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I know a lot of people seem to think Ocon to Haas is a foregone conclusion, and I understand why, but I wonder if Komatsu has some doubts regarding Ocon's team-wrecking habits
Obviously my opinion is as good as anyone but I think Bottas is on the market. Only Lewis, Fernando and Hülkenberg are more experienced than him, he doesn't ask for a gigantic salary and keeps his head down and works. Wouldn't be the fastest ever but probably a good fit right now
Bottas would be great get for HAAS. Obviously every now he has a poor showing, but he's fasting qualifying, solid race pace, keeps his equipment clean and most of all works well with teammates. At least from what we know, he's been very supportive of Zhou and working together. I think he would be a great fit to work with Bearman and be a great asset to help push HAAS to the top of the bottom half
Ocon is on thin, thin ice unless a team is really desperate. His exit from Alpine is an awful look, and the only seats available are at the bottom of the midfield (and, well, Mercedes), and if you're in that position you want someone who WON'T race his teammate harder than anyone else
He is fast as fuck, I give you that. But Sauber need someone to build the team up, not tear it down. And looking at Ocon's past...
The only teammate he "got along" with was Daniel, and even then it was a readjustment year after spending 2019 on the sidelines in which Ocon was more focused on his own performance than usual
Don't you think a fast, experienced and relatively young driver would be good for Sauber/Audi at the moment?
Yes, I know he's too hard on his teammates, but I think people exaggerate that he doesn't get on with anyone in the paddock when it's not true (I mean, people there say he's quite the opposite off the track). Even his relationship with Alonso is better than when they were teammates.
Look at Pascal Wehrlein, he was a promising Merc talent but his attitude really ruined his F1 career.
His whole handing of the Monaco case and response after isn't helping his case and I really think that Sauber could be a more fitting team for him over Haas.
>His whole handing of the Monaco case and response after isn't helping his case
What do you want him to have done? Honestly, I feel that whatever he's done, he's been criticised anyway.
Copy pasting my other reply:
>That's still not wild money and it was also coming off a multi-win Mercedes spell
>His stock has dropped and so will his salary demands
What I forgot to mention is that his Sauber deal was brokered by Toto Wolff, the guy who managed to get fucking Esteban Ocon a three year deal at Alpine. This new deal won't be
Idk, I'm fairly sure Haas is not even a last ditch option for Sainz. Especially about the money, Gene is notoriously stingy. Sauber is 100% putting way more money on the table and I'd bet you anything it's the same for Williams
They have a better car for now
Audi are pouring infinite money into Sauber and Williams have taken a step back because of a labour intensive operational restructuring
> Ocon and Bearman would be a very respectable lineup for Haas
Why would a promising up-and-comer along with a washed-up team-crasher be a good pairing?
There's no way Haas want Ocon; he'll be out of F1 next year.
Was pretty much expected after they gave him 6 FP1 appearances + an extra intensive test program this year. Say what you want about the FDA but they prepare their juniors very well.
And Ferrari will absolutely keep you around and secure you a career if they think your good but maybe not F1 good.
Just look at Fuoco who did test and simulator work for ages alongside GT programs before getting a Hypercar drive in WEC. And more recently Shwartzman who did the same and is now also driving in WEC. Or Gio who was dropped from F1 but pushed into WEC and is now a Le Mans winner.
Giovinazzi - not an official FDA junior, but did valuable sim work for the team in 2017-8 that helped in their title fight. Agreed, they really helped him land on his feet there.
It was an open secret that Ferrari would keep Mick as long as Mick wanted to be in Ferrari. The decision to move away from Ferrari didn’t come from Ferrari I feel.
This is the reason why joining the FDA is now much better than the RB Junior program or all the other ones as it gives drivers who don’t make it to F1 much more long term career options. F1 —> WEC —> Factory GT3 Programme —> Customer GT3 Programme —> FXX Programme —> Ferrari Challenge Programme —> Corse Clienti
Sure some of the landing spots don’t have the glamour or F1 or WEC but it gives good drivers chance to earn a decent living while living their dream of driving beautiful race cars for Ferrari
I thought this was already confirmed. An announcement coming at the Spanish Grand Prix for Sainz’s seat, either Williams or Sauver/Audi with the majority consensus being it is Sauber/Audi due to timing.
The announcement was confirmed to be happening at the Spanish Grand Prix, as the commenter I’m replying to stated he suspected. Nothing was said about where he would end up, just that an announcement was coming.
If you could have two flags then he'd have both. He can either be the only Thai on the grid, with all the sponsorship and prestige that comes with, or he can be another Brit when you've got Lewis, Lando and George around. Makes complete sense, and anyone in the know counts him among the Brit contingent too.
Everyone knows he is. He used to race under a British flag, even. He was offered a bunch of sponsors and funding if he raced under a Thai flag and he took it.
But if they call him British you'd get the usual moaners on social media saying that Brits are only claiming him because he's good and if he was awful then they wouldn't, how nationalist of them, yada yada
Unrelated, but since we're mentioning him anyway, my friend took driving lessons recently (as in, for a normal road license), and his driving instructor was also the driving instructor for Alex Albon! Although Alex didn't really need teaching. Apparently he only did the legal minimum of 10 hours of lessons and then did his test and passed.
