Formula 1: 5 drivers who could retire next

By Asher Fair | Mar 8, 2020

Formula One drivers take part in a TV documentary shooting ahead of the tests for the new Formula One Grand Prix season at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo in the outskirts of Barcelona on February 19, 2020. (Photo by LLUIS GENE / AFP) (Photo by LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images) /

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BARCELONA, SPAIN – FEBRUARY 19: The F1 drivers for the 2020 season walk down the track (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) /

The 2019 Formula 1 season was the first season in several years after which nobody retired. Who will be the next to call it a career?

After the 21-race 2019 Formula 1 season came to an end, none of the sport’s 20 active drivers retired. The 2019 season was the first in several years that did not end with at least one driver calling it quits.

In fact, 18 of the 20 drivers who competed throughout the 2019 season are slated to return to the same teams they driver for in 2019 in the upcoming 2020 season.

Neither of the two who aren’t coming back for this year, Nico Hulkenberg and Robert Kubica, actually retired from the sport. Hulkenberg was replaced by Esteban Ocon, who last competed for Racing Point in the 2018 season, at Renault, while Kubica was replaced by rookie Nicholas Latifi.

There is no guarantee that Hulkenberg or Kubica or both will return to Formula 1 as full-time drivers at any point in the future, although Kubica is slated to serve as a test driver for Alfa Romeo Racing this season. Hulkenberg is not slated to compete in 2020.

Which drivers could be the next to retire? Here are five possible candidates who could be next to hang up their helmets.

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