Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 6. (Read 144458 times)

I can see Tsunoda and Lawson being the only choices, they did give a test to Ricciardo last season and start of this season but he did not provided anything, I bet that they wanted to put him there at first, but that did not worked out. Lawson seems like younger and has more potential, but Tsunoda looks like he has more experience and has been at F1 for a while as well for a few seasons.

I do not know who they will give the seat to, it doesn't feel like it makes sense at the moment for either because I do not see either being a great improvement. I honestly would try to grab Sainz but they were too late for that, Sainz was known to leave Ferrari like since start of the season, they should have gotten him, that would have been an amazing improvement. You can't deny that the guy who won races even against Max, in a worse car, couldn't be awesome, that dude could have been the perfect support driver for Max, but they dropped the ball on that one for sure.

^  Tsunoda to Aston Martin?  So what would the driver line up look like?  Will it he Stroll who's gonna be kicked out?  I think his dad should really consider throwing his son out of the team as he's just s liability.

But yeah, Tsunoda could be a reserve driver which isn't really a bad thing.  The more interesting question is who does Horner have in mind to replace Tsunoda?  Mick Schumacher?  Vettel has been vouching for him.

looks like Tsunoda will be release from Ted Bull at the end of the season as suggested by Crhristian Horner.
His contract will expire ant the end of the season and it will be not renewed.

They are already talking about a potential Aston Martin interest.

Yeah just a little time after I made my previous post, Lawson was announced on the Formula 1 account. Indeed like I said I would also like to see Tsunoda.    I hope Lawson surprises us and performs good enough for Red Bull.

https://x.com/F1/status/1869680321790128192

Another announcement they made was Bottas' return to Mercedes. But as a reserve driver.    I think this shows Mercedes won't go for a swap between Sainz and Antonelli. Or I don't know let's see... Honestly I would really like to see Sainz driving for Mercedes. I believe he deserves it. It would be less risky for Mercedes to achieve big targets too. But if they want to see how Antonelli will race then no problem. They can still change things according to circumstance in 2026 when new cars arrive.

Lawson is not the official driver for Redbull for the next year.
Sad to not see giving a chance to Tsunoda, he even made the test 1 week ago.

Perez time has been concluced, as predicted.

Bad move for RBR to renew his contract the pat year, so now they need to pay him more for the exit.

Yeah I have also seen the official announcement on the official F1 X account.

I totally agree. It was expected to see him leaving after causing Red Bull to finish the season at even the 3rd position. It is like Perez has already finished Formula 1 in his head. There are even some rumours out such as he will join Ferrari and race in WEC next season. I wouldn't be surprised though for the reason I said. 

Now I'm curious about who is taking the seat officially. Tsunoda or Lawson. These are my candidates. The rumours were pointing to Lawson but I believe Tsunoda deserves it more with his ambition. We haven't watched Lawson as much as him yet.

Yeah, I just read the news, and it's indeed quite sad to see how he came out of RB with such a bad ending. But that's just it, RB couldn't possibly keep him any longer and took a gamble to make him a driver next season. Moreover, from one of the videos I watched which was RB's own internal, there was pressure to have Lawson as the second driver, even if RB had to lose the sponsorship brought by Perez, so most likely Lawson will be the second driver, eliminating the possibility of Tsunoda.

But we don't know if this is the end of his career in F1, because there is still another seat in 2026, so let's see.

Perez already announced officially that he will leave Red buil.
Expected annoucnement.

With any another driver Redbull was winning the double title this year too, easly.

Lawson looks like the candidate number 1 but tzunoda did the after season test, we will see

It's official that Perez won't drive Red Bull next season, now we wait for confirmation about Perez.
We all saw this coming. It was just sad to see Perez performance this year and half of last season.
But anyway, he deserves credit for what he did in first seasons.  Perez played big role when Verstappen gotvhis first title in 2021, especially in last race in Abu Dhabi.

Rumors are circulating that Daniel Ricciardo has the opportunity to become a Cadillac driver in the 2026 season. This rumor emerged after Cadillac revealed that the team is aiming to sign a mix of experienced drivers and promising talents. However, on one occasion during a photo session with one of his fans, Daniel Ricciardo said that his career in F1 was over, and this also confirmed that the Honey Badger would not be joining F1 again. It is a shame that we did not get a proper goodbye for Daniel, even though he deserved it, but that's F1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0_ZZhHeEvA

And other news is that Liam Lawson will take over for Sergio Perez at Red Bull next season. This may be news that has been expected because of how bad Perez's performance was in the last few races this season. However, this is still unclear because Perez and RB are still negotiating and it is possible that Perez will stay at RB, but if not, then it seems that RB will announce this soon.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/formula-1/article/reports-liam-lawson-set-to-replace-sergio-perez-at-red-bull/

Something political is chaniong in F1.
FIA now will have more power with Ben Sulayem, it will be not a good time for drivers.