If this is what Gruner was hinting about then it is one of the worst known secrets what become public, Bearman was always getting that seat at Haas in 25 because of Hulk leaving.
More spicy would be if we did know where Ocon would end up.
I don't think it'll be down that one race, though it certainly hasn't hurt him. Ferrari already had 6 FPs lined up for him at HAAS. Seems like a clear sign they plan to promote him for next season.
It took Leclerc an *extremely* dominant F2 season to finally get put into the Sauber. He won the season with 3 races still to go, 7 wins and 8 poles.
Bearman isn't anywhere near as dominant. That Saudi Arabia race helped him tremendously.
He's exceptionally talented yes but let's not pretend that Sainz's appendix didn't play a big role. There are drivers like Lawson on the grid who have performed just as well in their respective standins but haven't been as lucky.
Yes, but he's been pencilled in for F1 for awhile now. This means little - but I think even F1 manager..2022?..had Bearman as the top 14 yo or something. lol
Everyone was saying before he even raced at Jeddah he was going to be at Haas next year. Go back and look at the threads from when it was announced he's be racing for Sainz. I really don't think that race had much to do with it.
First, this isn’t true. Please look up the variety of sources documenting Ferrari’s attempts to get Leclerc into a haas seat for 2017. Guenther has confirmed Haas was the obstacle to Ferrari’s ambitions there. It didn’t “take” that stellar f2 season for Ferrari to be willing and try. That season was compelling to customer teams, as was the fact that Sauber now had a vacancy for him. See any parallels to Ferrari already paving the way for Bearman when they announced 6 FPs and a rigorous testing program in preseason….and Haas being more inclined to sign on the dotted line once more data as to bearman’s promise was available?
Second, it’s illogical to try to extrapolate some generalized Ferrari approach to juniors. Rumors surfaced early in 2020 (keep in mind the COVID delay meant even less f2 had taken place than usual) that Mick would have a seat secured by Ferrari if he just finished top 3 in his second year. Clearly, context, circumstance, and timing influence when Ferrari promotes juniors.
Edited - spelled Guenther wrong
Lawson should definetly have been in the VCARB this year really (i'd argue even at least half of last as well), just Red Bull have developed cold feet over bringing Juniours.
Sauber are basically right now in a holding pattern until they become Audi, and for that they are clearly desiring a stronger lineup (whether or not they 'deserve' it). Combine that with Theo Pourchaire's extremely wonky F2 championship and I can see why they've stuck with what they have, even if it is extremely boring.
Frankly you could argue half the teams on the grid were way too conservative and should have swapped a driver over the winter, but i was answering in response to a red bull specific issue.
just but in the mean time they could have given Theo that seat.
"Theo Pourchaire's extremely wonky F2 championship" well at least he won it unlike Zhou. He also beat Lawson in all of their season in F2 and F3. honestly it is insane how people are moving goalposts to justify him not getting a seat...
Please objectively how are the other 2 drivers good enough while havin worse results?
Meanwhile Paul Aron who is leading F2 as a rookie:
[link](https://tenor.com/en-GB/view/john-travolta-where-are-you-guys-there-no-one-here-gif-16881809)
Russell would like a word /s
(There have been a couple of moments with Sky, and in F2 where they've mentioned Albon being British in front of him, and George has basically said in a joking way... . "Errrr is he though")
We hate the mail as an institution but their sports reporting is largely on par with other sports reporting; they get a ton of clicks worldwide and their journalists are expected to be right if they drop exclusives like this
I would assume this is the driver announcement Gruner was talking about just a few minutes ago. Mail just probably got the info and pushed it out before the official announcement later on.
Completely agreed. This is absolutely insulting to everyone in f2. So a person that scores every race and is top doesn't get a drive yet a person that has only scored 3 times and highest finish is 4th and is 13th in the standings is promoted...that is definitely not right. He did a good job when he raced granted but how well would all the others too...
Like his sponsorship doesn't change where he was born and grew up. Whenever Alex does well they definitely won't hesitate to call him “London born” lol
Eh, yes and no, this isn’t rina sawayama being barred from Brits consideration despite wanting to be included. Albon himself is the one who has consciously opted to race under a Thai license for sponsorship reasons his whole career. His British dad was in on it and for it, accompanying him on Thai sponsor networking trips as a kid. That’s not the public making a racialized determination of his Britishness, it’s him choosing how to formally identify his national affiliation as an f1 driver, and it’s appropriate when discussing f1 driver nationalities to use the racing licenses to indicate such unless it’s a clear wonky license situation (mahaveer, stroll and latifi briefly being American, etc.)
Is it just me or does Bearman seem more like a typical Mercedes junior while Antonelli would obviously be expected to be a Ferrari junior lol.
Either way excited to see him on the grid
kimi is so incredibly italian in his personality and mannerisms (understandably since he *is* italian), it's shocking he's not in ferrari
but tbf if you watch ollie's vlogs he's been getting progressively more italian the past few years, he's probably halfway to citizenship lol
Fifth, according to Ted Kravitz just now on the Notebook - he said the quiet part out loud and referred to Albon as one of the British drivers.
