The Official F1 2024 silly season *contains speculation*

[tight fart]

Albon to Ferrari?

[Deesee]

Still Mulling said:

So, the second Red Bull seat:

- Leclerc?
- Sainz?
- Albon?
- Norris?

I have to wonder whether Checo will stay for next season. The Ferrari driver's are surely looking for an out; Norris is perhaps too quick for Max; Albon has matured very well.

With trepidation, I open my thoughts to the room...

This Lando? & his mate Max?

[Still Mulling]

tight fart said:

Albon to Ferrari?

I sincerely hope not, for his sake! I actually think he'd do very well at Mercedes, perhaps steeping into the #2 seat when Lewis leaves, but that may be too far away for him. Perhaps he could get a pre-contract from Toto?

[thegreenhell]

Nobody with any thoughts of being a top driver will want to go to RBR to be number 2 to Max. I also don't think Sainz or Albon would want to go back into Red Bull given their histories there.

I think as long as RBR are able to cruise to both WDC and WCC, which they will easily do this year, then they don't actually care who is in the second car. They certainly won't want to bring in anyone who will upset the manchild Max and his angry father.

I think Perez is safe there for at least another year after this, as long as he just gets his head down, accepts his position as a distant number 2 in the team, and doesn't mentally explode.

[HustleRussell]

Albon’s in a Williams, he ought to consider anything except maybe Alpha Tauri or Haas. If Helmut called him with a Red Bull seat he’d be mad to turn it down unless he’s got an imminent nailed on opportunity in another winning team.

[vaud]

HustleRussell said:

Albon’s in a Williams, he ought to consider anything except maybe Alpha Tauri or Haas. If Helmut called him with a Red Bull seat he’d be mad to turn it down unless he’s got an imminent nailed on opportunity in another winning team.

Didn't go that well last time alongside Max.

[Muzzer79]

vaud said:

HustleRussell said:

Albon’s in a Williams, he ought to consider anything except maybe Alpha Tauri or Haas. If Helmut called him with a Red Bull seat he’d be mad to turn it down unless he’s got an imminent nailed on opportunity in another winning team.

Didn't go that well last time alongside Max.

Max wasn't the problem, it was the weird car setup which, to his credit, Perez seems to have helped tame.

I agree Albon would be nuts not to go back - it's the dominant car in the title-winning team, any of them would take the seat apart from maybe Hamilton.

I think Ferrari will be preparing some very big cheques. They tried to get Horner and failed, Newey and failed, probably several others. Next step in the Ferrari F1 team manager's handbook is to look at drivers next. The hire-a-promising-but-not-yet-a-WDC driver experiment will, in their minds, have failed.

I still think they'll go for Max. Who may be more interested in it after title number 3 or 4 with Red Bull.

[HustleRussell]

Muzzer79 said:

Max wasn't the problem

Exactly. If you’re a 27 year old F1 driver you absolutely don’t turn down a shot in a front-running car.

Albon’s biggest problem in Red Bull was Hamilton IIRC!

[thegreenhell]

I still don't see why Red Bull need to change anything in their line up.

[vaud]

thegreenhell said:

I still don't see why Red Bull need to change anything in their line up.

Really? Perez performance might last this year but if the other teams close up a bit the WCC will be very tight.

[number2]

vaud said:

thegreenhell said:

I still don't see why Red Bull need to change anything in their line up.

Really? Perez performance might last this year but if the other teams close up a bit the WCC will be very tight.

They don't need another star but someone who can at least get near the podium when they're in the best car. They're reliant on one driver scoring points now - they've got one hand tied behind their back.

I had a lot of time for Perez, but this is more than one bad day at the office. RBR must be thinking about alternatives.

[vaud]

number2 said:

They don't need another star but someone who can at least get near the podium when they're in the best car. They're reliant on one driver scoring points now - they've got one hand tied behind their back.

I had a lot of time for Perez, but this is more than one bad day at the office. RBR must be thinking about alternatives.

Tsunoda seems pretty consistent and seems to be a super nice guy.

[number2]

vaud said:

Tsunoda seems pretty consistent and seems to be a super nice guy.

He does seem a nice guy. I don't know who could replace Perez without perhaps nipping too closely at Max's heals, and handling the pressure of being in a front running team.

Actually sod the former point. Put Lando in.

[thegreenhell]

vaud said:

thegreenhell said:

I still don't see why Red Bull need to change anything in their line up.

Really? Perez performance might last this year but if the other teams close up a bit the WCC will be very tight.

Not a chance of anything being really tight this year for Red Bull. They will easily walk both championships, and they showed last year that they don't care about finishing 1-2 overall, just winning.

Even if Perez finishes in sixth place for the rest of the year, first and sixth scores exactly the same as second and third, and they already have as many points as the second and third placed teams combined, so nobody can catch them unless they have several calamities.

They're so far ahead they're reportedly already working on next year's car, so who's going to stop them next year either? Making a driver change just introduces risk of upsetting the current formula, and they don't need to do that.

[InformationSuperHighway]

So.. who is actually at the end of their contract this year?

Aside from buying someone out of a contract.. who has to make a move?

[vaud]

thegreenhell said:

Not a chance of anything being really tight this year for Red Bull. They will easily walk both championships, and they showed last year that they don't care about finishing 1-2 overall, just winning.

Sorry I meant close up for next year.

[Muzzer79]

vaud said:

number2 said:

They don't need another star but someone who can at least get near the podium when they're in the best car. They're reliant on one driver scoring points now - they've got one hand tied behind their back.

I had a lot of time for Perez, but this is more than one bad day at the office. RBR must be thinking about alternatives.

Tsunoda seems pretty consistent and seems to be a super nice guy.

Tsunoda? You can’t be serious?

[CardinalBlue]

InformationSuperHighway said:

So.. who is actually at the end of their contract this year?

Aside from buying someone out of a contract.. who has to make a move?

https://www.planetf1.com/news/f1-driver-contracts-2023/

[ghost83]

I’d say if Perez doesn’t start stepping up he might get demoted to alpha tauri in place of devries

And Danny ric back in the number 2 seat!

Lewis and George at merc
Leclerc and sainz at Ferrari

[TheDeuce]

ghost83 said:

I’d say if Perez doesn’t start stepping up he might get demoted to alpha tauri in place of devries

And Danny ric back in the number 2 seat!

Lewis and George at merc
Leclerc and sainz at Ferrari

I'm not sure if I dare dream that DR could really come back to that seat and be the old DR again. I would love to believe that the way Newey designs a car just happens to pair perfectly with DR and that was why he was keeping Max honest as a driver, but was then useless in each car since...

But.. He was so useless in each car since, my sensible head tells me he just lost his mojo and has gone fully off the boil. I think it's partly because he's a bit of a mummy's boy and doesn't take things all that seriously that make me worry he's not quite got the resolve for a full F1 comeback.

We shall see though. It's basically up to Helmut the one eyed monster - and he probably has a better view of where DR is in terms of driver potential today that we do on the outside.

The other problem is that Checo is actually a pretty decent no2 driver... Not as great as DR was in the same position but probably less distracting to Max, and certainly more compliant than DR.