At least Kvyat and Maldonado fans will be happy, I guess

That's it, I'm moving to Macedonia! Who's with me?!

I'll ask my relatives in Bitola if you can sleep on the couch.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 31 May 2015, 08:35

Biscione wrote:The amount of countries that have the entire season live and free-to-air has shrunk considerably now. Only Azerbaijan, China, Israel, Macedonia, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela still have it.

What do you mean by entire season? Quali + Race live?
If so, you can add Hungary - in fact, the state will launch its own sports channel in July, moving Formula-1 out from the rebranded, now flagship channel Duna to M4 Sport from that point.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 31 May 2015, 17:27

One question as regards customer cars. If there are to be customer cars, will there be a compulsion for small teams to run them, or will the rules allow the teams a choice as to whether to be a customer or a constructor?

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 31 May 2015, 18:11

dr-baker wrote:One question as regards customer cars. If there are to be customer cars, will there be a compulsion for small teams to run them, or will the rules allow the teams a choice as to whether to be a customer or a constructor?

Surely if they'll be a customer then there won't be any constructors' championship payments to them at the end of the season? Thus, the financial incentive of being a constructor remains. It makes very little sense financially to go racing with someone else's chassis design.

Post by **mario** » 31 May 2015, 20:15

AndreaModa wrote:
dr-baker wrote:One question as regards customer cars. If there are to be customer cars, will there be a compulsion for small teams to run them, or will the rules allow the teams a choice as to whether to be a customer or a constructor?

Surely if they'll be a customer then there won't be any constructors' championship payments to them at the end of the season? Thus, the financial incentive of being a constructor remains. It makes very little sense financially to go racing with someone else's chassis design.

They have not made it entirely clear how the WCC would work if customer teams were introduced, so there is the possibility that customer teams could receive payments at the end of the season. Even if they didn't, it's not clear how that would impact on teams which finished below a customer team in the WCC - for example, if a team finished in 7th place, would they receive payments as if they'd finished 7th and all other teams ahead were constructors, or would they be allocated the funds for 6th place (i.e. what the customer team would have otherwise received)?

Equally, it could also open up a question over who would be represented in the Strategy Group - currently, the 6th placed entrant in the WCC gets the final seat. However, if it were the case that a customer team was to finish 6th, would that customer team then be allocated the right to vote in the Strategy Group meetings? Or would the place be awarded to the highest ranked independent constructor instead?

gnrpoison · Post by **gnrpoison** » 02 Jun 2015, 23:59

Salamander wrote:
FMecha wrote:Have Renault already bought Lotus?

Talk about infinite loop at Enstone.

Hey - this is good news, if it's true. One less team that is in horrendous financial difficulty - though that may also lead to Enstone leaving the "we need to lower costs NOW" brigade... which needs all the voices it can get.

Imagine if someone called Toleman or the Benetton group brought the team, that would be really weird, or if Ken Tyrrell has a very rich grandson who buys Mercedes, or Paul Stewart buys the Red Bull team.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 03 Jun 2015, 00:32

gnrpoison wrote:
Salamander wrote:
FMecha wrote:Have Renault already bought Lotus?

Talk about infinite loop at Enstone.

Hey - this is good news, if it's true. One less team that is in horrendous financial difficulty - though that may also lead to Enstone leaving the "we need to lower costs NOW" brigade... which needs all the voices it can get.

Imagine if someone called Toleman or the Benetton group brought the team, that would be really weird, or if Ken Tyrrell has a very rich grandson who buys Mercedes, or Paul Stewart buys the Red Bull team.

Or if Giancarlo Minardi (or even Paul Stoddart) bought back Toro Rosso, or Richard Branson bought Manor. I would like to see some of these names back on the grid, just so long as it's genuine and they don't do what Tony Fernandes did with Lotus or that German guy tried to do with Brabham.

