2022 Driver Speculation

[Chrill]

Grid wrapped up with Zhou confirmed at Alfa Romeo:
https://www.racefans.net/2021/11/16/zhou-takes-final-place-on-2022-grid-and-becomes-f1s-first-chinese-racer/

Giovinazzi, famously "not fast enough to beat a driver who was really really good ten years ago but then sort of lingered for a while", calls F1 ruthless because it's all about money over talent:
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/giovinazzi-when-money-rules-f1-can-be-ruthless/6787541/

I hate to be the guy, but:

Giovinazzi has won something called Formula Pilota China in 2012, plus the 2015 Zandvoort "Masters of F3". He was also runner-up in GP2. Those are his merits.

Zhou has won the F4 Italian Championship, plus this year's F3 Asia, in addition to currently sitting as runner-up in F2.

They are, on paper, equally talented. Nothing proves that Giovinazzi, on talent alone, has the edge over Zhou. Granted, nothing proves that Zhou has the edge either, but he does have money.

[Chrill]

Allow me to present your final 2022 grid:



Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team:
44. Lewis Hamilton (link)
63. George Russell (link)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Williams Racing:
6. Nicolas Latifi (link)
23. Alexander Albon (link)

Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen:
77. Valtteri Bottas (link)
?. Guanyu Zhou (link) (NEW!)

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

[Penfold]

... and may I thank you for such presentation.

Gio should count himself lucky he had three seasons to (not) prove his abilities

[Chrill]

Max has confirmed he'll use number 1 on his car in 2022, and Zhou has opted for 24, last used back in 2012 by Timo Glock. Perhaps Zhou is inspired by the German's illustrious career.

[Chrill]

Some not-so-serious whispering about Lewis Hamilton not returning in 2022, after Toto Wolff said Lewis has become "disillusioned" by the events of the Abu Dhabi Safety car. Of course Lewis will be back, he just needs a few days to be upset about this and then he'll come back hungry for revenge.

But, let's play with the idea that Lewis does decide to abandon F1. Who would race for Mercedes in 2022 alongside George Russell?

Valtteri Bottas - Could he be resigned from Alfa Romeo? Would he be ready to be the de facto team leader?
Nyck de Vries - A total rookie, alongside George Russell, could that really work?
Stoffel Vandoorne - Part of the Mercedes family, but hasn't raced for years
Nico Rosberg - Could he be lured out of retirement for a final one or two seasons?
Nico Hülkenberg - Would he finally get his chance at a top team?

Or would they reach out to various Mercedes customers?

Daniel Ricciardo - Could they bring him in like they did with Bottas back when Rosberg retired?
Sebastian Vettel - He is German after all, but has he had a really strong season in any of the last 3 or so years?
Lance Stroll - Surely not up to it. Or is he?

Then there's Lando Norris and Nicholas Latifi but Lando is too young and Latifi not fast enough.

Who else outside F1? Romain Grosjean, Josef Newgarden?

[Chrill]

Mick Schumacher and Giovinazzi will share reserve driver duties for Ferrari in 2022. Giovinazzi is the main reserve, but on weekends where he is busy with Formula E then Schumacher would be the one to replace Sainz or Leclerc if something happened to them. I suppose Pietro Fittipaldi would then replace Schumacher at Haas for that weekend.
https://www.racefans.net/2021/12/21/mick-schumacher-ferrari-reserve-driver-11-f1-races-2022/

[Penfold]

Late with this, but would be amazed if Hammy quit F1. However... my choice of replacement from those you highlight would be Ricciardo, though the guy I'd actually like to see step in is Alonso

[Chrill]

It has been over a month, not a word from Lewis Hamilton.

Will he actually return? Well, rumours claim that the Mercedes drop their appeal on the basis that both Masi and Tombazis would be removed. The two have been removed, as of the Organisation chart shown on the FIA website:
https://www.fia.com/administration

October 2021, last edition to include Jean Todt:


January 2022, first edition to include Sulayem:


Both are gone, and replaced by a Peter Bayer. Could this indicate that Mercedes have got Masi removed, and that Hamilton is readying to announce he will remain for 2022? If not, I've heard that both Vettel and Ocon are lined up to join Mercedes.

