Mercedes to share reserve drivers with McLaren

22 comments on “Mercedes to share reserve drivers with McLaren”

1. 

   MacLeod (@macleod)
   4th June 2020, 7:42

   Seems the reserve pool is not that big, how many reserve drivers are there for all teams?
   1. 

      Jere (@jerejj)
      4th June 2020, 8:51

      @macleod Not many in general and not every single team necessarily has a direct reserve driver (at least not for every single event).
      1. 

         BasCB (@bascb)
         4th June 2020, 9:24

         And most of those reserve drivers that are mentioned are either VERY race rusty. Or have other racing obligations as well.
2. 

   Silfen (@silfen)
   4th June 2020, 7:43

   As far as I know Sergio Sette Camara is also a reserve driver for Red Bull Racing and Alpha Tauri.
3. 

   Krommenaas (@krommenaas)
   4th June 2020, 8:12

   If Lewis or Bottas need to be replaced and Stoffel has a Formula E race, he’s going to cry
   1. 

      Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
      4th June 2020, 8:30

      Was going to comment on the same line. Can he chose to race in F1 instead? That would be perceived as F1 is above FE but in the other hand, if he has the choice, difficult to not take a potential shot at F1 win… It might also depend on when it occurs and where Stoffel is in the standings. Seems like he could be a contender for the championship this year.

      Still feel he was the most unexploited talent of the last few years and I still believe he has much more to show. Ended up in a team at the wrong time, with the wrong teammate, no room/attention left for him.

      Feels like Alpha Tauri is the best place for development in F1
   2. 

      SB12 (@sb12)
      4th June 2020, 8:45

      Most of the Formula-E races take place on Saturdays so Stoffel might still have chance to rush back to F1 circuit on Sundays.
      1. 

         Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
         4th June 2020, 8:52

         @sb12 Off the top of my head, the rules state you can’t participate in the race if you weren’t entered into qualifying. That’s why Williams weren’t able to put in a substitute for Bottas at Melbourne five years ago.
         1. 

            Jere (@jerejj)
            4th June 2020, 8:55

            @keithcollantine True and the same with Massa in Hungary in 2009 although the car was also quite badly damaged.
   3. 

      Jere (@jerejj)
      4th June 2020, 8:54

      @krommenaas @jeanrien In this scenario, it’d more likely be Gutierrez who’d get the one-off chance.
      @sb12 That would depend on the distance. It would be difficult if the FE and F1-venues were on entirely different continents to each other.
   4. 

      DB-C90 (@dbradock)
      4th June 2020, 9:05

      are there any FE races scheduled though?

      I had gotten the impression that they’d pretty much abandoned the idea of holding them this year.
4. 

   Phylyp (@phylyp)
   4th June 2020, 8:53

   Stoffel Vandoorne could therefore end up back at the wheel of one of the team’s cars if either Carlos Sainz Jnr or Lando Norris have to miss a race this year.

   There’s a name that’s wrong in there… :)

   Unless in exchange for Mercedes’ silence on fuelgate they get to put one of their reserve drivers into a Ferrari :)
   1. 

      Phylyp (@phylyp)
      4th June 2020, 9:02

      Eh, just realized it’s for this year, not 2021.
   2. 

      DB-C90 (@dbradock)
      4th June 2020, 9:03

      @phylyp I think you’re getting ahead of yourself. Sainz isn’t at Ferrari until 2021.
      1. 

         Phylyp (@phylyp)
         4th June 2020, 9:59

         @dbradock – yeah, I realized it just a tick before you :)
5. 

   Alec Glen (@alec-glen)
   4th June 2020, 10:25

   I find it strange how, with how tough Red Bull can be with drivers, that they still retain Buemi 8/9 years since he last drove for Torro Rosso. He’s clearly a very good driver and has had great results outside of F1, it just surprises me that Red Bull still sponsor and retain him for their F1 teams when they’ve had so many other drivers go through their programme in that period.
6. 

   mkindyfan
   4th June 2020, 10:49

   I guess one of the issues they (teams) face is that not many drivers have a current Superlicense…. Reserve drivers used to mainly be the ‘new’ young up and coming guys/girls but the FIA changed the rules to make it much more difficult to obtain said license and the ‘reserve’ role is an area that has suffered.
7. 

   jpvalverde85 (@jpvalverde85)
   4th June 2020, 11:26

   Lando doing one shot at Indy?
   1. 

      Peyton
      4th June 2020, 18:56

      Probably a COVID-19 contingency, if one of them gets infected.
8. 

   Kringle
   4th June 2020, 14:25

   I wonder if Mercedes-Benz are thinking about winding down and are making preparations for returning to the marital bed as engine supplier only.
   1. 

      Imre (@f1mre)
      4th June 2020, 17:52

      I had similar thoughts reading the title. Hopefully they’ll sell their team (members, HQ, etc) so we won’t lose two cars from the grid.
9. 

   Tristan (@skipgamer)
   4th June 2020, 15:38

   Get rid of team car limits. And allow customer cars.

   Cut all of the fat off the F1 circus. It wont survive in its current form.

   If the F1 season goes ahead as scheduled, we are all a lot more stuffed than we thought.

   #CashIsKing
   #AtWhatCost

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