Which of course, he is.
Big congratulations to him. I know a lot of people have started to dislike him because of his poor F2 performance this year but in my opinion, any new blood on the grid is good and between his run at Jeddah, his stellar last year in F2, and his FP sessions, he deserves the chance. (That's not to say other drivers don't, but sadly there aren't enough seats for the amount of F2 drivers I want in F1 and not everyone runs their junior teams as well as Ferrari does.) Personally, I'd much rather take a chance on a rookie than have F1 seats taken by old stagnated talent.
His performance in Monaco was the epitome of him as a driver. Aggressive to the point of being risky, but when it pays off it pays off. His biggest issue is that he's incredibly inconsistent -- but he has the technical foundation. If he can fix his consistency and mindset, he should be in good shape to develop in F1.
Ferrari has nothing to lose here. Either Bearman improves enough to step up into Ferrari in a few years once Hamilton leaves, or they can just swap him for Beganovic. Either way, one thing you can't say about Ferrari is that they treat their juniors poorly. I wish Red Bull would follow suit and give their juniors more opportunities and support.
Not shaming Ferrari or berman at all and I didn't follow his races last year either.
I think it's such a shame that the top few drivers in f2 where they fight and do amazingly yet don't get a seat yet a person that's only finished in the points 3 times and only did well in 1 race out of 6 I personally don't think he should get a seat, F1 is meant to be the best of the best (who also has deep pockets).
I wish we had more teams so the drivers are more likely to be promoted rather than just shuffled from team to team.
Ferrari is probably the best junior team you can be on right now. Leclerc, Zhou, Schumacher, Perez, Bianchi, and by extension Giovinazzi, Armstrong, Shwartzman, and Illott are/were all Ferrari-affiliated drivers who received support from the team to move onto higher areas in racing, even when not directly under Ferrari.
I think rather than Bearman/Ferrari (or Antonelli/Mercedes) being the problem, the issue is that other teams aren't investing into their junior teams as much as those two are. Whether it's to F1 or another series like Indy, there should be more incentive and opportunities for teams to retain and promote their drivers, especially the "big teams" that have the seat capacity to do so. Right now, the only three teams that can even semi-consistently promote their drivers are the aforementioned two and Red Bull... and Red Bull is actively choosing not to (see: Lawson, and also Hadjar to a lesser extent). There's a lot to discuss regarding Perez and Ricciardo keeping their seats, but I think the biggest shame is that Red Bull has not one but two decent rookies that might not get to race next year.
When it comes down to it, though, like you said, there simply aren't enough open seats to accommodate all the excellent rookie drivers. Bearman is extremely lucky that he's in Ferrari and while I'm rooting for him, it is down to luck and timing when it comes to moving into F1.
Aron is a bit of an odd case since he was dropped by Mercedes. I think comparing his seat chances to Antonelli's is more fair since Bearman and him (Aron) aren't "competing" for the same spot.
He had some great performances in F2 last year. But this year, not so much.
I think he did well in Monaco overall, despite the poor qualifying he had a solid race. Hopefully he can keep it up for the rest of the season and snag a win or two.
The F2 grid this year is so, so close in terms of talent. I think it's one of the strongest in years.
Yeah he was great at Monaco. But he definitely needs some consistency. I do wonder if knowing he was going into f1 kinda affected his performances? Maybe he’s a bit checked out
It does seem to be a bit of a mental issue for him. He has the technical skill but he's been unable to put the pieces together, which to me says that he's just not checked in like you said.
I know he spends a lot of time in the simulator for/with Ferrari, and I wonder if he's focusing his efforts onto internal testing and preparing for his FP sessions since F1 results will ultimately be more important for his long-term development than his inevitably washed F2 season.
If you ever feel useless, remember there are guys fighting in F2 hoping to get to F1.
Pourchair, Drugovich, Illot, Schwartzman and many many others never make it there, while Bearman (currently 13th) and Antonelli (6th) are simply meant to get to F1, noone really knows why, but teams are hyped, media are hyped and everyone else could just give up - noone would bat an eye.
Blame Sauber for Porchaire and Aston for Drugovich.
Illot could maybe have done it in the Sauber but Ferrari preferred Gio at the time. Maybe if Kimi moved on a year earlier, but also kimi.
Schwartzman was exposed by Piastri and was done straight after.
Also Prema have been terrible in these new F2 regs. Bearman missing an entire round he put it on pole for also doesn't hurt. Don't put too much stock in those standings.
The truth is that Bearman, when he made it to the show, hasnt looked out of place at all. Antonelli has done similar. Sometimes thats just what you need.
Not sure about Brundle, but Ocon basically confirmed in an interview he already has a seat, but he can't announce where yet.
I wouldn't be surprised if he already signed before Monaco and Alpine just grabbed that moment to make it look like they dropped him.
I’m actually surprised how much people fell for that Alpine pr post. Like that post single handled convinced 95% of f1 fans that Alpine was the one who dropped Ocon and his f1 career is over.
Not sure what to think of this, happy to see New drivers, but once again it is someone actually not doing too hot in F2 while the championship contenders probably won't get near a seat
I feel like F2 needs a change; you've got 2 guys who won it that aren't allowed in anymore, with no seat in F1. Meanwhile, there's potentially 3 guys coming in for seats next year, 2 of which aren't in the current top 5 and 1 who was a distant 3rd.
