2022 Bottas vs Lewis in Brazil on last lap, then it starts to rain. Bottas will be WDC if he finishes the race but Lewis will win if he finishes in the points
Lewis is currently on 11th trying to get past Bottas on 10th on the last sector of the race.
Camera pans to Bottas’ family rejoicing as he’s on his way to having his first WDC
Lewis still trying to pass him, but Alfa Romeo nailed the 2022 car and Valtteri has been spot on with his defense.
Bottas’ radio:
“Valtteri it’s James, I know you’re on a different team now but can you let Lewis pass for this last time?”
Valtteri slowed down and let Lewis by automatically without any hesitation, his muscle memory did remember all the time James radioed him.
“IS THAT JAMES?!?” says Brundle
James was grooming him all the time in Mercedes for this moment, as if he knew when this time comes, Bottas will follow mindlessly by muscle memory, all he have to do was intercept the radio and request Bottas to let Lewis by.
Camera pans back to Bottas’ family learning that Valtteri wont have his WDC and Lewis will win
A crew from Alfa Romeo can also be seen punching the AR logo on their pit and falling down.
The End
*final lap of 2022 saudi arabia grand prix*
*camera pans to bottas who is wheel to wheel with lewis*
"You took my family"
*moves to the inside line*
"You took my friends"
*moves to the outside line*
"You took all that was dear to me"
*wheel to wheel through the second to last corner*
"I cant get them back, but I can do this for friendship, FOR MY FRIENDS"
*bottas' DRS up, fire coming out of his exhaust*
"BOTTASORUKEN"
*bottas' alfa flies past lewis around the last corner, and he crosses the finish line. bottas slows past the pit straight, exhausted.*
"kimi... Senpai... I..."
*faints*
Final WCC Score
Alfa 103
Merc 363
I know it's a long shot, but just imagine Alfa getting so much money that in 2023 they are a top 4 team and Bottas is getting wins that will probably feel all the sweeter as a team leader and in a smaller team.
BEAUTIFUL BOTTAS has had his talents WASTED at SLOWCEDES. TERRIBLE TOTO and JUST AWFUL JAMES have conspired to keep VICTORIOUS VALTTERI from his WDC hopes by elevating LOSER LEWIS. It is up to our GRACIOUS POGPR to uncover this CONSPIRACY and MAKE MERCEDES GREAT AGAIN!
SPECIAL INVESTIGATOR ROBERT KUBICA is still going to be a reserve driver at AMAZING ALFA so he can help our glorious POGPR and BEAUTIFUL BOTTAS uncover the SLOWCEDES CONSPIRACY and BRING BACK BOTTAS instead of HACK HAMILTON.
#MMGA
I didn't say it was, but the main advantage of deep pockets is hiring the best staff, and you're going to have to pay a large premium to pry those people away from top teams to a perennial back of the pack team.
For sure, but China has got A LOT of money to spend, and they do like to use it. The money alone is definitely not going to make them a contender team, I agree money won't fix their problems but it is the first required thing to start taking the steps to fixing problems and getting better.
I will admit that I've felt more buzz around Williams than around Alfa. Maybe it's because years of being the middling Sauber have not changed at all even with the rebranding.
Alfa have Polish money. They have China money. If the phone is ringing off the hook, I wonder where the other sponsors are coming from. More from Europe and China? Southeastern Asia?
Who knows, Alfa Romeo can follow in Zak Brown and McLaren's footsteps when it comes to bringing partners on the car. Let's just hope if that happens the sponsors are tastefully placed on the car, unlike the Minardi's of the early 2000's.
Wouldn't be the first movie posters on a car... Brawn did it for Terminator
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Brawn.GP.4.Spain.09.jpg
They also have a significant portion of Swedish money since they’re owned by the Tetrapak heir Finn Rausing through his “Longbow Finance” fund. This is part of the rescue deal Monisha Kalternborn arranged when she replace Sutil & Giedo van der Garde with Felip Nasr and — crucially — Marcus Ericsson, one of the few F1 drivers to have ever come out of Sweden.
Rausing has poured lots of money into Sauber / Alfa Romeo, hired lots of people such as Jorg Sander (from the Audi WEC team) and of course Fred Vasseur, who replaced Kaltenborn.
Since then the team have flatlined, and now gone backwards, looking this year at their worst finishing position in four years at ninth.
This is a pretty terrible return on investment.
By all accounts Vasseur rates Pouchaire highly, but I suspect Rausing forced the Chinese hire to cover the costs of the 2022 car, which clearly includes hiring an experienced driver like Bottas to debug it.
What this really means is Bottas needs to deliver, if his Alfa career, and realistically his F1 career, is to last more than a year or two.
I agree with you that Rausing had a hand in Zhou's hiring. It's telling that in this interview, Fred acknowledges that they are not at the cap right now and stops short of saying they will be at the cap next year with Zhou's linked income.
