Raikkonen returns to Sauber in 2019..

[Ferry_vO]

..Most likely to make room for Charles Leclerc at Ferrari!

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...auber-for-2019

[Ferry_vO]

Leclerc confirmed: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...e-of-raikkonen

[wombat666]

That should be interesting?
Just swap them in and out like a PU?

[Panther_99FS]

Not surprising at all given LeClerc's season this year....
This year's Ferrari is pretty good so if Kimi get's a portion of this car for 2019 when he's back with Sauber....

Speaking of Ferrari....I still expect Haas to go Ford/Cosworth within the next 5yrs....

[huub vink]

That could become interesting as I'm not sure how Vettel will react on real competition.

Cheers,
Huub

[wombat666]

"Ford/Cosworth within the next 5yrs...."
Given the regulations (if one can use the term) are due for a decent overhaul in 2020 it might be wishful thinking Ed.
Who pays the bills?
Cosworth Ford's last project was a stinker (the N/A V10) and consider the usual caveat: 'What's in F1 for Ford'?


And a good point Huub, I do find it ironic that Leclerc gets his chance as a gesture to an obnoxious man.
Interesting at Mercedes as well, Louise gets $140.M over two years, Bottas is on a single year at $10.M., and so the story goes......Louise vetoed Ricciardo joining the team.
Ferrari without 'The Iceman' isn't Ferrari IMHO.

[Panther_99FS]

That could become interesting as I'm not sure how Vettel will react on real competition.

Cheers,
Huub

Well,
We all saw Vettel's reaction to Daniel.....

[Panther_99FS]

"Ford/Cosworth within the next 5yrs...."

Gene Haas is not the type of individual to spend his whole F1 career mid-pack without factory backing.
There's a reason why his NASCAR teams switched from Chevy to Ford.....

[wombat666]

Gene Haas is not the type of individual to spend his whole F1 career mid-pack without factory backing.
There's a reason why his NASCAR teams switched from Chevy to Ford.....

NASCAR is more or less an economy class compared F1 when it comes to expenses Ed!
We've seen the reputed budgets that Mercedes and Ferrari spend on engines alone, I'd suggest Honda and Renault have upped their outlays as well, and let's be honest, Cosworth DFV and DFY, Ford have since turned out less than stellar engines and lacked commitment to moving deeper into the F1 money pit.
Seriously, does Gene Haas have near enough in his Piggy Bank to finance such an enormously expensive power plant design, development, manufacture and support program????
With all due respect, Haas is an impressive business man but given the current state of the economy (International&Domestic) allied to deepening 'Trade War' disputes he'd do well to maintain the status quo. Like I said......'Who will pick up the tab?'
Just another 'Ford' point, they have already announced their intention to no longer build anything but 'Trucks and (IIRC) the Focus(?)' in the US. I may well stand corrected on this point.
Not exactly a confidence booster.

[Panther_99FS]

NASCAR is more or less an economy class compared F1 when it comes to expenses Ed!
We've seen the reputed budgets that Mercedes and Ferrari spend on engines alone, I'd suggest Honda and Renault have upped their outlays as well, and let's be honest, Cosworth DFV and DFY, Ford have since turned out less than stellar engines and lacked commitment to moving deeper into the F1 money pit.
Seriously, does Gene Haas have near enough in his Piggy Bank to finance such an enormously expensive power plant design, development, manufacture and support program????
With all due respect, Haas is an impressive business man but given the current state of the economy (International&Domestic) allied to deepening 'Trade War' disputes he'd do well to maintain the status quo. Like I said......'Who will pick up the tab?'
Just another 'Ford' point, they have already announced their intention to no longer build anything but 'Trucks and (IIRC) the Focus(?)' in the US. I may well stand corrected on this point.
Not exactly a confidence booster.

Regardless...
Gene Haas is NOT the type of owner to drone around mid-pack for an entire career....His NASCAR team could have stuck with Chevy...but they didn't......

[wombat666]

I wuz just thinkin'.....

