Ferrari’s second seat is considered arguably the hottest on the market for the 2021 Formula 1 season. Will they bring back Sebastian Vettel, or will they replace him? Here are five potential drivers for the team next year.
Ferrari are one of several teams without a confirmed driver lineup for the 2021 Formula 1 season, even after extending the contract of Charles Leclerc over the offseason.
In fact, the 22-year-old Monegasque now has the longest active contract of any driver competing in the sport, as his deal, which was initially believed to run through the 2022 season when he signed it for the 2019 season back in September of 2018, runs through the 2024 season.
The contract of his four-time world champion teammate Sebastian Vettel, however, expires after the 2020 season after he extended his deal a few years ago.
Vettel’s initial deal with Ferrari, which began in 2015, was for three years, and it was extended by an additional three years back in August of 2017.
There have been rumors that Vettel may not be back with the team in the 2021 season given his recent struggles, including unforced errors that have cost him enough points to lose him two world championships.
These unforced errors nearly resulted in a suspension late in the 2019 season, and they included a completely unnecessary wreck with Leclerc.
Who will end up competing alongside Charles Leclerc at the Scuderia next year? Will Sebastian Vettel be back, or will he be replaced? Here are five possible candidates to drive for Ferrari in the 2021 Formula 1 season.
Sebastian Vettel
Let’s not forget three important details about Sebastian Vettel.
One, he is a four-time world champion. Only three drivers have won more world championships than he has.
Two, he is a 53-time race winner. Only two drivers have won more races than he has.
And three, Ferrari have already said that their best-case scenario is bringing him back for the 2021 season.
Everyone recognizes the fact that Vettel is still capable of competing on a high level. He wouldn’t have accomplished what he has accomplished if he wasn’t.
However, everyone also recognizes that his 2019 season did him no favors as far as keeping him off of the hot seat, especially after how he performed late in the 2017 season and throughout the 2018 season leading up to his disastrous 2019.
Unless he can start the 2020 season (whenever it ends up starting) hot and establish himself as Ferrari’s clear number one driver, he will need to settle into somewhat of a number two driver role behind Charles Leclerc, who the team committed to as a long-term option by extending his deal through 2024.
He could still turn out to be the team’s top driver, but after Leclerc beat him in wins, podium finishes, pole positions, laps led, average finish and points in his first season driving for the Scuderia, that isn’t highly likely.
If he can accept a number two driver role while avoiding the unforced errors that have plagued him in recent years, Ferrari would have no reason not to re-sign him. If there is any more drama, however, Ferrari may be forced to cut ties with him after six years.
Daniel Ricciardo
With the Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari rumors having calmed down quite a bit with the six-time world champion having been tipped to return to Mercedes for what would be a ninth season with the team in 2021, with Charles Leclerc having signed with Ferrari through the 2024 season and with Max Verstappen having signed with Red Bull Racing through the 2023 season, Daniel Ricciardo has found himself as arguably the hottest pending free agent once again.
Driving for Red Bull Racing in 2018, Ricciardo was set to become a free agent at the end of the season, and he had been rumored to join either Mercedes or Ferrari. Instead, he left the “Big 3” completely and made the shocking decision to join Renault on a two-year deal starting in 2019.
Ricciardo remains committed to making it work with the French marque after a disappointing first season with the team in 2019 that saw him fail to finish on the podium and saw Renault fall behind customer team McLaren in the constructor standings following a “best of the rest” fourth place finish in the 2018 season.
However, Renault may not be committed to him. Team managing director Cyril Abiteboul stated last season after the team signed Esteban Ocon to replace Nico Hulkenberg for the 2020 season that they would likely to pair Ocon with a younger teammate beginning in the 2021 season.
Ricciardo is 30 years old, and his current salary is the third highest in the sport. Is it really worth it for Renault to pay him that much for him to compete in the mid-pack for a team with an upside of not much more than fourth or fifth place in the constructor standings?
With a Ferrari seat potentially open, don’t rule out him making the move many expected him to make two years ago.
Antonio Giovinazzi
Ferrari have the right to choose one of Alfa Romeo Racing’s two drivers every year. In 2018 when they confirmed that Charles Leclerc was set to join the team from Alfa Romeo Racing (then Alfa Romeo Sauber) and it was announced that Kimi Raikkonen was set to move from Ferrari to Alfa Romeo Racing as his replacement, Raikkonen wasn’t actually Leclerc’s replacement.