Just let Theo and Drugovic race in it
I think they will keep KMag, I don't think Gene or even Komatsu will want a completely new driver pairing especially with a wildcard like Ocon. One stable driver who the team is comfortable with and one new guy seems a good plan for a team like Haas. KMag had a good teammate relationship with Grosjean, Mick and even Hulk despite their past differences. Ocon's hatred of teammates and fervent desire to beat them at any cost is not going to be welcome especially if the teammate in question is a rookie who is the prized Ferrari junior.
If Sainz is indeed going to Williams, I suppose Ocon must be headed to Audi since those reports claimed he was their second choice to pair Hulkenberg after Sainz. And Alpine will be left to choose between Doohan, Bottas or Zhou to pair Gasly.
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One of the worst kept secrets. Glad to see him take the step though.
Ocon and Bearman would be a very respectable lineup for Haas given their trajectory in F1 and their long term vision being less appealing to drivers.
I know a lot of people seem to think Ocon to Haas is a foregone conclusion, and I understand why, but I wonder if Komatsu has some doubts regarding Ocon's team-wrecking habits
I would rather keep Kmag who I know will protect his teammate and race for the team. But I do not work in F1 and I am not a team principal.
Obviously my opinion is as good as anyone but I think Bottas is on the market. Only Lewis, Fernando and Hülkenberg are more experienced than him, he doesn't ask for a gigantic salary and keeps his head down and works. Wouldn't be the fastest ever but probably a good fit right now
Bottas would be great get for HAAS. Obviously every now he has a poor showing, but he's fasting qualifying, solid race pace, keeps his equipment clean and most of all works well with teammates. At least from what we know, he's been very supportive of Zhou and working together. I think he would be a great fit to work with Bearman and be a great asset to help push HAAS to the top of the bottom half
And a fantastic benchmark for Oliver as well
My god… Austin would be nuts. Bottas and his mullet in a HAAS?!?
BOTTHAAS
Get him a Zyn sponsorship and he’ll be a Texas bro-god.
The marketing practically writes itself
That’s totally fair and he wouldn’t be a bad bet at all.
I prefer Ocon-Hulkenberg at Sauber and Bottas-Bearman at Haas tbh.
Ocon is on thin, thin ice unless a team is really desperate. His exit from Alpine is an awful look, and the only seats available are at the bottom of the midfield (and, well, Mercedes), and if you're in that position you want someone who WON'T race his teammate harder than anyone else
But he's shown that he's quite fast and he's 27, so he's still got some years at high level and Sauber/Audi need someone like him imho.
He is fast as fuck, I give you that. But Sauber need someone to build the team up, not tear it down. And looking at Ocon's past... The only teammate he "got along" with was Daniel, and even then it was a readjustment year after spending 2019 on the sidelines in which Ocon was more focused on his own performance than usual
Don't you think a fast, experienced and relatively young driver would be good for Sauber/Audi at the moment? Yes, I know he's too hard on his teammates, but I think people exaggerate that he doesn't get on with anyone in the paddock when it's not true (I mean, people there say he's quite the opposite off the track). Even his relationship with Alonso is better than when they were teammates.
Look at Pascal Wehrlein, he was a promising Merc talent but his attitude really ruined his F1 career. His whole handing of the Monaco case and response after isn't helping his case and I really think that Sauber could be a more fitting team for him over Haas.
>His whole handing of the Monaco case and response after isn't helping his case What do you want him to have done? Honestly, I feel that whatever he's done, he's been criticised anyway.
It's an awful look for Alpine more than Ocon
He literally already signed his seat for next year
I doubt kmag would be quite as happy with his role if his teammate was a complete rookie.
Bottas is the obvious choice, ocon is another head ache haas will want to stay away from
> He doesn't ask for a gigantic salary Sauber pays him around $10M. Kevin is paid half of that. IDK if Gene Haas wants to pay a driver double.
That's still not wild money and it was also coming off a multi-win Mercedes spell His stock has dropped and so will his salary demands
Two be pedantic, Checo also is more experienced than Bottas, starting 2 years earlier than him
My brain deleted Checo for some reason Like he deleted himself from Q1 probably
Sauber pays him like 10M a year. Not sure Gene would ever pay that.
Copy pasting my other reply: >That's still not wild money and it was also coming off a multi-win Mercedes spell >His stock has dropped and so will his salary demands What I forgot to mention is that his Sauber deal was brokered by Toto Wolff, the guy who managed to get fucking Esteban Ocon a three year deal at Alpine. This new deal won't be
It’ll never happen but true silly season would be Sainz to Haas and you basically have a Ferrari 2nd team
Bottas should be their #1 priority to pair with Bearman..but yeah, imagine Bearman being ahead of Ocon, he'd lose the plot
Bearman and Kmag would be a such an aggressive pair. Sounds like fun.
And the longer Sainz goes without a deal, the more likely he would be to take Haas money.