Maybe the way forward for Haas would be via Mario Illien and Ilmor (if they they exist as a free agent) designing and building an exclusive power plant.
Ilmor did it for Penske in CART, firstly branded as 'Chevrolet', then 'Mercedes Benz', culminating in the Indy 500 demolition using a very special 'Mercedes Benz' branded push-rod unit.
And of course, the Ilmor V10 was first run by March, Sauber, then to MacLaren with great success.
Several years ago an Ilmor MotoGP bike was entered and run in a few rounds as a Wild Card promotional exercise, not taken on by any team which was both sad and stupid.
Kenny Roberts was focused on the KTM powered bike being (unsuccessfully) developed in house, maybe the Ilmor would have been a better choice.
And IIRC the RBR 'Renault' is supposed to have been subject to tweaking by Ilmor.
It might be worth Haas investing in an Ilmor project aimed at the next set of regulations and beyond.

I look at the obscene amounts of $$$ certain drivers get from their employers, Hamilton's $140M two year deal as well as Bottas' $10M one year plus an option are huge, the depth of the MB piggy bank boggles the mind.
What are they spending on engines alone?
You've opened a can of worms Ed.

[Ferry_vO]

Haas already have the best engine of the field, so that's not the problem..

[Panther_99FS]

Interesting you wrote this because I had thought about the Ilmor option prior to making my previous post. So I figure it's a 2 part equation for Haas.
1) Get Dallara to build 100% of the chassis and thus no Ferrari derivatives/hand-me-downs.
2) Factory engine backer.

I wuz just thinkin'.....

Maybe the way forward for Haas would be via Mario Illien and Ilmor (if they they exist as a free agent) designing and building an exclusive power plant.
Ilmor did it for Penske in CART, firstly branded as 'Chevrolet', then 'Mercedes Benz', culminating in the Indy 500 demolition using a very special 'Mercedes Benz' branded push-rod unit.
And of course, the Ilmor V10 was first run by March, Sauber, then to MacLaren with great success.
Several years ago an Ilmor MotoGP bike was entered and run in a few rounds as a Wild Card promotional exercise, not taken on by any team which was both sad and stupid.
Kenny Roberts was focused on the KTM powered bike being (unsuccessfully) developed in house, maybe the Ilmor would have been a better choice.
And IIRC the RBR 'Renault' is supposed to have been subject to tweaking by Ilmor.
It might be worth Haas investing in an Ilmor project aimed at the next set of regulations and beyond.

I look at the obscene amounts of $$$ certain drivers get from their employers, Hamilton's $140M two year deal as well as Bottas' $10M one year plus an option are huge, the depth of the MB piggy bank boggles the mind.
What are the spending on engines alone?
You've opened a can of worms Ed.

[wombat666]

I really love the Iceman's reaction to the stupid media questions!

THURSDAY PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Kimi, if we could start with you please. You’ve been generating a few column inches this past week. Can you just talk us through what happened and why you’re on the move next year?
Kimi RAIKKONEN: I guess you know what happened. I don’t know what else you want to know. This is what happened. As we’ve said many times before, it’s not up to me, it’s not my decision in the end. Anything after that is obviously my decision but this is the outcome. At least we have an outcome.

Q: You say it wasn’t your decision to leave Ferrari, but it was your decision to go back to Sauber, so just talk us through why you're doing that?
KR: Why not.

Q: What is it about the team? On current form there is quite a performance differential between Ferrari and Sauber, so what have you been told…
KR: Yeah, but then there’s a lot of differences between all the cars, you know. If you take other teams, there are not many cars, if you take this year, that are on the same level. That’s how it has always been. I mean, see what happens in the future so…

Q: But, Kimi, what have you been told about the performance? Tell us why you want to go back to Sauber?
KR: Because I want to. Why do you try to make it so complicated? I don’t know anything more than you guys, purely where they have been finishing. Obviously I don’t know what will happen next year, nobody knows what will happen next year when it comes to the speeds of the cars and the teams and obviously we can always guess but we will see what we can do. Obviously I have my reasons and that’s enough for me. I don’t really care what others think and as long as I’m happy with my own reasons, it’s enough for me.

Q: And you’re still passionate about racing? The fire…
KR: No, I’m not actually. Just by pure head games for you guys I happened to sign and I’m going to spend two years there just not being happy.

[Panther_99FS]

If I were a politician, I'd give Kimi-type responses to the press!

[Roxane-21]

If I were a politician, I'd give Kimi-type responses to the press!

Anybody should answer this way to the press...

[wombat666]

I try to give the same style of responses to any idiot!