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ESPN staff
After the resumption of the 2018 Formula One season in Belgium, our F1 editors Laurence Edmondson and Nate Saunders join columnists Maurice Hamilton and Kate Walker to talk through the most pressing issues lingering since the race at Spa-Francorchamps.
Seeing the gains being made by Honda this year, has Daniel Ricciardo made a mistake to leave Red Bull at the end of 2018?
KW: No. Irrespective of any gains made by Honda, Daniel knows that Max is going to be given priority in a Red Bull title fight. They might both be beneficiaries of the Red Bull young driver programme, but Max is the marquee name where the higher-ups are concerned, and Daniel needs to find a way to shine in a new environment. Renault is a bold move, but if it works he’ll look like a hero.
MH: I don’t think Honda’s form has anything to do with this decision. He wants to leave Red Bull; end of. The Red Bull-Honda package may indeed be a good one – much better than the works Renault in the short term – but it’s clear Daniel would not be happy if he stayed. The move says as much about the Red Bull/Verstappen alliance as it does about whatever Ricciardo thinks Renault has to offer.
NS: Ricciardo’s chances of winning a championship before 2021 seemed to hinge with being given a contract by Mercedes or Ferrari. When neither offer was forthcoming, a move away from Red Bull made sense — an opportunity to stand on his own two feet away from what can be a suffocating Red Bull operation. The move will likely cost him a few wins over the next two years, but not a championship. His contract puts him back on the same cycle as Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, meaning he will be hot property again in two years’ time with a regulation change on the horizon.
LE: Honda has done well this year, but the gains made by Ferrari and Mercedes are more significant. Given the increasing size of the gap in performance between those two and Renault and Honda, I don’t think it will make much difference to Ricciardo’s title chances whether he’s powered by Renault or Honda. Sure, the Red Bull chassis might offer a chance to win the odd race here and there over the next two years, but Ricciardo’s best shot at a title is the major regulation change in 2021 and the open driver market that comes with it.
Were Lewis Hamilton’s comments about Ferrari’s engine misunderstood or misguided?
KW: I’ll give Lewis the benefit of the doubt on this one. He was misguided to say anything at all in parc ferme, but with an F1-branded mic in your face you can’t really stay silent on air. But whatever his immediate post-race reactions (at any weekend…) Lewis has a tendency to speak clearly and plainly in the press conference, having had some time to cool down before the podium. On Sunday in Spa, several journos were pressing Hamilton to take the ‘Ferrari are cheating’ line, but Lewis wouldn’t have any of it, reiterating that anyone who twisted his comments into accusations of dirty tricks was doing so deliberately and in the full knowledge that he had said exactly the opposite in the post-race press conference.
MH: A mixture of both. We know what he meant when referring to Ferrari having ‘a few trick things going on’, but ‘trick’ was not the best word in such a public arena. He shouldn’t really have gone down that road but, saying that, he did clarify it in terms that even the most mischievous journalist could understand.
NS: Whatever Mercedes thinks about what is really going on with Ferrari’s power unit, it has to understand how bad those comments come across. Until this year it had an unmatched advantage in the engine department and these repeated digs just seem like sour grapes. Hamilton is clever enough to know how it would have played out in the media. As Charlie Whiting said, Mercedes should instead be focusing on making its own engine better.
LE: Clearly Hamilton and Mercedes are sceptical about how Ferrari has made such big power gains in such a small amount of time. It’s not the first time Hamilton has hinted at something unusual going on under the Ferrari engine cover, but he’s stopped short of accusing Ferrari of anything untoward. I think he knew exactly what he was saying and the media storm it would create in the paddock after the race.
Who would you like to see at Toro Rosso in 2019?
KW: It would never — could never — happen, but two of the most interesting talents currently without a future in 2019 are Esteban Ocon and George Russell. Both are Mercedes backed, so won’t wind up in the Red Bull stable until pigs start flying and snowmen survive infernos, but on the basis of talent alone, both are worthy. Realistically, Marko is likely to keep Hartley for at least another year. If they’re bringing back world champion ex-RBR juniors, why not Sebastien Buemi or Jean-Eric Vergne?
