Formula 1: Mercedes looking to confirm 2021 lineup early?

Will Mercedes confirm their driver lineup for the 2021 Formula 1 season earlier than they have for the past couple of seasons?

Ever since Valtteri Bottas replaced 2016 Formula 1 world champion Nico Rosberg after Rosberg unexpectedly retired following his championship-winning 2016 season, Mercedes have maintained their status as the quickest team, having now won six consecutive driver championships and constructor championships.

But they have not exactly been the quickest about confirming their driver lineups.

Bottas, who is set to enter his fourth season with the Silver Arrows, has only ever competed for the team on one-year deals. So once again, his contract is slated to end at the end of the upcoming season.

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In 2017, he signed a one-year extension with the team in September. The following year, he signed a one-year extension in July with an additional one-year option, but then in 2019, it was not confirmed until late August that he would be back for another year in 2020.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton has been pretty much a sure thing at the time, despite the seemingly obligatory annual rumors of him retiring. No driver has been with his current team longer than Hamilton, who arrived at Mercedes ahead of the 2013 season. The next longest tenured driver in the field is Sergio Perez, who has driven for Racing Point since the 2014 season when they were still known as Force India.

Mercedes’ driver lineup is tied with that of Haas for the longest tenured lineup in the sport. Romain Grosjean has driven for the sport’s lone American team since they entered Formula 1 in 2016, and he has competed alongside Kevin Magnussen since 2017. No other team competing in 2020 even have the lineup they had in 2018, much less in 2017.

Toward the end of the 2019 season, Bottas spoke about having to wait so long before he was confirmed by the Brackley-based team for the 2020 season.

He discussed the fact that he faced all kinds of rumors, most notably the one linking Esteban Ocon as his replacement, and was not at all certain about his future. Here is what he had to say back in November before the 2019 season ended, according to Motorsport.

"“There was definitely uncertainty for 2020 at some point. Lots of rumors. I had no idea what was going to happen. I just had to wait. As an athlete, as a driver, it’s not an ideal situation. You can’t be completely with peace of mind and focus on the job and feel mentally free and in the right place.“It’s tricky. When that continues, year after year, every single year of your career, at some point it’s getting a pain in the ass. It’s definitely nice to get the contract signed. But, it’s going to be the same story next year. I’m not too worried at this point because the pace is good, I enjoy the driving, I enjoy working with the team and hope they appreciate that as well.”"

While he did not by any means confirm a new contract for Bottas beyond the 2020 season, Mercedes team principal and CEO Toto Wolff vowed to make things smoother for the 30-year-old Finn in the future regarding contract negotiations to avoid this kind of situation from transpiring once again. Here is what Wolff had to say about the matter back in November.

"“With Valtteri there is a better way to deal with that. Now, in retrospect, you can say it probably had an effect. And I will try to consider that, and make a better job in that respect. I think 2021 the door is wide open, no drivers are contracted to any team, that’s super exciting, and I guess that the driver carousel is going to start pretty soon.”"

Now Bottas wants to make sure that Wolff knows he still feels the same way. Here is what he had to say about the matter toward the end of last month amid preseason testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, according to Formula 1.

"“For sure I learned things and the team also said they learned about how we handled [the 2019 talks]…and how we communicated it. I’m sure it can be done a bit smoother and with less things happening around [it] – less headlines [sic]. If you have to drag the talks until August or September, it becomes more of a distraction.“[There] was a bit too much unnecessary talk outside the team, Everything should have just been kept internal. I think it makes things easier. And for sure we learnt that [the team making the decision] earlier than when the decisions were made last year was better. If you have to drag it on for August, September, it kind of builds up and becomes more of a distraction…because all of the speculation ramps up towards August and September.”"

Hamilton is out of a contract at the end of the 2020 season after signing a two-year extension back in July of 2018, but despite rumors that he will leave for Ferrari and that he and Mercedes had disagreed about certain aspects of a potential new deal, it is looking increasingly likely that he will be back.

With all of that considered, we should definitely see Mercedes solidify their driver lineup for the 2021 season earlier than they have for recent seasons, unless they end up not retaining Bottas and waiting to confirm somebody else.

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When will Mercedes confirm their driver lineup for the 2021 Formula 1 season? Will the 2021 season be their ninth season with Lewis Hamilton and their fifth with Valtteri Bottas, or will one or both of those drivers end up elsewhere next year?

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