[Red Liner]

Some talking points in the paddock.

1. Perez to replace Russell at Williams. New owners need cash, Perez looking for a long term lead driver role.

2. Gasly to switch to Renault alongside Alonso, and will probably be the future face of Renault. I give Alonso three years tops. Ocon to replace Albon at RB, and Albon to replace Kyvat at Alpha Tauri, and the new Japanese kid will partner Albon. Though ocon at RB, I mean I don’t see Max being very happy about it. I think they hate each other lol.

3. Haas to go with a rookie line up.

4. Mick Schumacher to replace giovinazzi at Alfa Romeo, or might go to haas. Though I hope it’s the former, he will learn from Kimi. I think giovinazzis time is up.

5. That leaves hulk and Russell without a seat? Maybe Russell goes into spare driver mode in the merc garage for 2021.

Crazy stuff. I think Merc have botched it by resigning Bottas. They should have simply put Russell in that seat to learn from Hamilton, who is on his way out in 3 years tops. Who knows red bull may have signed bottas up. The perfect number 2 driver who listens to the radio lol.

And lastly Redbull to buy Honda engine IP out, and bring in Andy Cowell, ex merc engine head!

[fz_rider]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

2. Gasly to switch to Renault alongside Alonso, and will probably be the future face of Renault. I give Alonso three years tops. Ocon to replace Albon at RB, and Albon to replace Kyvat at Alpha Tauri, and the new Japanese kid will partner Albon. Though ocon at RB, I mean I don’t see Max being very happy about it. I think they hate each other lol.

I don't see this happening. The one replacing Albon, I guess would either be Hulkenberg or Gasly. If Russel is a free agent next year, why not go for George.

I see unfinished business with Magnussen, he's a feisty character. But there are hardly any better seats available. Good for him he atleast got a podium in his very first race.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by fz_rider

I don't see this happening. The one replacing Albon, I guess would either be Hulkenberg or Gasly. If Russel is a free agent next year, why not go for George.

I see unfinished business with Magnussen, he's a feisty character. But there are hardly any better seats available. Good for him he atleast got a podium in his very first race.

No chance of gasly. He burnt all his bridges with the Red bull team. If he goes there and under performs again, both Horner and marko will lose their jobs for this driver stupidity. If you notice, Horner has not said a word about gasly I spite of his brilliant performances so far.

Hulk has a real good chance, but driver swaps of ocon and gasly is making news online.

Kmag is out...probably to Indycar.

[motorworks]

I keep hearing a few commentators state that Alfa Romeo has confirmed Kimi and Givonazzi, but I cannot see this officially anywhere! Have I missed something?

Anyway, Haas have made the right call. Grosjean and Magnussen have been at it for too long now. Either the car is not good or the drivers are helping the case too, so time for a change. I guess they are looking for funding as well, so Nikita Mazepin is a strong contender for Haas. And the other seat probably goes to maybe one of the other F2 drivers like Schwartzman or Callum Illot. I dont see Haas getting Hulkenberg and neither Perez.

I really wish Alfa Romeo gets Hulkenberg and Mick Schumacher. Could be a great pairing.

[Red Liner]

Now rumours swirling about George Russell potentially partnering max at redbull. What other wonders will we see in the next few weeks!

I relish this outcome ofcourse...my god.

[RM Motorsports]

Originally Posted by motorworks

I keep hearing a few commentators state that Alfa Romeo has confirmed Kimi and Givonazzi, but I cannot see this officially anywhere! Have I missed something?

Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi will stay with Alfa Romeo Racing in 2021.

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2020/...azzi-for-2021/

Happy to hear Kimi is racing in F1 next year too. Kimi's in-race conversations with engineers is just so amusing.

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by RM Motorsports

Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi will stay with Alfa Romeo Racing in 2021.



https://www.motorsportweek.com/2020/...azzi-for-2021/



Happy to hear Kimi is racing in F1 next year too. Kimi's in-race conversations with engineers is just so amusing.

Just saw this as well! Im a bit surprised though, the whole paddock seemed to be absolutely sure that Giovinazzi would be dropped and he would make way for Mick Schumacher. Giovinaazi has not come across as someone who has the raw talent like say a Leclerc or Max, and neither has he outclassed Kimi, which he should have done, considering he is younger, with much more to prove. However I believe he has that incredible record of making up a lot of places at the start and that too with less incidents, so maybe that played in to his hands.

Kimi staying back is not a surprise, the team seemed to have made that clear quite a while ago. I think Kimi is still very quick, but the only issue is motivation, on some weekends he completely disappears with some lacklustre performances. Good to have him in the series, he has really had some close battles with Seb many times this year.

However, Im just wondering, why didnt Alfa Romeo Sauber revamp their driver line up? They could have had Hulkenberg for the kind of money they would be paying Kimi. Maybe there are aspects that we do not know, like Kimis involvement in development of the car etc, but we cannot be sure.