[Penfold]

Gone from the charts but still nothing official unless I missed it.  Can't say I'm a fan of teams throwing their weight around like this, though as a friend put it, Mercedes has reason to want blood given Masi's loose interpretation of safety car rules.

[Chrill]

I consider myself a Ferrari fan, so I have no strong passion for Mercedes or Red Bull. I do quite dislike Horner, so I guess I'm leaning toward favouring Mercedes. With that in mind, I was really upset at how Masi handled the rules.

He very clearly contravened rules that are specified, and in my book the Abu Dhabi race was manipulated. Clearly so. Not against Mercedes, and not for Red Bull, but perhaps for the show:

We want to finish under green, so I'll ignore the rulebook to ensure we can do it.

There were two very obvious solutions to finishing under green, both ignored:
- We could have had a red flag, put the two on equal grip levels and a straight shootout. Awesome, exciting.
- We could have kept the lapped cars, removing some of Verstappen's advantage

As I think I posted before, what happened in football (soccer) terms is Hamilton led 3-0 in the 90th minute, when the referee (Masi) said the score was now 0-0, then awarded a penalty kick to Verstappen and said "if you score it, you win the game". Clearly not fair, but exciting sure.

F1 is growing, it's good for the sport, but we're moving too far into entertainment and leaving behind the sporting side of it. Of course, what sport is it if Mercedes had scored their 8th consecutive world drivers championship to go with their 8 consecutive constructors titles? 16 Mercedes, 0 for the rest.

[Chrill]

How naïve to assume we were done. MazepOut!

https://www.racefans.net/2022/03/05/mazepin-loses-haas-seat-as-uralkali-partnership-confirmed-terminated/

So, who will replace him?

Option 1:
Pietro Fittipaldi
https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/105548/f1-seat-for-fittipaldi-seems-confirmed-after-congratulations-from-haas-sponsor.html


Option 2:
Antonio Giovinazzi
https://www.planetf1.com/news/antonio-giovinazzi-possible-nikita-mazepin-replacement/



And here's a new grid then, complete with updated team names too.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team:
44. Lewis Hamilton (link)
63. George Russell (link)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Williams Racing:
6. Nicolas Latifi (link)
23. Alexander Albon (link)

Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen:
24. Guanyu Zhou (link)
77. Valtteri Bottas (link)

Haas F1 Team:
47. Mick Schumacher (link)
99. Antonio Giovinazzi (link)
?. Pietro Fittipaldi (link)

[Penfold]

Gio is part way through a Formula E season, which complicates matters somewhat.... Oscar Piastri (Alpine reserve guy) and Jehan Daruvala (Red Bull junior) also both in the fray, but surely Fittipaldi makes most sense as he's readily available and familiar with the car - and I don't think any of the options bring enough money to sway the decision.

[Chrill]

But Fittipaldi, arguably the weakest driver to find a Super license since its introduction, is surely not competitive enough. And yes, Fittipaldi brings both name and sponsorship from Brazil but does he bring enough money to warrant losing out on potential points scoring positions?

[Penfold]

I'm assuming Haas will finish last amongst the constructors no matter who drives, and that any points will depend on others retiring rather than nifty driving from the Haas boys. I'd just plump for whoever brings the most money, although someone who doesn't crash too much would be good to save on repairs....

[Chrill]

K-Mag is back-mag.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team:
44. Lewis Hamilton (link)
63. George Russell (link)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Williams Racing:
6. Nicolas Latifi (link)
23. Alexander Albon (link)

Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen:
24. Guanyu Zhou (link)
77. Valtteri Bottas (link)

Haas F1 Team:
20. Kevin Magnussen (link)
47. Mick Schumacher (link)