Who would have known that before the first ‘It’s lights out and away we go!’ of the 2020 Formula 1 season, the 2021 Formula 1 silly season would begin.
For the uninitiated, the Formula 1 silly season is the driver market starting to shake things up for the next season. With drivers having limited-time contracts, and teams having driver budgets, there is a high probability of drivers moving to greener pastures, or better teams in this case, in search of the ultimate glory. No not money, the bragging rights of being Formula 1 World Champion. With a lot of rumors and theories floating around between teams, drivers, journalists, and ‘pundits’ alike the driver market swaps is the silly season.
Example: Maldanado is being considered for the replacement of Vettel at Ferrari.
Hope the lights go out for the first race soon, no thanks to COVID-19, we now know that 4-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will be leaving his Ferrari dream unfulfilled, since his contract expires at the end of the 2020 season, and new contract negotiations failed with the Scuderia, he will be departing the team making way for young ex-Red Bull Junior and McLaren smooth operator Carlos Sainz Jr. to join the Scuderia alongside Ferrari’s young and rising talent Charles Leclerc.
It was rumoured that Sebastian would move to McLaren for 2021, because of his closeness with recently appointed McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl along with the switch to Mercedes power in 2021 and the progress McLaren has made over the years to be competitive, but the rumours were laid to rest when McLaren swooped up and announced the honey badger Daniel Riccardo to be replacing the outgoing Carlos Sainz Jr., who ditches his earlier multimillion-dollar move to Renault and would be racing for McLaren for 2021 alongside Lando Norris.
What’s next for the 32-year-old Sebastian Vettel? Unfortunately unless Mercedes opts to replace Bottas and have a dream lineup of Seb and Lewis together, we are looking at Seb leaving the sport, maybe even for good. It is highly unlikely Seb would opt for teams that are not capable of immediately fighting for the championship and would not opt to drive for a team like Renault to help develop their vehicle. If this happens, from the current looks of it, there would be no German driver on the grid for 2021.
What's next for the Renault Sport F1 team? If rumors are to be believed we might see former Formula World Champion Fernando Alonso joining the team, and multiple ‘reports’ claim that Liberty Media might have a kicker somewhere in there for Renault to sign Alonso, this rumor was further fueled by a French report that Alonso has signed a pre-agreement with Renault and by Alonso himself while speaking with El Mundo teasing fans “I know more or less what I’m going to do in 2021, I hope you will know soon, but I can’t say more,”.
Now, the silly season has just begun and there are multiple drivers on the grid who are out of contract at the end of 2020, including current World Champion Lewis Hamilton and his team mate Bottas.
So What's next for the remaining spots on the grid for 2021? It’s anybody’s guess, and the silly circus will go on till we know for sure how the 2021 grid is going to shape up.
Here is a handy list of all those who are confirmed for 2021 and some beyond.
Charles Leclerc Ferrari (until 2024)
Carlos Saintz Jr. Ferrari ( until 2022)
Max Verstappen Red Bull (until 2023)
Daniel Riccardo McLaren (multi-year)
Lando Norris McLaren
Esteban Ocon Renault (until 2021)
Lance Stroll Racing Point/Aston Martin (Forever)
Here is hoping the season stars in Austria and we go racing again!
#F1 #Formula1 #Renault #Mercedes #ScuderiaFerrari #EssereFerrari #Seb5 #Lewis44 #McLaren #Racing #Max33 #RedBullRacing
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