Now that Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin have been signed by Haas for 2021, there are only three spots left on the Formula 1 grid for 2021. Who will take the last seats in the king's class of motor racing next season?
Crazy Silly Season
This season's Silly Season started strikingly and that was only a sign of what was to come for the rest of the year. Indeed, even before the Formula 1 season of 2020 had started, it became clear that Sebastian Vettel would have to leave Ferrari, Carlos Sainz would succeed him and Daniel Ricciardo would go to McLaren. However, things only got crazier.
In the rest of the season, Fernando Alonso's return would be announced, Sergio Perez's contract was torn up to get Vettel to Aston Martin and Red Bull still has not decided who should drive for the two teams.
Red Bull and Mercedes remain
At Red Bull there are still two free spots. Besides Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg and Alexander Albon have a chance to win at Red Bull Racing and at AlphaTauri, Yuki Tsunoda, Danill Kvyat and perhaps even Alexander Albon have a chance to win Red Bull's last seat.
The last remaining seat is that of Lewis Hamilton. The Brit is being replaced in Bahrain by George Russell because of his coronavirus infection, but it is expected that in 2021 Lewis will simply return to the grid in front of Mercedes, where he will hunt for his eighth world title, really breaking Michael Schumacher's record.
The Formula 1 grid for 2021:
Mercedes
- TBA
Ferrari
- Carlos Sainz
- TBA
McLaren
- Daniel Ricciardo
Renault
- Fernando Alonso
AlphaTauri
- TBA
Racing Point -> Aston Martin
- Sebastian Vettel
Alfa Romeo
Haas
- Nikita Mazepin
- George Russell
Will how George performs this weekend make any difference at all to Hamilton finally deciding to sign his contract for at least another season next year?
I don‘t think so to be honest. The only thing it will be is a comparison between Bottas and Russel; not entirelly fair though of course, cause Bottas knows the car by heart and Russel doesn‘t.
At the end of season testing in Abu Dhabi last year, Bottas and Russell did testing in the Mercedes and Russell was the fastest driver overall in the two days of testing, which means he was quicker than Bottas in the same car.
I know that and it is indeed promising. But like in soccer, a test is still exactly that: a test. One shouldn‘t read too much into them. We don‘t know whether they were on the same programs, had the same parts on the car, whether Valtteri for instance had to test extreme settings (he IS the pro who knows the car after all), while George would run comparative „normal“ ones... All that does not apply next weekend. YAY! It‘ll be good :)
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