2019/2020 Formula E silly-season

That makes Hartley to Porsche very likely.

Ah yes forgot about Marrakesh, Sims was on for a good result there!

Evans is staying at Jaguar:

 

https://e-racing365....-fourth-season/

Muller to Audi to replace Abt?  Why??  

Muller to Audi to replace Abt? Why??

Edited by thegamer23, 14 June 2019 - 14:05.

Well, Nico Muller showed great speed in all the testing sessions.
He was already close to the seat last season, makes sense

Still seems a bit drastic to replace a multiple winner with a total rookie who hasn't even run a single FE race yet in perhaps the most high-profile factory team of the entire series... 

Also, we already have enough Swiss drivers!! 

Wonder if Abt will get a seat elsewhere?  He's consistently one of the most popular drivers out there.

Edited by maximilian, 14 June 2019 - 15:13.

I like Abt, so my post wasn't a criticsm of him.. things just seem to be moving that way, and he hasn't won a race this year which probably doesn't help his cause.

I think he is definitely deserving of a seat elsewhere and Porsche said they'd like a previous FE winner in their lineup..

I sure hope that is the reason he's leaving Audi, and would make good sense for all involved - much more than Neel Jani! 

Many italian sources are reporting that Porsche wants Nico Hulkenberg as their N.1 driver in Formula E next season!
https://www.formulap...ult-443079.html

Also Mercedes seems interested in offering him a seat alongside Vandoorne.

The 2020 FE calendar has only one clash with the 2020 F1 calendar. 

Edited by thegamer23, 28 June 2019 - 12:08.

I can't see a driver doing a full F1 season and all that entails, plus a full FE season.

I think Nico's under a bit of pressure at Renault but i'm sure he's worthy of staying in F1.

That doesn't necessarily mean anything. If Renault gives him the push, which there's a decent chance of, who's going to hire him? There are some possibilities, but no guarantees.

Being good enough means very little in the world of F1, just look at Ocon.

There will be an increasing number of F1 drivers in "2nd class" cars who are getting tired of the lack of competitive opportunities in F1, who will start looking for other options in much more competitive series, and becoming a Porsche FE factory driver from the ground up sounds like a much more fascinating opportunity than spending another year driving for 7th place at Renault (at best), or worse, if he gets the boot there.  His previous winning ties with Porsche also make this a very possible scenario.

Sooooooo... waiting for the first announcements to come in after the season concluded.  Really interested how some of these seats pan out! 

Edited by thegamer23, 15 July 2019 - 15:06.

The key to the offseason is Mitch Evans for me. It looks like he will stay with Jaguar, and the movement will be limited. If someone (Mercedes?) is able to tempt him away, we might see a ripple effect through most of the field.

Haven't heard as much as a guess as to who Techeetah might go after as their number 2. It's an interesting one as they could go so many ways with Vergne already locked in:

-A young talent, from within FE (Gunther?) or from outside (Nyck De Vries?)? Zhou would be a huge get for FE considering the Chinese market, but he's probably not ready to give up on F1 yet.

-A Lotterer type? How about Hartley if he misses out on the Porsche seat? He would certainly be motivated...

-A steady hand who won't rock the boat? How about Oliver Turvey?

-A big splash? Not sure any of the major names from within FE would want to be teammates with Vergne, especially considering he's part owner of the team.

Edited by NorwegianRudo, 15 July 2019 - 16:23.

Edited by messy, 15 July 2019 - 19:36.

Am I the only one who is just a little bit weirded out by how little media interest the second available Mercedes seat has generated so far? I think I made two or three posts about it in this thread, and those were the only times I’d seen something even slightly significant to prompt them.

Stoffel seems a no-brainer, but the question of who will be his teammate seems no closer to a solution than it was a year ago. I can‘t imagine they‘d want to wait as long with their driver announcements as HWA did last year, if only for marketing purposes. Porsche, by comparison, found its “face” with Neel Jani months ago and has been the subject of near-constant speculation where its second seat is concerned..

