#but alfa only has one fda seat

[champagnepodiums]

Mick and Haas did not click the way supposed to also in part because of Mick. Same with Daniel Ricciardo it’s not all McLaren.

2021 aside because the car was bad, he did start 2022 really badly. His older and retired teammate had good results that was not great for Mick. He had some good moments but Haas could maybe not afford to wait too much and his low are really low.

I think he could deserve another chance because he is young and probably has potential but there is also only 20 seats and so many drivers waiting for a chance. So it’s expected that sometimes some are left frustrated. His family heritage, sponsors and money already had him having much more opportunity than others who were equally or more talented (like every drivers privileged like him). Does not mean they don’t work hard it not just the working hard part, it’s also an expensive sport and a hugely restrictive one (again only 20 guys)

I do hope we get some insides because I think the initial plan was to let him go that soon (from haas and FDA) but the plan changed. Is it from them, is it from Mick, or both ?

Some fans acted like it was Haas loss and Mercedes was an amazing move. I am not saying that Mercedes won’t be great for him, but the best outcome would have been for mick to race next year even in the worst team. At least Mercedes has the means to make him race other cars and do lot of simulator work. A lower team could not do as much because it costs a lot.

On the fan side since the beginning they thought Mick deserved an Alfa Romeo seat (like Charles from FDA) and not just the Haas one. So there was always this talk about injustice for him which was unnecessary. I mean he got an F1 seat and I think some forget how hard it is to get that opportunity. Look at Piastri case who is highly considered like Charles and George were (similar sporting results that we don’t see often at all). The guy did not have a seat and without the circumstances that we know of he maybe would not have gotten a seat until 2024.

There are some reality check needed sometimes

Every things that are not particularly nice said about Mick is not an attack against him as a person or his family. Sometimes it’s not that deep especially right now when DTS is not out yet. In the past they showed him in a really flattering manner ! They could have not talked about him at all because results wise he was nowhere.

Then also it would be good to know why HAAS brings a back so many retired drivers ! Why the need for experience that much that you get to people that have not driven f1 for years and that did not have awesome results before (development ?).

AH THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THIS BECAUSE YOU ARE SO RIGHT??

I think Gunther doesn't have the personality/desire to help develop young drivers and like it was always pretty clear that Mick was never Gunther's choice for a driver, you know? Like Mick had that seat because of a contract between Haas and Ferrari, not because Gunther chose him, I think that probably played a big role (and Mick's results didn't help himself). Maybe he would've done better at Alfa or maybe not but I agree -- an F1 seat is an F1 seat, there are lots of drivers who would take the Haas any day of the week because it's still an F1 car.

While Mercedes probably does see the talent and promise in Mick, it's undeniable that Mick holds extra PR value for their brand and I do believe that was a factor in Merc's decision to pick him up as a reserve driver. It's good for Mick, don't get me wrong but there was discourse on Twitter this week where people were acting like Mick's PR value to Mercedes wasn't considered and I absolutely don't believe that.

I agree though about how criticism isn't always necessarily personal against Mick and/or his family. Even if DTS isn't super flattering to Mick (which I'm guessing it will be), it still doesn't neccessarily mean it's a personal insult.

I think Gunther likes experienced drivers because like I mentioned above, I don't think he has the skills or personality to develop young talent. And they dont really have the budget for star talent or anything so I think that's why they're sticking with tried and true Nico/Kevin

[aprilias]

rob is barely linked to the alfa seat since they stopped the affiliation with the fda. theo is very very young and probably won't get that seat after his rookie year with a p3/p4 in the standings. zhou is linked to a seat he should probably get but not over the winner. if he wins then i'll be so happy for him to be in f1 as he's a fantastic and consistent driver. but if he doesn't win and a rookie wins instead of him but zhou gets the seat bc of the reported sum its just a bit of a pay seat, don't you think? idk that's how i see it at least

Hello anon, i have to say I’ve been expecting you.

I have to say that I used Theo and Rob as examples because they are the names I have seen most recently said by Frederic Vasseur himself. I doubt either of them will get the seat but let’s be honest here if Tsunoda finished P3 last year and got to AT then Theo could easily do the same considering he’s probably not going to have a challenger to that seat for a while. Either way both of these drivers are currently in a worse position than Zhou but no one questions when their names are bought up.