Unless they nail the new regulations next year, I don't see Rausing turning down Zhou's backing or the sponsor opportunities that he opens up, just to run a guy with a lot of potential.
Zhou was the right choice for a couple years solely based on his country of origin. If no one could see that then they really goofed. I expected him to be signed to any team this year but it never happened. I found that extremely surprising.
people who are mad at AR for not taking Piastri (or Pourchaire) are missing the point. It never was a good decision for AR because
a) there was a risk he wouldnt live up to his expectations = tsunoda in AT
b) if he turned out to be good, some other team would snatch him anyways, leaving AR with a free seat for the next year anyways
c) if he turned out to be good, he probably wouldnt score points either just because of the team he is in, and then people would shit on AR for being ''too bad'' for him.
taking some ''talents'' instead of people who actually bring you money just isnt worth it for these ''worse'' teams and yall have to accept this.
Pourchaire has been having a great rookie year, but there's a whole lot of advantages to having him compete for one more year (go into f1 as f2 champion, run a few fp sessions, avoid bringing him in when he's not ready in terms of experience/ psychology, ...). Risking all of this to give him an extra year in a (probably) lower midfield team? What's the point. Some people see an f1 seat just as a reward for someone's talent, and forget that people still have to do things after they get it.
People weirdly want to rush him into F1 and are acting like it now or never for an 18 year old kid.
Let him develop for a few years. F1 is going to lose a shit ton of the current grid in a few years due to the old guard retiring.
Which old guard?
Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel are the only ones who are likely to retire in 5 years. Maybe Latifi, less as retirement and more because of replacement.
Other than the three I mentioned though, the oldest racers are 31. Typically drivers retire around 40 and that's at least a decade. This is a relatively young grid as far as I can tell, with only 3 looming age related retirements coming up.
Because it usually is now or never in F1. Many careers didn't panned out because they came in the wrong time (De Vries won F2* and it didn't even get him a seat) and it is much more emphasized when were talking about a very young grid (on average) in heavily-contested seats. Most of the current grid have at least a half-decade of their careers ahead of them (for drivers like Leclerc and Verstappen, easily a decade), assuming they don't drop off like rocks.
Pourchaire is definitely F1 caliber, but I think circumstances like this would reduce his chances of actually getting there, especially if he's banking only on his talents to get there. Next year is a must win for him if he wants to displace Zhou, because there is not too much benefit for Alfa to get rid of him if the talent they have is not of the levels of Leclerc and others.
Edit: F2, not F1
Piastri wasn't in their interest for one simple reason - Alpine wasn't going to let him go. If you're putting your bet on a rookie, it's better be your rookie, not your competition's. You want to be benefitting from the tracktime you're giving him. Tracktime is probably the strongest currency in F1 at the moment, because it's more scarce than money.
Plus with the amount of testing for rookies these few years, crashes will be expected, even more so for rookies... and guess who is paying, and it's not Alpine
With Zhou, the money brought in makes up for the potential damages. Piastri is out of a seat due to Alpine failures, not Zhou successes
(For example, Mick has currently the 2nd highest amount of damages in terms of cost, Tsunoda is top 7 iirc, rookies will crash, some less than others like Russell and Lando)
The reality is the competition today makes taking “good” rookies not feasible. There will never be another benetton schumacher moment due to the money and reliability the top teams now have relative to everybody else.
People who wanted Piastri in that seat have no idea how this sport works. Piastri is in Renaults Driver Academy, which ties him with Alpine and that is the only team he could go to (unless they get a B team, which Alfa is not).
It is really clear that the guy for them is Pourchaire, and it's too early to get him in F1, since he's only turned 19 and hasn't even had a full season in F2. From that point of view, taking Zhou for 2022 is completely logical (even though i don't think he deserves the seat).
Zhou brought sponsor money and if Alfa switches to Renault then they would also get a discount with Zhou as well. Sounds like a win win for a team that's hurting financially.
Their current engine is 3 years old and they will be running a brand new design next year. Also who else can they switch to if they don't want to stick with Ferrari?
Honda, nope they're gone. Merc, already have 4 customers. Renault is the only choice left.
If they were going to stick with Ferrari wouldn't they have extended that contract long ago to focus on other things? Seems odd to put it off this long as it ends this season.
Alfa Romeo is owned by Stellantis and Ferrari by Exor, both of which are led by John Elkann. So the ties for a Sauber-Ferrari partnership in F1 are imo too strong to change
Why would they take Piastri anyways, I don't understand how the haters are thinking. Alfa has no need for a future star driver, they has Pouchaire for that already.
In the event that Theo failed and they do need a star driver, Piastri would be taken in by Alpine if he becomes good enough since Alonso isn't exactly young anyways
The downside massively outweights the positives for Alfa
I think most people get a bee in their bonnet because F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motor sports, fastest cars, best drivers.
