Silly Season 2020/2021 (starting with silliness in 2019)

[Wouter]

Valtteri Bottas will continue as the Mercedes driver of his fourth F1 season in 2020. According to information from Turun Sanomat , the Finnish driver's final test has been confirmed and will be announced this week before the Belgian Grand Prix.
Mercedes is expected to announce Valtteri Bottas' follow-up contract at the stable this week.

https://www.ts.fi/urheilu/moottoriurhei ... cedeksella

[izzy]

Valtteri Bottas will continue as the Mercedes driver of his fourth F1 season in 2020. According to information from Turun Sanomat , the Finnish driver's final test has been confirmed and will be announced this week before the Belgian Grand Prix.
Mercedes is expected to announce Valtteri Bottas' follow-up contract at the stable this week.

https://www.ts.fi/urheilu/moottoriurhei ... cedeksella

That's best for Mercedes surely, and well done Valtteri

[Edax]

Everyone to remain same except at Haas where one, possibly both, drivers will be out, possibly sooner if they crash into each other again. The replacement will be odd - someone who has either not raced in F1 or been out a long time.

One will be Hulkenberg.

If Perez leaves RP, that would be another excellent choice, else for the second car, how about:
- Vandoorne
- Wehrlein
- Ericsson
- Vergne
- Hartley
- de Vries (seems to be overlooked?)
- Nasr!?
- Palmer!? ($$$)
- Sutil!?
- Buemi!?
- di Resta!?

Or, drumroll....

- Rossi!?

Can HAAS put the deal together for Alexander Rossi!? That would be a coup for the "American" team!

De Vries indeed is an interesting one on that list. He was stellar in carting, won the renault 2.0. Only last year he failed to live up to the expectation.

But since he got kicked out of the mclaren team he has been putting in pretty solid drives. He should have enough points for his superlicense next year. Except for some audi affiliation he is free to go.

May be the a bit of a roll of the dice, but with the others on the list you know what your getting but you also know it will not be enough.

Except for Wehrlein perhaps. Still think he is an exceptional driver. Pity he has a worse attitude towards the team than Alonso without the 2 WDC’s to justify it.

[NathanOlder]

For me, de Vries has had 3 poor years of mediocrity and it looking good in a bad bunch this year in F2.

Last year Lando and George looked a lot stronger and they were full rookies, Nick had plenty of F2 experience compared to those, and he was never in a championship fight.

Latifi and deVries are not good enough for F1 IMO.

[DChemTech]

De Vries seems to need quite some time to get adjusted to a new formula indeed, and he dropped the ball for a potential championship in the worthwhile field of last year rather quickly through some incidents. Still, it would be nice if the F2 champion (be that DEV or someone else) does get an opportunity in F1 - although there are of course no guarantees. Maybe he does well, like Stoffel in his incidental first McLaren race, or maybe he bums, like Stoffel in his non-incidental McLaren races. Toro Rosso could give him a try in lieu of other options; the long term perspective for Gasly seems to be... poor, anyhow, so why make him occupy a valuable seat.

[Jolle]

If it’s true that Ocon will leave for Renault, Vandoorne is I think in the best spot to take his place as reserve and sim driver for Mercedes.

[dren]

Rumors that Vettel is looking to return to RBR.

[Bill_Kar]

Rumors that Vettel is looking to return to RBR.

It seems he has a performance clause like Max (top 3 finish).

What do you think is the possibility for this move? I know he has retained good relationship with the team but still seems mega to me. And why play second fiddle to Max?

[dren]

Rumors that Vettel is looking to return to RBR.

It seems he has a performance clause like Max (top 3 finish).

What do you think is the possibility for this move? I know he has retained good relationship with the team but still seems mega to me. And why play second fiddle to Max?

He's already racing against Leclerc, who is starting to settle in more. I think Vettel would hold his own against Max, although I rate Max higher. The Honda-RBR package looks like it could be the better package next year and it's a race winning car this year. If Ferrari is forced into changing their aero, they'll have a learning curve against Mercedes and RBR in 2020.

[izzy]

He's already racing against Leclerc, who is starting to settle in more. I think Vettel would hold his own against Max, although I rate Max higher. The Honda-RBR package looks like it could be the better package next year and it's a race winning car this year. If Ferrari is forced into changing their aero, they'll have a learning curve against Mercedes and RBR in 2020.

Charles has pointed out Seb isn't comfortable with the less-than-planted back end of the Ferrari, and Pierre couldn't drive the Red Bull for that same reason, so returning to Red Bull could only be a disaster for Vettel. It's not like when they had the blown diffuser, in fact it's the opposite these days by the look of it.

But the Mercedes is the same too. The fact is Max, Charles and Lewis like an edgy car that goes where they point it, instantly, and Seb doesn't. He has to hang on and hope that somehow the 2021 cars naturally have a solid back end. But I don't see him going back to Red Bull even tho the love is there. And I hope he doesn't as it would be bad for him.

[Phil]

Dont quite believe it yet about Mercedes picking Bottas. Wouldnt be surprised if it is simply clickbait for now. Have not seen any confirmations from the more trustworthy sites yet.

If it’s true however, i wonder if there is already some kind of pre deal between Max and Mercedes for 2021. This to me would explain why Bottas has been signed for one more year - certainly easier than to committing Ocon for beyond a year only to then not have a seat free for Max once he becomes available. Or that’s what i am thinking anyway.

[Big Tea]

Rumors that Vettel is looking to return to RBR.

It seems he has a performance clause like Max (top 3 finish).

What do you think is the possibility for this move? I know he has retained good relationship with the team but still seems mega to me. And why play second fiddle to Max?

I personally would love to see Seb back at Red Bull, partly because he is probably the best option for them and partly to 'answer some questions' about how good he really is/was. But from a RBR point of view, would it be a good thing?
He will be 33 next year (? please) and long term is not his plan. Also, he was the golden boy at Red Bull and would it cause either internal rifts, or decent or just another factor to have to consider when they prioritise one car.

No, as much as I would like it, it would not be good for Red Bull

[Jolle]

Toto Wolf said in multiple interviews that they are looking for long term and not just next year. So it’ll probably all to do with timing.

Ocon and Bottas are both (not yet) team leaders in a way Hamilton, Vettel and Verstappen are. Of course they are (all) after Verstappen, because that would time perfectly with the changing of the guards with Hamilton, even as a teammate in a McLaren style fashion (both 84/86 and 88/89). Ocon’s main rival for a Mercedes seat might be Russel instead of Bottas, to star in a couple of years next to Verstappen if Hamilton calls it quits (next year last of Bottas, then one or two years of Verstappen and Hamilton in one team, formula one gets its new champion to take over from the old one and Russel fills Hamilton’s seat).

[selvam_e2002]

Rumors that Vettel is looking to return to RBR.

It seems he has a performance clause like Max (top 3 finish).

What do you think is the possibility for this move? I know he has retained good relationship with the team but still seems mega to me. And why play second fiddle to Max?

not a second fiddle. If he does the move then it is a calculated move... If max leaves RBR by 2020.... whowill fill it? We never know what is going in RB+Honda until we are with the team. We all speculate based on the online report and most of them time it will be fake news.

[RZS10]

personally i would put myself into the second merc

pros:
i would do it for free

cons:
i've only done two kart races