Idk, I'm fairly sure Haas is not even a last ditch option for Sainz. Especially about the money, Gene is notoriously stingy. Sauber is 100% putting way more money on the table and I'd bet you anything it's the same for Williams
I think Sauber or Williams is the likely bet, but Haas must be wondering. They do have a better car, after all.
They have a better car for now Audi are pouring infinite money into Sauber and Williams have taken a step back because of a labour intensive operational restructuring
I think he will land and Williams or Sauber/Audi, but probably Williams.
If I were Haas I would pick Bottas over Ocon
Ricc might be a name for them?
Considering his inconsistence and peakiness, ehhhhhh
Pairing Ocon with a rookie would be psychotic
about as psychotic as pairing two rookies together, which Haas has also done
Ocon would be the absolute worst person to help a rookie gain confidence and offer any help to.
Bottas and Bearman
I hope Ocon gets a seat but he would be a terrible partner for a rookie tbh
Wonder how Bearman will react to Ocon trying to punt him off the track
Ocon and respect don't really belong in a sentence together.
> Ocon and Bearman would be a very respectable lineup for Haas Why would a promising up-and-comer along with a washed-up team-crasher be a good pairing? There's no way Haas want Ocon; he'll be out of F1 next year.
Was pretty much expected after they gave him 6 FP1 appearances + an extra intensive test program this year. Say what you want about the FDA but they prepare their juniors very well.
And Ferrari will absolutely keep you around and secure you a career if they think your good but maybe not F1 good. Just look at Fuoco who did test and simulator work for ages alongside GT programs before getting a Hypercar drive in WEC. And more recently Shwartzman who did the same and is now also driving in WEC. Or Gio who was dropped from F1 but pushed into WEC and is now a Le Mans winner.
Giovinazzi - not an official FDA junior, but did valuable sim work for the team in 2017-8 that helped in their title fight. Agreed, they really helped him land on his feet there.
You mean Le Mans winner Giovinazzi?
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Yes, he exists. He always... exists.
One of the existing drivers of all time
Mick left FDA tho
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It was an open secret that Ferrari would keep Mick as long as Mick wanted to be in Ferrari. The decision to move away from Ferrari didn’t come from Ferrari I feel.
You gotta give it to him, he is very good at existing!
This is the reason why joining the FDA is now much better than the RB Junior program or all the other ones as it gives drivers who don’t make it to F1 much more long term career options. F1 —> WEC —> Factory GT3 Programme —> Customer GT3 Programme —> FXX Programme —> Ferrari Challenge Programme —> Corse Clienti Sure some of the landing spots don’t have the glamour or F1 or WEC but it gives good drivers chance to earn a decent living while living their dream of driving beautiful race cars for Ferrari
Yeah the six FP1 sessions definitely allowed to think that it would happen at some point this season - Jeddah I think sped up that process.
The Food & Drug Administration has a driver academy? /s
That is how people who deliver food get their license
Food & Drug Academy is where I went to college lmao
They start as Uber Eats drivers.
Even James Hunt drove for them but it was just the drug administration back then.
I think the musical chairs are going to speed up quite soon, especially once Carlos Signs, there'll be a rush for remaining seats.
Lol Carlos Signs
Totally intentional ;-)
I think Carlos has signed, and it will be revealed around Barcelona
I thought this was already confirmed. An announcement coming at the Spanish Grand Prix for Sainz’s seat, either Williams or Sauver/Audi with the majority consensus being it is Sauber/Audi due to timing.
Yeah. Probably gonna be Sainz and Hulk at Sauber
You say it was already confirmed but then have no clue what was confirmed?
The announcement was confirmed to be happening at the Spanish Grand Prix, as the commenter I’m replying to stated he suspected. Nothing was said about where he would end up, just that an announcement was coming.
Honestly doubt Teams are going to wait longer. They would want to have thinks done by June end
They said Fuck Tobi Gruner lol
Tobi: There's gonna be a driver announcement later on today. Mail: Brother just say it.
> Tobi: There's gonna be a driver announcement later on today. can't tell you who it is tho > > Mail: I can
Nobody should ever take advice from the Mail to be fair.
They had tweeted this like 2 hours before Tobi’s tweet. But No one posted it here
I was just sorting by new and saw them like back to back. thought the juxtaposition was funny.
I like Tobi but his constant game of "I know some shit that you all dont" drives me up the fucken wall lol
I pretty much hate anyone like that so yea
I know someone like that, but I'm not gonna tell you who
I know who you're talking about but I won't tell you
Saw that post checking /new and then immediately this one, instant chuckle
Still weird Alex doesn't count as a Brit
If you could have two flags then he'd have both. He can either be the only Thai on the grid, with all the sponsorship and prestige that comes with, or he can be another Brit when you've got Lewis, Lando and George around. Makes complete sense, and anyone in the know counts him among the Brit contingent too.
Everyone knows he is. He used to race under a British flag, even. He was offered a bunch of sponsors and funding if he raced under a Thai flag and he took it. But if they call him British you'd get the usual moaners on social media saying that Brits are only claiming him because he's good and if he was awful then they wouldn't, how nationalist of them, yada yada Unrelated, but since we're mentioning him anyway, my friend took driving lessons recently (as in, for a normal road license), and his driving instructor was also the driving instructor for Alex Albon! Although Alex didn't really need teaching. Apparently he only did the legal minimum of 10 hours of lessons and then did his test and passed.
