Formula 1: Will McLaren 2020 driver lineup confirmation speed up Silly Season?

Before mid-July and before the halfway point of the 2019 Formula 1 season, McLaren have already confirmed their 2020 driver lineup. Could this speed up the rest of Silly Season?

Nine races into the 21-race 2019 Formula 1 season, Silly Season is really starting to heat up. But McLaren want no part of it, and as a result, they have already confirmed their driver lineup for the 2020 season.

Carlos Sainz Jr. is set to return for his second season at the Woking-based team alongside rookie Lando Norris. Sainz Jr. replaced two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso ahead of the 2019 season while Norris replaced Stoffel Vandoorne.

But each of the other nine teams, of which all but SportPesa Racing Point have been confirmed for the 2020 season, currently competing in Formula 1, have decisions to make or have drivers with decisions to make before their lineups for the 2020 season will be set.

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Will McLaren’s full 2020 season driver lineup confirmation this early in the summer — Tuesday, July 9 is when they made their confirmation — help speed up decisions for the rest of the grid?

Don’t be surprised if it does for some teams but not others.

Last year, just two drivers entered the season with contracts for the 2019 season. This season, eight drivers entered with contracts for the 2020 season (10 assuming Racing Point return with the same lineup of Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll), although whether or not some of those drivers end up getting out of those contracts has become a focal point of Silly Season. That total is up to 10 (12) with McLaren’s confirmation.

Nevertheless, we are already well ahead of where we were last year at this time because so many drivers are already under contract for the 2020 season.

Last year, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport got the ball rolling in Silly Season with driver confirmations on Thursday, July 19 (Lewis Hamilton) and Friday, July 20 (Valtteri Bottas), which is roughly a week and a half after McLaren confirmed their whole lineup for 2020 this year.

Mercedes are one of the focal points of this year’s Silly Season, as what they decide for Bottas could determine whether or not Max Verstappen gets out of his current contract with Aston Martin Red Bull Racing to join the Silver Arrows, a move that could set off a number of other driver confirmations and/or switches throughout the grid.

Conversely, Verstappen deciding to stick with Red Bull Racing or having no other options, regardless of Mercedes’ decision to retain or replace Bottas, could also set off a number of other driver confirmations and/or switches throughout the grid.

There were several rumors going around last year at this time about Bottas potentially being replaced by Mercedes ahead of the 2019 season, so perhaps Mercedes’ early confirmation stemmed from the fact that they were simply retaining him instead of replacing him.

Then again, maybe it didn’t. Maybe they would have announced Bottas’s replacement on Friday, July 20 had they planned to replace him; who knows?

Regardless, McLaren’s decision shouldn’t have a huge impact on the major players of Silly Season getting their driver confirmations out of the way early just for the sake of getting them out of the way early. If Mercedes were going to wait until October to make a decision, they’re not going to decide in August or September just because McLaren made theirs early.

However, as for some of the smaller teams, we may start to see some confirmations, of the few that actually have to be made, over the next few weeks following McLaren’s confirmation. With that confirmation out of the way, don’t be surprised if some of the mid-pack teams start to try to solidify their lineups for next year to create one less thing to worry about as the 2019 season progresses.

That said, some of them may still wait to do so, as a few of the mid-pack teams may be directly impacted by Mercedes’ decision and Verstappen’s decision (if there is one for him to make), so even still, there might not be a whole lot of action in the near future as far as driver confirmations are concerned.

Will McLaren’s early confirmation of their entire driver lineup for the 2020 Formula 1 season speed up the remainder of Silly Season? With so many drivers already under contract for next year, don’t be surprised if a few more puzzle pieces fall into place in the near future, but also don’t be surprised if there is still quite a bit of waiting before other confirmations are made because of how the big picture is shaping up.