The F1 driver transfer discussion/speculation archiveFormula 1 

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prisonermonkeys
Speculation is mounting that Alonso may not be fit for the Australian Grand Prix next week. At the moment, it's an outside chance, but if it does come to pass, then I imagine Kevin Magnussen would be called up.

The real question now is who will take the second Manor seat. There are no obvious candidates, aside from Max Chilton. But I wonder if the new owners might be considering Mitch Evans to start with - he's local (enough) and it wouldn't clash with his GP2 commitments. And he could be taken on a short-term contract (say two or three races), giving Manor enough time to find a full-time replacement.
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They have to be careful with their driver selection, because (IIRC) you can only use 4 race drivers for a season.
I suppose who gets the second seat depends on how much money they need. Chilton seems a likely candidate, or maybe Roberto Merhi. I wouldn't be surprised if Alexander Rossi runs the North American rounds. (COTA, Montreal, Mexico)
 
German media says Magnussen is a possible driver for the second seat. Manor works with McLaren and they still are in debt so would be same situation as Wehrlein driving the Force India. Seems like a good deal for both sides
 
The name I heard touted for the second seat was Esteban Gutierrez. Reflections of point above as well about the debt. If Alonso does miss Melbourne and Magnussen is therefore drafted back to McLaren, do we think Stoffel Vandoorne may get a chance for same reasons?
 
sems4arsenal
Isn't that what Williams sort of did also?
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Alot of people including myself think it's due to Toto Wolff(Suzie's husband) and they fact he owns a part of Williams (and still does now despite just selling another part of his holding recently).

Suzie's race Record honestly isn't much better, and hasn't won a race in anything since racing Cars.

But I would still rate her light years ahead of this one.
 
For me, it's one thing that Susie is a development driver despite lack of results, but it is another to see her get seat time at the young driver tests. She is 32, older than most current F1 drivers! Also applied to Paffett when he was working with McLaren.
 
Pezzarinho17
For me, it's one thing that Susie is a development driver despite lack of results, but it is another to see her get seat time at the young driver tests. She is 32, older than most current F1 drivers! Also applied to Paffett when he was working with McLaren.
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Young Driver test really means, Non race driver test.
 
I know, but it misses the point really. It should be about giving the future generation of F1 drivers their chance to prove themselves. Red Bull have promoted talent well based on test days. The problem is that the rules serve more as a nuisance to the teams and drivers rather than as an opportunity.
 
mustafur
Alot of people including myself think it's due to Toto Wolff(Suzie's husband) and they fact he owns a part of Williams (and still does now despite just selling another part of his holding recently).

Suzie's race Record honestly isn't much better, and hasn't won a race in anything since racing Cars.

But I would still rate her light years ahead of this one.
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Toto is no doubt a big part, that's formula one though, unless you're mega rich you take every "cheap" way for making money to survive.

Thanks Burnie
 
Pezzarinho17
Also applied to Paffett when he was working with McLaren.
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But Paffett was also extremely experienced, and in a time when there was little pre-season or mid-season testing, that experience was invaluable.

Pezzarinho17
The name I heard touted for the second seat was Esteban Gutierrez.
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The name only seems to be mentioned because of the Ferrari debt, but from what I have heard, Ferrari aren't holding the team accountable for it - rather, they're reportedly going after Andrei Cheglakov for the money as he apparently offered a personal guarantee that it would be paid.
 
I can't remember where I saw it reported, but I'm pretty sure it was part of the Autosport testing feed. Glad to see Ferrari aren't after Manor.

And see above regarding Paffett. Understandable he would get the chance based on that experience, but he was never going to get a race seat from it. McLaren just getting past the nuisance that is being unable to use race drivers in a valuable test session.
 
Robin Frijns has come up as a potential driver for Manor, following a Tweet in which he refers to "some real news coming soon".

Which could, of course, mean anything.
 
mustafur
That is 100% more then a Concussion thats got to be something else, only the Awkwardest of Head hits would require that much recovery time surely.
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Potentially, although if it was only a concussion, the risk of a 2nd concussion not too long after the first is quite substantial. May of been on McLarens website post, but somewhere it says that another concussion increases the risk of serious injury or ultimately death.

I still think that there is something else though, McLaren seem very keen to reassure us that Alonso is fine.
 
TheEnd35000vr
Potentially, although if it was only a concussion, the risk of a 2nd concussion not too long after the first is quite substantial. May of been on McLarens website post, but somewhere it says that another concussion increases the risk of serious injury or ultimately death.