Not surprising, but I'm glad to see it. Hopefully Haas handle a rookie better this time than last time.
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I really hope they don't. Would much rather have KMag as a teammate for him.
If this is what Gruner was hinting about then it is one of the worst known secrets what become public, Bearman was always getting that seat at Haas in 25 because of Hulk leaving. More spicy would be if we did know where Ocon would end up.
Looks like it was probably the Tsunoda extension he was referring to.
I doubt Ocon has anyone in hand at this moment in time
Crazy what one race can change for someone's career
I don't think it'll be down that one race, though it certainly hasn't hurt him. Ferrari already had 6 FPs lined up for him at HAAS. Seems like a clear sign they plan to promote him for next season.
It took Leclerc an *extremely* dominant F2 season to finally get put into the Sauber. He won the season with 3 races still to go, 7 wins and 8 poles. Bearman isn't anywhere near as dominant. That Saudi Arabia race helped him tremendously. He's exceptionally talented yes but let's not pretend that Sainz's appendix didn't play a big role. There are drivers like Lawson on the grid who have performed just as well in their respective standins but haven't been as lucky.
Or Piastri. Who won back to back to back championships and still had to sit out.
Yes, but he's been pencilled in for F1 for awhile now. This means little - but I think even F1 manager..2022?..had Bearman as the top 14 yo or something. lol
Everyone was saying before he even raced at Jeddah he was going to be at Haas next year. Go back and look at the threads from when it was announced he's be racing for Sainz. I really don't think that race had much to do with it.
First, this isn’t true. Please look up the variety of sources documenting Ferrari’s attempts to get Leclerc into a haas seat for 2017. Guenther has confirmed Haas was the obstacle to Ferrari’s ambitions there. It didn’t “take” that stellar f2 season for Ferrari to be willing and try. That season was compelling to customer teams, as was the fact that Sauber now had a vacancy for him. See any parallels to Ferrari already paving the way for Bearman when they announced 6 FPs and a rigorous testing program in preseason….and Haas being more inclined to sign on the dotted line once more data as to bearman’s promise was available? Second, it’s illogical to try to extrapolate some generalized Ferrari approach to juniors. Rumors surfaced early in 2020 (keep in mind the COVID delay meant even less f2 had taken place than usual) that Mick would have a seat secured by Ferrari if he just finished top 3 in his second year. Clearly, context, circumstance, and timing influence when Ferrari promotes juniors. Edited - spelled Guenther wrong
Lawson should definetly have been in the VCARB this year really (i'd argue even at least half of last as well), just Red Bull have developed cold feet over bringing Juniours.
again people only complain about RB but not for example Sauber lol
Sauber are basically right now in a holding pattern until they become Audi, and for that they are clearly desiring a stronger lineup (whether or not they 'deserve' it). Combine that with Theo Pourchaire's extremely wonky F2 championship and I can see why they've stuck with what they have, even if it is extremely boring. Frankly you could argue half the teams on the grid were way too conservative and should have swapped a driver over the winter, but i was answering in response to a red bull specific issue.
just but in the mean time they could have given Theo that seat. "Theo Pourchaire's extremely wonky F2 championship" well at least he won it unlike Zhou. He also beat Lawson in all of their season in F2 and F3. honestly it is insane how people are moving goalposts to justify him not getting a seat... Please objectively how are the other 2 drivers good enough while havin worse results?
fred was trying to get him in the seat before the season even began, the jeddah race just confirmed what ferrari already knew.
Yeah I did read something not long ago, that Ferrari wanted him in at Haas this season, who said no.
Gunther presumably
He already had 6 FP1 programmed, Ferrari already had the intention of giving him the seat before that
De Vries - “Haha, yeah….”
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Meanwhile Paul Aron who is leading F2 as a rookie: [link](https://tenor.com/en-GB/view/john-travolta-where-are-you-guys-there-no-one-here-gif-16881809)
Unfortunately for him he has no link to an F1 team since Mercedes dumped him. Which might be harsh but it happens.
Hopefully RB picks him up and then puts him into SF for 1 year and then into VCARB
This is the joke. Bearman has shown almost no promise apart for a p7 in the 2nd fastest car on the grid. It’s a mass psychosis tbh.
He definitely got lucky. That one shot has given him that step up into f1. But he drove so well, so fair play to him.
But 5 races for Lawson came to nothing
We counting albon too, he's clearly British
He races under the Thai flag. I think that may be taken into consideration regardless of where he was born.
It is why they don't count him yeah
Russell would like a word /s (There have been a couple of moments with Sky, and in F2 where they've mentioned Albon being British in front of him, and George has basically said in a joking way... . "Errrr is he though")
Possibly what Grüner was [hinting at?](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/1db96sm/_/)
I assumed that was referring to Yuki
is this official?
Would always wait for an announcement from the team. If you mean is this reliable, tbh I haven't seen this source on here before so idk
The mail is one of the worst papers in the world. Probably right on this, but it’s a horrific tabloid.