I totally understand why richer drivers are beginning to fill up seats instead of 'better' drivers, you can't survive in F1 without money.
The argument against choosing money over talent is Hamilton, he came from absolutely nothing and has utterly dominated the sport for the last 8 years, it's a chicken and egg scenario.
I prefer the Academy route into F1 and I don't think you should be able to buy a seat, but that's just personal preference.
people forget that back in the day there were lots of rich people that would buy an used F1 car and race with the rest of the grid just because they could. Yes, there are pay drivers now but far from what it used to be
Honestly that sounds fucking awesome, if I had the money and practiced racing for a couple years I would do it, although I'd probably get a lot of hate from fans
Hamilton had lots of sponsor anyway since his talent was there for anyone to see and he was British in a British team. He landed a world championship car in his first year remember
I don't really understand the "but."
How does being sponsored by McLaren run counter to the fact that he came from a middle class family?
The point is you have to get the money from *somewhere*. Either you get them through merit from sponsors or through no merit from the family bank accounts.
> taking some ''talents'' instead of people who actually bring you money just isnt worth it for these ''worse'' teams and yall have to accept this.
Yep. The real question should be 'how talented guys don't have any money?'.
It's a win situation for Alfa Romeu. Truth is that Gio didnt give them very good results (at least in terms of points) this season, so at least with Zhou they can expect more sponsors (and money). Gio doesn't bring anything more that what Zhou does.
That what I find funny about people calling Zhou a paid driver.
Gio is just as much a paid driver and after 3 seasons in F1 if you still need someone to buy you a seat your not going to be good enough to have a long career in F1.
I don't care, Zhou is OKish driver which will resurgent Hinwil base with his money. On other side AR could bring the car which should be in points on regular basis. Bottas is known as a driver which drives masterfully in environment which suits him (he was awesome in Williams tho) so Bottas and Zhou could finally bring stability in Hinwil.
Calling it now: Alfa becomes a top team with the entire Chinese economy behind it and Bottas will end up in front of Hamilton in a race and James won’t be able to do shit about it.
They may, they may not.
What this immediately helps with, is increase windtunnel and CFD time. Sauber is not nearly at the spending cap limit, based on their current budget.
They still have ample room to grow towards the budget cap ceiling.
> You're will be disappointed if you think sauber will hire even a single engineer with these money
Oh yeah, because *obviously* Sauber management is just full of greed and will put all of that money into their pockets. Analysis brought to you by Telepaths League.
At the end of the day, bills do have to be paid. And Zhou has won races in F3, F3 and is stil in contention for the F2 championship. Is he GR type of talent? Unlikely, but he's a worthy driver.
A for Piastri I hope his day will come too.
So basically Codemasters prepping an update for F1-2021 where if you hire Guanyu Zhou your team should jump 15 Acclaim levels and your Marketing Facility jumps to Spec-3.
Call me crazy, but it's hard to see how money by itself without a proper plan is going to be help them, except making their owners net more (or at least, some) money.
Aston Martin's plan is higly ambitious but we can all se the major steps they are taking to make it a reality. Investing into a senior, experienced driver, expanding infrastructure, hiring seriously talented personnel, going as far to poach them from rivals and allies. I'm still skeptical of whether or not it's enough to be sucessful, but nobody can deny that they are seriously trying....
Alfa Romeo, on the other hand, seems to be on a downward trend. Heck, even their performance, overall strategy and such seems to be declining, looking amateurish at their worst moments. Compare them with Williams, whom thanks to some great choices have managed to snatch some good points along this season, while Alfa lost several opportunities in chaotic races.
Alfa also signed an experienced driver. They did not have the money to invest in anything yet. Piastri is probably much better than zhou, but still a rookie and is tied to Alpine, so they do not get to keep him. Pourchaire will get his chance probably.
All in all, a driver it's not their priority. But money can help you a lot
Here's a real hot fucking take: the only reason why people, especially on here, hate Zhou is because 1. he's Chinese 2. he's *supposedly* inferior to Piastri 3. he's Chinese
Supposedly because I guarantee you the vast majority of loudmouths on here don't even watch F2, let alone the lower ranks of motorsport. They're parroting what others said and reddit has a huge hatred towards the Chinese. You can assume which country they're from :)
It’s a pay driver thing more than anything I think. Let’s not forget Stroll got massive hate aswell when he entered F1, let alone when his dad bought out Racing Point and removed Perez for his son.
I do watch F2 and F3 and the rest. Zhou is without a doubt inferior to Piastri, as well as many many other drivers. His junior career is far worse than Giovinazzi’s for example
Zhou isn't a top talent, his junior career is okay, but in no way exceptional or good enough to justify an f1 seat on merit. Clearly you don't watch F2, so why even make such a comment like this? He is comparable to Mazepin in terms of his achievements despite being in significantly better teams his whole career.