So my stance on the whole Guanyu Zhou situation is that he deserves the seat, he is someone that has been plagued by bad luck for the majority of his junior career and he has finally been (sort of) given the machinery to carry out what he’s promised to do since he joined F2. Imo he was promoted to F2 a bit early for my liking, but he was still 7th and rookie of the year in his maiden campaign, then had horrific luck at the start of the season last year - he definitely would have won the first race of the year if he didn’t have an electrical failure, meaning he was low down for the sprint, and in the race he did win that year only half points were awarded. I’ve seen people saying Juri Vips should’ve been in the AT for next year, so by that logic Guanyu should’ve been on the grid for this year.

Secondly, I do think it will be somewhat unfair should Oscar win F2 and he doesn’t get a seat, but we’ve seen this before. Stoffel had arguably the best GP2 (F2 equivalent) season, and he had to wait until a year afterwards to get a seat. The same thing also happened to Pierre Gasly, and most recently Nyck De Vries. These were all deserving of F1 but it’s sometimes a case of wrong place-wrong time. But if we’re being realistic, Alonso will probably leave again at the end of next season so there’s a space at Alpine, and unless Victor Martins or Caio Collet pull something out of the bag, that seat is most probably gonna end up in his hands. Sometimes patience is a virtue as we have seen with Pierre, who is now a race winner.

And finally we come to this whole “pay driver” situation. People are so quick to say the rumoured $30million is what is gonna get Zhou the seat, even though Vasseur has dismissed this. Now I get where some people are coming from, however no driver would have gotten to F1 without sponsorship of some kind in today’s sport, we constantly say that F1 is a sport full of money and that’s true, but I’d say a solid 4/5 drivers have had their way paved and helped by sponsors, regardless of whether talent also got them there. There’s a difference with sponsorship and paying to get your seat, which is necessarily what people like Stroll, Latifi and Mazepin have done through their family money - and we can debate whether they deserve to be there or if we like the drivers or not but at the end of the day, that is pretty much the reason why both of those 3 are there in particular. In contrast, Guanyu has people who have watched him race and are willing to back his challenge to get to F1, most probably Chinese companies as they have supposedly been desperate for one of their own on the grid. Imo it’s much like Perez’s sponsors from Mexico keeping him at Racing Point and then also at RB, and also keeping their country interested in F1. At the end of the day, F1 has evolved to be expensive, and we dislike that but it’s always been a sport for the elite, but there is a difference between sponsors and buying a seat. Guanyu Zhou might get the seat, but presuming Theo does well next season, he will probably not stay there, therefore unlike your Strolls, Latifis or Mazepins, the money he brings doesn’t make him untouchable - and that difference is what separates him from the others.

Thank you for asking, I’m sure you didn’t necessarily ask for an essay but quite a few people don’t have the perspective to show why he would possibly get the seat without the title without resolving to the pay driver card, when it’s not necessarily the case.

#sorry but this needed to be said #long post #f2 #f1 #guanyu zhou

[sanaeozora]

Calm down!

You all seem to have forgotten the very first rule of Drive to Survive: IT IS NOT REAL, IT’S A DRAMATISATION OF EVENTS TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT.

Max Verstappen made a point to NOT be a part of this because he didn’t like the way the producers mess everything up and this includes the whole Haas and the way they appear to have picked their drivers.

The reality is this:

The FDA waited until Russia to make their minds up over which of their three F1 ready juniors to pick (Mick, Callum and Robert), the decision came right after Mick won the Feature Race as it became clear that he was very much a favourite for the F2 title which would have worked wonders for Ferrari to justify picking the driver who always been their first choice, a no brainer really, getting a Schumacher back in F1 was a benefit not only for Ferrari but for the whole F1, as Domenicali has himself stated in a recent interview. They lucked out big time since by winning the F2 championship, Mick’s promotion to F1 was absolutely fully deserved, regardless of his last name. 

After this choice, they had to figure out which of the two teams to place him. The choices were Alfa and Haas, Ferrari wanted Alfa, which is why Mick was placed there for the failed FP1 at the Eifel GP, but the FCA (the parent company which owns the Alfa Romeo Brand), wanted to keep an Italian driver on that Ferrari owned seat, so they kept Giovinazzi there, which also made Kimi happy since they’re good friends. 

They entered negotiations with Steiner (please understand that Mick was NEVER involved personally in any of the negotiations, it was all between Haas and Ferrari, in fact, the contract Mick’s people negotiated and singed was not with Haas, it was with the FDA who are the ones loaning him to Haas, a bit like it happens in football teams, since the idea is that Mick should graduate in due time to Ferrari’s main team. 

Steiner thought that they could keep Magnussen and pair him to rookie Mick, but Gene Haas insisted they found a pay driver to replace Magnussen too and that’s when contacts between the Mazepin and Haas started (initial meetings happened in Sochi) but the final decision was NOT taken until much later as it wasn’t certain whether Mazepin would get enough points for his super licence.