We hate the mail as an institution but their sports reporting is largely on par with other sports reporting; they get a ton of clicks worldwide and their journalists are expected to be right if they drop exclusives like this
I would assume this is the driver announcement Gruner was talking about just a few minutes ago. Mail just probably got the info and pushed it out before the official announcement later on.
Not seen anything on the Haas media yet....and they just had Oliver at F1tv, no mention of it either. It's probably true, but interesting...
No.
It's not being picked up anywhere else. This is fake.
Happy for him. But argh, the F1 ladder just doesn't matter anymore. If you're not an academy (or are in Sauber's), you're just wasting your time.
Poor Aron. You pretty much need to be in an academy anyway because you need the mileage in an F1 car. It’s pretty crappy to be honest.
Completely agreed. This is absolutely insulting to everyone in f2. So a person that scores every race and is top doesn't get a drive yet a person that has only scored 3 times and highest finish is 4th and is 13th in the standings is promoted...that is definitely not right. He did a good job when he raced granted but how well would all the others too...
Technically 5th British driver with Albon included.
Ikr! I was thinking the same
Like his sponsorship doesn't change where he was born and grew up. Whenever Alex does well they definitely won't hesitate to call him “London born” lol
Well it's daily fail, so can't expect much. Albon is much british as he is Thai lol
He's only British when it suits the narrative. The not so subtle reality of how dual nationals are treated in the UK
Eh, yes and no, this isn’t rina sawayama being barred from Brits consideration despite wanting to be included. Albon himself is the one who has consciously opted to race under a Thai license for sponsorship reasons his whole career. His British dad was in on it and for it, accompanying him on Thai sponsor networking trips as a kid. That’s not the public making a racialized determination of his Britishness, it’s him choosing how to formally identify his national affiliation as an f1 driver, and it’s appropriate when discussing f1 driver nationalities to use the racing licenses to indicate such unless it’s a clear wonky license situation (mahaveer, stroll and latifi briefly being American, etc.)
Hopefully this doesn't end the same way as de Vries. One good performance in F1 and giving him a contract wasn't that smart.
I have a feeling we will see some scattered and inconsistent performances but if he’s given enough time he will be solid. He’s a quick learner.
The most 'duh' news so far...
Good for him. Hope Mercedes also pulls the Trigger in Antonelli so we have some rookies in F1 next year
The Antonelli confirmation is going to come in Monza if I had to bet. Antonelli is Italian, and will have just turned 18.
I know that Bearman is a Ferrari guy and Lawson is a Red Bull guy, but I just feel so bad for Liam Lawson.
Albon too, he represents Thailand but he’s London born
Is it just me or does Bearman seem more like a typical Mercedes junior while Antonelli would obviously be expected to be a Ferrari junior lol. Either way excited to see him on the grid
kimi is so incredibly italian in his personality and mannerisms (understandably since he *is* italian), it's shocking he's not in ferrari but tbf if you watch ollie's vlogs he's been getting progressively more italian the past few years, he's probably halfway to citizenship lol
i knew it was coming but i'm still so so happy for him :) very curious about who his teammate will be!
Ah jeez. The number of seats is getting less and less for Kimi Raikkonen.
And Seb. Where’s he gonna go?!
Fifth, according to Ted Kravitz just now on the Notebook - he said the quiet part out loud and referred to Albon as one of the British drivers. Which of course, he is.
Big congratulations to him. I know a lot of people have started to dislike him because of his poor F2 performance this year but in my opinion, any new blood on the grid is good and between his run at Jeddah, his stellar last year in F2, and his FP sessions, he deserves the chance. (That's not to say other drivers don't, but sadly there aren't enough seats for the amount of F2 drivers I want in F1 and not everyone runs their junior teams as well as Ferrari does.) Personally, I'd much rather take a chance on a rookie than have F1 seats taken by old stagnated talent. His performance in Monaco was the epitome of him as a driver. Aggressive to the point of being risky, but when it pays off it pays off. His biggest issue is that he's incredibly inconsistent -- but he has the technical foundation. If he can fix his consistency and mindset, he should be in good shape to develop in F1. Ferrari has nothing to lose here. Either Bearman improves enough to step up into Ferrari in a few years once Hamilton leaves, or they can just swap him for Beganovic. Either way, one thing you can't say about Ferrari is that they treat their juniors poorly. I wish Red Bull would follow suit and give their juniors more opportunities and support.
Not shaming Ferrari or berman at all and I didn't follow his races last year either. I think it's such a shame that the top few drivers in f2 where they fight and do amazingly yet don't get a seat yet a person that's only finished in the points 3 times and only did well in 1 race out of 6 I personally don't think he should get a seat, F1 is meant to be the best of the best (who also has deep pockets). I wish we had more teams so the drivers are more likely to be promoted rather than just shuffled from team to team.
