[chunterer]

Originally Posted by spider

With Jolyon, he has his Dad negotiating deals with Renault for Motorsport Vision. You can see there's Clio's at Bedford Autodrome etc - that's the type of deal Jolyon brings.

In terms of real driving talent / raw speed, Jolyon and Lance Stroll, perhaps with Ericsson have to be the weakest drivers in the field by a margin.

To be honest, it says a lot about Renault's approach, that Jolyon has a 'works' seat.

For Renault to wriggle out of his deal this season, would surely cause ramifications for the company with the MSV arrangement. So, perhaps you could imagine if they were to ditch Jolyon for Robert, it would have to be at seasons-end, when the termination clauses are nowhere near as steep.

Plus, that MSV platform, for Renault longer term, probably isn't worth losing. Sacking the son of the owner of that platform isn't a good strategic move.

Jolyon is clearly a nice guy - smart, a good talker - just not in any way an 'A Grade' driver. Makes a bit of a mockery of GP2 that he's one of their previous champions, to be honest. But, he'll probably cling on to a ride for the rest of 2017.

This is an interesting theory but in the cold light of day the board at Renault will be far more interested in maximising the results of the F1 team over keeping a partnership going with MSV that in the greater scheme of things is small fry, and only relevant to the UK.