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I may not be keeping up with the news very well but has it actually been confirmed that either Bottas or Alonso will be able to race at Malaysia in two weeks time?
It was unusual to see that Sauber had more points than Williams at the end of this race but that will be due to the fact that that team has two drivers that both finished in the points and that Bottas didn't take part.

It does look like it will be a very hard time for Mclaren Honda but it was good to see that Button at least made it to the end of the race! It was a shame that Magnussen couldn't take part in this race. I hope that Alonso will be able to race in two weeks though.

The status of both drivers remains unconfirmed. During the race, Ted Kravitz was talking about Alonso and seemed pretty confident he would be back in the car come Malaysia. I think Bottas will be back (no pun intended), too. He was there at the race and obviously tried to get himself passed fit to race, so while it was obviously bad enough to prevent him being allowed to race, it's hard to imagine he wouldn't be recovered in two weeks. The only issue is that - and I know this from experience - back injuries are quite easy to aggravate, so it could flare up again.

Who is Williams' reserve driver, btw?

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Who is Williams' reserve driver, btw?

they dont have one.

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Who is Williams' reserve driver, btw?

Susie Wolff or Alex Lynn, depending on who they choose.

Alex Lynn?
Isn't he a Red Bull driver?

1980 WDC Alan Jones said "If I was Alonso,I'd skip the next few races"
I'd put my money on Alonso being in Malaysia though.He's in full preparation and it'll be quite a boost for Macca.It will show his commitment to the new project by being there and he's hungry for laps no matter how fast or slow.

I'd say Bottas will be there too after 2 weeks of physiotherapy.

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Alex Lynn?
Isn't he a Red Bull driver?

Nope. He left their YDP to become Williams' development driver.

huggybear wrote:

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Who is Williams' reserve driver, btw?

Susie Wolff or Alex Lynn, depending on who they choose.

Wolff isn't a reserve driver, she is a publicity gimmick who's husband happens to be a major share holder in Williams' engine supplier.

If it's not Bottas or Lynn it will be one of the out of work experienced drivers, like Kovi at Lotus a couple of years ago.

Jenson's Understeer wrote:

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Alex Lynn?
Isn't he a Red Bull driver?

Nope. He left their YDP to become Williams' development driver.

Ah, thanks!

huggybear wrote:

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Who is Williams' reserve driver, btw?

Susie Wolff or Alex Lynn, depending on who they choose.

Symonds already said they don't have a reserve driver.

I think after everything it would be put Williams in bad light if they didn't give susie the chance.

Yes technically she isn't a reserve driver she's a test driver but she's not doing it for fun. She wants to race and should be given the chance. Is mag a reserve driver or test driver.

Unless they truly do not think she has the speed then why employ her

I'd lose a he'll of a lot of respect for Williams if she didn't get the drive.

It would be interesting if Williams drop susie as soon as wolf sells his stake which I think he is. Maybe merc should reduce their support as well

davidheath461 wrote:

huggybear wrote:

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Who is Williams' reserve driver, btw?

Susie Wolff or Alex Lynn, depending on who they choose.

Symonds already said they don't have a reserve driver.

If this is the case and Bottas happens not to race, would it just be Massa by himself again? This season, I think it is between Ferrari and Williams that have the 2nd best car. Lets just hope that both of the Ferrari and Williams drivers finish the race!

How much of a chance will Button and Alonso have of both completing a race?

Williams are lucky ferrari made a mess with kimi.

They aren't the best at strategic calls etc and they need to beat ferrari this year which will be a lot harder than last year. I dont see them doing it

Banana Man wrote:

huggybear wrote:

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Who is Williams' reserve driver, btw?

Susie Wolff or Alex Lynn, depending on who they choose.

Wolff isn't a reserve driver, she is a publicity gimmick who's husband happens to be a major share holder in Williams' engine supplier.

If it's not Bottas or Lynn it will be one of the out of work experienced drivers, like Kovi at Lotus a couple of years ago.

Now you've given me the idea of Kobayashi in that Williams. Now I'm going to be disappointed whatever happens.

Seriously, They could do a lot worse than Lynn, and I'd rather see a new talent rather than someone like Sutil or De La Rosa again.

w1Y! wrote:I think after everything it would be put Williams in bad light if they didn't give susie the chance.

Yes technically she isn't a reserve driver she's a test driver but she's not doing it for fun. She wants to race and should be given the chance. Is mag a reserve driver or test driver.

Unless they truly do not think she has the speed then why employ her

I'd lose a he'll of a lot of respect for Williams if she didn't get the drive.

It would be interesting if Williams drop susie as soon as wolf sells his stake which I think he is. Maybe merc should reduce their support as well

Pat didn't want to give away who they are considering using but he was quick to point out its not her.