I would say that Uralkali entered a partnership with Haas right about the same time as Mick’s contract with the FDA and negotiations between the FDA and Haas were finalised; Mazepin was announced one day sooner out of courtesy, as his dad is the title sponsor, but make no mistake, Mick would have got a seat no matter what, even if Ferrari had to help out.

The 1&1 clip we saw, and the mock up of the suits showing the Uralkali sponsorship were entirely taken out of context because that definitely happened much later and the whole “needing a German driver” and “Schumacher is sellable and will get us 5mil more” were probably a scripted thing since Ferrari had already told Steiner they were getting Mick and Gene and Steiner all they could do was to accept that choice since it came with a lot of extra tech support from Maranello, which is worth a lot more than any sponsorship money. 

So calm down people, DtS is as realistic as any of the issues Merc pretended to have during testing this year.  

#mick schumacher #f1 #drive to survive s3 #spoilers

[race-week]

hi, many people say that callum won't have a chance in f1, but what about a haas seat when mick goes to another team or an alfa romeo seat when both currect drivers leave f1? i think there's still possibility

Hi anon,

The issue with that is Ferrari have a severely overpopulated Junior Academy at the moment, they have two drivers currently in F2 who have their Superlicense and as such meet the requirements for an F1 seat. It’d be a very big ask for the FDA to try to get 3 drivers into the two seats that Ferrari have control of, provided that both seats become available at once.

Ferrari only have control of one Haas seat and one Alfa Romeo/Sauber seat, and even still the teams do have a slight sway when it comes to their driver line ups.

Mick has a 2 year deal with Haas and Alfa currently seem pretty settled with Antonio, the only reason I could see them removing Antonio from that seat is if they wanted him to do WEC with the Ferrari hypercar.

Unfortunately it’s quite unlikely that a teams reserve driver gets a full time seat, this is usually because having a dedicated reserve and test driver is a valued commodity, and Antonio was only called out of this role in 2019 because there were no juniors ready to be promoted (similar to what happened with Alex Albon in 2019 Toro Rosso)

What I can potentially see happening is Mick goes to Alfa/Sauber, either for 2022 or 2023, Haas gets Robert Schwartzman as a replacement.

It’s usually quite unlikely to get an F1 seat with one year out of single seater racing (even if you’ve been in F1 before) and there just doesn’t seem to be the space, and when it is more than a year out of the sport the likelihood of getting a seat decreases massively.

Thanks for your message anon, this is just what I think about the situation, obviously you can think what you want, I’d love to see Callum in an F1 seat (I’d like to see a lot more drivers get a chance in general but the field is too small) but at least to me it isn’t looking particularly positive at this moment.

#Al’s asks #al:assorted #al talks silly season #al:Alfa Romeo

[kimisicecream]

I thought this was common knowledge but apparently it isn’t. Alfa Romeo only fills one of their seats. The other one is filled by Ferrari. It has been this way for a while now.

2017

Sauber’s choice: Ericsson

Ferrari’s choice: Wehrlein

2018

Sauber’s choice: Ericsson

Ferrari’s choice: Leclerc

2019-2021

Alfa’s choice: Räikkönen

Ferrari’s choice: Giovinazzi

It makes perfect sense for Alfa to choose Kimi as he brings both the speed and the experience to the table. His feedback is among the best of the grid and lord knows Alfa needs it.

On top of that it’s logical that Alfa wouldn’t choose an FDA driver to fill their seat cuz that essentially means giving up control over it. Cuz do you really think Ferrari would just let Alfa fire them again if they wanted to? No. Ferrari’s driver, Ferrari’s call.

Alfa has no juniors of their own [Edit: At least not in F2 with Correa still recovering and Pourchaire being in F3. Thank you for your contributions @nicholance & @theglory-days :)] so it is not their responsibility to bring [current] F2 drivers to F1. It is Ferrari’s responsibility to get their FDA drivers a seat. But they picked Antonio.

So if you’re mad about Schumacher or Ilott not getting that Alfa seat (which I understand, cuz I think they’re F1 worthy), remember who’s really responsible.

#f1 #formula 1 #alfa romeo racing #scuderia ferrari #FDA #kimi raikkonen #antonio giovinazzi #mick schumacher #callum ilott

[jedivszombie]

15, 23, 33, 44 & 64? :)

Thank you for these questions Danny! Once again I am incapable of answering anything without it turning into an essay so you will find the answers under the cut!

it’s hump day: let’s talk about F1 baybee

15. Is there a driver that you disliked in the beginning but now like?

I answered this here.