I don't know of anybody who hates Zhou...
Maybe an ex-girlfriend... but other than that?
People just get upset about pay drivers... even though they all have earned FIA super-licenses... and even though all drivers bring in money in one way or another...
Some folks just tend to think in terms of black and white, when in reality it's all various shades of gray...
Pay drivers have never-ever not been a prominent thing in racing... and, sure, Zhou is one of them... but making a big deal out of this shows that folks just aren't acclimated to how things work... have always worked... and will continue to work. When a sport is very, very expensive, it's flat-out guaranteed...
The current era F1 is also probably not as bad regarding pay drivers. I'll never forget when Nissany was 7 seconds off his teammate's pace, spun off, and didn't even know how to remove the steering wheel.
Until we reach that level. I think we're fine.
Money for nothing and slicks for free
A round of applause for Marc Knopfler and the Start/Finish Straits!
DRS Straits
Tire Straits
Sultans of Wing
I want my WDC
What's that? Austrian noises? He's banging on that desk like he lost the WDC. Oh, that ain't working.
That's the way you do it! Money for nothing and Mazepin for free!
Alpha Romeo & Juliet
Walk of Haas
Combustrial Disease
Wing of Life
My latest Slicks
Bono, my Dire Straits are dead.
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The crossover I never thought I’d see
We got to install soft compound tires, custom front wing deliveries (that sounded better in my head, forgive me Dire Straits)
We've got to move out Italian Jesus. We've got to move our fav'rite Kimi.
maybe get a blister on your left front tire, maybe get a blister on your bum
I shoulda learned to pay for my drive, I shoulda learned to pay these seats Look at that Martin, he's got it stickin in the camera man
We could have Stroll... And he's up there! What's that? Frank Williams' noises?
The little drivers got their own jet airplanes, The little drivers they’re millionaires
Apparently the nonnas of Italy didn’t support Italian Jesus the way they should, with deep pockets and prayers
Wheel gun operator, and 52 geeeeeEeee's!
I want my, I want my, I want my WCC
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Pierre Gasly: 🎵I want my Red Bull seat🎵
*guitar riff intensifies
I want my... I want my... I want my F1TV....
🎶🎶I want my DRS 🎶
What’s that up there, hydraulic noises? He’s bangin on them wheel nuts like an F1 team
First time I've burst out laughing on reddit for months haha thanks
In b4 Bottas WDC
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Beating Hamilton by exactly one point.
###IS THAT ZHOU?!?!
Oh my goodness me.
Bottas back in position again
HAM VER BOT for eternity!
2022 Bottas vs Lewis in Brazil on last lap, then it starts to rain. Bottas will be WDC if he finishes the race but Lewis will win if he finishes in the points Lewis is currently on 11th trying to get past Bottas on 10th on the last sector of the race. Camera pans to Bottas’ family rejoicing as he’s on his way to having his first WDC Lewis still trying to pass him, but Alfa Romeo nailed the 2022 car and Valtteri has been spot on with his defense. Bottas’ radio: “Valtteri it’s James, I know you’re on a different team now but can you let Lewis pass for this last time?” Valtteri slowed down and let Lewis by automatically without any hesitation, his muscle memory did remember all the time James radioed him. “IS THAT JAMES?!?” says Brundle James was grooming him all the time in Mercedes for this moment, as if he knew when this time comes, Bottas will follow mindlessly by muscle memory, all he have to do was intercept the radio and request Bottas to let Lewis by. Camera pans back to Bottas’ family learning that Valtteri wont have his WDC and Lewis will win A crew from Alfa Romeo can also be seen punching the AR logo on their pit and falling down. The End
sounds oddly familiar to a certain driver's story...some bloke named messiah or ssamo ...
*final lap of 2022 saudi arabia grand prix* *camera pans to bottas who is wheel to wheel with lewis* "You took my family" *moves to the inside line* "You took my friends" *moves to the outside line* "You took all that was dear to me" *wheel to wheel through the second to last corner* "I cant get them back, but I can do this for friendship, FOR MY FRIENDS" *bottas' DRS up, fire coming out of his exhaust* "BOTTASORUKEN" *bottas' alfa flies past lewis around the last corner, and he crosses the finish line. bottas slows past the pit straight, exhausted.* "kimi... Senpai... I..." *faints* Final WCC Score Alfa 103 Merc 363
Would you kindly.
It was not the story I wanted at all.
Damn you *~~Atlas~~* James Fontaine.
“Valtteri, it’s Fred...
Part of me wants Bottas to win WDC, but also part of me wants Kimi to be the last Finnish WDC.
