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

[JordanMugen]

Well if Max wants Hulkenberg, then I expect Hulkenberg to be the number 2 driver.
I guess that means Perez goes to Haas or leaves F1 for a season at least.

How about Perez to AlphaTauri?

Gasly + Perez would be a superb points collecting machine.

[JordanMugen]

Stroll isn't that bad, honestly. I think he will grow immensely alongside Vettel. Imagine a teammate that is willing to teach instead of hiding data and ridicule.

Grow alongside?

I'm pretty sure Stroll will beat Vettel actually...

Stroll is rather good.

[NathanOlder]

Im not sure Vette has ever shown anything to say he will help his team mate develop. If this was the case 2019 at Ferrari Seb would have been helping Charles...... and yeah, that went well.

[DChemTech]

I think Stroll has some talent. Like he’s not an all time great kinda thing, but I think he wouldn’t be in F1 “only” because of money, imo. Don’t forget he was signed in a junior driver program once, I think the FDA?

Stroll has enlisted the services of Rob Wilson, who is quite a respected driver coach too. This does show he’s willing to admit/work on deficiencies he may have

It's a bit of a mixed bag. He won in F3 in his second season, but his wallet did buy him a considerable amount of testing time. In his first F1 year(s) he was clearly not ready - he did show occasional bouts of brilliance, but by and large was struggling to control the car - excessive steering motion, weird crashes (the post-race crash with his future teammate standing out), etc. Again, this is in spite of additional training in old F1 cars, enabled by his budget.
I do have to say Stroll showed capacity to develop, and he's doing fine this year. There are still some hickups (failing to find the overtake button on the steering wheel, and his overtake action on Norris in Portimao seemed to show the 'old' Stroll; not really in control of the car). Yet, as he drives at this moment, he belongs in F1 - he is not a great natural talent, but talented enough. Yet, I am not sure if he would have made it without the money. Decisions that now fell in his favor may have flipped the other way, had he not had the cash. I guess he'd probably end up for a couple of seasons in F2, and might eventually win there - but I would be guessing he'd end up like Nick de Vries rather than George Russell if the funds were not there.

[El Scorchio]

Well IMO, as of right now, Perez is certainly a better driver than Stroll.
Stroll is decent (and yes far from talentless) but again IMO, he's never in that car if his father isn't who he is. They will have a weaker line up next year than if they'd kept Perez instead of Stroll.

[DChemTech]

Well IMO, as of right now, Perez is certainly a better driver than Stroll.
Stroll is decent (and yes far from talentless) but again IMO, he's never in that car if his father isn't who he is. They will have a weaker line up next year than if they'd kept Perez instead of Stroll.

To be fair, I think Perez is possibly a better driver than Vettel too, within the aero-regs as they have been since 2014. Big respect for what Vettel has achieved, but I think that letting go of Perez makes the RP/AM lineup for 2021 weaker regardless.

[Manoah2u]

In today's completely incomprehensible news, it seems Alfa/Ferrari is maintaining tank-slapper Gio for next year, thus reducing the number of seats available for actually talented Ferrari juniors...

it makes sense to keep things stable and dont take unneccesary steps when 2022 will see design change and as such, its for the most part illogical to have debutants for 2021, with some exceptions aside.

the confirmation of gio and kimi means any Ferrari academy debutants will be limited to Haas. There's still the possibility there will be no new debutants at all. Let's face it, RBR - even though unlikely - could simply keep Max-Alex and AT could keep Danil and Pierre. Perez could move to Haas, and so could Hulk.

Either way, since Williams says nothing will change, aswell as AT with Gasly, there are 'only' 4 seats left.

1 @ RedBull, but that will stay unconfirmed untill after this weekend's results. If for some reason, Albon has stellar Qually, and perhaps even WINS this weekend's GP, or atleast finishes on the podium, then his 'execution' will be awaited another race longer. If he then performs well too, he could have just about made it for 2021. However, if he underperforms this weekend, it's adios for the RBR seat, and it's either Alpha Tauri to replace Kvyat, or completely out and see Tsunoda enter @ AT, still leaving the RBR seat open.

Perez there will likely result in Haas with Mick, and Mazepin for the moneyz.
I'd concider RBR would opt for Perez over Hulk, so that's the most likely scenario.

However, I am still expecting Perez @ Haas with Mick alongside him, as Perez' Carlos Slim backing will bring loads of precious dollars to HAAS, Probably BWT will move with him to HAAS, and Schumacher will bring Ferrari discounts.
In every case it's a better deal for Haas.

I'd expect in that case, that Hulk will be alongside Max for 2021 unless Albon suddenly finds his feet and goes like fire.

One thing seems most likely though:

Grosjean, OUT.
Magnussen, OUT.
Kvyat, OUT.

Still, i would be surprised to see Kvyat out and no other Russian in F1 for 2021, and I think it's very slim chance that Kvyat will retain his seat for 2021.

SO, that would most likely mean the surprising debut of Mick AND Nikita Mazepin @ Haas, with Perez @ RBR, and Albon @ AT - or perhaps, still.....Albon out alongside G,M & K and see Tsunoda take Kvyat's seat.

[Big Tea]

Well IMO, as of right now, Perez is certainly a better driver than Stroll.
Stroll is decent (and yes far from talentless) but again IMO, he's never in that car if his father isn't who he is. They will have a weaker line up next year than if they'd kept Perez instead of Stroll.

To be fair, I think Perez is possibly a better driver than Vettel too, within the aero-regs as they have been since 2014. Big respect for what Vettel has achieved, but I think that letting go of Perez makes the RP/AM lineup for 2021 weaker regardless.