Your answer:

https://twitter.com/alo_oficial/status/ ... 9526414336

I don't know much about the injury that Bottas received, but if he can't race then it would be Susie in the car. Part of me kinda hopes Bottas can't race (I know... Sounds rather mean wishing pain on him) as it would allow Susie a chance to show her abilities and hopefully shut up at least some of the people whining about her only being there because of who she's married to

SDLRob wrote:I don't know much about the injury that Bottas received, but if he can't race then it would be Susie in the car.

You say it like it is fact. However I don't think she will ever race. Nor should she. I think she is a fine development driver and does her job well, but she has never done anything to prove she should be in a race seat in F1. She was unconvincing in every single seater series she was ever in.

I think they would pick Lynn over Susie. And probably a host of other drivers too. Think about it: Susie is actually building credit as a development driver. Let her race and she risks being so exposed that she would essentially be back to square one as far as her credibility is concerned.

AngusWolfe wrote:

Banana Man wrote:

huggybear wrote:

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Who is Williams' reserve driver, btw?

Susie Wolff or Alex Lynn, depending on who they choose.

Wolff isn't a reserve driver, she is a publicity gimmick who's husband happens to be a major share holder in Williams' engine supplier.

If it's not Bottas or Lynn it will be one of the out of work experienced drivers, like Kovi at Lotus a couple of years ago.

Now you've given me the idea of Kobayashi in that Williams. Now I'm going to be disappointed whatever happens.

Seriously, They could do a lot worse than Lynn, and I'd rather see a new talent rather than someone like Sutil or De La Rosa again.

Then again, Niki Lauda would be fun to watch

Huge curve ball...

Mark Webber?

The next WEC round isn't til a fortnight later, he's got relatively recent F1 experience and he's still race fit. He's also driven for Williams in the past...

Or am I dreaming?

Webber has no experience in the cars of this era surely would be slower off of the mark than Wolff?

Judging by his tweets, Alonso is pretty confident that he will be in Malaysia.

pubpokerplayer wrote:Webber has no experience in the cars of this era surely would be slower off of the mark than Wolff?

I'm going to presume he would be faster than Wolff... Slower than Massa though - but in all probability anyone available to jump in would be slower than Massa.

SDLRob wrote:I don't know much about the injury that Bottas received, but if he can't race then it would be Susie in the car. Part of me kinda hopes Bottas can't race (I know... Sounds rather mean wishing pain on him) as it would allow Susie a chance to show her abilities and hopefully shut up at least some of the people whining about her only being there because of who she's married to

That's unlikely as she is only there because of who she is married to. Susie has already had the chance to show her abilities. 7 years of chances in DTM, during which time she managed 2 points finished, both 7th place.

She just isn't an F1 driver, she is a marketing gimmick and wont be driving in anything other than a couple of practice sessions each year. She wont be driving in Sepang, Symonds pretty much confirmed it in the interview.

AngusWolfe wrote:

Banana Man wrote:

huggybear wrote:

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Who is Williams' reserve driver, btw?

Susie Wolff or Alex Lynn, depending on who they choose.

Wolff isn't a reserve driver, she is a publicity gimmick who's husband happens to be a major share holder in Williams' engine supplier.

If it's not Bottas or Lynn it will be one of the out of work experienced drivers, like Kovi at Lotus a couple of years ago.

Now you've given me the idea of Kobayashi in that Williams. Now I'm going to be disappointed whatever happens.

Seriously, They could do a lot worse than Lynn, and I'd rather see a new talent rather than someone like Sutil or De La Rosa again.

Kobayashi in the Williams was, of course, my first instinct. I've now gotten myself thoroughly hyped up for something that probably won't happen. Although it should do, Kamui was prepared to drive for free in that POS Caterham, he'd surely drive a competitive F1 car for free. Cost effective solution for Williams and I'd be very surprised if he didn't score points.

I'm not as confident about Lynn. As Gutierrez showed, success in GP3 isn't a guarantee of quality in F1, and to be honest I haven't been as impressed by Kvyat as some others.

Is Bird still involved with Merc? He might be a good option.

Susie Wolff ain't ever racing for Williams. Claire Williams said yesterday that Wolff is just their test driver, not a reserve driver. She isn't even on their list of drivers to race for them in the event of one of their main drivers not being able to.

It won't be Alex Lynn either because he is unbelievably inexperienced. If Williams had to use anyone they'd use Pascal Wherlien(sp?) from Mercedes. Bottas partly is managed by Toto so it wouldn't be a hard bargain.

Volantary wrote:

AngusWolfe wrote:

Banana Man wrote:

huggybear wrote:

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Who is Williams' reserve driver, btw?

Susie Wolff or Alex Lynn, depending on who they choose.

Wolff isn't a reserve driver, she is a publicity gimmick who's husband happens to be a major share holder in Williams' engine supplier.

If it's not Bottas or Lynn it will be one of the out of work experienced drivers, like Kovi at Lotus a couple of years ago.

Now you've given me the idea of Kobayashi in that Williams. Now I'm going to be disappointed whatever happens.

