Formula 1 The 2018 F1 driver transfer discussion/speculation thread

It’s fantastic news and I’m excited to see how he compares against Russel

 

It will be interesting to see how he fairs in general. I just hope if he doesn't show speed right away or comparatively against his team mate, fans don't use the injury as a justification. In reality I hope the best of luck to him in the upcoming season.

 

I’m a big fan of Robert so I have to say this is really admirable to see someone with the guts and determination this guy has. After all the driver moves, this is the cherry on top.

Great story for F1 and sport in general.

All that remains is that STR seat now.

 

And technically the second Force India seat, Stroll still hasn't been formally announced there.

 

It’s not official but it’s going to happen.

 

It likely could be even if he came back earlier, Panis is probably the best example of a world class talent turning average after injury.

But if he is fast, it would raise alot of questions on why F1 teams are soo damn conservative on driver selection.

Like there is no logical reason why Mercedes are having a young talent in Ocon sitting out a season when they have a dead weight in Bottas getting beaten badly each weekend.

 

Yeah for the most part I agree, but I don't think it's all that hard to understand why F1 teams are "conservative" from a fan perspective it is really easy to say that, but from their view it's not. Especially when a young driver with sponsors or even a nation backing them is something a team would rather eat up and if they're super talented like Leclerc even better.

As for the Bottas bit I've already argued why he is getting another season so I'm not going to dig deep into it but essentially it's this. He did what they asked with only slight issue and those issues arose only after he'd done what he was asked without complaint. Second the early 4th or 3rd of the season where he showed speed and at times better than Lewis proved unlucky for him, he lost a potential three wins I recall. So in the end it's easy to remember the guy that just a couple races ago would pull over for Hamilton, while forgetting Baku or Austria.

 

Its official! Kubica at Williams

 

Williams first pole in over four years.

 

Mwuhahaha...

 

They were saying something on the broadcast this weekend about Robert having to pick a new number. Why would that be the case? Isn't #40 his number?

 

#40 is Williams' 3rd driver number. Each team has them, it's why Lotterer, Mehri and Stevens all used 45 in 2014 for Caterham.


In other news, Alexander Albon has been confirmed at Toro Rosso for 2019!

 

I heard about #4 but they also said Max Chilton had it when he was in F1.

 

After 2 years of not being used, a number becomes available again

 

Hartley's gone for '19. I'm not happy with this but I'll say no more otherwise I'll go on a rant.

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/1...nder-albon-to-replace-brendon-hartley-in-2019

 

Are you honestly surprised? Hartley and others always will seem to struggle to make the transition from Sports Cars to F1. Doesn't seem to hurt drivers who are use to F1 and then go drive them (Alonso and Hulk even Webber) but the other way around is different for some reason.

While I don't like the return of Kvyat like I'm sure many here as well do not, he did get them far more results in his crash prone seasons than Hartley. And considering the car was capable of results that warranted them being further up the constructor's championship, that's probably one of the bigger reasons he's out. Also they need another young driver Hartley isn't that, and Albon proved himself without significant backing against two well backed drivers.

 

A little bit yes. Granted he did struggle to make the transition but he did outperform Gasly in a number of races. You also have to admit he had quite a bit of bad luck in terms of reliability and on track incidents.

 

Sorry we must have witnessed two different seasons. As much as I want and wanted to see Hartley succeed especially over the the driver that RB held back (Gasly) for a time, I don't see how he "outperformed Gasly in a number of races". Could you enlighten us all because I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering this.

 

i'm a bit gutted Hartley is out, I think he would've been one of those drivers that gets better every year, rather than one of those guys who hits his stride straight away....But it's F1 and the one thing you're not allowed is time.

In terms of his performance I think he was actually a lot closer to Gasly than what it appears on paper.
There were a few times where Hartley seemed a bit lost in terms of his pace, but I think generally he was close enough to Gasly to be acceptable by F1 standards.
I remember a few qualy sessions where they were only separated by a tenth or so, a few races where he was looking better too, but reliability and what seemed (to me) a bit of team preference for Gasly to do well hasn't made him look that good unfortunately.... But again it's F1 and being just generally OK is not enough (unless you bring a load of money).

It was good having a Kiwi in F1 again even if it was only for one season. Plenty of fast Kiwi's out there hopefully another one gets a shot at F1 in the not too distant future.

 

Hartley to me is what I call a Heidfeld. It's not that he's bad, but he sort of just "is there".

 

Heidfeld was more than just there though, he was always that viable threat for the second step on the podium. A poised opponent if you will!!!

 

I like Hartley - genuinely nice dude from everything I've seen of him. I have to side with LMS on this one - I didn't see him do jack **** all season...quite the opposite. Could he develop into a great F1 driver? Perhaps, but we didn't see a single moment this year where he showed anything approaching genius in the current car he's in.

Could be a number of reasons, but he was outperformed consistently all year. I don't think he's surprised at all.

 

I'm just dreaming of Hülkenberg in a Mercedes.
Would be nice to see Bottas and him change seats (will never happen though)

 

I got the feeling that he was the sort of driver who needed support and nurturing. He showed flashes of real skill and speed but the seemingly super-pressured environment of Red Bull perhaps didn't suit him. It's a shame but he won't really be missed from F1.

 

Now, this baffles me...and I don't mean to sound like a dick, what do you see in Hulkenburg? I jovially refer to him as "the ghost" when I talk about him. Is this just a silly pipe dream because you like the guy or he's German or something? I call him the ghost because he's never done a single thing in F1...just floats by under the radar. Isn't he the guy who's sitting at 150+ races without a single podium, etc?

 

Hukenburg is like Webber imo, solid midfeild driver who would make a decent number 2 in a top team but nothing more then that.

If he manages to beat Ricciardo next season I would suspect it's on points but not speed.

 

It was only after the summer break that I felt Hartley got a proper go at it and started having clean weekends without crashes, breakdowns or penalties.

 

He was the best of the rest this year, coming 7th in the championship. I do get what you mean by him flying under the radar, he doesn’t crash all that often, but you don’t see making crazy moves all that often either. He is very consistent though, and I imagine if he was in one of the top 3 cars, he’d be on a Bottas level.

 

Until this year when he had quite a few big crashes.
Baku, Japan, Belgium, Abu Dhabi...