Silly season 2024-2025

[franbatista123]

I think Sergio has been replaced by Daniel based on rumours from paddock this evening

There's a couple of rumours doing the rounds from what I could see on twitter. I think the Sergio being replaced rumour is the more likely one.

Real Silly Season stuff which might just be wild speculation, so take with a massive pinch of salt.
Lance retiring due to back issues, Stroll Snr selling the team to Saudi Arabia, either it's public investment fund or
Aramco. Sergio retiring or moving to AMR. Alonso retiring and so on.

Really wild rumour - Danny Ric replacing Sergio this season, I can't see Red Bull being that brutal. Though if Horner isn't lying about the RB20 not being developed as much as they'd like due to the cost cap punishment, they'll be wanting to get the second driver issue sorted pronto. An underdeveloped RB20 might face stiffer competition from the likes of Mercedes and McLaren. Just because the RB19 has been all conquering doesn't mean the RB20 will be, convergence appears to be happening design wise.

I thought so too at first, but it makes no sense to me that Fabrega would be saying that he "doesn't believe what he was just told", considering Daniel replacing Perez has not been considered too unexpected for a while now. Surely it must be something else. If i was a betting man, i'd say it is Aston Martin related or maybe even something shocking like Sainz leaving Ferrari (far less likely).

[ScottB]

The original post was Albert saying he 'didn't want to believe the rumour he'd heard' which I think rules out things like the Stroll's selling up.

To me, that leads to either the 'Alonso suddenly retiring' or 'Perez gets replaced' rumours as I can't see why he'd react like that to a team sale, or even Lance leaving...

[Alonsismo]

Jose Maria Rubio says that the rumour is alonso to RB

and he is one of the most experienced f1 journalist, with almost 700 races (since 1977)

[Cs98]

I think Sergio has been replaced by Daniel based on rumours from paddock this evening

There's a couple of rumours doing the rounds from what I could see on twitter. I think the Sergio being replaced rumour is the more likely one.

Real Silly Season stuff which might just be wild speculation, so take with a massive pinch of salt.
Lance retiring due to back issues, Stroll Snr selling the team to Saudi Arabia, either it's public investment fund or
Aramco. Sergio retiring or moving to AMR. Alonso retiring and so on.

Really wild rumour - Danny Ric replacing Sergio this season, I can't see Red Bull being that brutal. Though if Horner isn't lying about the RB20 not being developed as much as they'd like due to the cost cap punishment, they'll be wanting to get the second driver issue sorted pronto. An underdeveloped RB20 might face stiffer competition from the likes of Mercedes and McLaren. Just because the RB19 has been all conquering doesn't mean the RB20 will be, convergence appears to be happening design wise.

Three races to go, no one is getting swapped now. Why would the RB20 be underdeveloped? They've been able to spend the majority of their allocation on it for many months now, and now the penalty has been lifted. The RB20 has no excuses.

[Cs98]

Jose Maria Rubio says that the rumour is alonso to RB

and he is one of the most experienced f1 journalist, with almost 700 races (since 1977)

That's Spanish media clickbait for you. RB wouldn't touch Alonso.

[chrisc90]

I can’t see Alonso joining red bull.

I could see AMR selling up though, which would probably put stroll out of a seat

[ScottB]

He's popped back on Twitter to state that it's a rumour he hopes won't happen, so I think you can rule out Alonso moving to a better seat etc for sure.

[taperoo2k]

He's popped back on Twitter to state that it's a rumour he hopes won't happen, so I think you can rule out Alonso moving to a better seat etc for sure.

Probably Alonso retiring.

[taperoo2k]

I think Sergio has been replaced by Daniel based on rumours from paddock this evening

There's a couple of rumours doing the rounds from what I could see on twitter. I think the Sergio being replaced rumour is the more likely one.

Real Silly Season stuff which might just be wild speculation, so take with a massive pinch of salt.
Lance retiring due to back issues, Stroll Snr selling the team to Saudi Arabia, either it's public investment fund or
Aramco. Sergio retiring or moving to AMR. Alonso retiring and so on.

Really wild rumour - Danny Ric replacing Sergio this season, I can't see Red Bull being that brutal. Though if Horner isn't lying about the RB20 not being developed as much as they'd like due to the cost cap punishment, they'll be wanting to get the second driver issue sorted pronto. An underdeveloped RB20 might face stiffer competition from the likes of Mercedes and McLaren. Just because the RB19 has been all conquering doesn't mean the RB20 will be, convergence appears to be happening design wise.

Three races to go, no one is getting swapped now. Why would the RB20 be underdeveloped? They've been able to spend the majority of their allocation on it for many months now, and now the penalty has been lifted. The RB20 has no excuses.

Stranger things have happened in F1.
Underdeveloped is probably too strong of a word to use. I expect Red Bull will be leading the pack, but it might not be by as much as this season. Hence the rumours swirling around Perez being replaced. The problem for Red Bull is the early phase of the RB20 design would have started under the cost cap penalties. Sure they have no restrictions now, but they are still under a time crunch to get the RB20's built and ready for the pre season test in Feb 2024 followed by the first race a week later.

[ScottB]

Replacing Perez for next season probably makes sense, if they're convinced Daniel is going to be a better bet, but this year, Perez is still in P2 and could well retain that spot. Dropping him now would be daft unless there's been some massive falling out behind the scenes, or Sergio himself has decided to retire on the spot etc.

They have absolutely nothing to lose leaving him in now and nothing immediately obvious to gain from swapping him out?

[djos]

Replacing Perez for next season probably makes sense, if they're convinced Daniel is going to be a better bet, but this year, Perez is still in P2 and could well retain that spot. Dropping him now would be daft unless there's been some massive falling out behind the scenes, or Sergio himself has decided to retire on the spot etc.

They have absolutely nothing to lose leaving him in now and nothing immediately obvious to gain from swapping him out?

Getting out qualified by Daniel in a midfield car certainly can’t be good for Checo’s career! Imagine if Daniel was in the RBR seat, he’d actually be competitive week in week out and the team would get a lot more WCC points.

[ScottB]

Replacing Perez for next season probably makes sense, if they're convinced Daniel is going to be a better bet, but this year, Perez is still in P2 and could well retain that spot. Dropping him now would be daft unless there's been some massive falling out behind the scenes, or Sergio himself has decided to retire on the spot etc.

They have absolutely nothing to lose leaving him in now and nothing immediately obvious to gain from swapping him out?

Getting out qualified by Daniel in a midfield car certainly can’t be good for Checo’s career! Imagine if Daniel was in the RBR seat, he’d actually be competitive week in week out and the team would get a lot more WCC points.

True, though, I think it makes sense to see if Daniel can keep this up for the rest of the year, and as said, there's still a chance Sergio manages to cling on to P2, which is all RBR have left to fight for.

Unless of course Sergio has just decided to sack it all in and walk on the spot, but that doesn't seem likely...

[Big Tea]

There was a tale last week of someone being suspected of having traction control, but it was not from a reputable source.

[tinuva]

There is also this rumour going round:


Almost believable I think considering this earlier one:

[LHamilton]

Wild guess; Alonso has become fed up with Aston Martin, leaves F1 temporarily for another series and waits for the 2025 season with a lot of people being out of contract after 2024. Perhaps Alonso has seen that the car is trash in the windtunnel and thus decided "--- this. I'd rather race somewhere I can win and come back later to F1".