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[quote="UnlikeUday"][quote="kleefton"]Still no announcement huh? Looks to me like they are going to pass on Kubica. His latest comments that he is currently driving at 90% of his abilitity certainly couldn't have helped his chances. Williams should just put Wherlein in the car and call it a day, but I understand they care about the big bucks and want to make a splash...[/quote]

Williams I feel are waiting for the medical tests of Kubica. All depends on this. If not Kubica, I wonder if they'll go for Wehrlein or Di Resta![/quote]

Out of those two options, Wehrlein is probably the better bet. He has done ok at Sauber without knocking it out of the park. He would be a consistent performer.

He's been fairly substandard at Sauber when you consider his teammate, Di Resta was actually fairly impressive and bailed out on the back of a bad half season.

Disclaimer - this post comes with a lot of blind Scottish nationalism attached

I also think DiResta is a far better bet than Vherlien. DiResta is not going to set the world alight, but neither is Pascal, and he is easy to work with and steady if not blinding, which is what you want if you have Strol in the other car.

Paul seems to have made a bad impression on some TV audiences due to his 'whining' when at Force India, but the team liked him and appreciated what he was complaining about.

Neither is a top 10 driver, but we know where we are with DiResta and he has a lot of experience, and Vherlien does not like taking instruction or giving sensable feedback, and is still, to me, several places below DiResta as a driver.


Edit. Paul is still on the books at Merc, so they must see value in him. I think Wherlien will be dropped by Merc if he does not get this drive, or one other next year, which must tell us something.


Oh, and I am not Scottish either

Paul's problem is he still brings no money and if Williams were looking for speed alone they'd keep Massa or promote Paul imo.

They seem to want cash so whoever's the quickest or closest to Massa's level out of the money men will get the gig and they seem to be still casting their net out with Rowland the latest supposedly in talks according to Sky Sports News.

No idea if he has backers like Kubica(8m) and Sirotkin(15m) though. (Figures from Mark Hughes comment section).

You can understand Williams thinking, there's a potential 21m turnaround if they go for Sirotkin over Massa (salary was 6m I believe) but Paul has the same issue which cost him his seat in F1 the first place, his sponsors offer nothing close to those figures so he's still out in the cold I'm afraid.

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"Clark came through at the end of the first lap so far ahead that we in the pits were convinced that the rest of the field must have been wiped out in an accident."
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Just seen this on Autosport:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13350 ... -denies-it

I don't follow the lower formulae so have no idea if he's any good or not.

Slightly better than Palmer. Good to see him given a chance but won't be a Frijns level tragedy if not.

Rumours are that it’s between Sirotkin and Kubica as they were both at Williams earlier this week, apparently Kvyat has done some stuff on the simulator too though.

Hope they go for Kubica but overall just interested to see how it plays out, could be any one of 4-5 drivers IMO.

I keep reading Kubica was well off the pace and that Williams are dilemma over deciding who partners up with Stoll, I have also heard that Di Resta was faster than Kubica. I think if Kvyat sorts out his head and consistency problems he would be a good choice for Williams, I also hear he can offer them a budget. We will probably hear who it will be in the new year.

Also mentioned on another site, Williams are having trouble getting insurance with RK driving. (That is all that was said, no detail)

I like the thought of Kvyat at Williams though he's still under 25 so I'm not sure how that goes with the Martini thing.

I think new surroundings in a supportive team could see him start to re-capture some self confidence and form.

As much as I'd love to see RK back in a regular drive I can't see it happening. Too risky.

Di Resta it is for me

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Kvyat would be great for Martini in Russia and CIS countries. Probably that is a market where they could grow a lot.

Considering Martini would not be a direct competitor to local drinks ( vodka is the best example ), it would be great publicity for them.

I think everyone would love Kubica in, but all the silence means there could be an underlying problem about the move.

You add Vodka to Martini

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodka_Martini


AKA Kangaroo

Have Williams given even a very broad timeframe to make their decision? By now there won't be any more testing, presumably, so they should have all the information they need. I hope this doesn't go on for several more weeks.

From what I've read, Kubica was around half a second quicker than Sirotkin. However, Kubica drove around 50% more laps and set his best time on the hypersofts, whereas Sirotkin did his fastest time on the softs, so that's 3 compounds harder.

So in absolute lap time terms, Sirotkin's lap was probably better. Now of course, with Kubica not having done any single seater racing the past 7 years, it's would be reasonable to think he is more rusty than Sirotkin. But 15 million dollar would also be a factor, one would think.

Anyway, like I said, I hope they get it over with sooner rather than later.

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The timeframe would have to allow for sim testing and arriving at the first test ready to go and communicate with the engineers rather than spend time learning the car. I know it is based on last years car, but even little things consume time.

Wehrlein is the only guy I want to see more of.

The fact that he isn't considered a front runner for this seat is testament to the fact that he hasn't pulled up any trees in his past few seasons. He has done quite well but nothing more than that.

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The end is near

Tbf he's done what he can. Scored points in both seasons despite not having the car to do so.

Yeah it looks like it will be Sirotkin now. I think they really wanted to give Kubica a chance but sounds he is lacking in performance compared to even Sirotkin. And Sirotkin's financial backing seemed to have sealed the deal. Williams doesn't seem to be interested at all in having the best driver available, which is certainly Wherlein. Money seems to be too important to them. They'll possibly have the worst driver lineup on the grid next year... Ughhh...

