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Formula One 2018


Lineker

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Sainz confirmed for McLaren:

McLaren has announced Carlos Sainz Jr will race for it in the 2018 Formula 1 season, replacing the outgoing Fernando Alonso.

As reported by Autosport, Sainz emerged as a favoured choice by McLaren as it assessed its options for 2019, when it will lose two-time world champion Alonso from its F1 line-up.

McLaren has now confirmed Sainz as one of its 2019 drivers on a multi-year deal.

"We're incredibly excited to have Carlos join us as a McLaren driver," said McLaren CEO Zak Brown.

"We've been assessing him for some time now and rate him very highly among the next generation of young talent emerging through the ranks in Formula 1."

The main complication McLaren faced with Sainz was his contractual situation with Red Bull.

Sainz is on loan from Red Bull at Renault this season but his long-time backer retained an option to recall him to the senior team until September.

With Daniel Ricciardo making the shock decision to quit Red Bull for Renault, taking Sainz's seat, McLaren had to wait until Red Bull decided whether to promote Sainz or Pierre Gasly.

Thursday's confirmation that Sainz will race for McLaren next season means Red Bull has relinquished its option early and indicates it has committed to Toro Rosso driver Gasly partnering Max Verstappen in 2019.

Sainz said: "I'm delighted to finally be able to confirm that I'll be a McLaren driver from the 2019 season.

"It's something I've been looking at for a while and I'm very excited about this next chapter in my career."

Sainz is a proven operator in F1's midfield and gives McLaren a good insurance policy as it debates what to do with the drivers already on its books.

Reserve driver Lando Norris, Mercedes junior Esteban Ocon and current McLaren racer Stoffel Vandoorne are all linked to the second seat.

The team says it will announce its second driver "in due course".

McLaren is unconvinced by Vandoorne, who has been comfortably eclipsed as Alonso's team-mate, but has also appeared uncertain about when to promote reserve driver Lando Norris.

As Alonso's exit meant both McLaren drives became available instead of one, Formula 2 title challenger Norris now has a much more concrete chance to race in F1 next year.

He is believed to face competition from current Force India driver Ocon, whom Mercedes is looking to place somewhere on loan.

Mercedes had attempted to send Ocon to Renault, but Ricciardo's move scotched that.

It has therefore revived negotiations with McLaren, having previously considered it a viable destination for Ocon before it pushed him towards Renault.

Vandoorne's chances of staying in F1 appear limited if he is dropped by McLaren.

He could try to take advantage of the Gasly and Sainz moves to force himself into Toro Rosso but that would require Red Bull taking the unusual step of picking up a driver rejected by one of its rivals.

Alternatively, he may turn to Sauber - now run by Fred Vasseur, whose ART squad took Vandoorne to the 2015 GP2 title. Sauber also features Vandoorne's manager Alessandro Alunni Bravi in its ownership structure.

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Silly season might be going even crazier.

New rumour is that Stroll will take Ocon's seat in Spa, with Ocon either taking the Williams drive or replacing Vandoorne (at his home GP, even). And then presumably, if Ocon goes to McLaren, then Kubica will be in the Williams.

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25 minutes ago, Lineker said:

No comprende.

Grabbed the translation off of Reddit

Quote

Lawrence Stroll, the buyer of Force India, is keen to place his son, Lance, as soon as possible on the team, to help develop the car by 2019, which can mean a dance of seats for Spa-Francorchamps and a joy for Robert Kubica.

A consortium led by Lawrence Stroll , father of Lance , has been in charge of saving Force India . Although the team has not confirmed the signing of the Canadian pilot for 2019, rumors suggest that it will be the new partner of Sergio Perez who will announce its renewal in a few days.

So far all the ads talk about next season, however, today Motorsport Magazine journalist Mark Hughes says there may be changes before, including at Spa-Francorchamps , next week, as Stroll father is interested in his son get on the VJM11 as soon as possible to work towards 2019.

The departure of Stroll to Force India in the middle of the season would leave a free seat in Williams , which could be a gift for Robert Kubica and his fans, who so much wish his return.

