The F1 driver transfer discussion/speculation archiveFormula 1 

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Sky have been reporting that Sauber are close to having secured a deal to guarantee their financial future. They're pretty confident that it involves selling a stake in the team, if not selling the team entirely. Details are thin at the moment, but Sky are fairly certain that an announcement will be made before the summer break, which means either the German or Hungarian Grands Prix; certainly by the end of the month.

This naturally begs the question of who might be interested in buying or buying into a Formula One team. If it's a private backer, then all bets are off, but otherwise I can think of two possible candidates: SMP Racing, who have money to spend and are pushing out to as many series as possible; or Theodore Racing, who have expressed interest in getting back into Formula One somehow.
 
prisonermonkeys
Sky have been reporting that Sauber are close to having secured a deal to guarantee their financial future. They're pretty confident that it involves selling a stake in the team, if not selling the team entirely. Details are thin at the moment, but Sky are fairly certain that an announcement will be made before the summer break, which means either the German or Hungarian Grands Prix; certainly by the end of the month.

This naturally begs the question of who might be interested in buying or buying into a Formula One team. If it's a private backer, then all bets are off, but otherwise I can think of two possible candidates: SMP Racing, who have money to spend and are pushing out to as many series as possible; or Theodore Racing, who have expressed interest in getting back into Formula One somehow.
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The loose rumour is that it's one of Ericsson's backers but I can't see which one it would be, none are big enough or surely interested enough to take a full interest in the team.

http://marcusericsson.com/partners/
 
Samus
The loose rumour is that it's one of Ericsson's backers but I can't see which one it would be, none are big enough or surely interested enough to take a full interest in the team.

http://marcusericsson.com/partners/
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Yeah, that does sound a bit like wishful thinking. Maybe if the team just needed a quick injection of cash, but they appear to be deliberately limiting their running again to keep costs down, which suggests a bigger problem.
 
What about Prema Powerteam, or is that actually backed by Teddy Yip?
 
Is there any follow up on the story about Alfa potentially joining? I think that'd be great addition to the grid.

Or a BMW return would be nice too :D

Hopeless dreaming I know, but we need more manufacturers in F1
 
Samus
The loose rumour is that it's one of Ericsson's backers but I can't see which one it would be, none are big enough or surely interested enough to take a full interest in the team.
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I have been looking into this and it seems that not all of his sponsors are corporate sponsors; some of them back him individually. One of them has ties to Tetra Pak, a company that developed ascetic food processing in the 1960s, and keep supplying the machinery to produce Tetra Paks (and sort of food packaging shaped like a tetrahedron or the like - soy milk cartons, for instance). That seems to be the company interested, at least according to rumours.

However, my source is a story that appears to have been written in Swedish, translated into Portuguese for the Brazilian media, and then translated into English whereupon I found it.
 
prisonermonkeys
I have been looking into this and it seems that not all of his sponsors are corporate sponsors; some of them back him individually. One of them has ties to Tetra Pak, a company that developed ascetic food processing in the 1960s, and keep supplying the machinery to produce Tetra Paks (and sort of food packaging shaped like a tetrahedron or the like - soy milk cartons, for instance). That seems to be the company interested, at least according to rumours.

However, my source is a story that appears to have been written in Swedish, translated into Portuguese for the Brazilian media, and then translated into English whereupon I found it.
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The rumour that Tetra Pak has bought a stake in Sauber has gathered pace around the webs this morning, perhaps unsurprisingly.

It's hard to see what a link-up with F1 would bring such a fiscally conservative board though unless is has to do with their expansions into 3D printing tech.
 
TenEightyOne
It's hard to see what a link-up with F1 would bring such a fiscally conservative board though unless is has to do with their expansions into 3D printing tech.
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Or maybe it's like Credit Suisse - they didn't gain anything from sponsoring the team, but the CEO was a fan. Maybe they see Formula One as a vehicle to increase brand awareness.
 
