F1 2023 thread

RB's "Third Driver"... Maybe they'll field a third car next year 🤣 I think Checo will begin looking for another drive. Can't imagine him hanging around when it's Team RB-Max.

Yes, I'm loving this. Expecting sparks to fly in RB. The first few races should be fun to see how this plays out in 2023!!

Is there something in the characteristics of the car that would suggest a Red Bull would lead to better performance out of Ricciardo?

I saw a video on how the RB’s development over this season’s became more “pointy” and as a result more suited to Max’s driving than Perez.

Also read how this season’s McClaren suited neither Norris or Ricciardo but Norris was more adaptable.

Isn't this the real role DR has in Red bull next year. Essentially a driver for promos, marketing etc. Liam Lawson is the actual third driver in the team.

So there was/is some rumours of Charles Leclerc talking to Mercedes.

Tota Wolf is saying he does not see their car being at the front much next year.

So if it goes like that here is what I see happening. Lewis will retire, Charles will move to Mercedes if Ferrari continues to mess up next year and Sergio will go to Ferrari while Daniel Ricciardo will take up the 2nd seat at Red Bull.

Can't see Mercedes wanting two drivers battling it out long term and there's no way Charles or George will play 2nd fiddle at this stage. Both are far too good for that.

We did see it at times this year, but my view is that they won't want that long term, they'll want what they had with Bottas and what RB have with Perez

Will be interesting to see if they bounce back next year or go down hill a bit more.

Yes, its just one Italian newspaper saying it, so more a strong rumour

I don't really think parallels can be drawn between Mercedes in 2013 and Mercedes now. They were in a very different position.

Also, Bottas may not have been signed initially to be a no. 2 driver (personally I think he was), but he was signed to be a no. 2 driver on 3 further occasions.. It was evident fairly early on he wasn't a WDC contender. Mercedes clearly wanted a no. 2 driver for those seasons.

But fwiw I think teams take a clear no. 2 if they have a generational driver (Schumi, Vettel, Hamilton, Verstappen). I don't think they'd have any issue taking on competition for Russell. But I'd be wary of joining Ferrari if I was Leclerc. As Horner said early in the season, it's better to have a fast car with issues than have a reliable car that's slow. If Ferrari get their sh.t together (big if) they could challenge RB next year. I think the gap from Mercedes to RB won't be overcome next year anyway.

Oh it depends on how you measure good and bad. It got far more global free advertising and column inches than Hamilton's easy championship in some of those dominant years.

I think it was a good problem to have - two drivers fighting for the championship. I'd say they'd be happier to have that kind of problem than being as far off the pace as they were for the first half of this season.

Bottas wasn't an obvious no.2 in practice. Everyone knew he was no.2 in reality but he obviously didn't have it written in his contract. He was decent but not top tier. Similar to Perez. The most surprising thing about the controversy with Max was that perez was surprised. I thought it was obvious that he was there to support max but Perez clearly didn't see it that way - so I conclude it's not in his contract.

Both Bottas and Perez were very well chosen because they're fast but not so fast as to make a battle with the main driver. And that's fine if you have the best car and can reasonably compete for the championship with the main driver.

I'd say Mercedes don't have that luxury at the moment so they'll be happy to just have 2 competitive drivers.

You would have to imagine Leclercs sooner rather than later contract renewal has soemthing to do with binotto "resigning" he's been more often than not very vocal about his displeasure at the calls etc made over the radio this season.