I think what Seb will bring is 'believable' leadership. He has been there, done that, got the shirt, so people will believe he knows what he is asking the to do

[El Scorchio]

Well IMO, as of right now, Perez is certainly a better driver than Stroll.
Stroll is decent (and yes far from talentless) but again IMO, he's never in that car if his father isn't who he is. They will have a weaker line up next year than if they'd kept Perez instead of Stroll.

To be fair, I think Perez is possibly a better driver than Vettel too, within the aero-regs as they have been since 2014. Big respect for what Vettel has achieved, but I think that letting go of Perez makes the RP/AM lineup for 2021 weaker regardless.

I think you could easily make that argument that they've chosen the weakest possible line up out of the three drivers in contention on recent merit. I hope that Vettel rediscovers his mojo, but they've taken quite an expensive gamble on him.

It was interesting to read Bernie 'urged' Stroll to hire Vettel, who he's never been afraid to admit is his favourite chile. Not that Bernie should have sway any more, but interesting nevertheless.

[El Scorchio]

Well IMO, as of right now, Perez is certainly a better driver than Stroll.
Stroll is decent (and yes far from talentless) but again IMO, he's never in that car if his father isn't who he is. They will have a weaker line up next year than if they'd kept Perez instead of Stroll.

To be fair, I think Perez is possibly a better driver than Vettel too, within the aero-regs as they have been since 2014. Big respect for what Vettel has achieved, but I think that letting go of Perez makes the RP/AM lineup for 2021 weaker regardless.

I think what Seb will bring is 'believable' leadership. He has been there, done that, got the shirt, so people will believe he knows what he is asking the to do

'Can we bring back the blown diffuser?'
'No.'
'Scheiße!'



Edit- in all seriousness I do agree. He does bring great experience.

[DChemTech]

Well IMO, as of right now, Perez is certainly a better driver than Stroll.
Stroll is decent (and yes far from talentless) but again IMO, he's never in that car if his father isn't who he is. They will have a weaker line up next year than if they'd kept Perez instead of Stroll.

To be fair, I think Perez is possibly a better driver than Vettel too, within the aero-regs as they have been since 2014. Big respect for what Vettel has achieved, but I think that letting go of Perez makes the RP/AM lineup for 2021 weaker regardless.

I think you could easily make that argument that they've chosen the weakest possible line up out of the three drivers in contention on recent merit. I hope that Vettel rediscovers his mojo, but they've taken quite an expensive gamble on him.

It was interesting to read Bernie 'urged' Stroll to hire Vettel, who he's never been afraid to admit is his favourite chile. Not that Bernie should have sway any more, but interesting nevertheless.

I hope so too, that the pseudo-mercedism fits his driving style better. Otherwise the argument that they just hired Seb to make Lance look good vs. a 4x world champion may get some merit.

[PlatinumZealot]

Yes. Lawrence probably sees a wounded prey in Sebastian and is brining that wounded prey at the feet of Lance to kill it.

[Schippke]

The Alfa Romeo decision is somewhat surprising, keeping Giovinazzi onboard for another season. I'd argue he is the most forgotten driver on the current F1 grid, which is a shame... though he does seem to have some solid results here/there going up against Kimi. Albeit, inconsistently and against a driver who does F1 'as a hobby'. I can only imagine they decided to keep the line-up the same due to the continuation of the current car into the 2021 season... but maybe they (and Ferrari) see something in Antonio that the rest of us don't?

The dream line-up there would've been Raikkonen and Mick Schumacher... but I'm not sure if he'll end up being on the grid next year now... maybe Haas will come to the table with a bit of nudging from Ferrari, but if anything Haas need more experienced drivers to enable them to sort their continuous car issues out... again, the pairing of Hulkenberg and Perez would be perfect for them. Perez also would bring substantial backing to Haas, which would be an added bonus... but that seems unlikely.

The Red Bull seat... unless Albon is retained, which I have my doubts, surely it'll go to Perez or Hulkenberg? Both drivers realistically would be a solid choice; Perez would bring sponsors (although not necessary for Red Bull, lets be honest... would greatly assist a team like Haas), great pace during the race whilst protecting the tyres, has scored podiums in the past and would be awesome to see in that seat. Nico is a bit different, where he can show great bursts of speed and consistency, though it was a bit eye opening when Daniel Ricciardo arrived at Renault and was finishing ahead of him consistently. He's proven to be somewhat adaptable, having to hop in the car at the last minute and get a solid result out of it and equally would be awesome to see him potentially score a podium, which if he couldn't manage in a Red Bull (say if Max or either Mercedes had an issue), there would be something wrong.

Do I think either driver would beat Max? No... not on pure pace alone, but that wouldn't be a problem for Red Bull. They'd just need someone they know can finish 4th, collect consistent points, pick up the pieces to snag a podium should Mercedes falter and have an additional line of strategy options they can roll the dice with.

[PlatinumZealot]

They can beat Max.
Max is fast but fourth is only 3 ppints behind third. .
One little accident and they are infront of him.

[Racer X]

Well if Max wants Hulkenberg, then I expect Hulkenberg to be the number 2 driver.
I guess that means Perez goes to Haas or leaves F1 for a season at least.

How about Perez to AlphaTauri?

Gasly + Perez would be a superb points collecting machine.

Max argued that Hulkenberg would be a good team mate because they are friends and he speaks Dutch.

Mr Helmut Marko said that speaking Dutch is not relevant because English is the official team language.

So I don't think that matters at the same time.
Hulkenberg said he expects Sergio Perez to be in a very lucky seat next year.