Leclerc was Ferrari’s selection for Alfa Romeo Racing for the 2018 season, but for the 2019 season, Raikkonen was not. Ferrari selected Antonio Giovinazzi as the driver who would technically replace Leclerc ahead of the 2019 season. Raikkonen replaced Marcus Ericsson.
Despite the fact that Giovinazzi struggled throughout the first half of the 2019 season, Ferrari backed him to return to Alfa Romeo Racing in the 2020 season, and he ended up being confirmed by the team for 2020 shortly thereafter.
After he scored just one point in the first 13 races of the 2019 season compared to Raikkonen’s 31, he outscored Raikkonen 13 to 12 over the course of the season’s final eight races. He recorded a career-high fifth place finish in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Despite that improvement, Giovinazzi is still not ready to be a Ferrari driver, and there is hardly anybody who would debate that. But he has confirmed that he is eyeing a seat at Ferrari for the 2021 season, and if he continues to develop in 2020, landing a ride with the team is a definite possibility.
Giovinazzi could be the perfect answer to some of the teammate controversy at Ferrari with which the 2019 season was littered. Leclerc would be the team’s clear top driver while Giovinazzi would enter the team in somewhat of a number two driver role, and there would be little room to debate that hierarchy.
Kimi Raikkonen
Regarding number two drivers and good team players, is there really anybody better than Kimi Raikkonen?
Raikkonen’s deal with Alfa Romeo Racing expires at the end of the 2020 season, and there is nothing shored up about his future, be it with the Swiss team or in Formula 1 at all.
Retirement has been rumored, and it makes sense given the fact that he is the oldest driver in Formula 1 by more than five years at 40 years old as well as the fact that he is slated to become the sport’s all-time most experienced driver at some point in the 2020 season.
But he is still driving because he enjoys it. So would he fancy a third stint at Ferrari?
Raikkonen won just one race in his second stint, a five-year stint, at the Maranello-based team, so it’s not like him staying in Formula 1 hinges on whether or not he is winning races — even when he is in a race-winning car.
He drove alongside Sebastian Vettel for the final four of those five seasons, and Vettel won 13 races in those four seasons without ever finishing behind Raikkonen in the driver standings.
Yet many fans questioned Ferrari signing Charles Leclerc over him for the 2019 season. This was because in terms of developing Ferrari’s cars, Raikkonen proved paramount during his time with the team, especially in 2017 and 2018 as they worked their way into the picture as potential threats to Mercedes at the top of the sport.
How ironic it would be if Raikkonen replaced his former teammate to become a teammate to the driver who replaced him and who he replaced. But he could very well be the veteran presence that Leclerc needs to truly solidify himself as a top driver and to truly solidify Ferrari as a top team.
Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas is set to enter his fourth season driving for Mercedes, and he is set to enter his fourth season driving for the team on a one-year deal after his contract was extended by an additional season late last August.
More from Formula One
- Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
- Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
- Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
- Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
- Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points
With much of the 2019 season having been littered with rumors about his future considering he did not have a deal lined up, those rumors became a distraction.
Team principal and CEO Toto Wolff has vowed to make future contract negotiations with the 30-year-old Finn smoother, and Bottas has since reminded him of that, but that in no way guarantees him a ride with the Silver Arrows in 2021; let’s not forget that as those rumors about his future ran amok throughout the 2019 season, Wolff stated that the team would make sure he landed on his feet somewhere had he ended up being replaced.
If they replace him ahead of the 2021 season, Ferrari could be a perfect destination. Bottas had previously been rumored to Ferrari on more than one occasion, and the potential vacant seat with the uncertainty of Sebastian Vettel’s future could play right into his hands.
During his time at Mercedes, Bottas has proven to be a driver who is capable of winning but willing to be a team player when he needs to be. He is the exact type of driver with whom Ferrari, the most successful team in Formula 1 history, have had a lot of their past success. Jumping from one top-tier team to another isn’t all that common in Formula 1, but this scenario could very well present itself.
Who will drive for Ferrari in the 2021 Formula 1 season, presumably alongside Charles Leclerc? Will Sebastian Vettel do enough in the 2020 season to warrant what would be a seventh consecutive season with the team, or will he be replaced?