What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

It really doesn’t look too promising.

Williams simply want the bidding war to continue and maximise the $$$ from SMP'

'' @ Gunk..hahahah, is that what Claire told you?

Quote:

K1
'' @ Gunk..hahahah, is that what Claire told you?

It's a bidding war. What else would you call the various offers and counter offers?

Really, i dont know why Kubica is even trying to get some more money to even EQUAL what the russians propose (if it is true that they are even trying). And Wehrlein wouldnt have the chance, either. Why would he with his alleged puny 3m discount on the engines LOL. Toto knew exacly that there is no reason to even start the talks.

I was just reading quite alot about Rotenberg and Putin today and damn, the guy has so much of Putin's support its insane. Like if it does even matter if Kubica will find the missing 8m, Rotenberg could probably sell one of his little gardens and they would offer like 1 or 2m more and its a done deal.
They even seized 3 villas and 1 big hotel of Rottenberg in Italy worth over 30m cause of the EU sanctions not so long ago, and he replied "I will miss vacations in Italy, but there are many other beutiful places"!
Putin and Rotenberg were even sparring partners in judo ffs.

It really seems right now that the team wants them to counteroffer eachother to no end and they might even announce the drivers just before winter testing at the end of february.

Its impossible that in that seat will be someone other than Sirotkin. Null. Zero. Nada.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2017:12:17:20:30:51 by GiorgioF1.

Whatever the final outcome is i am pretty sure that the decision makers at Williams will be canvassing all options on the table and they will choose what they believe is the very best that they can achieve...given the current resources at their disposal and what can be locked into for future. These people are not amateurs, they are professional players in a sophisticated form of sport/business. Paddy and his team will know what to expect vis a vis performance and as i've said before, a very fast car even in the hands of a mediocre driver will still be apparent and it will not go unnoticed.

Billionaire backer pushes for Sergey Sirotkin seat

Powerful Russian businessman Boris Rotenberg has said that he is pushing hard to secure Sergey Sirotkin's place on the 2018 grid.

The matter of Williams's final driver for next season has become the subject of high speculation, with Russian Sirotkin and Robert Kubica vying for the seat.

Last week it was claimed that the British team were ready to end Kubica's comeback hopes by confirming a deal for Sirotkin, but Williams now say that a decision will not be made until January.

Sirotkin's backers, including the SMP Bank owner and billionaire Rotenberg who is reportedly close to Vladimir Putin, are reportedly promising over €15m (£13.2m) in sponsorship.

Rotenberg told Russian media that he is working hard on the deal.

"I never like to talk in advance," he said.

"It's like football, when you only say you want to win the next game.

"We are all hoping and trying to do everything, but it depends not only on us. The main thing is that [Williams] understand us, but in any case Sergey deserves to go to Formula 1.

"He beat the competition, going faster than Kubica and at the level of [Lance] Stroll. So we now have the opportunity to put him into a car."

[www.sportsmole.co.uk]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017:12:18:09:36:57 by GiorgioF1.

Quote:

GiorgioF1
Billionaire backer pushes for Sergey Sirotkin seat

Powerful Russian businessman Boris Rotenberg has said that he is pushing hard to secure Sergey Sirotkin's place on the 2018 grid.

The matter of Williams's final driver for next season has become the subject of high speculation, with Russian Sirotkin and Robert Kubica vying for the seat.

Last week it was claimed that the British team were ready to end Kubica's comeback hopes by confirming a deal for Sirotkin, but Williams now say that a decision will not be made until January.

Sirotkin's backers, including the SMP Bank owner and billionaire Rotenberg who is reportedly close to Vladimir Putin, are reportedly promising over €15m (£13.2m) in sponsorship.

Rotenberg told Russian media that he is working hard on the deal.

"I never like to talk in advance," he said.

"It's like football, when you only say you want to win the next game.

"We are all hoping and trying to do everything, but it depends not only on us. The main thing is that [Williams] understand us, but in any case Sergey deserves to go to Formula 1.

"He beat the competition, going faster than Kubica and at the level of [Lance] Stroll. So we now have the opportunity to put him into a car."

[www.sportsmole.co.uk]

Like I said many times before it's all about the money, doesn't matter the driver, so we will most probably end up with 2 crappy drivers.

So Sirotkin matches Stroll and faster than Kubica?
Ok, forget it, he has more money so we should take Kubica!

Quote:

Mehryar
So Sirotkin matches Stroll and faster than Kubica?
Ok, forget it, he has more money so we should take Kubica!