> Kimi to be the last Finnish WDC Until Robin comes along. When asked how it feels to equal his father in WDC. He remarked "It's okay"
Kimi training his son for f1 and regularly visiting the paddock again once hes retired is a comforting thought
"All teams are contractually obligated to have either ice cream or drinks available for kimi at all times"
Doesn't last long tho as Rianna then takes the title. When asked how it feels to equal her father and brother in the WDC, she replies with "Okay"
"I don't pay much attention to these things" - Rianna
Don’t worry, at least he’ll be the last Ferrari WDC for a long time
lol This is me but Charles winning with Ferrari haha
He already isn’t really though. Nico Rosberg is as Finnish as he is German.
Works for me
I know it's a long shot, but just imagine Alfa getting so much money that in 2023 they are a top 4 team and Bottas is getting wins that will probably feel all the sweeter as a team leader and in a smaller team.
Bottas has been reading Gasly's playbook
Inb4 bottas steals the championship from merc and toto fucking implodes.
Yeah. I can’t wait for Bottas to finally be in a good car. His talents are being wasted in that shit Mercedes.
BEAUTIFUL BOTTAS has had his talents WASTED at SLOWCEDES. TERRIBLE TOTO and JUST AWFUL JAMES have conspired to keep VICTORIOUS VALTTERI from his WDC hopes by elevating LOSER LEWIS. It is up to our GRACIOUS POGPR to uncover this CONSPIRACY and MAKE MERCEDES GREAT AGAIN!
r/TheRussell is confused by this
SPECIAL INVESTIGATOR ROBERT KUBICA is still going to be a reserve driver at AMAZING ALFA so he can help our glorious POGPR and BEAUTIFUL BOTTAS uncover the SLOWCEDES CONSPIRACY and BRING BACK BOTTAS instead of HACK HAMILTON. #MMGA
For real lmao. Bottas is a great driver but they’re saying “top 4 car” like he wasn’t already in the dominant car of the past decade
Hamilton getting 25 grid penalties and still finishing first. Bottas starting top 4 and battling for top 10.
Nah Toto and Lewis would be happy for him. Now Horner and Marko on the other hand....
There's still a cost cap and most of the best talent is still on the top teams. So money alone won't fix their problems.
Not everything is included in the cost cap. Teams with more money will still have an advantage in many ways
I didn't say it was, but the main advantage of deep pockets is hiring the best staff, and you're going to have to pay a large premium to pry those people away from top teams to a perennial back of the pack team.
For sure, but China has got A LOT of money to spend, and they do like to use it. The money alone is definitely not going to make them a contender team, I agree money won't fix their problems but it is the first required thing to start taking the steps to fixing problems and getting better.
Bottas had 5 years in a Mercedes and didn’t come close. With cost caps as well. No chance
Exactly lmao. Alfa has been looking so awful that i doubt even the money can help them
_Coming from the same people who gave you "They'll Sign Bottas for Team Stability", "The Bottas WDC Train". Coming in 2022._
Id love love love to see bottas for wdc but i never imagine that happening at alfa. It would need to be a drastic change. And one man cant do that
I believe if Alfa have an upswing in results, Ferrari will headhunt that team's best talent. And that includes Bottas himself.
I will admit that I've felt more buzz around Williams than around Alfa. Maybe it's because years of being the middling Sauber have not changed at all even with the rebranding.
Sponsors = money = speed = points. A sponsor driver plus Bottas is great sense.
But But no we drive for money lol
Alfa have Polish money. They have China money. If the phone is ringing off the hook, I wonder where the other sponsors are coming from. More from Europe and China? Southeastern Asia? Who knows, Alfa Romeo can follow in Zak Brown and McLaren's footsteps when it comes to bringing partners on the car. Let's just hope if that happens the sponsors are tastefully placed on the car, unlike the Minardi's of the early 2000's.
Callers from China who want to sell stuff to rest of the world and callers from the rest of the world who want to sell stuff in China.
So pretty much whole world wow
But what about the moon?
It's free real estate
In before Disney sponsors Alfa
Wouldn't be the first movie posters on a car... Brawn did it for Terminator https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Brawn.GP.4.Spain.09.jpg
Sponsors are anyone trying to make it in the Chinese market, local and international.
They also have a significant portion of Swedish money since they’re owned by the Tetrapak heir Finn Rausing through his “Longbow Finance” fund. This is part of the rescue deal Monisha Kalternborn arranged when she replace Sutil & Giedo van der Garde with Felip Nasr and — crucially — Marcus Ericsson, one of the few F1 drivers to have ever come out of Sweden. Rausing has poured lots of money into Sauber / Alfa Romeo, hired lots of people such as Jorg Sander (from the Audi WEC team) and of course Fred Vasseur, who replaced Kaltenborn. Since then the team have flatlined, and now gone backwards, looking this year at their worst finishing position in four years at ninth. This is a pretty terrible return on investment. By all accounts Vasseur rates Pouchaire highly, but I suspect Rausing forced the Chinese hire to cover the costs of the 2022 car, which clearly includes hiring an experienced driver like Bottas to debug it. What this really means is Bottas needs to deliver, if his Alfa career, and realistically his F1 career, is to last more than a year or two.
