Hamilton tests positive for Covid-19

[tux]

Social media is flooded with people begging for Russell to get the drive. I feel kinda sad for Williams tbh.

Surprised no one speaks about Anthony Davidson, as far as i understand it he still does simulator work for them.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by tux

Social media is flooded with people begging for Russell to get the drive. I feel kinda sad for Williams tbh.

Surprised no one speaks about Anthony Davidson, as far as i understand it he still does simulator work for them.

Hasn't driven current F1 car on track for yonks though

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by tux

Social media is flooded with people begging for Russell to get the drive. I feel kinda sad for Williams tbh.

Surprised no one speaks about Anthony Davidson, as far as i understand it he still does simulator work for them.

Don’t think Ant or Guti have a current licence.

[Knowlesy]

Evil laughter

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by ascarracinguk

Indeed,.....crawled from under his rock again.

I hope they give russell a shot, its the perfect opportunity...will also 'pee' off bee 2 ;-)

Just because I point out Russell hasn’t done well in races during his time so far?

[Aysedasi]

I think it should be Russell. He's been stuck in the Williams backwater for far too long and if Merc still have any real interest in him, they need to give him his head and see if he can embarrass Bottas. Man, this is a 'must-win' race for Valteri..... No excuses.

[Knowlesy]

Yeah, Bottas will be under the most pressure. But he should easily have any teammate covered.

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Yeah, Bottas will be under the most pressure. But he should easily have any teammate covered.

Should make for an exciting race, with RB, RP and others thinking maybe a chance to challenge to win. Even Ricc and McL.

[crmalcolm]

Throwing it out there if Mercedes wanted to keep a Brit in the seat - JB22 still meets the criteria for a super license.

[gert]

If they keep to the logic of 'reserve and standby drivers' then it should be Vandoorne.
If they pick someone else they undermine their own principle of 'you must be at the track and be ready to take over'

If they are seriously consider Russell as a possible future driver it would make sense to give him a shot.
At the same time that would most likely kill off any remaining chance Williams have of scoring points this season.


If Mercedes is serious about the role of the standby driver, they have little choice.

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by gert

If they keep to the logic of 'reserve and standby drivers' then it should be Vandoorne.
If they pick someone else they undermine their own principle of 'you must be at the track and be ready to take over'

If they are seriously consider Russell as a possible future driver it would make sense to give him a shot.
At the same time that would most likely kill off any remaining chance Williams have of scoring points this season.


If Mercedes is serious about the role of the standby driver, they have little choice.

Location checks out.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

Vandoorne is completing a FE test then flying to Bahrain, apparently.

I read that he was already scheduled to do that anyway, being the official Mercedes reserve. Of course he was also official reserve for RP (as part of their Merc deal) when Perez was struck down, but in the end Hulk got the gig, so I dont think being the official reserve means anything beyond a title.

[ascarracinguk]

Originally Posted by peebee2

Just because I point out Russell hasn’t done well in races during his time so far?

no, because its the ONLY thing you ever post.

you seem to have this innate ability to turn anything russell does into a negative despite showing some brilliant performances in his F1 career so far.

[Richard C]

I wish Hamilton a speedy recovery.

Richard

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by ascarracinguk

no, because its the ONLY thing you ever post.

you seem to have this innate ability to turn anything russell does into a negative despite showing some brilliant performances in his F1 career so far.

Well, thanks, but it’s not my fault he has done very, very little on any F1 Sunday yet to justify the endless fanboy drivel.

Hamilton doesn’t have the record and stipend he does because he qualifies well and races badly.

Last weekend a good demonstration. A very good qualifying performance converted to the back in just a few corners.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Yes please!! Potsie to Tyrrell Renault

And Merc have small share in Renault. It all makes sense now.

[ASCII Man]

Originally Posted by ascarracinguk

no, because its the ONLY thing you ever post.

you seem to have this innate ability to turn anything russell does into a negative despite showing some brilliant performances in his F1 career so far.

I thought we attacked the post, and not the poster here.
Guess that's out of the window now, unsurprisingly.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Evil laughter

[chillibowl]

Yeah hope he gets better and hope its not more wide spread throughout the team.

All this focus on who his replacement will be...bit curious if his side of the garage should just be pulled out of an overabundance of caution? That sounds extreme of course but better safe then sorry.

In hindsight, the lenght of time and the size of crowd on the grid for the restart was a bit worrisome. A positive test within the bubble also worrisome.

[Moneyseeker]

Originally Posted by gert

Vandoorne was always scheduled to travel to Bahrain after the FE tests, even if bothe Hamilton and Bottas were OK.
That is what reserve drivers do (if they have nothing else to do)

So I wouldn't read anything in his presence (yet)
Of course he is the official reserve/test driver and is racign for Mercedes in FE as well.

Hulkenberg is an option too, although he has no Mercedes links.

Russell?
If they (Williams) still want to score points this season they would not be helping that cause by putting somoene in the car who doen't know it.
It is probably hard enough as it is already.

Stoffel hasn't raced in F1 for 2 years and bet he has only sat in the tub of the current car for a seat fitting and is racing in the relatively low speed FE, so you have to wonder how F1 match fit he would be?

Russell is ready to go. Didn't Hulk turn down Mercedes reserve role?

[Richard C]

I have to admit I am curious to see Russell in the car. He has tested for Mercedes earlier in the year, so it should be a more smooth transition plus an interesting test of Russell once outside of the Williams.

Richard

[Anyopenroad]

I'm willing to bet a small amount of money that whoever comes in finishes ahead of Bottas


(Edit: I'm not sure that emoji means quite what I intended...)

[gert]

Originally Posted by E.B

I read that he was already scheduled to do that anyway, being the official Mercedes reserve. Of course he was also official reserve for RP (as part of their Merc deal) when Perez was struck down, but in the end Hulk got the gig, so I dont think being the official reserve means anything beyond a title.

One difference is that he was at Berlin doing Formula E at that time (for Mercedes)

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Location checks out.

I'm not into that kind of things.
I would have said the same if the reserve driver was De Vries or still Pascal Wehrlein.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Anyopenroad

location checks out

[Born Racer]

Hulkenberg arguably demonstrated at Silverstone that you don't need too much preparation to basically be mildly competitive if you're a talented F1 driver who has fairly recent experience - I imagine it takes a while to be fully up-to-speed on all the controls on the steering wheel, but it is arguably a better move than taking on a familiar reserve driver who just isn't as quick ultimately.

And that's why Mercedes should either go for Hulkenberg for instance, or, given that both titles are decided, use the opportunity to weigh up Russell.