Im sure the Russian billionare and one of closest Putins friends, who wants to put a Russian in F1, is his personal sponsor and did all kinds of shady dealings in the past and probably even now is speaking the whole truth. Its puzzling why he didnt say that Sirotkin was faster than Carlos Sainz who did almost exactly the same time as Kubica did and drove with A Renault engine

That was a sarcasm.I mean he is telling bs cause there's no way a potential sponser knows details of times done by 3 drivers.his view on the pace of 3 drivers is useless.

I'm kinda laughing on the matter who is faster and who is more useful to the team.

Sirotkin did his times on setup sugested and insisted on by Kubica.

You see.. first day way run on race setup that Massa and Stroll used with their engineers for Abu Dhabi race.

While second day... was run on an adapted setup insisted on by Kubica. At least that was reported. The value of Sirotkin's times lies on Kubica's setup sugestions.

Team need someone to develop the car and setup with engineers together. Not just a guy who turns the wheel and pushes pedals.
They are insisting that Stroll is their long term future...

The question of the two cars used is in fact another mistery of the tests.

Which was Massa and which was Stroll no one knows.

Kubica drove the number 40 car the 2 days while Sirotkin drove the 41 on the second day.

Not even Paddy had an excuse for what happened in Strolls car during the GP and the lack of performance he showned in Abu dhabi.

We know Kubica insisted in setup changes but they couldn't be made or something on the first day.

The second day Sirotkin used the other car (Massas or Strolls who knows) but Massa was consistently faster and probably had a much better setup on his car then Stroll.

Now. No one knows and has much as I'd prefer Kubica to be at Williams then Sirotkin I don't believe the team would make him use a car that wasn't in the same setup has Sirotkin.

Quote:

andy si
I'm kinda laughing on the matter who is faster and who is more useful to the team.
Sirotkin did his times on setup sugested and insisted on by Kubica.

You see.. first day way run on race setup that Massa and Stroll used with their engineers for Abu Dhabi race.

While second day... was run on an adapted setup insisted on by Kubica. At least that was reported. The value of Sirotkin's times lies on Kubica's setup sugestions.

Team need someone to develop the car and setup with engineers together. Not just a guy who turns the wheel and pushes pedals.
They are insisting that Stroll is their long term future...

sorry andy, but that's not true.
After tests, Kubica said, that the car had almost basic setup selected by engineers and was not set to his requirements, except for a few little things. This said Kubica himself after tests.

So, there was no special setup from Kubica on the car, only almost basic setup...

As far as we heard about it, there was no major changes to the car setup and this "we know the setup was blahblah" atleast I did not know and can not find any source for it.
Which car they used is another story.still you don't know if there was anything wrong with Stroll's car in Abu Dhabi or he simply @#$%& up as the gap of new engine with a new one should be minimal in Paddy's words so I think it's better to stop making theories to justify Kubica's pace.he may still be faster but not by a large margin we all hoped for.

f1metrics.wordpress.com/2017/12/05/2017-f1metrics-end-of-season-report/

Here's a driver rating based only on numbers. Interestly Wherlien is ranked 9th overall and best out of all Williams prospects for 2018.

This same mathmatician calculates a car/driver value for WCC in car 61% / driver 39%.

From this same mathmatician the hypotetic swap between Williams and FIndia drivers would make Williams 4th with 5% more points scored at the end of the 2017 season.

But numbers aren't my thing just a interesting read.

Quote:

Polemik

Quote:

andy si
I'm kinda laughing on the matter who is faster and who is more useful to the team.
Sirotkin did his times on setup sugested and insisted on by Kubica.

You see.. first day way run on race setup that Massa and Stroll used with their engineers for Abu Dhabi race.

While second day... was run on an adapted setup insisted on by Kubica. At least that was reported. The value of Sirotkin's times lies on Kubica's setup sugestions.

Team need someone to develop the car and setup with engineers together. Not just a guy who turns the wheel and pushes pedals.
They are insisting that Stroll is their long term future...

sorry andy, but that's not true.
After tests, Kubica said, that the car had almost basic setup selected by engineers and was not set to his requirements, except for a few little things. This said Kubica himself after tests.

So, there was no special setup from Kubica on the car, only almost basic setup...

My wrong... didn't get to read all comments. Specially not local Polish.

Well it looks like the Russian media have sources that seem to be saying that Williams have signed Sirotkin for 2018 in what is a one year deal.