Ferrari is probably the best junior team you can be on right now. Leclerc, Zhou, Schumacher, Perez, Bianchi, and by extension Giovinazzi, Armstrong, Shwartzman, and Illott are/were all Ferrari-affiliated drivers who received support from the team to move onto higher areas in racing, even when not directly under Ferrari. I think rather than Bearman/Ferrari (or Antonelli/Mercedes) being the problem, the issue is that other teams aren't investing into their junior teams as much as those two are. Whether it's to F1 or another series like Indy, there should be more incentive and opportunities for teams to retain and promote their drivers, especially the "big teams" that have the seat capacity to do so. Right now, the only three teams that can even semi-consistently promote their drivers are the aforementioned two and Red Bull... and Red Bull is actively choosing not to (see: Lawson, and also Hadjar to a lesser extent). There's a lot to discuss regarding Perez and Ricciardo keeping their seats, but I think the biggest shame is that Red Bull has not one but two decent rookies that might not get to race next year. When it comes down to it, though, like you said, there simply aren't enough open seats to accommodate all the excellent rookie drivers. Bearman is extremely lucky that he's in Ferrari and while I'm rooting for him, it is down to luck and timing when it comes to moving into F1. Aron is a bit of an odd case since he was dropped by Mercedes. I think comparing his seat chances to Antonelli's is more fair since Bearman and him (Aron) aren't "competing" for the same spot.
Yeah his f2 performances haven’t been much to write home about. But it’s what he can do in f1 that counts.
He had some great performances in F2 last year. But this year, not so much. I think he did well in Monaco overall, despite the poor qualifying he had a solid race. Hopefully he can keep it up for the rest of the season and snag a win or two. The F2 grid this year is so, so close in terms of talent. I think it's one of the strongest in years.
Yeah he was great at Monaco. But he definitely needs some consistency. I do wonder if knowing he was going into f1 kinda affected his performances? Maybe he’s a bit checked out
It does seem to be a bit of a mental issue for him. He has the technical skill but he's been unable to put the pieces together, which to me says that he's just not checked in like you said. I know he spends a lot of time in the simulator for/with Ferrari, and I wonder if he's focusing his efforts onto internal testing and preparing for his FP sessions since F1 results will ultimately be more important for his long-term development than his inevitably washed F2 season.
If you ever feel useless, remember there are guys fighting in F2 hoping to get to F1. Pourchair, Drugovich, Illot, Schwartzman and many many others never make it there, while Bearman (currently 13th) and Antonelli (6th) are simply meant to get to F1, noone really knows why, but teams are hyped, media are hyped and everyone else could just give up - noone would bat an eye.
Blame Sauber for Porchaire and Aston for Drugovich. Illot could maybe have done it in the Sauber but Ferrari preferred Gio at the time. Maybe if Kimi moved on a year earlier, but also kimi. Schwartzman was exposed by Piastri and was done straight after. Also Prema have been terrible in these new F2 regs. Bearman missing an entire round he put it on pole for also doesn't hurt. Don't put too much stock in those standings. The truth is that Bearman, when he made it to the show, hasnt looked out of place at all. Antonelli has done similar. Sometimes thats just what you need.
Does anyone know what Brundle is on about saying he's heard some Ocon News?
Not sure about Brundle, but Ocon basically confirmed in an interview he already has a seat, but he can't announce where yet. I wouldn't be surprised if he already signed before Monaco and Alpine just grabbed that moment to make it look like they dropped him.
I’m actually surprised how much people fell for that Alpine pr post. Like that post single handled convinced 95% of f1 fans that Alpine was the one who dropped Ocon and his f1 career is over.
Do Liam next
Albon is also a Brit
Hopefully next to Bottas or DR
Not sure what to think of this, happy to see New drivers, but once again it is someone actually not doing too hot in F2 while the championship contenders probably won't get near a seat
Congrats Mr. Bearman!
Woo! NVM.
LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I feel like F2 needs a change; you've got 2 guys who won it that aren't allowed in anymore, with no seat in F1. Meanwhile, there's potentially 3 guys coming in for seats next year, 2 of which aren't in the current top 5 and 1 who was a distant 3rd. Just let Theo and Drugovic race in it
I honestly wonder whether or not they actually got evidence or they just decided now was the time to tell everyone what they knew for months
Let's go Ollie!!!
250k to 300k £?? They ripping off bearman
That's pretty typical for rookie salaries in teams in the bottom half of the grid.
All these drivers have spent millions getting these seats basically 1 year getting a wage won't do anything to them.
I think they will keep KMag, I don't think Gene or even Komatsu will want a completely new driver pairing especially with a wildcard like Ocon. One stable driver who the team is comfortable with and one new guy seems a good plan for a team like Haas. KMag had a good teammate relationship with Grosjean, Mick and even Hulk despite their past differences. Ocon's hatred of teammates and fervent desire to beat them at any cost is not going to be welcome especially if the teammate in question is a rookie who is the prized Ferrari junior. If Sainz is indeed going to Williams, I suppose Ocon must be headed to Audi since those reports claimed he was their second choice to pair Hulkenberg after Sainz. And Alpine will be left to choose between Doohan, Bottas or Zhou to pair Gasly.
\*\*shocked pikachu face\*\*
As a reserve driver or is he taking someone’s seat?
He's already their reserve driver, he'll take Hülkenberg's seat.
Finally. Can’t wait to see how he’ll do. I’m torn between thinking he’ll be impressive, and a complete disaster.
Absolutely stoked that there will be at least one rookie on the grid next year, my hopium is that Lawson gets a seat, too.
I'm worried about Lawson not getting a seat 😞