2021 Silly Season

[Il_leone]

Russell to stay at Williams alongside Latifi for F1 2021

George Russell has confirmed he will remain with Williams for the 2021 F1 season, with Valtteri Bottas expected to imminently sign a new deal at Mercedes.

www.crash.net

That pretty much confirms Bottas is staying at Mercedes with Hamilton unless something goes awry

So that leaves

Haas
Alfa

I get the feeling Grosjean and Raikkonen will make way for Ferrari juniors although Stroll / Perez have been mentioned as replacements

Racing Point - if you believe the rumour mill about Vettel wanting the drive now

Red Bull and Alpha Tauri - the one who should be concerned is Kyvat because if he does not get promotion then what for his career ?

 

[RasputinLives]

Well Merc might snap up Ocon

 

[gethinceri]

Russell and Latefi confirmed at Williams for 2021.

Poor buggers.

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives Is there a buy out clause in Renault's contract with Ocon

 

[RasputinLives]

Yes it's called Toto Wolff

 

[Il_leone]

Yes it's called Toto Wolff

It will be interesting to see if he does if either Merc driver does not re-sign

 

[Il_leone]

What are the current regulations about having 10 teams on the grid beyond this season? Haas have not committed beyond next year so there is a speculation about them not being on the grid
Could another team take their slot ?

 

[F1Brits_90]

it shame because if there is 1 worry is racecraft because he is a star of the future undoubtedly but he's yet to race wheel to wheel & id like to have seen him further up to get him that experience

What are the current regulations about having 10 teams on the grid beyond this season? Haas have not committed beyond next year so there is a speculation about them not being on the grid
Could another team take their slot ?

not likely & this is why budget cap needed. no haas, williams were dodgy & racing point saved from adminstation. it only take fractions the other way we could easily been looking at 14 car grid in 2021

 

[Il_leone]

there is a rule that 14 cars means 3rd cars are allowed but there is always the issue they act as mobile chicanes

 

[RasputinLives]

We already have 3rd and 4th cars on the grid. It's what the big teams were aiming for in the late 00's and what they have got. They just snuck it in under a disguise.

 

[Il_leone]

We already have 3rd and 4th cars on the grid. It's what the big teams were aiming for in the late 00's and what they have got. They just snuck it in under a disguise.

We will end with a series like DTM then different teams but affiliated to one manufacturer

 

[RasputinLives]

We are guaranteed 12 cars on the grid from the teams that now run F1. Up to 14 if Renault are happy to keep playing bumbling little brother. 16 as long as Zak Brown owns McLaren and the Motorsport media. The rest are toffee.

Ferrari are done with Haas now so I think they'll dissapear. Unless Williams run out of money then the boss teams will need to extend to make it look like a competition. So Haas would probably become Prema and we'd see HWA and a Japanese team (under the Mugen name?) join the grid.

I'm ranting off topic now. I should probably write a thread on it.

 

[Il_leone]

Why Ferrari wants to boost Binotto, not boot him

www.motorsport.com

As ever the Ferrari way is to scapegoat someone

 

[Il_leone]

So the BBC have flagged that RedBull might consider replacing Albon with Gasly again

 

[gethinceri]

Hardly surprising...I was thinking that after Austrian GP. It's their M.O. and it would kill Albon's career.
BUT, he's been given the chance, he needs to smash it or he's going to be in a lower mid-field car forever.

 

[F1Brits_90]

can we force mercedes into take verstappen for 2021 because at the moment. Mercedes as incredible as they are theyve built an unbelievable car its ferrari 2002 levels where theyd turn up with last yr car & still take pole/win easily. but mercedes so unprecedentedly dominant they are making Scottish football look competitive in comparison

 

[Il_leone]

F1 Gossip: Sergio Perez weighing up Alfa Romeo for F1 2021?

In this week's F1 Gossip column, Sergio Perez is considering a switch to Alfa Romeo for 2021 while the Spanish Grand Prix could be under threat...

www.crash.net

“Obvious” who would leave Racing Point F1 team for Vettel - Perez

Sergio Perez says it is “obvious” who would make way at Racing Point if the team did sign Sebastian Vettel for the 2021 F1 season.

www.crash.net

The noises about Perez obviously aint great and may stabilise Racing Point because they love him certainly compared to the attitude Di Resta showed and owe Perez and his sponsors a bit of gratitude for saving the team from going bust

Someone suggested is it possible Lance Stroll would be shoved into Merc for Racing Point to have both Perez and Vettel which would mean Bottas makes way ?

I am more interested about the situation at Perez is offer seems to come from Alfa Romeo not Haas which itself says a couple of things

Alfa Romeo

Kimi is retiring finally so Perez would replace him which leaves 1 seat remaining

Currenlty Giovinazzi is in the seat and thought to be highly regarded by Ferrari at least but that would mean Mick Schumacher would not get into F1 until 2022 and Ferrari are desperate for this

Ferrari also have 4 other drivers in F2 - Alesi, Illott , Shwartzmann and Armstrong. Currently Illot and Shwartzman are 1-2 in the series so you would think one of these drivers will get promotion into F1 either as tester or into the Alfa team

Should Schumacher get promoted it will get the PR but also raise eyebrows no doubt.

This throws up an interesting situation about Haas

The team has not committed to F1 beyond 2021

Currently they have K Mag and Grosjean - neither driver going anywhere with their career and one seat may need to be freed to allow a Ferrari junior driver in one of the cars

 

[F1Brits_90]

its potential that Kimi could retire as face it hardly much fun going around in slowest qualifying trim & 2nd slowest race trim but lets jump the gun as ive been thinking he retiring since 2016. i was watching ted's notebook outside of the baking advice. he mentioned Grosjean & relationship isnt a happy one. Grosjean talking about wanting to race & compete

ive said before that i might be wrong but based on others i dont believe the hype train of schumacher. & if he got
2016 Leclerc wins GP3 / 2017 Wins F2
2017 Russell wins GP3 / 2018 Wins F2
2019 Swartzmann wins F3 / 2020 leads F2 title having won 2 races

but in 2018 Schumacher needed a year to adjust finishing 12th. winning 1 sprint race because he came 8th in feature race

 

[Il_leone]

Which is why Schumacher's appointment would be a serious slap in the face for Shwartzmann and possibly Illott and Armstrong

 

[FB]

Isn't Ralph's son racing in F3 (?). Do we need to start referring to Schumacher M and Schumacher D? I'd laugh until my leg drops off if David makes in F1 and Mick turns out to be a dud.