If Stroll occupies the seat of Esteban Ocon in Belgium, the Frenchman has two possibilities: running in the place of Lance in a Williams with poor performance or going to McLaren as a substitute for Stoffel Vandoorne . The second option is, in fact, one that Toto Wolff has already searched more than once for his pilot. The Austrian, worried about the critical situation of Force India, tried first to place the Frenchman in Renault - but Daniel Ricciardo was finally left with the place in the diamond mark - and then, in McLaren, a team that has only confirmed Carlos at the moment Sainz for 2019. According to the Belgian media outlet DH, Vandoorne's seat is in danger, since it is likely that Ocon will occupy it from Spa.

In the last few days some movements have been known for the 2019 season. Fernando Alonso will not be, Daniel Ricciardo will drive for Renault and Carlos Sainz will be at McLaren, but beyond that, there is still a large part of the grid to be confirmed and the hand by Lawrence Stroll can have great influence on the lineups of next season.

---- (Quote's fucking up for me again)---

tl;dr - Stroll to Force India going into Spa, Ocon moving to Williams or McLaren, and all kinds of other shenanigans.

Honestly, this Spanish paper is the only reporting it and none of the major outlets are running it. I can see it happening because Papa Stroll has his own team and why not put his kid in a better car rather than mess about for the next half of the season in the Williams. And Lawrence has the fuck you money to pay the remaining sponsor money owed to Williams if he wants to, but unless it shows up on bigger feeds, I'm taking this with a pinch of salt.

 

Edited by Jasonmufc
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I don't know what the fuck is going on anymore.

tl;dr
- Force India loses all their points
- Stroll to Force India
- Kubica gets a race seat
- Ocon to McLaren
- Stoffel/Nando ???

This silly season is... no idea anymore.

Edited by Jasonmufc
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26 minutes ago, Adam es Tranquilo said:

Why on earth would they erase FI's points if they were staying in the championship?

It's a complicated takeover where Lawrence Stroll owns part of Force India, but not everything. He bought the team, but technically you can't buy the entry of the active season, so technically there now exists two Force India's, the physical entity that is owned by Stroll and Co. But also the hollow entity that is the 2018 F1 entry and is on all the official sheets.

Additionally Stroll wishes to rename the team, but there are rules prohibiting the renaming of a team during the season, again due to what it says on the entry sheet for 2018.

This means Stroll and Force India, if they wish to continue with the season, must ask permission to acquire their own entry rights for the rest of the season, if they wish to drive the rest of the season. But seeing F1 is a political shitfest, every single team needs to agree on it, and one team can gridlock the shit out of proceedings.

By all accounts, Williams F1 and McLaren F1 are not playing ball, because they're behind Force India in the standings, without Force India around they move up a place on the constructors rankings and get more money.

So Liberty, Force India, and Lawrence Stroll are bargaining their way back onto the grid for Spa, to appease Williams/McLaren in dropping their Veto's. Stroll going to Force India is the main proponent, but I can imagine Williams gets the Stroll sponsor money for the rest of the season, and to replace Lance they'll put Kubica in the seat for the rest of 2018. To make room at Force India Ocon is bumped and given to McLaren (probably again with Force India/Stroll paying the troll toll) as a replacement for Stoffel Vandoorne. And finally to make the shit-sandwich complete, Force India foregoes all their acquired points in the first 12 races of the season, meaning they start at 0 points and will have to work their asses off to get back in the mid-table, which will cost them a lot of cash in the long run.

All in all, it's a political shit sandwich, and just more proof that the Concorde agreement need to fuck off forever.

Also there's the possibility that Force India will not be able to run at Spa due to the ongoing nature of negotiations.

Edited by Jasonmufc
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Thanks for that explanation Jason, very informative!

I still think they should go with common sense and, even if the takeover means it's a "new" team, they should let them continue on with the previous results this season and create a new entry for next season. Wang some more comp money the way of Williams and McLaren if need be.

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