2018 Silly Season
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Re: 2018 Silly Season
Named after HRT, now on HRT
Re: 2018 Silly Season
I'm not saying this is certainly going to happen, but I feel the same three teams will continue to lockout the podium thoughout next year (and it might be just two teams from '19 onwards if Red Bull get Honda engines like the ones they've built so far). Not to be a pessimist, if the works Renault team continue to improve and the engine deal works for McLaren we could have at least 5 teams with competitive cars (might've said the same thing last year though!).
Allard Kalff in 1994 wrote:OH!! Schumacher in the wall! Right in front of us, Michael Schumacher is in the wall! He's hit the pitwall, he c... Ah, it's Jos Verstappen.
Re: 2018 Silly Season
East Londoner wrote:
Can't help but feel McLaren have played a blinder here. Red Bull are likely stranded with that horrendous lump, and
unless Honda somehow have a massive turnaround in performance ala Honda in CART between 1994 and 1995 (which isn't going to happen), we might be seeing the (temporary?) end of Red Bull as frontrunners.
If I were Dale or Max, I'd be lining up another seat as soon as possible. I can't see how Honda will be any different with Red Bull than they have been with McLaren, they're still miles behind Ferrari/Mercedes/Renault in the development race.
Whilst the relationship between Red Bull and Renault has been rather strained in recent years, it's still a big surprise to see things break down completely (especially since it is being suggested that Renault had initially agreed to sell engines to Red Bull for 2019 and 2020, only to suddenly go back on that agreement).
If any party has played a blinder though, it could be argued that it is Renault - they've got a driver that they wanted at a fairly minimal cost to themselves and arranged a partnership with a major team who will be paying them for the privilege of their engines, whilst managing to get themselves out of a rancorous relationship with another team. Out of the three parties, it looks like they might be the ones who gain the most out of this deal...
On another note, it is worth noting that both Verstappen and Ricciardo are due to be out of contract for 2019 - so Red Bull now face the situation where they'd be forced to go with Honda and potentially risk losing both of their current drivers at the same time. The only consolation is the fact that the engine rules change in 2021 anyway, so they'd potentially be stuck with the Honda power unit for only two years (and, by then, you would hope that Honda might finally have made some decent improvements).
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"