Fair enough. It's not so much requiring a third car as allowing it, and if you have a third car it has to be driven by a driver with less than two years of F1 experience and it doesn't score manufacturer points. Also, no more than a total of 26 cars (due to pit lane space) and first come first serve. Is that it? Is it so simple?
While we're at it, let's allow the team cars to look different so you don't have to look for the little yellow camera to tell Verstappen from Ricciardo. 
I can't imagine the non-factory teams being happy with support going to a 3rd factory car. The proteges are already in cars throughout the field and spreading around money. Then you have Sauber and HAAS already have to pull out of the way of two Ferraris, same with TR & Redbull and Force India & Williams with Mercedes. Hamilton is going to get a second wingman?
Even without the points, the extra practice time for a third car on Friday would be hugely helpful to any team. As Steve Matchett was fond of pointing out when he commented on F1, the one thing you cannot buy with any amount of money today is more testing time for your F1 car on track.
As far as I know, the biggest downside of running a third car would be the need to have a third complete set of pit equipment and spare parts traveling around the world. That gets very expensive. For races you could drive to in Europe, not bad, but all the other races it becomes a large burden. I've been a proponent of abolishing the livery rules as they stand. Having 20 or so cars that all look different would be good for F1, I believe. It also seems like it would be more attractive to a sponsor if they only wanted to be on one car. Appears to work for Nascar and Indycar anyway.
I have been saying for 2 years that they should have the return of the spare car. Have a complete, ready to race 3rd car that can only be driven by the junior/test drivers during all the test sessions. It would provide the mileage/practice that junior drivers need. Then allow this 3rd car to be run in the event that a main drivers car is taken out in the 1st lap or can't be repaired in time for quali or the race. I have many other ideas to improve F1 as well but that should be another thread.
ncjay said:As far as I know, the biggest downside of running a third car would be the need to have a third complete set of pit equipment and spare parts traveling around the world. That gets very expensive. For races you could drive to in Europe, not bad, but all the other races it becomes a large burden.
It's a lot cheaper than the Toro Rosso approach, though.
It's official:
Raikkonen to Sauber for 2 years
Looks like I'll be rooting for Sauber some next year!
-Rob
In reply to rob_lewis :
I expected the Ferrari thing. What I didn't expect was that Kimi would accept a very sub par Ferrari customer team. It seems that he's in it for the money, to me.
In reply to alfadriver :
Where else was he going to go? McLaren? Not a lot of choices available to him unfortunately.
In reply to bmw88rider :
Retire. Again.
alfadriver said:In reply to rob_lewis :
I expected the Ferrari thing. What I didn't expect was that Kimi would accept a very sub par Ferrari customer team. It seems that he's in it for the money, to me.
Never hurts to put some more in the bank if you can.
I suspect he will also have many, MANY less commercial/sponsorship duties at Sauber vs Ferrari. Which everyone knows he's not a fan of all the "off-track" stuff he has to do. I wouldn't be surprised if he negotiated that because he's still on form.
I doubt it's just for the money as I'm sure Sauber isn't paying him nearly as much as Ferrari was. Maybe I'm just naive, but I think if I was in his position and someone's willing to pay me to keep driving, I'd take it. I know he said before if he didn't drive for Ferrari, he'd retire, so I wonder what else is behind this deal and if he does end up with part ownership in it.
I don't know about anyone else, but the chance to continue to drive for two more years as opposed to retiring would be a no brainer for me to jump on. Not that I have anyone willing to pay me for my driving skills.....
-Rob
The thing that gets me is that Sauber has pretty much zero chance of winning any form of championship, and it's incredibly unlikely that it will even win a race.
So Kimi is continuing to drive for the sake of driving, instead of trying to win. Fernando got tired of that, and retired. But Kimi is going willingly.
Why would a World Champion be so willing to drive a non competitive car? He's not poor by any means- being paid million for many years of driving.
It will also be interesting to see how the season ends for Ferrari, as Kimi may want to win one more race, like he did at Monza.
I just don't get it.
alfadriver said:The thing that gets me is that Sauber has pretty much zero chance of winning any form of championship, and it's incredibly unlikely that it will even win a race.