Merc has an interesting situation now that they will have an FE as well as an F1 team, as it's not out of the question they could shuffle some drivers from one program to the other.  Hey Bottas, do FE for a season while we assess Ocon, if he doesn't impress, we'll flipflop you two again the year after (Russell notwithstanding) - that's really what they should have done with Ocon this year, instead of wasting the HWA seat with Paffett.

Grosjean to join DS Techeetah in Formula E?

https://motori.ilmes...la-4620064.html

Get your Grosjean + FE low driving standards jokes ready guys. 

Edited by thegamer23, 15 July 2019 - 22:16.

Jeez, i already picture it...annoying times coming.

Anyway, the rumor seems pretty strong, can see this happen.

Vergne-Grosjean doesn't sound bad at all isn't It?

If you think Lotterer crashed into his team mate too much (which he definitely DID!), then just wait until Romain shows his face!! 

Grosjean was an amazing driver in smaller single seaters. Dallara and Pirelli even used him as a regular test driver for the new GP2, GP3 and WSbR cars in his "F1 sabbatical" years. I think his driving style could be effective in FE.

Well, if Vandoorne made it to FE (and look how he performed even with constant fan boost, makes you wonder was there ever more overrated driver in motorsport history), then surely Grosjean could thrive there. I don't think Hulkenberg will leave F1 for FE just yet.

Grosjean was an amazing driver in smaller single seaters. Dallara and Pirelli even used him as a regular test driver for the new GP2, GP3 and WSbR cars in his "F1 sabbatical" years. I think his driving style could be effective in FE.

Effective is not exactly the word we are looking for. 

Well, if Vandoorne made it to FE (and look how he performed even with constant fan boost, makes you wonder was there ever more overrated driver in motorsport history), then surely Grosjean could thrive there. I don't think Hulkenberg will leave F1 for FE just yet.

I don't think FE results on paper really reflect the performance of drivers too well if I'm honest - it needs a much deeper look. Vandoorne took a pole for HWA who are in their first season. They have been using Venturi powertrains which, whilst fast, have been quite fragile. They have also struggled generally on race pace. He took a 3rd place podium in Rome despite having been told to slow down after the other three Venturis managed to break their driveshafts. Late on in the season he started to score consistent points.

I don't think Vandoorne has underperformed and I really don't know why some seem to have it in for him. He's defintely done enough to keep the seat as it becomes the Mercedes entry I think. Paffet, a two time DTM champion... it has to be said less so.

I don't think Vandoorne has underperformed and I really don't know why some seem to have it in for him. He's defintely done enough to keep the seat as it becomes the Mercedes entry I think. Paffet, a two time DTM champion... it has to be said less so.

The guy had one duff year in Formula 1, and so some feel the need to talk down the rest of his career to rationalise this, when the reality is that very good drivers can have duff years. Most simply are lucky enough to not have them with a multiple world champion as team mate.

Vandoorne definitely hasn't underperformed this season in Formula E. In a formula where consistency is hard to achieve - all the more so for a rookie - he started to achieve this in the second half of the season. Hopefully he can build on this for next season.

Edited by Muppetmad, 16 July 2019 - 16:27.

what I understand is that Da Costa is on the move to DS Techeetah with Spengler to replace him at BMW Andretti.

Jaguar chasing for Hülkenberg.

what I understand is that Da Costa is on the move to DS Techeetah with Spengler to replace him at BMW Andretti.
Jaguar chasing for Hülkenberg.

...This is a good Silly Season so far...

what I understand is that Da Costa is on the move to DS Techeetah with Spengler to replace him at BMW Andretti.

Jaguar chasing for Hülkenberg.

Spengler makes sense for BMW if they have an opening. Don't think Hülkenberg is going to happen.

If I were an FE driver in demand, I don't think I would go to a team with an established #1, especially a team where said #1 is also a co-owner...

Where is Hartley going, given the super strong  Lotterer rumor?

NIO, Dragon, Jaguar? 
Or just a test driver role at Porsche?
 

Edited by thegamer23, 16 July 2019 - 21:00.

With Hartley supposed to be racing for Toyota in WEC and the calendar clashes... is he out of the running for an FE seat? 