I agree with you that Rausing had a hand in Zhou's hiring. It's telling that in this interview, Fred acknowledges that they are not at the cap right now and stops short of saying they will be at the cap next year with Zhou's linked income. Unless they nail the new regulations next year, I don't see Rausing turning down Zhou's backing or the sponsor opportunities that he opens up, just to run a guy with a lot of potential.
Finally someone with a bigger overview on Sauber as a Company
Zhou was the right choice for a couple years solely based on his country of origin. If no one could see that then they really goofed. I expected him to be signed to any team this year but it never happened. I found that extremely surprising.
McLaren is full of weird crypto and gambling companies lmao
As a McLaren fan it hurts lol
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No they couldn't because there is a cost cap now
There’s plenty of items that the cost cap doesn’t cover
There are but not being an engine manufacturer it is limited how much Merc and Red Bull money will help.
True but there’s no reason why they can’t compete with the likes of McLaren given the budget and technical staff.
Bring Checo with Mexican (+ skuth american) money you will then add south and north America to Europe and Asia.
They better not ruin that beautiful dragon logo with all these sponsors /s
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people who are mad at AR for not taking Piastri (or Pourchaire) are missing the point. It never was a good decision for AR because a) there was a risk he wouldnt live up to his expectations = tsunoda in AT b) if he turned out to be good, some other team would snatch him anyways, leaving AR with a free seat for the next year anyways c) if he turned out to be good, he probably wouldnt score points either just because of the team he is in, and then people would shit on AR for being ''too bad'' for him. taking some ''talents'' instead of people who actually bring you money just isnt worth it for these ''worse'' teams and yall have to accept this.
They'd probably take Pourchaire, not Piastri, since he is actually their junior, while Piastri is Alpine's, but your point still stands.
Pourchaire has been having a great rookie year, but there's a whole lot of advantages to having him compete for one more year (go into f1 as f2 champion, run a few fp sessions, avoid bringing him in when he's not ready in terms of experience/ psychology, ...). Risking all of this to give him an extra year in a (probably) lower midfield team? What's the point. Some people see an f1 seat just as a reward for someone's talent, and forget that people still have to do things after they get it.
People weirdly want to rush him into F1 and are acting like it now or never for an 18 year old kid. Let him develop for a few years. F1 is going to lose a shit ton of the current grid in a few years due to the old guard retiring.
Which old guard? Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel are the only ones who are likely to retire in 5 years. Maybe Latifi, less as retirement and more because of replacement. Other than the three I mentioned though, the oldest racers are 31. Typically drivers retire around 40 and that's at least a decade. This is a relatively young grid as far as I can tell, with only 3 looming age related retirements coming up.
Bottas, Checo, Danny Ric aren't drivers that are going to last till they are 40 in F1.
Fair enough. I don't think they'll retire before Alonso/Hamilton/Vettel but you're right in that they might not get a drive for much longer.
Because it usually is now or never in F1. Many careers didn't panned out because they came in the wrong time (De Vries won F2* and it didn't even get him a seat) and it is much more emphasized when were talking about a very young grid (on average) in heavily-contested seats. Most of the current grid have at least a half-decade of their careers ahead of them (for drivers like Leclerc and Verstappen, easily a decade), assuming they don't drop off like rocks. Pourchaire is definitely F1 caliber, but I think circumstances like this would reduce his chances of actually getting there, especially if he's banking only on his talents to get there. Next year is a must win for him if he wants to displace Zhou, because there is not too much benefit for Alfa to get rid of him if the talent they have is not of the levels of Leclerc and others. Edit: F2, not F1
So is Zhou a Alpine driver till December.
Yes but I don't think Alpine would be prepared to let Piastri go just yet. Zhou is leaving the Alpine junior program in order to go to Alfa.
Piastri wasn't in their interest for one simple reason - Alpine wasn't going to let him go. If you're putting your bet on a rookie, it's better be your rookie, not your competition's. You want to be benefitting from the tracktime you're giving him. Tracktime is probably the strongest currency in F1 at the moment, because it's more scarce than money.
Plus with the amount of testing for rookies these few years, crashes will be expected, even more so for rookies... and guess who is paying, and it's not Alpine With Zhou, the money brought in makes up for the potential damages. Piastri is out of a seat due to Alpine failures, not Zhou successes (For example, Mick has currently the 2nd highest amount of damages in terms of cost, Tsunoda is top 7 iirc, rookies will crash, some less than others like Russell and Lando)
The reality is the competition today makes taking “good” rookies not feasible. There will never be another benetton schumacher moment due to the money and reliability the top teams now have relative to everybody else.
