The 2024 driver market has come to life. While waiting for the choices of Red Bull and Max Verstappen to be clarified, the other teams are working to ensure they are not caught unprepared for every possible scenario. From the rumors that emerged during the Imola weekend, the world champion should remain in his place, at least in 2025, also greatly increasing the possibility of a confirmation (for one season) of Sergio Perez. Yuki Tsunoda’s growth is the subject of attention, but the conclusion (at the end of 2025) of the partnership with Honda does not play much in his favour.
Sainz’s candidacy for the seat currently occupied by Perez is losing steam. It is difficult to imagine a warm welcome from Verstappen, while Mercedes seem to have other plans, with Kimi Antonelli at the top of the list of candidates. For Carlos, the Sauber-Audi choice seems to be increasingly forced, obviously through no fault of his own. A signal in this sense also comes from other negotiations involving those who were the names considered potential alternatives (for Audi) to Sainz.
Kevin Magnussen’s fate now seems to be written, as does that of Logan Sargeant, whose position at Williams is already considered to be wavering in the current season. With a view to 2025, the English team is very much oriented towards Bottas, a driver that team principal James Vowles got to know very well during his Mercedes experience. For Valtteri it would be a return to the team that brought him to his Formula 1 debut in 2013 and with which he played four seasons. Yesterday Bottas had a coffee with Vowles in the Williams hospitality area, a meeting that lasted about twenty minutes.
Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1 Team
Photo by: Erik Junius
Even at Haas there is a favorite name to replace Magnussen. It is that of Ocon, who intends to move on after five seasons in Alpine. Esteban would complete the team line-up with Oliver Bearman, now considered for certain as Nico Hulkenberg’s replacement, becoming the experienced figure that team principal Ayao Komatsu does not want to give up. However, the future of Pierre Gasly is not yet clear. A confirmation in Alpine is possible, with a new teammate who could be Guanyu Zhou, former rider from the French company’s academy. In this case the importance of the Chinese market for the Renault group would play a crucial role.
Finally, there is Racing Bulls, which has a problem of an abundance of drivers. If there is no (unlikely) promotion of Tsunoda in Red Bull, we will hardly see Daniel Ricciardo at the start of the 2025 world championship. If Liam Lawson does not get a seat as a starting driver next year he would be free to free himself from the contract that binds him to Red Bull group, and it’s a risk that Helmut Marko doesn’t want to take.
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