To be honest, I'm not even sure Wehrlein is a better driver than Sirotkin.

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I'm hugely disappointed. But if the data doesn't lie then who am I to argue? Sirotkin's soft tyre pace in the test was very good

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13352 ... iams-drive

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FA#14

It's a solid job he has done. But from a driver headed for greatness, I would be expecting a far more comprehensive beating of Ericcson. Marcus beat Pascal in too many races for liking. Wehrlein outqualified him by just 6 hundreths of a second in Abu Dhabi. I woukd expect more.

He has done enough to deserve another F1 drive for sure. But the top teams would nees to see much more.

The writing was on the wall really, if Kubica was even 95% of the driver he was pre accident, Sainz wouldn't have been sat in that Renault for the end of the season.

Sirotkin and Stroll though, utterly, utterly unexciting lineup.

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But Williams isn't s top team.

^I'm all too aware of that.What I mean is, he entered F1 as a driver Merc had one eye on for the future. That is clearly no longer the case.

The fact that even Williams don't see him as an essential acquisition says a lot.

TBF Williams are clearly only looking at drivers that bring $$$$.

^^^ This, which unfortunately means Kubica is now fully not an option as they are willing to settle for lesser ability so long as it's accompanied by a few million dollars.
As such, Sirotkin is now the front runner with Kvyat (although it seems came closer to matching Kubica) will be 2nd in line for the seat should Sirotkin's deal or sponsorship fall through, and only because Kvyat doesn't bring with him quite as much as Sirotkin does.

Sad, sad state the climate of F1 when the preferred option isn't the best driver, but one that is thereabouts but has enough money to allow teams to settle for lesser talented drivers.

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It's Kubica's misfortune that he got a chance for a drive with Williams, a team that needs funds. Had it been Renault or McLaren, he may have gotten the nod.

The biggest factor is that Kubica won't get insurance due to his handicap, which is a big thing for a midfield team like Williams.

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Feel The Fourth

Sirotkin had two decent GP2 seasons. His rookie season had the misfortune of coinciding with Stoffel Vandoorne's title-winning year, which basically made everyone else look a lot worse in comparison, while his second season had some silly mistakes early on (spinning out of third in Spain and then crashing out of second, I think it was, in Monaco) and generally didn't take the step people expected he would. Especially after ART had run Vandoorne to the title in 2015. Then again, Prema were the car to have in 2016. It would be a bit of a surprise to see him get the seat considering Kubica, di Resta, Kvyat and even Wehrlein had been linked to it prior to Sirotkin being announced as one of the two drivers in the Abu Dhabi test. But if he's done a better job than Kubica did and is going to bring Williams more money then I can understand why they're going that route. Maybe once Kubica is fully back up-to-speed he'd be quicker, but if both Renault and Williams have given him multiple tests and decided against him, it does make you wonder if this is as close to an F1 comeback as he'll ever get.

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I feel quite deflated about this (latest "Kubica out of contention" news).

I've been a Williams supporter for over 30 years now. It's been awful seeing them slip further and further down the grid, but every winter I live in hope that "next season will be the one".......

Forget the new logo, or making the engines sound louder or better, Liberty NEED to work on changing the way the dosh is handed out to the teams to help them avoid having to take pay drivers just so they can survive!

My understanding is that Kubica was effectively a pay driver in that he was bringing money with him, but that he wasn't quicker than others in the tests. This decision may not be sponsor-related at all.

But on a broader note, yes, I agree that drivers being overlooked through lack of sponsorship is disturbing

I get Williams are happy to sell-out, but from what we're reading this isn't a sell-out. They've lucked in that the guy who looks to have better pace, also brings the most cash.

That simply isn't the case I'm afraid. He has already tested with Renault a fair bit without getting the nod. If he had the pace he would have been signed. The sad truth is that he doesn't any more.

Some people have trouble separating what Kubica COULD do, and what he CAN do. Sirotkin isn't the fantasy fulfilling option, but he is the better option of the two.

Yeah, I guess you're both right in that maybe they've just struck it lucky with Sirotkin.

I suppose it's just that I feel a bit sad (if that's the right word!) that they no longer have the performance/funds to attract better drivers. Having Stroll as a driver was bad enough...... I just hope the team don't end up with two "iffy" drivers.

The days of Williams being able to attract the top drivers are long gone. The way Button fought tooth and nail to get out of his Williams obligation was very telling.

But now they don't even seem to be in the market for drivers in the next bracket down. Traditionally over the last 10 years they have at least been able to balance out a pay driver with a decent driver in the other seat. Rosberg/Nakajima, Barrichello/Maldonado, Bottas/Maldonado, Massa/Stroll.

The car was good enough for 5th in the constructors last season, but with an ever improving Renault team and a ptentially resurgant Mclaren, they seem unlikely to match that again. Not with that lineup.

If they had swapped drivers with FI last season they would have finished 4th IMO.

Agree with you both there.

You guys are dreaming. Posters want to go on about merc only winning because of the engine, well that is the definition of williams F1. Not a very good chassis with a very good engine. F1 had a chassis that was much better than williams, paired with one of the best engines. If williams chassis was so good how come paddy says they are making major changes for next year.

Who said the chassis was particularly good?

Come on. Wherlein has done 2 full seasons already and he has shown he can get good results in the worst car on the grid. I agree he probably isnt going to set the world on fire in a Williams and I am no fan of his but he’s a much better option than Sirotkin next year, who would be a rookie and doesnt have any real highlights on his resume.