Mercedes 2nd seat

[Terry Rock]

Who do you folks want to see in that second Mercedes seat and why?
I really want to see Kimi Antonelli there.
It is time to see if F1 could repeat the 1996 (Villeneuve v. Hill) or 2007 (Hamilton v. Alonso).
Those were two rather exciting starts to driver careers with both drivers almost winning the WDC on entry to the sport.
The young 'guns' Piastri, Norris, Verstappen and possibly Antonelli should prove exciting in the years to come.
I only wish Jules Bianchi could have been in that mix.
His loss robbed the sport of a really good pilot who could have done great things.

 

[blekenbleu]

Carlos. A smart driver in a smart team could make them 2025 contenders.
Kimi IMO is no Max, should be allowed to learn from mistakes at Williams, if anywhere.

 

[Antony Snook]

I feel sad seeing poor Mickey Schumacher in the garage. He is testing so he should be the #2. I know he messed up at HASS as anyone will do in a chassis that is not good on Aerodynamics. Shorely he will be better in a better car with a better team. Why Else would Mercedes put him on the pay roll.

 

[Pete Conway]

I feel sad seeing poor Mickey Schumacher in the garage. He is testing so he should be the #2. I know he messed up at HASS as anyone will do in a chassis that is not good on Aerodynamics. Shorely he will be better in a better car with a better team. Why Else would Mercedes put him on the pay roll.

I think Mick is there because... 'Schumacher respect' and he's good enough in a sim rig to earn his wages.
I, like '@blekenbleu' feel that it's the wrong thing to do to fire Antonelli into the Merc second seat, it would be an unforgivable mistake and a massive slap in the face to Georgie boy if they do, after all, Mercedes kept holding him back despite fantastic performances at Williams for years, added to the fact (I believe it's a fact yet to happen) Kimi will make mistakes and Mercedes are pushing to be the top team... is that much pressure on the shoulders of a young boy fair?
Nah, better off at Williams, or perhaps even pushing him into a Alpine seat through the pending engine partnership, though that in itself would be unfair to Doohan.
Now Carlos has signed for Williams there's very little else around... certainly not the Ferrari powered Haas, and unlikely to Sauber/Audi...'Saudi'
We Need another Team in F1... Andretti would be a good fit

 

[Antony Snook]

I think Mick is there because... 'Schumacher respect' and he's good enough in a sim rig to earn his wages.
I, like '@blekenbleu' feel that it's the wrong thing to do to fire Antonelli into the Merc second seat, it would be an unforgivable mistake and a massive slap in the face to Georgie boy if they do, after all, Mercedes kept holding him back despite fantastic performances at Williams for years, added to the fact (I believe it's a fact yet to happen) Kimi will make mistakes and Mercedes are pushing to be the top team... is that much pressure on the shoulders of a young boy fair?
Nah, better off at Williams, or perhaps even pushing him into a Alpine seat through the pending engine partnership, though that in itself would be unfair to Doohan.
Now Carlos has signed for Williams there's very little else around... certainly not the Ferrari powered Haas, and unlikely to Sauber/Audi...'Saudi'
We Need another Team in F1... Andretti would be a good fit

Yes Andretti will be a good fit but i believe they are going to be the true all American team and use at least 1 American driver. The HASS outfit says American but it is just the owner Gene Hass. The car has a Ferrari engine and a lot of the people on the car in the Garage are probably European's

 

[blekenbleu]

We Need another Team in F1

If not two..

Meanwhile, I suppose that Toto may still expect
Verstappens to implode as Red Bull continues being humbled
over the remainder of this season.

 

[jgf]

Mercedes F1 second seat ....they're bringing back riding mechanics?

 

[RhettDean]

Carlos Sainz was a real possibility but surprisingly Mercedes didn't make a genuine attempt to sign him. Now, it can be anyone. I won't be surprised if we see a young driver.

 

[blekenbleu]

Carlos Sainz was a real possibility but surprisingly Mercedes didn't make a genuine attempt to sign him

Conspiracy theory: Toto may have known that James Vowles wanted to seduce Carlos
and/or wanted Max to be aware that Carlos was not in contention for Merc's musical chair.

 

[Terry Rock]

Darn it!
I really wanted this kid to fully explore that session.
He needed to feel out the car instead of concentrating on raw pace at that point.
This puts much more pressure on him to get it right the next time out.
Had he tossed it into the barrier in the last few minutes of running, it would not even be news worthy.
The fact he only got ten minutes is a bit of a bummer.