2021 Driver Speculation

[Penfold]

I'm half tempted to record myself doing it. I'll register an OnlyFans account and post them there.

Better get cracking on some more verses.

[Penfold]

From 30th October:

I'm going to be bold and say Albon gets the chop. Tricky to call it that way because he's half-Thai and Red Bull has obvious links with the country, but there's a limit to how much under-performance a top team will tolerate and I suspect Albon has already punched through that level.  Now to sit back and wait for Albon to be confirmed for next year....

Christ, don't tell me I've actually called something the right way!  Well, I suppose it had to happen eventually, law of averages and all that....

Also, yay!  Really hope this turns out to be true.

[Chrill]

Perez confirmed at Red Bull! Awesome. Looking forward to that for 2021.

[Chrill]

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team:
77. Valtteri Bottas (link)
44. Lewis Hamilton (link)

Red Bull Racing:
11. Sergio Perez (link)
33. Max Verstappen (link)

McLaren F1 Team:
3. Daniel Ricciardo (link)
4. Lando Norris (link)

Aston Martin F1 Team:
5. Sebastian Vettel (link)
18. Lance Stroll (link)

Alpine F1 Team:
14. Fernando Alonso (link)
31. Esteban Ocon (link)

Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow:
16. Charles Leclerc (link)
55. Carlos Sainz (link)

Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda:
10. Pierre Gasly (link)
?. Yuki Tsunoda (link)

Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN:
7. Kimi Räikkönen (link)
99. Antonio Giovinazzi (link)

Haas F1 Team:
9. Nikita Mazepin (link)
47. Mick Schumacher (link)

Williams Racing:
6. Nicolas Latifi (link)
63. George Russell (link)


The final grid, then. We can safely assume Hamilton will extend his deal with Mercedes.

[Penfold]

YES!!! Fantastic news.  Now just need a cracking car from Red Bull so we can have a proper fight next year.

[Matt]

F1 Reddit is all over the idea that Haas is going to imminently drop Mazepin and replace him with Fittipaldi. I wouldn't mind the first part, and I like Pietro, but he would be the least qualified F1 driver since like Ide... He has absolutely no resume. He won the World Series Formula 3.5 championship in 2017, but it was against no one. He was not impressive in DTM. Not notably bad under the circumstances, but no runs that really made you sit up and take note.

I don't think he would be dangerous, I think he's competent enough. But he would be dead weight. And if Haas is willing to take a driver with less funding just to be rid of Mazepin, it makes absolutely no sense to take Fittipaldi over the countless other top-level feeder drivers who fell through the cracks. What about Ilott, even?

But no one has ever accused Haas of being well-run, so they'll probably do it. I have no particular affinity for convicted tax fraud Gene Haas, and his NASCAR team was junk until Tony Stewart became involved too.

[Chrill]

If Haas could afford not to sign Mazepin, they would have. Unless there are clauses in his contract that releases him without refunding some of the sponsorship he brought due to "bringing the sport into disrepute". In which case, by all means, you could probably find a more well funded driver than Fittipaldi. How about Hülkenberg, or maybe someone like Sirotkin or even Kubica? Or perhaps resign Grosjean or Magnussen, whoever can find the biggest budget by mid-January?

[Chrill]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/red-bull-open-to-lending-albon-out-to-other-f1-teams/4932154/
Red Bull willing to lend Albon to rival teams if their driver cannot compete in 2021, corona and whatnot.

Sure they are, steal as much information as he can while he's there too.

[Chrill]

https://www.scuderiaalphatauri.com/en/alphatauri-drivers/
Tsunoda has elected to use 22 when he makes his F1 debut. This number hasn't been used since Button used it in Monaco in 2017.

[Chrill]

We all expect Lewis Hamilton to be announced any day now, but fact remains he is not offically on the 2021 grid yet despite 2021 starting in a few days. When did a reigning World Champion last sign a contract as late as January? Feels like Hill had some messy contract deals in the late 90s?

[Penfold]

I can't remember why Hill left Williams after '96 but I know he had a tough time finding a seat, hence ending up at Arrows!

[Chrill]

January 5th. Speed this up, Mercedes. At some point, you'll just have to tell Sir Hamilton "Here is the offer, sign it or don't". If he does not, bring Russell up. Does the crew, mechanics and whatnot, benefit from the waiting game? Probably not.

[Chrill]

https://www.racefans.net/2021/01/18/why-hasnt-hamilton-signed-a-new-mercedes-deal-yet-theres-a-few-million-reasons/

Dieter Rencken, generally a guy who knows his F1, is now wondering just why Mercedes and Hamilton have yet to sign a contract.

[Chrill]

Lewis Hamilton will be confirmed by Mercedes within 24 hours. How do I know? I just decided to place a bet on Russell for world champion 2021. He's at 1500 times your money back sooo.

[Chrill]

Lewis Hamilton will be confirmed by Mercedes within 24 hours. How do I know? I just decided to place a bet on Russell for world champion 2021. He's at 1500 times your money back sooo.

No he's not. I didn't place the bet in time and they changed it to just 48 times your money back, which is roughly equal to Ricciardo and Sainz. That's still a lot, but not enough!