Mercedes second seat? - Page 17

old man · 21 Dec 2016, 16:28 (Ref:3697646)

I think di Resta would do a good job. 4 podiums in DTM this year, 5th in Championship

MGDavid · 21 Dec 2016, 16:52 (Ref:3697650)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

W........ since Massa is now retired and done with racing, .............

given the season,

"Oh no he's not!"

Moneyseeker · 21 Dec 2016, 17:13 (Ref:3697652)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

Well funny you should mention sim work, as Williams even went as far as nominating all of their drivers for specific tasks! They actually had 5 (!!) on contract for 2016.

di Resta - Reserve driver
Paffet - Simulator driver
Lynn - Development driver

I know some people will be linking my user flag to the fact I mentioned di Resta, but I don't actually think he should be in the seat. But if Williams considered him good enough to hire for this purpose, then maybe they should stick to that and put him in the car.

It seems we're in this odd situation where teams have about 4-5 drivers on the payrole, but don't want to actually use them, so we just shuffle others about and have a panic as soon as a driver retires and start bringing back previously retired ones.

So I personally don't think di Resta deserves a Williams drive. But I'd put him in the car before Massa, since Massa is now retired and done with racing, and di Resta is still trying to have his career. Both are already part of the team and development process as well.

The point you make about drivers on the books is a good one and really it just goes to show that these are almost meaningless titles as they don't actually want any of them to drive for the team.

Of those I would think Paffett is the only one who has had an integral role as no doubt he has been doing pre-race set up work in the sim pretty much as he did at McLaren as well as some set up guidance on the race weekend. Di Resta has only walked past a car in the garage and Lynn as development driver had two tests in the car?

In fact a reserve driver role is almost a poison chalice as you will have had no time in the car at all, it's likely you will be called up at the last minute if a regular driver is taken ill, at a track you might not have even seen before and then you make yourself look bad in the race (in all probability) as you are so under prepared. To throw so more pain their way, probably they will be the one with car problems in free practice so even less prepared for the race than they might be!

JABWOA · 21 Dec 2016, 21:24 (Ref:3697697)

Massa is not done with racing. He jumped before Frank/Claire told him to walk.
Stroll was coming sooner or later and Bottas wasn't able to go anywhere better (ha!)

The Brazillian farewell was a nice touch but created by circumstance.
He's already said he was looking for a full time championship somewhere or maybe LeMans but definitely not the Indy500.

What the hell happened with Paffett? He's probably been the most talked about, groomed, next star in the making (talking Hamilton-esk levels here) driver and then nothing. Victum of time? Being no decent cars or places to develop him like Manor?

BSchneiderFan · 21 Dec 2016, 21:44 (Ref:3697702)

It's criminal that Paffett never got his bum in a Formula 1 car as a race driver. If he were on the grid now I'd easily put him in the top half in terms of ability. But somehow his face never seemed to fit, despite his long association with McLaren and Mercedes.

djinvicta · 21 Dec 2016, 22:39 (Ref:3697722)

If you read on the "F1 Personnel on the move" Thread, Autosport have confirmed Massa at Williams for 2017.

BSchneiderFan · 21 Dec 2016, 22:57 (Ref:3697728)

I think that's slightly overstating. As far as I understand, Massa has agreed to stay at Williams if Bottas leaves, which isn't quite the same thing,

Razzzor · 22 Dec 2016, 04:21 (Ref:3697781)

Nice guy so everyone says, but I'll be disappointed to see Massa return. I'm sure there's other experienced guys out there to slot in at williams if they are going to let Bottas leave. I'm also a little flat about Bottas being in the mighty Mercedes. Bottas wasn't very impressive teamed up with Massa. Alonso or Hamilton would have won races in that Williams.

Still, I'd rather see Bottas at Merc than Alonso back in as a teammate to Hamilton in the fastest team.

I was curious about Pascal but I guess there's a chance that with Pascal at Merc, Hamilton will end up winning every single effing race next year. Bottas meanwhile could be another Rosberg just nipping at his heels. Likely not as good as Rosberg, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Akrapovic · 22 Dec 2016, 07:46 (Ref:3697798)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JABWOA

Massa is not done with racing. He jumped before Frank/Claire told him to walk.
Stroll was coming sooner or later and Bottas wasn't able to go anywhere better (ha!)

The Brazillian farewell was a nice touch but created by circumstance.
He's already said he was looking for a full time championship somewhere or maybe LeMans but definitely not the Indy500.

What the hell happened with Paffett? He's probably been the most talked about, groomed, next star in the making (talking Hamilton-esk levels here) driver and then nothing. Victum of time? Being no decent cars or places to develop him like Manor?

As I said earlier, Paffet got DTM'd. McMerc didn't want to use him, but didn't want anyone else to use him. So put him in the DTM holding pattern. Meanwhile they hired Lewis, Alonso, Heikki, Button, Perez, Montoya and even used de la Rosa and Wurz before him when they needed subs.

