The 2017 Silly Season thread

[Rob Dylan]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/132594/hartley-keeps-drive-gasly-replaces-kvyat
Kvyat's been dropped!

Hartley's in!

So Toro Rosso has a "stable" lineup until at least the end of this year.

R.I.P. Kvyat's F1 career for good?

[Barbazza]

I liked the way that Hartley went about his business - nothing dramatic, picked up places due to more experienced drivers silliness, picked a strategy that also helped. But Kvyat got a point even though the car wasn't particularly quick - what did they expect, a podium?! You can't help but feel sorry for him.

[mario]

I liked the way that Hartley went about his business - nothing dramatic, picked up places due to more experienced drivers silliness, picked a strategy that also helped. But Kvyat got a point even though the car wasn't particularly quick - what did they expect, a podium?! You can't help but feel sorry for him.

The presumption seems to be that, as Red Bull have had the opportunity to compare Gasly against Kvyat, and now Hartley against Kvyat, they want to run a direct comparison between Hartley and Gasly to weigh up which two of those three drivers they will use until the end of the season.

The timing does make it rather harsh though, given that Kvyat had a fairly decent race in Austin - but it feels like the team have more of an eye on 2018 rather than 2017, and you have to wonder how Kvyat fits in to their longer term plans for the team.

[Henrique]

https://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/360256/kvyat-won-t-return-to-toro-rosso-marko/

It's all over for the Torpedo.

[Barbazza]

Very harsh. He was demoted far too quickly - Grosjean did a lot worse for a while and was given time to calm down, after all - and his confidence shattered by the vile corporate Red Bull machine. I hope he comes back some time and sticks 2 fingers up to Obergruppenfuhrer Marko.

[CarloSpace]

He's still only 23 so here's hoping that he'll bounce back sooner or later. No one can deny that at his best he really is a great driver - who remembers that he actually beat Ricciardo in 2015 despite missing one race?

To put things into perspective; Bottas for example only made his debut with Williams when he was 23 so Kvjat really should have his best years in front of him.

No wonder Red Bull is running out of juniors and I'm quite happy they are with the way they treat their drivers.

[Rob Dylan]

No wonder Red Bull is running out of juniors and I'm quite happy they are with the way they treat their drivers.

Commentators to this day talk about how presitigious and incredible it is to become part of the Red Bull Young Drivers programme. But if I were honest, if I were a dad managing my son through racing series, I wouldn't want someone exposed to the same kind of treatment Daniil was. There's "sport isn't fair" and then there's Red Bull's treatment of Daniil. Though it might not land you a front-running car at the age of 18, many managers are probably going with one of the alternative young drivers programmes nowadays. Red Bull simply handled the whole case terribly, and perhaps their shrinking list of drivers down the series is a consequence of this.

On Kvyat's drop itself, I'm just happy it has finally come. He needs time off to recover. Maybe leave F1 altogether. I only hope deep down that there's a happy ending to all this, and that he doesn't follow in the footsteps of Jaime Alguersuari and quit altogether.

[1993DonningtonNo1Mk2]

If my knowledge of F1 History is correct, this is the time since 2004 that a team is likely to end the season with two different drivers from the ones they started with.

[Aislabie]

If my knowledge of F1 History is correct, this is the time since 2004 that a team is likely to end the season with two different drivers from the ones they started with.

Caterham?

[1993DonningtonNo1Mk2]

If my knowledge of F1 History is correct, this is the time since 2004 that a team is likely to end the season with two different drivers from the ones they started with.

Caterham?

Caterham were the last team to run 4 drivers in one season in 2014 but Kobayashi was one of the drivers they started the season with and Stevens replaced Ericsson. I'm talking about seasons in which a team ended the season with neither of their original drivers and if memory serves me correct, the last team to do that was Toyota in 2004, started off with da Matta and Panis and finished with Trulli and Zonta.

[AndreaModa]

No wonder Red Bull is running out of juniors and I'm quite happy they are with the way they treat their drivers.

Commentators to this day talk about how presitigious and incredible it is to become part of the Red Bull Young Drivers programme. But if I were honest, if I were a dad managing my son through racing series, I wouldn't want someone exposed to the same kind of treatment Daniil was. There's "sport isn't fair" and then there's Red Bull's treatment of Daniil. Though it might not land you a front-running car at the age of 18, many managers are probably going with one of the alternative young drivers programmes nowadays. Red Bull simply handled the whole case terribly, and perhaps their shrinking list of drivers down the series is a consequence of this.

On Kvyat's drop itself, I'm just happy it has finally come. He needs time off to recover. Maybe leave F1 altogether. I only hope deep down that there's a happy ending to all this, and that he doesn't follow in the footsteps of Jaime Alguersuari and quit altogether.

If you're a decent young kid making a name for yourself but your parents have just had to re-mortgage the house for a second time and are struggling to make ends meet, then those Red Bull dollars are awfully tempting.

Motorsport doesn't come cheap and very few have the disposable income to go and do it while continually progressing up the ladder as it gets more and more expensive. You either reach a ceiling funding-wise or are picked up by Red Bull or someone else, or you have enough financial clout through personal wealth or other sponsors to carry on.

[Aislabie]

I was reading a French article earlier; it said there was nothing official, but sources inside the Williams team have suggested that Massa will retire definitively at his home Grand Prix. For Abu Dhabi, Kubica gets his comeback and Williams can rake in that sweet sweet PR.

No official sources, but confirmation expected on November 8th.

CHOObica CHOObica

[tommykl]

I've heard those rumours as well, but the far more likely scenario I've seen is Kubica being at the very least given a spot in the post-Abu Dhabi test. This would indicate they're looking more towards him than di Resta, unless they're going to be sharing the car.

[Aislabie]

Yep, that's definitely the more likely outcome. I still most definitely plan to jump on the hype train unless told otherwise though!

[AndreaModa]

I've heard Di Resta isn't even close to being in the running, and that, Kvyat aside, it's been between Massa and Kubica all along. Di Resta's presence at the Hungaroring test was merely as a benchmark. Apparently Williams prefer him more as a test driver. I thought I read this on the Motor Sport Magazine website but I can't find the article unfortunately.