Lotus49 wrote:
pokerman wrote:
Perez left the Ferrari ranks himself but there was no guarantee of a Ferrari drive, I get the impression at the time that they were not as impressed with Perez as they are now with Leclerc?
You don't get gifted top drives just by being respectfully fast you need to show yourself to be something special, the problem with Perez and Hulk is they kind of cancelled each one out, Perez had known form against Button, a WDC when things unexpectedly fell into his lap, but ultimately a driver seen as being short of the ultimate fastest, then with Perez we see Ocon being able to match him, they can't all be superstars?
Leclerc was in a favourable position but he also destroyed his teammate, even if that was only Ericsson, but he was a rookie to boot, he showed himself to look like he was something special.
So say the likes of either Rossi and Newgarden got signed up by Haas then they have to beat Grosjean a driver with respectable speed, if they do that then surely there has to be a big commercial benefit to get such a driver in a top team?
I'm talking in terms of a WDC capable American driver not just putting a token American in a top team which the teams wouldn't allow anyway and circling back to the thread itself, Alonso making American based drivers look like amateurs in the wet conditions wouldn't be impressing the top teams either.
I've no idea how impressed Ferrari were with Perez but if Seb had got the job done I'm not sure Leclerc would've got the gig tbh and they'd have stuck with what had helped make Seb perform. That he didn't and Kimi has generally under performed for a number of years now has helped the gig fall Charles's way rather than just his special performances imo.
What did Bottas or Gasly show that Hulk or Perez haven't at some point that was so special? What didn't Dan show that Bottas and Leclerc did that attracted Merc and Ferrari? Button outperformed Seb for his title, it didn't fall in his lap, he earned it and he also beat both Lewis and Alonso over a season so that's a pretty good benchmark for both Perez and therefore Hulk and a damn sight better than what Bottas has managed thus far and yet look where he's sitting.
Gutierrez beat Grosjean more often than not on a Sunday and no-one cared. K-Mag just smashed him and got nearly double the points and no-one here cares never mind the top teams, we all know he's going nowhere near them.
Being affiliated and a quieter character not likely to put up much fight seems more attractive right now to the top teams than actual outright talent tbh so that alone will reduce how appealing switching series would be. Being a jnr still seems the best way now but even that hasn't gone perfectly for Ocon despite his impressive performances.
Leclerc would still have got the drive in 2020, Vettel's failure and Leclerc's performance moved that forward to 2019, Kimi was always going to get replaced sooner or later.
The Hulk was actually Mercedes' first choice to replace Rosberg but Renault would not release him from his contract, Button was never seen as a top driver he beat an inexperienced Vettel in 2009, what Button did in 2011 soon got preceded in 2012 when Button struggled in comparison to Hamilton. Button nearly lost his seat in 2014 after criticism from Dennis who preferred KMag over him to team up with Alonso who Honda wanted to spearhead the team, can you imagine that same scenario being played out if Hamilton was still there?
Bottas was re-signed quite early in the season at a time when he was performing well, Ricciardo was already in a top team but let's not forget he's basically looked slower than Verstappen, Verstappen was the Red Bull driver that Mercedes wanted not Ricciardo, I've heard more than once that the reason Verstappen's contract was renewed for far more money was to stave off advances from Mercedes.
In respect to Ferrari why would they not see Leclerc as having more potential to beat the likes of Verstappen than Ricciardo, that's called forward planning post Vettel.
I think no one cared about Guttierez because unlike Grosjean he wasn't able to score any points, in respect to KMag he fell apart in the second half of the season to that extent I was a bit surprised that Haas re-signed both drivers.
The last part is not true given that Ferrari have put Leclerc in the car and I expect Ocon to be in the Mercedes in 2020 having already ventured that Mercedes had been chasing Verstappen previous to last season.
Right like I said it being the right time played a role as much as his own performance.
I don't know what Lewis has to do with it but if they wanted Hulk then you'd think Perez would be the next best thing as he'd edged him over their time together yet Bottas who had less special performances was the one who got the gig so performance alone isn't as all important as you seem to think.
Dan also looked quicker than Seb which is pretty good no? And being slower than Max doesn't mean he can't be a step up from Bottas or Kimi or even Leclerc. Ferrari could well think Leclerc can be faster than Max but its obviously a gamble when there's a guy who's faster than their current No.1 available at the same time.
So just outperforming Grosjean doesn't have the pull you first thought then,right? And not sure what's wrong with the last part, Ocon and Leclerc are affiliated to Merc and Ferrari are they not?
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