The Official F1 2025 silly season *contains speculation*
Discussion
One way or another:
During 2024 season:
- Sargent out
- Lawson in
- Ricciardo not in a Racing Bull
- Perez not in a Red Bull
By 2025 start:
- Hamilton calls time on Merc if the car is another dog with a low development ceiling
- Albon away from Williams to a more competitive team
- Norris leaves McLaren if not competing for race wins
During 2024 season:
- Sargent out
- Lawson in
- Ricciardo not in a Racing Bull
- Perez not in a Red Bull
By 2025 start:
- Hamilton calls time on Merc if the car is another dog with a low development ceiling
- Albon away from Williams to a more competitive team
- Norris leaves McLaren if not competing for race wins
Still Mulling said:
- Hamilton calls time on Merc if the car is another dog with a low development ceiling
Reckon he does an Alonso or a Kimi if that is the case - sit out another RB clean sweep for a year and then come back to whatever team have convinced him they have the measure of the 2026 regs. Shame it looks like active suspension has been canned (for those of us who still think the FW14B was the coolest thing this side of Concorde) but new engine regs, active aero and a boatload of money from Stuttgart should liven things up a little - or reset the playing field for a while.
Apparently Alpine are going using 23 & 24 to pick which of their drivers to to lead with going forward so either Ocon or Gasly will be out of that seat.
A couple of deleted tweets however has rumours of Saintz moving to Audi and Gasly taking his seat at Ferrari alongside Leclerc-his manager was with Fred the other weekend too.
A couple of deleted tweets however has rumours of Saintz moving to Audi and Gasly taking his seat at Ferrari alongside Leclerc-his manager was with Fred the other weekend too.
bobthemonkey said:
Still Mulling said:
- Hamilton calls time on Merc if the car is another dog with a low development ceiling
Reckon he does an Alonso or a Kimi if that is the case - sit out another RB clean sweep for a year and then come back to whatever team have convinced him they have the measure of the 2026 regs. Shame it looks like active suspension has been canned (for those of us who still think the FW14B was the coolest thing this side of Concorde) but new engine regs, active aero and a boatload of money from Stuttgart should liven things up a little - or reset the playing field for a while.
New regs tend to lead to a new team winning but it's entirely feasible that Red Bull get it right again.
bobthemonkey said:
the-norseman said:
Audi
Audi were last rumoured to be trying to bail out entirely! Killer2005 said:
Replacing a proper track with another bloody street circuit. No thanks. Sargeant to not last past Spain after 5 retirements, no points and Albon out qualifying him 10-0.
LH to call time on his career after Merc narrowly beat Alpine to 6th in the constructors after Ferrari, McLaren, Aston and Racing Bulls leapfrog them.
Lawson get's his seat back after Danny Ric replaces Checo in the RB at Imola after the Mexican has a public breakdown in Miami after only scoring 12 points so far.
Track limits are the star of the show at Red Bull Ring yet again, with every car in Q3 having every set lap deleted.
LH to call time on his career after Merc narrowly beat Alpine to 6th in the constructors after Ferrari, McLaren, Aston and Racing Bulls leapfrog them.
Lawson get's his seat back after Danny Ric replaces Checo in the RB at Imola after the Mexican has a public breakdown in Miami after only scoring 12 points so far.
Track limits are the star of the show at Red Bull Ring yet again, with every car in Q3 having every set lap deleted.
Alonso to retire at the end of 2024.
Sainz to move to Sauber to join Bottas ready for when they become Audi in 2026.
Ricciardo to still be hopeless and not get the second Red Bull seat. He either goes to Aston to replace Alonso or Haas to replace Magnussen.
Alex Albon to get the now empty Ferrari seat to be team mate to "Monégasque" Leclerc
Mercedes to keep Hamilton and Russell.
McLaren to keep Norris and Piastri
Max becomes the first driver in history to win every single race in the season.
Sainz to move to Sauber to join Bottas ready for when they become Audi in 2026.
Ricciardo to still be hopeless and not get the second Red Bull seat. He either goes to Aston to replace Alonso or Haas to replace Magnussen.
Alex Albon to get the now empty Ferrari seat to be team mate to "Monégasque" Leclerc
Mercedes to keep Hamilton and Russell.
McLaren to keep Norris and Piastri
Max becomes the first driver in history to win every single race in the season.
GCH said:
I reckon Vettel could come back....although where, I'm not sure.
Maybe Audi.Depends if they can attract a name. They'll want an established driver and a young, fast driver.
The German-ness helps, of course.
Unlikely though. He's got a young family and squillions, doesn't seem to need F1 to keep him satiated and probably knows that he hasn't been the force he was since he left Red Bull.
I reckon he'll turn up in WEC, if anywhere in a driving capacity.
Wouldn't put it past him to turn up at Red Bull in a Helmut Marko-style role, focusing solely on young drivers.
Muzzer79 said:
Unlikely though. He's got a young family and squillions, doesn't seem to need F1 to keep him satiated and probably knows that he hasn't been the force he was since he left Red Bull.
True, but the love of it is clearly still there. Like Alonso, he certainly had more than a few frustrating years which no doubt factored in the decision to quit. Wouldn't be the first to come back after a sabbatical with a renewed and refreshed change of perspective. He is 36, which back in the day would be well on the retirement heap, but as others have shown is not the case anymore. There is also WEC and stuff and he could easily do that first for a year, and then come back to F1.He was quite candid when asked directly about it in this snippet... https://youtu.be/T0vCfduCTM0?si=AmQ8EVye_FymVRwW&a...
Will be interesting to see if he does.
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