Who will get the Williams seat? as many pools in f1 sites were fans go is one thing, Who should get it it's another.
The large majotity of F1 fans wants Kubica back and point Wherlien as second option, now, money says Sirotkin will get the seat.
Has I told you on Twitter Andrew i'm pretty sure Williams will go for the money and try to make Sirotkin a hell of a driver.
But us fans will get stuck with two mediocre drivers not taking nearly the best out of the car that's the only thing that might come out good for 2018.
This won't be a year were i'll be watching many races. Ugly cars and bad drivers doesn't make me want to watch F1.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017:12:22:10:54:59 by Marco Cardoso.

Williams have got to go with the Kubica/Nico deal.

What and where else can Sirotkin and his Russian money go.

If Paddys team come up with the goods then using Roberts
feedback will pay dividends i am sure.

Only unless the Russians put up an extra 5 mill will it
sway Williams heads.

We can replace Stroll for Sirotkin next season if things
start to drop into place or maybe even a better driver.

My Money is still on Robert and keeping Sergey third driver
for the start of the season.

Well, let's hope he won't be mediocre. On the positive side, his CV isn't bad as a whole and the first year in GP2 was excellent .. . so much so that he was expected to win second time around.

Interesting is that all the Russian reports I read say that the bank will support either Sirotkin or Kvyat, whichever Williams choose . . . even both. The lack of results does seem to be a big negative for Kvyat.

Sirotkin did his times on setup sugested and insisted on by Kubica.

You see.. first day way run on race setup that Massa and Stroll used with their engineers for Abu Dhabi race.

While second day... was run on an adapted setup insisted on by Kubica. At least that was reported. The value of Sirotkin's times lies on Kubica's setup sugestions.

Team need someone to develop the car and setup with engineers together. Not just a guy who turns the wheel and pushes pedals.
They are insisting that Stroll is their long term future...[/quote]


sorry andy, but that's not true.
After tests, Kubica said, that the car had almost basic setup selected by engineers and was not set to his requirements, except for a few little things. This said Kubica himself after tests.

So, there was no special setup from Kubica on the car, only almost basic setup...[/quote]

My wrong... didn't get to read all comments. Specially not local Polish.[/quote]
Just to put this to bed..

The sporting regulations mean the car setup can't be changed from how it raced on Sunday. They both used the same setup and that would have matched the setup of whoever's car was used.

It's in the rules.

[quote Mikef1]Sirotkin did his times on setup sugested and insisted on by Kubica.

You see.. first day way run on race setup that Massa and Stroll used with their engineers for Abu Dhabi race.

While second day... was run on an adapted setup insisted on by Kubica. At least that was reported. The value of Sirotkin's times lies on Kubica's setup sugestions.

Team need someone to develop the car and setup with engineers together. Not just a guy who turns the wheel and pushes pedals.
They are insisting that Stroll is their long term future...[/quote]


sorry andy, but that's not true.
After tests, Kubica said, that the car had almost basic setup selected by engineers and was not set to his requirements, except for a few little things. This said Kubica himself after tests.

So, there was no special setup from Kubica on the car, only almost basic setup...[/quote]

My wrong... didn't get to read all comments. Specially not local Polish.[/quote]
Just to put this to bed..

The sporting regulations mean the car setup can't be changed from how it raced on Sunday. They both used the same setup and that would have matched the setup of whoever's car was used.

It's in the rules.[/quote]

Your absolutly wrigth Mikef1, but there was a huge difference on setup between Stroll and Massa, and both Kubica and Sirotkin used diferent cars, now, who used Massa and who used Strolls we don't know.

Hey if Sirotkin used Strolls car and did those times when Kubica was runing Massas with certainly a better set-up then the guy is awesome, shamely everyone who followed him at GP2 knows his average at best.

[quote Mikef1]Sirotkin did his times on setup sugested and insisted on by Kubica.

You see.. first day way run on race setup that Massa and Stroll used with their engineers for Abu Dhabi race.

While second day... was run on an adapted setup insisted on by Kubica. At least that was reported. The value of Sirotkin's times lies on Kubica's setup sugestions.

Team need someone to develop the car and setup with engineers together. Not just a guy who turns the wheel and pushes pedals.
They are insisting that Stroll is their long term future...[/quote]


sorry andy, but that's not true.
After tests, Kubica said, that the car had almost basic setup selected by engineers and was not set to his requirements, except for a few little things. This said Kubica himself after tests.

So, there was no special setup from Kubica on the car, only almost basic setup...[/quote]

My wrong... didn't get to read all comments. Specially not local Polish.[/quote]
Just to put this to bed..

The sporting regulations mean the car setup can't be changed from how it raced on Sunday. They both used the same setup and that would have matched the setup of whoever's car was used.

It's in the rules.[/quote]

We all learn something new every day. Thank you!