So Kimi is continuing to drive for the sake of driving, instead of trying to win. Fernando got tired of that, and retired. But Kimi is going willingly.
Why would a World Champion be so willing to drive a non competitive car? He's not poor by any means- being paid million for many years of driving.
It will also be interesting to see how the season ends for Ferrari, as Kimi may want to win one more race, like he did at Monza.
I just don't get it.
Remeber his stint at Lotus not so long ago.........hmmmm
In reply to 759NRNG :
He was coming back to the sport, then.
The other thing is that there are a lot of young drivers that are available, who are actually hungry to get a foot in the F1 door, and get their shot. Kimi has had his shot, and even won. So *now* take a demotion to end your career??
Autosport is celebrating this, as it's a great thing to have Kimi in the field. And I question- why is it a great thing to have a great driver in a sub car? Other than having some fun at the expense of Honda, Alonso has contributed zero to the sport for the last few years. So why is it a good thing to have a character in a less than good car?
Might it be possible that Sauber regards their hiring Kimi as an investment to help develop their car, rather than Kimi "settling" for an uncompetitive ride?
stroker said:Might it be possible that Sauber regards their hiring Kimi as an investment to help develop their car, rather than Kimi "settling" for an uncompetitive ride?
THIS right here!!!!
stroker said:Might it be possible that Sauber regards their hiring Kimi as an investment to help develop their car, rather than Kimi "settling" for an uncompetitive ride?
I could see that. With the ban on testing, F1 has made it really hard to bring in a young driver who's just learning the sport while also trying to develop a car while racing. Not to knock young drivers. I think that may have contributed to Williams this year, among others. I don't know him, but Kimi seems like the type of guy that just likes to drive. The competitiveness of the car may not be as critical. Heck, he might actually have more fun knowing that he's not going to be competitive and end up taking more risks to advance. Plus, the rumor is he'll be part owner of Sauber at some point, so trying to develop a quick car before taking it over would be a good move.
While I agree that we need more young blood in the sport, I don't see it easily happening with teams not being able to do testing for development. For the foreseeable future, I see each team with a seasoned driver and a new one.
-Rob
Kimi at Lotus was actually a lot more fun to watch than Kimi at Ferrari. He kept doing things that shouldn't have been possible. Hopefully Kimi at Sauber will be good for both.
Now hoping that Sauber has their best year ever in 2019 and that Ferrari has it's worst.
Since Sauber is essentially the Ferrari B team, I bet Maranello is paying his salary, not Sauber.
Kimi at Sauber, how much better could it get especially when you have a quadrifoglio on your ride?
Just to chime in and give my two cents. I use Alonso as a comparison to Kimi. They are two of the best drivers in the field. I admit that Kimi should be winning. Put him in a Sauber to develop the chassis, let Ferarri do their thing with the engine, and it could be a completive car. I love watching Alonso drag the uncompetitive McLaren around by the scruff of the neck, I see Kimi doing the same thing. They both deserve top rides, they can both make a car do what it shouldn't be able to do. Like Alonso, I don't see Kimi staying in F1 when his Sauber deal is up.
Hey, why not keep going in F1? I don't see him becoming a back marker at Sauber, probably a mid-marker.
He would have won at Monza except for the tire screwup (IMO).
I don't see Kimi coming to America to get into NASCAR. Maybe endurance racing when he gets older.
He could get a 1 time a year ride at LeMans for a while and what, DTM like Mika did?
jharry3 said:Hey, why not keep going in F1? I don't see him becoming a back marker at Sauber, probably a mid-marker.
He would have won at Monza except for the tire screwup (IMO).
I don't see Kimi coming to America to get into NASCAR. Maybe endurance racing when he gets older.
He could get a 1 time a year ride at LeMans for a while and what, DTM like Mika did?
Bolding mine.
Don't forget that he's already BTDT with NASCAR, I see that as more likely than sports cars in the future.
Raikkonen responded sarcastically when asked if he remains passionate about racing, saying with a smile: “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.”
Now step aside, the Iceman has spoken.........
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