23. Is there a driver that you think is underrated?

Yes! Quite a few actually! In terms of the current grid I really think that Antonio Giovinazzi is very underrated - sure he took a while to come to terms with the Alfa and driving in F1 but we are now seeing a much more complete Antonio who is pushing his teammate in qualifying as well as the race. He more consistently scores points these days too. He’s the Ferrari reserve driver for a reason, the FDA don’t just pick up any old scrub and give them a seat. Sure he’s not Charles or Callum but he is a solid driver and he deserves more credit than he gets. 

I also really think that Nicholas Latifi is very underrated. We saw him multiple times getting quite close to George’s pace last year during his rookie season - sure he made mistakes but he was literally a rookie. People forget that because they consider him ‘old’ to be a rookie, when really he’s what used to be a normal-ish age for people to start in F1. If Williams hadn’t constantly given him weird 4 stop strategies for no apparent reason he might have been able to capitalise on some of the crazy situations. Also so far this year he has been way more on the pace of George and closer to scoring points. He’s a solid driver who has results in junior formulas and sure you can say the money he brings with him got him the seat but he’s also managed to get up to speed fairly quickly all things considered. 

Finally, I’m gonna throw it back to one of my absolute fave drivers because this is a bit of a weird one. I cannot believe I am having to type this sentence out but I truly believe Robert Kubica is highly underrated, or at least underrated by a subset of F1 fans. Newer F1 fans seem to think he is basically a pay driver (thanks to the Orlen sponsorship) and that he’s washed up or whatever. BUT he really isn’t and he’s very, very talented and fast. I was lucky enough to get to follow his F1 career prior to his accident and my god the things he could do with the cars he was in. 

First race he participated in he would’ve finished 7th if it hadn’t been for a disqualification and he outqualified his experienced teammate (sorry Nick but Bobby K really did That to ya). He also essentially made Jacques Villeneuve, who he was just standing in for, run for the hills after just that performance. Third ever F1 race Kubica was in he got a third position. He dragged BMW Sauber and Renault to some places they should not have been in and he was in the running for a championship back in 2008. 

Even after his accident he came back to F1 and racked up hours as test driver and gave valuable feedback and then as Williams driver he scored their only point of the season and the last point Williams had. Both Seb and Lewis have often commented that he is one of the best drivers they have ever competed against. He is very mechanically minded and sure he is bringing in big sponsorship money into Alfa but he’s also giving them a lot of very valuable feedback about the car - you know the thing that everyone says Kimi is incredible at, well Robert’s incredible at that too. Also he is now in ELMS and his team just won the first round in LMP2, not too shabby for someone the vast majority of F1 fans would have you believe is washed up and past it.  

33. Do you have a favourite team principle duo or ship?

Fave team principal duos: Toto Wolff and Cyril Abiteboul. Marcin Budkowski and Cyril Abiteboul ✌🏻

44. Where would you want to have a race?

I think it sure would be neat if we had a race in Malaysia or Germany - #bringbackNurburgring. Also we should go back to South Africa or maybe have a race in another African country because I think that would be cool. 

64. Is there a ship that seems so weird but somehow just works for you?

I don’t really think I am into any weird ships just super niche ships. Like Fernandrea (Alonso and Andrea Stella) or Arrivabene and Toto Wolff or Seb and Toto. 

#pals are wonderful #maisie loves f1 #lotta words here danny i am so sorry #just me blabbering incoherently #also i reveal my love for super niche ships #flovviz #Maisie answers

[piastri]

The thing I don't get is why would Ferrari keep Gio? Listen, I like Antonio I really do, but when you look at their future prospects and what they could achieve, I think Callum has so much more potential so I'm just gonna hold on to the hope he'll end up there in 2021

hmm I think antonio’s a pretty solid driver and it’s easy to forget but this is only his second season, I don’t think it would’ve been fair to boot him out when he’s been on an upward trajectory. he also has an excellent junior series record and there’s the italian factor too.

if and hopefully when kimi retires next year, I think alfa will hold on to antonio as their experienced driver and ferrari will be able to put in one of the other fda drivers in to the other seat so they end up with 2 fda at alfa.

also they need a back up if something happens with charles/carlos, mick etc need time to develop and are an unknown so giving antonio another year makes sense.

i really don’t think at this point callum’s gonna get the seat in 2021, now his best bet is to be a reserve/development driver and keep himself in the frame for a seat in 2022.

#asks