I sure HOPE Hartley has something else going on than just 6 WEC races.  Still wish he would make it to IndyCar, like he was almost about to, with Ganassi.

Spengler is another underwhelming choice, Paffett-like.  I'd much rather see Philipp Eng in the BMW.  He's much more of a "Formula car" guy, and has been strong in DTM this season.

Can't quite believe da Costa would turn his back on the team he's been with for so long, now that they finally have a competitive package...   then again, DS sure seem to have an even MORE competitive package.

Edited by maximilian, 16 July 2019 - 22:55.

BREAKING! Andre Lotterer leaves DS Techeetah to complete Porsche driver line up in Formula E ✍️⚡

Too good an opportunity for him to miss, perhaps. History with the team already and the alternative being staying alongside a now 2 time and reigning champion.

Pretty much the perfect signing from Porsche's perspective.

We'll have a new driver in the championship winning team then, it already makes the silly season interesting. 

A statement from DS Techeetah, meanwhile, says it has been approached by multiple “high-level” drivers.

The guy had one duff year in Formula 1, and so some feel the need to talk down the rest of his career to rationalise this, when the reality is that very good drivers can have duff years. Most simply are lucky enough to not have them with a multiple world champion as team mate.

 

Vandoorne definitely hasn't underperformed this season in Formula E. In a formula where consistency is hard to achieve - all the more so for a rookie - he started to achieve this in the second half of the season. Hopefully he can build on this for next season.

On the other hand, when was he ever good? Sure he had one or two races in his career that were good, but then again so did many forgotten drivers. He had two top 5 finishes in entire season, despite being given advantage in form of fan boost throughout entireity of the season. Multiple retirements, many of them through crashes, penalties and other mistakes - it just doesn't add up to me to call Vandoorne good.

Having said that, it is a good idea from PR perspective to keep him I suppose, for some reason he has huge fanbase which results in fanboost every race, so maybe keeping him for marketing reasons makes sense.

On the other hand, when was he ever good? Sure he had one or two races in his career that were good, but then again so did many forgotten drivers. He had two top 5 finishes in entire season, despite being given advantage in form of fan boost throughout entireity of the season. Multiple retirements, many of them through crashes, penalties and other mistakes - it just doesn't add up to me to call Vandoorne good.

 

Having said that, it is a good idea from PR perspective to keep him I suppose, for some reason he has huge fanbase which results in fanboost every race, so maybe keeping him for marketing reasons makes sense.

He was one of the most dominant GP2 champions ever, scoring almost double the points of his nearest rival, who a year later would win the Indianapolis 500 - that sort of form comes from having more than one or two good races in a season. If you're not familiar with Vandoorne's record (although you really ought to be if you're going to rhetorically ask if there was "ever [a] more overrated driver in motorsport history"), I'd recommend you go and take a look, and maybe you'll understand why a lot of race fans root for him.

You're not the first to bring up Vandoorne getting fan boost so often as some sort of indictment of his performance, but several other drivers also got fan boost at almost every race: da Costa got it at every race; Buemi got it at every race bar the first; Abt got it at every race bar the second. Who won the title in the end? Vergne - who never got fan boost all year. This wasn't some mammoth, herculean achievement on Vergne's part to overcome the might of fan boost: fan boost was useless. I think I can recall one or two overtakes all season which were aided by fan boost.

You're also missing the point that, if you can't bring yourself to call Vandoorne "good", then what can we say about his team mate, the double DTM champion and, for many years, respected F1 test driver Gary Paffett? Vandoorne scored almost four times as many points as Paffett, despite both being rookies to the series.

You need look no further than Vergne to see that drivers need a few years in FE to reach their full potential. Few would have predicted him to be FE's first multiple champion after the 2015-16 season, but here we are: he grew into the series and now he has made his mark. It's far too soon to write off Vandoorne, who in any case had a perfectly respectable opening season in FE with a brand new team to boot.

Edited by Muppetmad, 17 July 2019 - 18:06.

Lotterer is a great signing for Porsche, but Jani will be a liability.  They should have signed on Hartley, instead.

HUGE seat open in the CHAMPIONSHIP BEST FE TEAM... who will get it??  This is a MAJOR factor.