Unfortunately the years Paffet could've been a single seater/F1 driver have been wasted waiting for that chance. If he eventually gets bored of DTM then I'm sure Mercedes could put him in an AMG GT3 somewhere, but that's about it really.

MGDavid · 22 Dec 2016, 09:16 (Ref:3697818)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razzzor

Nice guy so everyone says, but I'll be disappointed to see Massa return. I'm sure there's other experienced guys out there to slot in at williams if they are going to let Bottas leave. ...........

If you can recall any of their names I'm sure Claire will be delighted to hear from you....

Greem · 22 Dec 2016, 16:06 (Ref:3697925)

Quote:

Originally Posted by MGDavid

given the season,

"Oh no he's not!"

I doubt "He's behind you!" is something we'll be hearing too much of

**chunterer** · 22 Dec 2016, 17:49 (Ref:3697948)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

It's criminal that Paffett never got his bum in a Formula 1 car as a race driver. If he were on the grid now I'd easily put him in the top half in terms of ability. But somehow his face never seemed to fit, despite his long association with McLaren and Mercedes.

I used to think that but sometimes it's not as 'obvious' as we think?

Akrapovic · 22 Dec 2016, 18:33 (Ref:3697956)

I do think Paffet should be given a chance, but he does have a reputation similar to di Resta in that they're both massive moaners and have very little positive to say. Sometimes that's just the media representation, but if that's how they are every day then you may struggle to get a team focused around you to get a task done.

JeremySmith · 22 Dec 2016, 20:58 (Ref:3697981)

I always got the impression that Paul di Resta was a complainer ...

**Adam43** · 22 Dec 2016, 21:16 (Ref:3697983)

... what with him being a racing driver

F1Pete · 22 Dec 2016, 21:42 (Ref:3697986)

Whatever happened to that frjins guy or however you spell his name. I believe he is in formula e. There was so much hype about him to in the lower gp's and there he was....gone.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

JeremySmith · 22 Dec 2016, 22:01 (Ref:3697991)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam43

... what with him being a racing driver

Well that's true isn't it Adam ..

Armco Bender · 23 Dec 2016, 04:23 (Ref:3698052)

I reckon after Christmas Mercedes will drop a bomb shell and name Simona de Silvestro as the second driver........this insight came from the contents of a nice bottle of Merlot I have just consumed....

p-matt · 23 Dec 2016, 09:17 (Ref:3698075)

I wonder if there wasn't such a gulf between prize money for each position in the WCC, would Williams feel more inclined to take a punt on someone like Wehrlein or Nasr rather than going for the safe and conservative Massa option? I'd say that's more likely the real reason rather than keeping Martini happy.

Interesting too to see if and how Wehrlein can recover from this reputationally. Ocon leapfrogged him for the Force India seat. Mercedes clearly didn't trust that he was the right choice else they would have snapped him up, much like RBR did with Kvyat when Vettel left. And now Williams are favouring a driver long past his best over him. Will he now be seen as the man shunned by three teams? All these rumours of him being arrogant and difficult to work with surely can't help. Mercedes might just have ruined his F1 career here by not trying to insist on Wehrlein getting the Williams seat.

I wonder too, if Ocon didn't get the Force India seat, would he have had more of a chance getting into Mercedes or Williams than Wehrlein?

wolfhound · 23 Dec 2016, 09:38 (Ref:3698080)

I suspect that if Mercedes wanted Ocon Force India would have done a deal as Wehrlein could slot straight in there instead. Remember Ocon has only a part season of F1 under his belt and Mercedes would seem to like a bit more experience than that. If Rosberg had left next year I suspect we might have seen a very different situation.

billy bleach · 23 Dec 2016, 10:25 (Ref:3698089)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armco Bender

I reckon after Christmas Mercedes will drop a bomb shell and name Simona de Silvestro as the second driver........this insight came from the contents of a nice bottle of Merlot I have just consumed....

Nah Got a watertight contract in V8SC Carmen Jorda is available.....

**bella** · 23 Dec 2016, 11:36 (Ref:3698097)

urgh, don't even joke about it...

BSchneiderFan · 23 Dec 2016, 13:01 (Ref:3698111)

Quote:

Originally Posted by p-matt

All these rumours of him being arrogant and difficult to work with surely can't help.

In his defence, Dave Ryan has been quoted as saying the rumours are nonsense and that he's a really nice bloke, which he has no real reason to do if it's not true.

F1Pete · 23 Dec 2016, 17:06 (Ref:3698152)

Carmen Jorda and Danica Patrick with Susie Wolff as reserve. Now there's a Mercedes F1 Team of Dreams. Merc car lots would be empty regardless if they won races or not. Who needs Lewis anyway.

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peebee2 · 23 Dec 2016, 19:41 (Ref:3698175)

They get on the front row! (If they entered the GP3 race with F1 cars)

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