What could happen in the F1 Silly Season?

With the Formula One silly season kicking off before the tragic weekend at Belgium, I think now is the right time to take a look at potential moves for each team. I'll begin with the top team, Mercedes, and analyse moves not just in 2020 but looking towards the future.

MERCEDES:

No changes in the near future: Bottas and Hamilton are both locked in for 2020. In the future, Hamilton will obviously retire and Bottas may be dumped, so aside from Esteban Ocon, Mercedes need some options, and fortunately they have them. Max Verstappen may be off the cards considering Red Bull's recent improvement, but former teammate Dan Ricciardo is off contract at the end of next year. Looking at other drivers, George Russell has done the best he can in the slow WIlliams this year and Stoffel vandoorne is involved with the Mercedes Formula E effort.

FERRARI:

Another team with both drivers locked in, considering that the Vettel retirement rumours are mostly done by keyboard warriors, or are unsubstantiated, or both. Vettel may well go in 2020 though, and the options to partner Charles Leclerc are intriguing. Mick Schumacher, you would think, would need a year at Alfa like Leclerc to take the Ferrari seat, Nyck de Vries, the current leader of F2, is unaffiliated and could step up to Sauber next year, while no less than three other F2 contenders (as well as Schumacher) have links with Ferrari- Antonio Fuoco, Giuliano Alesi and Callum Ilott.

RED BULL:

Max Verstappen is locked in, whereas his teammate could be either Dani Kvyat or Alex Albon. I'm actually going to go for Albon as the driver in question here, considering that he is young and obviously talented. Kvyat should be around the team for three or four years though as he is also quite quick and is very much in contention for a RBR place. In the future, Pato O'Ward seems to be the star junior around the team as the direct replacement for the banned Dan Ticktum. Most of the rest of the RBR juniors are in F3 at the moment, including Mick Doohan's son Jack. Another left field candidate for a 2021 or 2022 RBR seat is Lando Norris.

MCLAREN:

Sainz and Norris are locked in for 2020. McLaren also only have one young driver currently in Sergio Sette Camara, so unless Sainz or Norris are tempted away with big money or a top 6 seat, the driving lineup should stay the same for the foreseeable future. If one were to leave, Camara or test driver (but not junior) Sergey Sirotkin could be installed.

TORO ROSSO:

Next year, it will probably have Gasly and whoever out of Kvyat and Albon is not promoted to RBR. The young candidates for the future are discussed under Red Bull.

RENAULT:

The only driver move confirmed next year is Ocon replacing Hulkenburg at Renault, with Ricciardo confirmed for another year. However, Dan probably will not stay beyond 2021 certainly, and probably 2020, so who could replace him? With Renault's junior program taking a hit due to the tragic events at Spa, this means that Guanyu Zhou is the only F2 racer in the Renault Junior programme. So, my theory is that it is most likely that they will hire someone like either Nyck de Vries or a current F1 driver such as Russell, Perez or Grosjean.

RACING POINT:

Stroll and Perez are confirmed for 2020. Stroll will probably stay with Racing Point forever, whereas Perez might not. Nick Yelloly is a candidate to replace him being their current sim driver, but he will be 30 at the end of next season. Another potential candidate is (shock) Nyck de Vries.

SAUBER/ALFA ROMEO:

Kimi will probably retire at the end of 2020, but is confirmed for that season. I'd expect Antonio Giovinazzi to leave F1 though due to his poor performances. Juan Manuel Correa and Callum Ilott currently drive for Sauber-Charouz in F2 and would be obvious candidates (providing Correa regains full fitness after that crash), as would Ferrari juniors Giuliano Alesi and Mick Schumacher,a nd team member Tatiana Calderon. Also a candidate is someone like Nyck de Vries again.

HAAS:

Haas are likely to split with Romain Grosjean by the end of this season, and Kevin Magnussen is under contract for 2020. So who replaces Romain? Nico Hulkenburg is an obvious candidate, with the team not willing to risk a rookie and Ocon joining Force India. The other option is a rookie, in Santino Ferruci, or someone like a Felipe Nasr who has left F1 but can come back.

WILLIAMS:

They have no drivers under contract for 2020. Russell will likely stay with the team, whereas junior Nick Latifi will likely step up for 2020. In the future, W Series champion Jamie Chadwick is part of the team and could become the first female Formula One driver.

So that's my take on 2020 and 2021 in Formula One. Watch everything I said be wrong. If you don't agree, put what would be different in the comments!

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