I still think that there is something else though, McLaren seem very keen to reassure us that Alonso is fine.
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The thing that makes the whole thing really strange is he didn't even hit the wall hard(by F1 standards atleast).
 
This is a quote from Headway regarding recovery from concussion.

The general conclusion seems to be that the vast majority of people who experience a minor head injury make a full recovery, usually after 3-4 months. However there is a very small sub-group whose recovery is not so good.
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We are obviously not dealing with the last statement, however as someone not familiar with facts about concussion I did not know recovery could be so long. We knew it was something more than a knock when he was in hospital for 3 days, but the video he recorded at home seemed to suggest he was near fully recovered.

Better stay cautious of course, I couldn't stand to see a third driver fighting for their life in hospital, and especially as a result of negligence.

Here is one to ponder for some though. Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen back alongside each other for at least 1 race. Did McLaren make the right choice...

mustafur
The thing that makes the whole thing really strange is he didn't even hit the wall hard(by F1 standards atleast).
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He did hit it side on though, at suspension left largely intact. It means that more of the impact remains to be absorbed by the driver...
 
TheEnd35000vr
I still think that there is something else though...
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Yes, the car is a box of problems, with zero chance of finishing or taking points anytime soon. Alonso may as well take off and play with his bicycles until his race car is fixed.

More seriously, he may have some kind of underlying medical issue severe enough to end his career.
 
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Even more strange is that Dennis said in his press conference last week: "He had completely clear CT and MRI scans. At no stage of the inspection process was there any indication of any damage to his brain. He's not even concussed." (after the accident McLaren said in its official statement that Alonso has suffered a concussion).

Of course I'm not questioning the decision itself, it's just the way McLaren is managing the whole thing which is strange to use an euphemism.
 
Missing a race due to concussion isn't unprecedented, remember Sergio Perez missed the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix after his big shunt at Monaco a few weeks beforehand.
 
Pezzarinho17
He did hit it side on though, at suspension left largely intact. It means that more of the impact remains to be absorbed by the driver...
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The weird thing is that F1 cars' suspensions are very fragile and if he did hit the wall sideways with enough force to give him concussion, how were the suspension arms still intact afterwards? They're designed to break and absorb the force. The body of the car was nowhere near the wall so it can't have taken a hit either - and for the body to be able to hit the wall the suspension would have to be in pieces.
 
Greycap
The weird thing is that F1 cars' suspensions are very fragile and if he did hit the wall sideways with enough force to give him concussion, how were the suspension arms still intact afterwards? They're designed to break and absorb the force. The body of the car was nowhere near the wall so it can't have taken a hit either - and for the body to be able to hit the wall the suspension would have to be in pieces.
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If nothing, or very little, of a car breaks and/or deforms, nothing absorbs the impact and instead the driver will just smash into the inside of the car and more importantly, their brain will smash into the inside of their skull.

If the suspension is impacted fully side on, it's probably quite strong. Car don't usually hit dead side on, they usually take a glancing blow, which is which you see wheels flying of etc.
 
TheCracker
If the suspension is impacted fully side on, it's probably quite strong. Car don't usually hit dead side on, they usually take a glancing blow, which is which you see wheels flying of etc.
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Was going to say this, the direction of the weave in carbon fibre parts is very important to how they work. It's where Red Bull got their front wings flexing exactly how they wanted them to. As a material, carbon fibre is very strong anyway and so I'm not surprised it would be able to withstand a force in the same direction as the rods.

Or another way to think of it, try breaking a straight wooden stick by pushing the ends of it together. It is always easier to break it by bending it. Same principle even works on an egg, you'll struggle to break it when squeezing it lengthways.
 
While that theory may be true, the car didn't hit the wall completely sideways. If anything it slid against it at a very shallow angle, shallow enough to not even break the front suspension. Looking at the photos the right front wheel may not have hit the wall at all. So a very shallow angle hit on a wall at a speed that was described as abnormally slow, resulting in injuries that keep a driver off the track for nearly a month.

Everybody is entitled to their opinion and my opinion is that there's something very weird in this.
 
Don't see it as myself or anyone else trying to outright stamp on opinion. Was talking only about the reason for suspension not breaking as it maybe isn't as fragile as you believe. All relative though, "fragile" isn't a measurement in itself.

I agreed initially about something being up, though that was based on McLaren initially denying Alonso suffered concussion in the accident.
 
They just need to make the situation clear, with the current attitude they're just fueling all the theories, hiding stuff and talking about wind or other nonsense.
 
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