MH: It’s a surprise to see the Red Bull stock of junior drivers so low. Hartley has had a lot of bad luck and done a solid job – but in the Red Bull scheme of things, that’s probably not enough. I’m not up to speed with the politics/money situation with likely candidates Alexander Albon and Dan Ticktum. The guy I’d like to see is Sergio Sette Camara; he’s been doing some impressive stuff.
NS: Stoffel Vandoorne’s stock couldn’t be much lower than it is right now but he deserves a second chance. I’d love to see how he would perform away from the shadow of Fernando Alonso and whether he could fulfill any of the hype which accompanied him since winning GP2 in 2015 — Toro Rosso would be a great fit. let’s throw Jean-Eric Vergne in there for similar reasons.
LE: The two drivers that have impressed me most from the junior categories this year are George Russell and Lando Norris. That pairing is unlikely given their affiliation with Mercedes and McLaren respectively, but if there is no seat for Norris at McLaren I’d much rather see him at Toro Rosso than spending a second year in F2. I always felt Jean-Eric Vergne and Sebastien Buemi didn’t get a fair shot at F1, so I’d also be keen to see one of them replace Brendon Hartley.
Is it time for Mercedes to implement team orders to help Lewis Hamilton win the title?
KW: Pragmatically, yes. They’re fighting on the back foot against a rival not shy of using team orders. But as a race fan (dot net!), I don’t want to see team orders imposed under any circumstances. It’s one thing to say ‘we’re running one-two, neither of you do anything stupid’. I can appreciate that in a championship fight. Similarly, using the following car to act as a rearguard defender to his leading teammate, slowing down any opposition. But to swap positions on track, to get a guy on pole to cede position to his teammate… That leaves a sour taste, however it’s done.
MH: I don’t like the concept but a time comes in the championship when it makes sense. If Vettel wins again this weekend and the gap narrows even more in Singapore, Mercedes will have no option but to start thinking about it. In any case, it will become a no-brainer once Bottas is close to being mathematically out of the equation. And Ferrari will do it without question – if they haven’t started already.
NS: Valtteri Bottas has little-to-no chance of winning the 2018 championship. It makes no sense to keep treating the two as equals — although I also think Mercedes stopped doing that a while ago.
LE: I’d be surprised if they aren’t considering it internally already. It’s within the regulations and there is no way Valtteri Bottas is getting back in the championship fight given his 87-point deficit. The fact he took part in Q2 and Q3 in Spa purely to offer Hamilton a slipstream and despite having an engine penalty shows you where the team’s focus is. They might not yet be at a point where they tell Bottas to move over for Hmailton in a race, but expect Botta” strategies at upcoming races to be defined by the best result “for the team” rather than the individual driver.
Should Lance Stroll go to Force India before the end of the season?
KW: No. Ocon deserves to see out the season and the staff at Force India deserve as many points as they can get as a reward for their hard work, but also for their continued positivity during what must have been one hell of a difficult season. While Lance isn’t entirely deserving of the criticism he gets (don’t forget that Monza front row or the Baku podium), he’s not demonstrated talent on a par with Esteban, and it doesn’t seem just that he’s going to bring about the end of Ocon’s career. Even if Lance does well in the car, he’s going to suffer a lot of criticism from fans keen to see a fairer sport. It’s lose-lose on all fronts.
MH: I don’t think he should go to Force India. Period. But that’s not how it will work, of course, given his father’s influence. Force India is a fantastic little unit and the real shame is that Esteban Ocon will become a victim of F1 politics. Even Stroll’s most ardent supporter must surely agree It would be insane to get rid of Ocon prematurely when Force India needs every championship point it can get between now and the end of the season.
NS: If Lawrence Stroll cares about his son’s career, he shouldn’t force this. I think Lance is more talented than most people give him credit for and he gains nothing by being parachuted into a brand new car alongside the competitive Sergio Perez for a few races. All it does it strengthens the accusation the Canadian driver isn’t there on merit.
LE: Not this year. Changing teams mid-season is a big ask for any driver and Stroll has not been very good at adapting to change since arriving in F1. It would not only be best for him to stay put, but also the other drivers impacted by a potential mid-season swap. The only positive to come out of it would be seeing Robert Kubica complete his remarkable comeback to F1 in place of Stroll — but even that might be ill-advised given that his potential teammate, Sergey Sirotkin, will have vastly more experience in the car than him.