Nessafox · Post by **Nessafox** » 04 Jun 2015, 19:48

tommykl wrote:
The Dutch Bear wrote:
tommykl wrote:I'm fairly sure Wallonia still does completely free-to-air qualifying, pre-race and race for the whole season, unless things have massively changed since I've left...
Bugger, RTL Deutschland is my alternative for when the BBC doesn't show the race live. Well, since acquiring pay TV won't happen after I have finished my studies and get a full time job, crappy internet live streams it is then for half of the year.

Although I haven't been living under a rock, this is the first time I hear that the marriage between Flanders and Wallonia has ended in divorce. Not that I'm surprised, the divorce has been coming for several centuries now.

What divorce? The TV channels are separate in Wallonia and Flanders, because, you know, language barrier. It's been that way as long as I can remember, and all the channels, Dutch or French, are free to air in the whole country.

Nope, we can only get RTBF La Une and RTL-TVI. And considering F1 is usually on La Deux, that means pay telelevision, wich for me is not worth the cost. But that seperation has also been like this forever.

SuzukiSwift · Post by **SuzukiSwift** » 04 Jun 2015, 19:55

The new team is going to be Flavio-Toyota.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 05 Jun 2015, 10:04

SuzukiSwift wrote:The new team is going to be Flavio-Toyota.

Flavioyota F1

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 06 Jun 2015, 00:10

Surprise, surprise, Danica has said no to Haas: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/33033212

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 06 Jun 2015, 16:24

Simtek wrote:Surprise, surprise, Danica has said no to Haas: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/33033212

Silly Danica doesn't know how to play the game. Goes as follows:

Haas drops Danica's name as a possible driver;
Haas gets mentioned in the motorsport media;
Danica says there is nothing in place but she would definitely consider it;
Danica gets mentioned in the general media;
Haas gets mentioned in the general media;
Stories appear in the media for 3 months about 'will she, won't she';
Danica becomes worth more to NASCAR;
Danica signs new sponsor for Stewart-Haas since GoDaddy announced that they will continue sponsor her but not her car;
Everybody wins for a few months.

Silly woman.

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 06 Jun 2015, 17:28

Whoa, Grosjean was the fastest and Maldonado 4th. :shock:

Lotus looks strong. A second row is possible.

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 06 Jun 2015, 17:43

Dj_bereta wrote:Whoa, Grosjean was the fastest and Maldonado 4th. Lotus looks strong. A second row is possible.

Dude, I think you just posted in the wrong thread.

razta · Post by **razta** » 14 Jun 2015, 02:08

Check this out guys..

http://en.f1i.com/news/15032-honda-keen ... -team.html

Redbull Honda maybe?

Jan Magnussen · Post by **Rob Dylan** » 14 Jun 2015, 19:09

Well if the silly season idea of the second McLaren (was it ART or something?) ends up becoming a reality, I can see it being them that take up the second Honda engine.

Post by **mario** » 14 Jun 2015, 20:51

razta wrote:Check this out guys..

http://en.f1i.com/news/15032-honda-keen ... -team.html

Redbull Honda maybe?

The problem with that option would be the fact that could then bring them into conflict with McLaren over which team gets works status - I expect that McLaren would not want to relinquish that, whereas Red Bull would be expecting that status given that they have built their operations around being the works team for Renault.

Furthermore, the problem is that, right now, Honda's unit is the weakest in the field - even just getting to Renault's level will be difficult, let alone bridging the gap to Ferrari and Mercedes - and I can't see Red Bull being prepared to take that big a gamble on Honda's development program at this stage.

Rob Dylan wrote:Well if the silly season idea of the second McLaren (was it ART or something?) ends up becoming a reality, I can see it being them that take up the second Honda engine.

Yes, it was ART that was being mentioned as a potential candidate, partly because of their links with McLaren and now Honda and partly because they have already expressed an interest in competing in F1. If they were to enter, I could see them agreeing to run Honda engines, and perhaps also running with some of Honda's or McLaren's junior drivers, in return for discounted engines and sponsorship.