We just got a taste in the past 2 races with severe penalties, how long he can last if he will do the same next year?

I think this changes everything for Red Bull. Because we have no idea how successful they will be with the engine after Honda leaves. I don't know whether one of the main reasons of their recent downfall is the engine though. I think it is more depending on the other parts of the car. I can't wait for the 2026 season to see the big changes in general. 


I think exactly the same. They can play bigger if they have Sainz honestly. Because we don't know what Antonelli is capable of yet in an F1 car. Besides he is very young no matter how talented he is. He would be more likely to make mistakes compared to Sainz. If I were in their shoes I would go for this swap.    Sainz deserves to drive for a better team than Williams with his ambition.

Yeah the AC will be fun to see.
Wanna see what they will engineering  for it, it will be not a normal one.
Imagine if they use the air is some strange way to get an advantage, probably they will.

About the cheating, not sure if was a loophole or not, if it is a loop hole they usually leave it until the end of the season and don't ask to remove midseason.

What McLaren did yesterday was simply cheating but no, they just took advantage of the loopholes in the rules and they succeeded. They are geniuses who can make good use of it and it's good that the FIA has regulated it.

And related to the new rule for Heat Hazard, it was the right decision, because the temperature inside the F1 cockpit is hot, in normal times it can reach 40°C to 50°C, and it makes drivers lose a lot of fluid in their bodies. With this rule, the F1 cockpit temperature can be more humanized and can help reduce the loss of more fluids from the driver's body.

Fia Announced a new rules for 2025.

The fist rule is for going against the cheat used by Mclared with the miniDRS.
They have now more regulation, more severe and it will be harder for find a grey spot.

They also added a new rule for Heat Hazard.
Basically teams needs to add a cooling sistem for drivers when the heat is over 30.5 °C, for doing so they increased the min weight of the car with 5 kg.

I do not think that cars will be that big of a gap right now, and everyone have some gap to cover anyways. Look at Kick Sauber, they had literally just four points all season long, they were slower than everyone else and it was definitely a terrible thing to see but I am still glad that they were there, because it means we get to see more cars.

The notion of "nobody wants to see slower cars" is something I disagree with, I may understand it if you do not want to, but I do and I like to see them, because it's competition for themselves as well.

For example Williams finished 9th, 17, and they were all alone, because 10th Sauber had 4, far away, and 8th "visa cash" whatever this new name craze is, basically be sister team, had 46 points, still far away from Williams.

Basically, all season long, Williams never had any competition, they were far away from each team from both sides, is that fun? I do not think so, but if we add more teams, I think everyone will have someone close to them they try to beat. Do not look at it as 2 seconds slower than others, look at it as a team that can battle against Williams.

some updates.

Cadillac 1st driver is now rumored to be Riccardo.
2026 cars will be 200 kg heavier so maybe they will be slower? to counter this they incresed their horse power.
2026 should be the final season for Fernando Alonso.
2026 wheelbase of cars will be 20 cm longer.

Yes, you read that right... although these are just rumors, they seem to be quite strong that Sainz would swap Williams for Mercedes, opening up a spot for Antonelli at Williams instead of the German team.

That would change the strategy for next year quite a bit, don't you think?

I consider Antonelli to be a future star in Formula 1... he is a young driver with an impressive track record in the junior categories and is seen as a central part of the future of the team led by Toto Wolff. If this move to Williams does happen, it will allow him to gain a lot of experience and develop in a team with less pressure before taking on the leadership role at Mercedes. I think it would be a good strategy even for him.

For now, Wolff vehemently denies that there is any possibility of a swap involving Sainz and Antonelli, but the speculation is very strong.

Make no mistake... although the driver market for next season is calmer compared to previous years, Formula 1 has a history of unexpected changes. Those who have been following this for years will know what I am talking about.

And we still have Red Bull evaluating its options for the second car, so this speculation involving Mercedes and Williams already makes the market quite unstable and everything can change before the start of the championship.

Charles needs to use this as learning experience and not competition. He has 7 time world champion right next to him everyday, and they are not even competition anymore. So that means, he can literally ask about anything, and take notes and learn from the best. If he considers this as a lesson and get better and improve then he would do much better in the future but if he sees this as competition and some ego wars then he is going to end up being much more hurt in the end, and won't get any better.

Hamilton is not there as mentor of course, he is there to potentially get the 8th title finally, which won't be easy and I believe that would not be something he can get, but that will be what he will be aiming for while there.

rendered images of 2026 has been officialy release from FIA
The cars looks very similar but it will be smaller

Some changes coming

+300% electrical power
100% sustainable fuel used
Red Bull will have his own engine with Honda leaving once again
GM plans to use their own engine but they will start with Ferrari engine
DRS will be removed and replaced with MOM, Manual override Mode giving drivers an electrical boost, like fast and furious.