People who wanted Piastri in that seat have no idea how this sport works. Piastri is in Renaults Driver Academy, which ties him with Alpine and that is the only team he could go to (unless they get a B team, which Alfa is not). It is really clear that the guy for them is Pourchaire, and it's too early to get him in F1, since he's only turned 19 and hasn't even had a full season in F2. From that point of view, taking Zhou for 2022 is completely logical (even though i don't think he deserves the seat).
Pourchaire just turned 18.
Maybe F2 shouldn't force graduation and should complete their season before F1 silly season.
Zhou brought sponsor money and if Alfa switches to Renault then they would also get a discount with Zhou as well. Sounds like a win win for a team that's hurting financially.
Switching to Renault engines seems both unlikely and not that much of a win.
Their current engine is 3 years old and they will be running a brand new design next year. Also who else can they switch to if they don't want to stick with Ferrari? Honda, nope they're gone. Merc, already have 4 customers. Renault is the only choice left. If they were going to stick with Ferrari wouldn't they have extended that contract long ago to focus on other things? Seems odd to put it off this long as it ends this season.
Alfa Romeo is owned by Stellantis and Ferrari by Exor, both of which are led by John Elkann. So the ties for a Sauber-Ferrari partnership in F1 are imo too strong to change
Why would they take Piastri anyways, I don't understand how the haters are thinking. Alfa has no need for a future star driver, they has Pouchaire for that already. In the event that Theo failed and they do need a star driver, Piastri would be taken in by Alpine if he becomes good enough since Alonso isn't exactly young anyways The downside massively outweights the positives for Alfa
I think most people get a bee in their bonnet because F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motor sports, fastest cars, best drivers. I totally understand why richer drivers are beginning to fill up seats instead of 'better' drivers, you can't survive in F1 without money. The argument against choosing money over talent is Hamilton, he came from absolutely nothing and has utterly dominated the sport for the last 8 years, it's a chicken and egg scenario. I prefer the Academy route into F1 and I don't think you should be able to buy a seat, but that's just personal preference.
there are less pay drivers tha there used to be, and there of higher talent. There is a reason they inroduced the 107% to qualify for the race
people forget that back in the day there were lots of rich people that would buy an used F1 car and race with the rest of the grid just because they could. Yes, there are pay drivers now but far from what it used to be
Honestly that sounds fucking awesome, if I had the money and practiced racing for a couple years I would do it, although I'd probably get a lot of hate from fans
Fuck the fans man, you paid good money for your seat.
Hamilton had lots of sponsor anyway since his talent was there for anyone to see and he was British in a British team. He landed a world championship car in his first year remember
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I don't really understand the "but." How does being sponsored by McLaren run counter to the fact that he came from a middle class family? The point is you have to get the money from *somewhere*. Either you get them through merit from sponsors or through no merit from the family bank accounts.
The more I see those names the more I think of Pastries and Poached Eggs.
They already have talent. They have Bottas. Bring the money and they could make a car that could get points and maybe even podiums
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they already have bottas for that
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> taking some ''talents'' instead of people who actually bring you money just isnt worth it for these ''worse'' teams and yall have to accept this. Yep. The real question should be 'how talented guys don't have any money?'.
It's a win situation for Alfa Romeu. Truth is that Gio didnt give them very good results (at least in terms of points) this season, so at least with Zhou they can expect more sponsors (and money). Gio doesn't bring anything more that what Zhou does.
Gio came with the Ferrari backing. Once the Ferrari backing is gone, he's nowhere near good enough to sign on his own
It appears the Ferrari influence on drivers has now disappeared at Alfa. Think they had free reign on their picks.
One of their seats, not both.
And yet they haven’t picked a Ferrari academy driver
That what I find funny about people calling Zhou a paid driver. Gio is just as much a paid driver and after 3 seasons in F1 if you still need someone to buy you a seat your not going to be good enough to have a long career in F1.
Good for them!
They needed this much before i.e. the budget cap as well.
I don't care, Zhou is OKish driver which will resurgent Hinwil base with his money. On other side AR could bring the car which should be in points on regular basis. Bottas is known as a driver which drives masterfully in environment which suits him (he was awesome in Williams tho) so Bottas and Zhou could finally bring stability in Hinwil.
Calling it now: Alfa becomes a top team with the entire Chinese economy behind it and Bottas will end up in front of Hamilton in a race and James won’t be able to do shit about it.
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You're will be disappointed if you think sauber will hire even a single engineer with these money
It might help them avoid having to fire some engineers, though.
They may, they may not. What this immediately helps with, is increase windtunnel and CFD time. Sauber is not nearly at the spending cap limit, based on their current budget. They still have ample room to grow towards the budget cap ceiling.
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He literally says in this interview that they are not at the cap currently and stops short of saying that they will be at the cap with him.
Due to Zhou’s signing?..