Helmut Marko has reportedly been spotted talking to Antonio Giovinazzi after yesterday's GP2 feature race which saw Giovinazzi pull off a bonkers pass on the final lap, driving clean around the outside of Rowland at Luffield.
 
I wouldn't read too much into it. If Mercedes replace one of their drivers, it would likely only be for one race. With Alonso locked in at McLaren, Mercedes would have a difficult time digging him out of that contract - and he'd probably only be interested if a long-term deal was on offer.
 
IforceV8
Richard Buxton not Will Buxton. Who the hell is Richard Buxton?
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Someone trying to use the Buxton name for some ill-deserved credibility? :lol:
 
If you read the article you'll see the entire "rumour" is based on a tweet Mercedes put out mid race. Hardly compelling evidence, even less so when you know it's a social media guy running their twitter, not anyone in a position of power.

Merc themselves are already mocking the shoddy level of journalism.


 
prisonermonkeys
Just one question, though - when is Monisha Kaltenborn going to be replaced? The team has struggled ever since she took over.
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That's completely ignoring all of the money issues they've had since before she took over.
 
Clark
That's completely ignoring all of the money issues they've had since before she took over.
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Most of those were down to the sudden withdrawal of BMW and the QADBAK debacle. By the time Kobayashi and Pérez were driving for them, those issues had mostly been resolved. It's the recent troubles that can really be lain at Kaltenborn's feet - under her watch, Sauber have steadily fallen from occasional podium contenders to being mired behind MRT and showing no signs of improving. And, of course, there was that farce with Giedo van der Garde.
 
MCFerocious
Also, does anyone also feel slightly annoyed at the fact that an 18 year old kid can just come and drive an F1 car? F1 cars should be hard to drive and hard to set up. It is slightly annoying that an 18 year old can come and drive one so easily. It wasn't like that in the early 80s.
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I'd say this belongs in here rather than the TV thread but how do you know that an F1 car is easy just because an 18 year old can do it? An 18 year old with lots of talent and a motorsport career can but not any 18 year old can just hop into an F1 car and go. I had my own reservations about a driver like Verstappen but it's not like this wasn't a thing in the past with Barrichello (21), Amon (19) and Cheever (20) being young debutants. Even younger were drivers who turned out to be world champions; Button (20), Vettel (19) and Alonso (19).

In the 80s the career path into F1 was often longer. Nowadays, even with more and more junior series to race in, the career path is noticeably shorter. That's probably one of the biggest differences. And, at the end of the day, the results speak for themselves. There haven't been too many extremely young drivers who have been catastrophic failures.

Say what you want about Helmut Marko but spotting Verstappen and getting him in early has been a masterstroke.
 
Christian Horner has been stirring things up in the Dutch press, claiming that Vettel will go to Mercedes and suggesting that Hamilton will move to Ferrari to do what Vettel couldn't.

Elsewhere, I have heard that Felipe Nasr has been in contact with Haas, and that Helmut Marko is considering looking outside the Red Bull programme (read: Giovinazzi) to replace Kvyat.
 
prisonermonkeys
Christian Horner has been stirring things up in the Dutch press, claiming that Vettel will go to Mercedes and suggesting that Hamilton will move to Ferrari to do what Vettel couldn't.
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From Sports Bild*, that bastion of common sense and accuracy. So far Fox are the only English sprechers who've picked it up that I can see... birds of a feather and all that :D

*Whole article not available online at this time
 
TenEightyOne
From Sports Bild*, that bastion of common sense and accuracy. So far Fox are the only English sprechers who've picked it up that I can see... birds of a feather and all that :D

*Whole article not available online at this time
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It would actually make for an interesting story, though. If Hamilton wins this year, both he and Vettel have four titles. But many of the same criticisms that can be levelled at one can be levelled at the other - that they won because they had the best car. So how does Hamilton separate himself from Vettel as the better driver? By going to Ferrari and doing what Vettel couldn't.
 
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