Seriously, They could do a lot worse than Lynn, and I'd rather see a new talent rather than someone like Sutil or De La Rosa again.

Kobayashi in the Williams was, of course, my first instinct. I've now gotten myself thoroughly hyped up for something that probably won't happen. Although it should do, Kamui was prepared to drive for free in that POS Caterham, he'd surely drive a competitive F1 car for free. Cost effective solution for Williams and I'd be very surprised if he didn't score points.

I'm not as confident about Lynn. As Gutierrez showed, success in GP3 isn't a guarantee of quality in F1, and to be honest I haven't been as impressed by Kvyat as some others.

Is Bird still involved with Merc? He might be a good option.

Kobayashi would probably try to do it even if the race clashes too, he's proved before F1 is above everything else for him.

Bird is currently doing Formula E, but the next event isn't until early April. Talking of FE, JEV. I know he has a deal with Ferrari as well, but it wouldn't be the first time teams have pinched other drivers.

Laura23 wrote: It won't be Alex Lynn either because he is unbelievably inexperienced. If Williams had to use anyone they'd use Pascal Wherlien(sp?) from Mercedes.

Wehrlein

I'm not too sure about this reasoning. Lynn has 5 years of single seater experience which is 2 more than Wehrlein. On top of that, Wehrlein has never raced single seaters with more than 200HP while Lynn has experience with 400HP GP3 cars, and the last time Wehrlein raced a single seater was 2 years ago.
So for actual racing experience Lynn has Wehrlein's number, hands down.

Laura23 wrote:Susie Wolff ain't ever racing for Williams. Claire Williams said yesterday that Wolff is just their test driver, not a reserve driver. She isn't even on their list of drivers to race for them in the event of one of their main drivers not being able to.

It won't be Alex Lynn either because he is unbelievably inexperienced. If Williams had to use anyone they'd use Pascal Wherlien(sp?) from Mercedes. Bottas partly is managed by Toto so it wouldn't be a hard bargain.

I think you nailed it with Pascal im there is a deal to be done there

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/31893787

Bottas qualified sixth in Melbourne but was not allowed to race, despite complying with the requirement to get out of the car within five seconds. Although he extricated himself within the specified time, he was in a lot of pain while doing so and the doctors felt he might have been unable to repeat the feat if the car had stopped during the race. Doctors were also concerned about him doing further damage to the injury. Williams said they "respected" the decision.

Sounds to me he will make it, know how he feels and it's not fun losing muscular support for your back.

Botas has good reason to want to make it, Alonso has good reason not to....

moby wrote:Botas has good reason to want to make it, Alonso has good reason not to....

Actually McLaren not running well is an extra reason for getting Alonso in that car as quickly as possible. Surely Alonso's input would be better than anything Magnussen can offer.

mds wrote:

moby wrote:Botas has good reason to want to make it, Alonso has good reason not to....

Actually McLaren not running well is an extra reason for getting Alonso in that car as quickly as possible. Surely Alonso's input would be better than anything Magnussen can offer.

For Mclaren yes, but how would Alonso feel about it? If my past record was a good as Alonso, I dont know that I would be rushing to get in a car everyone else is going to pass.

moby wrote:

mds wrote:

moby wrote:Botas has good reason to want to make it, Alonso has good reason not to....

Actually McLaren not running well is an extra reason for getting Alonso in that car as quickly as possible. Surely Alonso's input would be better than anything Magnussen can offer.

For Mclaren yes, but how would Alonso feel about it? If my past record was a good as Alonso, I dont know that I would be rushing to get in a car everyone else is going to pass.

Depends on how committed he is to McLaren really.

moby wrote:Botas has good reason to want to make it, Alonso has good reason not to....

I can't imagine there's a driver out there who would rather not be racing, regardless of how poorly the car is performing.

Banana Man wrote:

moby wrote:Botas has good reason to want to make it, Alonso has good reason not to....

I can't imagine there's a driver out there who would rather not be racing, regardless of how poorly the car is performing.

probably, but "feeling better" covers a whole spectrum, depending how much you think you wil enjoy the day.

TBH, I am probably being unfair on him, he no doubt wants all the time ha can get in the car. (unless there is a reason he is nervous of it )

I think both will be back on the grid in Malaysia.

Oz is a unique track, so we will have a better idea of where things stand after Malaysia. But we'd really need them to participate to get a broad idea with respect to Macca and Williams.

moby wrote:Botas has good reason to want to make it, Alonso has good reason not to....

I think the car being so terrible will be more of an encouragement for Alonso to want to get back as soon as possible and start pushing than if it was scraping around the midfield.

I think it's somewhat moot though. The idea that any driver would rather not be driving at all just because the car is bad is a non-starter.

I really hope both are back.

The car isn't bad. Its not a setup issue, so no driver can change the fact the engine wants to blow up.

VDG for Williams maby?