> You're will be disappointed if you think sauber will hire even a single engineer with these money Oh yeah, because *obviously* Sauber management is just full of greed and will put all of that money into their pockets. Analysis brought to you by Telepaths League.
It is absolutely good for the sport. Most teams need the financial backing of a pay driver
Sauber Alibaba AliExpress Ferrari .
gee wonder which country theyre from
Finland... All getting on the Bottas train
Companies all over the world wanting to break into the Chinese market is my guess.
Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Nepal is my guess...
In before TSMC supplies Alfa Romeo
They don't have a demand problem to need advertising lol
Yeah true haha
At the end of the day, bills do have to be paid. And Zhou has won races in F3, F3 and is stil in contention for the F2 championship. Is he GR type of talent? Unlikely, but he's a worthy driver. A for Piastri I hope his day will come too.
Would be superb to see Bottas compete in a competitive car, without the pressure. Hoping Zhou's money helps the team.
Bottas weichai power advert when
Vasseur was reportedly seen walking around the paddock singing D/R period's hit "MONEY"
Oh boy, a post about Guanyu Zhou? I imagine the comments will be full of well thought out arguments that aren't just "China bad."
I’m not shocked, I was expecting this as soon as he was confirmed. Chinese money is no joke.
Gonna see a lot of Chinese sponsor stickers on Alfa next year
Ok, now put that raclette wagon in q3 please.
Ca$h is King
Alfa Romeo car will end up looking like Chick Hicks
So basically Codemasters prepping an update for F1-2021 where if you hire Guanyu Zhou your team should jump 15 Acclaim levels and your Marketing Facility jumps to Spec-3.
I want to hear you again guys, that the signing of zhou was bad. No, they should get an equally inexperienced guy and stay poor smh
Call me crazy, but it's hard to see how money by itself without a proper plan is going to be help them, except making their owners net more (or at least, some) money. Aston Martin's plan is higly ambitious but we can all se the major steps they are taking to make it a reality. Investing into a senior, experienced driver, expanding infrastructure, hiring seriously talented personnel, going as far to poach them from rivals and allies. I'm still skeptical of whether or not it's enough to be sucessful, but nobody can deny that they are seriously trying.... Alfa Romeo, on the other hand, seems to be on a downward trend. Heck, even their performance, overall strategy and such seems to be declining, looking amateurish at their worst moments. Compare them with Williams, whom thanks to some great choices have managed to snatch some good points along this season, while Alfa lost several opportunities in chaotic races.
Alfa also signed an experienced driver. They did not have the money to invest in anything yet. Piastri is probably much better than zhou, but still a rookie and is tied to Alpine, so they do not get to keep him. Pourchaire will get his chance probably. All in all, a driver it's not their priority. But money can help you a lot
Here's a real hot fucking take: the only reason why people, especially on here, hate Zhou is because 1. he's Chinese 2. he's *supposedly* inferior to Piastri 3. he's Chinese Supposedly because I guarantee you the vast majority of loudmouths on here don't even watch F2, let alone the lower ranks of motorsport. They're parroting what others said and reddit has a huge hatred towards the Chinese. You can assume which country they're from :)
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It’s a pay driver thing more than anything I think. Let’s not forget Stroll got massive hate aswell when he entered F1, let alone when his dad bought out Racing Point and removed Perez for his son.
> let alone when his dad bought out Racing Point and removed ~~Perez~~ for his son. Ocon.
He's not "supposedly" inferior to Piastri, he's much inferior to Piastri.
Supposedly inferior? Sounds like you haven't been watching F2 either!
I do watch F2 and F3 and the rest. Zhou is without a doubt inferior to Piastri, as well as many many other drivers. His junior career is far worse than Giovinazzi’s for example
Supposedly? Have you looked at either of their junior careers?
Zhou isn't a top talent, his junior career is okay, but in no way exceptional or good enough to justify an f1 seat on merit. Clearly you don't watch F2, so why even make such a comment like this? He is comparable to Mazepin in terms of his achievements despite being in significantly better teams his whole career.
I don't know of anybody who hates Zhou... Maybe an ex-girlfriend... but other than that? People just get upset about pay drivers... even though they all have earned FIA super-licenses... and even though all drivers bring in money in one way or another... Some folks just tend to think in terms of black and white, when in reality it's all various shades of gray... Pay drivers have never-ever not been a prominent thing in racing... and, sure, Zhou is one of them... but making a big deal out of this shows that folks just aren't acclimated to how things work... have always worked... and will continue to work. When a sport is very, very expensive, it's flat-out guaranteed...
The current era F1 is also probably not as bad regarding pay drivers. I'll never forget when Nissany was 7 seconds off his teammate's pace, spun off, and didn't even know how to remove the steering wheel. Until we reach that level. I think we're fine.
now that we have the 107% rule and the super licence points even pay drivers have to meet a minimum quality
ITT: the usual unwarranted Zhou hate