So where does that leave Mick Schumacher, Hulkenberg and Perez? There are strong rumours that Hulkenberg may get a RBR drive, and Albon probably demoted to Alpha Tauri. And then there are others that suggest that Perez may land up at Williams with his sponsors, probably knocking out Russell. Both of these seem a bit far fetched, but all the driver moves for 2021 have been very surprising, so cannot rule anything out.

Lastly, Haas with 2 seats, are they going to get Mazepin and another rookie like Mick Schumacher? That would be a bad move since driver feedback would be very hard to measure and analyse. And if there is no seat for mick Schumacher, he has to toil hard for the 3rd year in F2, not a bad thing though.

[fz_rider]

With Alfa Romeo confirming Kimi And Antonio, and Alpha Tauri confirming Pierre, only 4 seats are available as of now.
For Alpha Tauri, the two possible candidates are Albon and Tsunoda.
For Haas, Mazepan and Schumacher most probably. I don't know how will they manage super license for Mazepan.
For RedBull, if not Albon, Hulkenberg and Russell are the candidates.
Williams might opt for Perez.
There is a possibility that we may not see two highly rated young guns Russell and Albon on the grid.

Image source: Formula 1 twitter handle

[BoneCollector]

F1 2021 Calendar

Formula 1 has released the tentative schedule for the next season. Season starts on 19-21 March weekend in Australia and ends on 03-05 December in Abu-Dhabi.

Link

[BoneCollector]

HAAS signs Russian Formula 2 driver Nikita Mazepin for multi year deal starting 2021.

Russian Formula 2 driver Nikita Mazepin will step up and make his Formula 1 debut with Haas next season after signing a multi-year contract with the American team.

The 21-year-old currently sits third overall in the F2 championship with one round to go, having taken two victories and four other podiums in his second campaign.

He joins Haas having tested for Force India in 2016, 2017 and 2018, as well as world champions Mercedes in 2019.

“I’m delighted that Nikita Mazepin will be driving for Haas F1 Team next season,” said Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner. “Nikita has underlined his credentials in Formula 2 this year with a brace of victories and a handful of podiums in what’s been a strong sophomore season for him.

“He’s developed into a mature racer moving up through the junior ranks – notably most recently in the GP3 Series, where he finished runner-up in 2018, and obviously in Formula 2 over the past two seasons.

Link

[Red Liner]

There’s some gossip filtering in that Ferrari might sign checo as reserve driver for 2021, and he is apparently already looking at grid options for 2022.

[fastturtle10]

Its official! Mick to drive for Haas in 2021

[BoneCollector]

HAAS sign Mick Schumacher for multi year deal starting 2021.

This will be great considering we will see the Schumacher name again on the race tracks. Let's hope for the best.

The Schumacher name will make a racing return to Formula 1 in 2021, after Haas signed Mick Schumacher - son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher - on a multi-year deal.

Schumacher, 21, currently leads the Formula 2 title race by 14 points with one round remaining, in what is his second season in the series, winning twice among 10 podiums.

The Ferrari junior will link up with fellow F2 racer Nikita Mazepin in an all-new line-up for the American outfit, with the duo replacing Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen.

Link

[motorworks]

The last 2 seats for 2021 remain with the RBR teams. For the Junior Alpha tauri team, it looks very likely that it would be F2 racer Tsonda, considering his Honda connections and also the fact that he has done reasonably well in F2 this year. Plus it would make the whole RBR driver academy look good.

And the most sought after seat at the senior RBR team, thats where all the mystery is. If they retain Albon, it would be a huge surprise and reasons may be probably beyond his performance. Not sure if his whole Thai connection is actually a big reason, may be its not. Red bull has a very strong European heritage, and I doubt if having a Thai driver would help in marketing anything. Maybe purely on the insistence of the Thai owner, but the RBR team dont come across as team who do it for such reasons. Anyway, if its not Albon, then the choice seems to be between Hulkenberg and Perez. With his splendid form this year, Perez should be the automatic choice, but if RBR does not want him for the long term, then they may look at Hulkenberg as a stop gap arrangement, he may agree for an one year deal too, which Perez and his sponsors may not. So the 2nd seat is more about other aspects than just driving skill.

In this whole mess of a situation, RBR must acknowledge at least to themselves that they made a terrible mistake in letting Sainz go! What a driver he has turned out to be for Mclaren this year! And some experts say that they did not give enough time to Buemi and Vergne either, but luckily for RBR they havent had the opportunity like Sainz to prove them wrong.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by motorworks

In this whole mess of a situation, RBR must acknowledge at least to themselves that they made a terrible mistake in letting Sainz go! What a driver he has turned out to be for Mclaren this year! And some experts say that they did not give enough time to Buemi and Vergne either, but luckily for RBR they havent had the opportunity like Sainz to prove them wrong.

They will also lose Gasly for 2022 and onwards. There is no way he is going to continue sitting there playing second fiddle anymore. I can only see a seat at Renault for him however.