Formula 1: Who is set to hit the free agent market?

Next year’s Formula 1 free agent class is slated to be loaded. Let’s take a look at the drivers who do not yet have deals lined up to compete in the 2021 season.

Compared to the offseason between the 2018 and 2019 Formula 1 seasons when just eight drivers stayed put, six switched teams, six left the sport and six more arrived, the offseason between the 2019 and 2020 seasons was rather tame.

It is technically still ongoing since the first four races of the season were postponed or canceled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Postponements and cancellations: TRACKER

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

The Dutch Grand Prix is currently scheduled to get the season underway on Sunday, May 3 with at Circuit Zandvoort, but that remains subject to change for obvious reasons.

Next non-postponed or canceled race: TRACKER

Of the 20 drivers who competed in the 2019 season, 18 are set to compete in the 2020 season, all for the same teams. In total, eight of the sport’s 10 teams retained their driver lineups from one year to the next. Only two teams did that from 2018 to 2019.

But as of right now, only six of the 20 drivers set to compete in the 2020 season have deals lined up to compete in the 2021 season as well, meaning that there are 14 active drivers who are set to become free agents once the 2020 season comes to an end.

With the season now in limbo, let’s take a look at the pending free agents.

The six drivers under contract for next year represent six of the sport’s 10 teams, so let’s take a look at those six teams first before moving onto the four teams that have both of their drivers in contract years this year.

With Lando Norris under contract, McLaren also have Carlos Sainz Jr., who is in his second season driving for the team. The deal he signed back in August of 2018 is a multi-year deal that reportedly does contain an option for 2021, so they should be set moving forward.

Another team that should be set moving forward is Racing Point (to be renamed Aston Martin after the 2020 season). With Sergio Perez already under contract, Lance Stroll is in his second season driving for the team, and he is in a contract year. But given the fact that his father Lawrence owns the team, it’s hard to see him ending up anywhere else.

Williams brought in rookie Nicholas Latifi for the 2020 season to pair with George Russell, who is already under contract for 2021. Latifi’s contract expires after his maiden season.

Renault, the only other team to add a non-2019 driver to their 2020 lineup, are in a similar situation, but with contract statuses reversed. They brought in Esteban Ocon to pair with Daniel Ricciardo, but it is Ricciardo whose contract expires after the 2020 season, his second with the team. Ocon’s initial deal is a two-year deal.

Alexander Albon is in a contract year at Red Bull Racing alongside Max Verstappen while four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel is in a contract year at Ferrari alongside Charles Leclerc.

The four teams with nobody under contract for 2021 are Mercedes, AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo Racing and Haas.

At Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton has been tipped to return in 2021 for what would be a ninth consecutive season with the team. Valtteri Bottas is in his fourth season driving for the team, and he has only ever competed on one-year deals. Team principal and CEO Toto Wolff has hinted at his return for 2021, but nothing has been confirmed.

At AlphaTauri, the Red Bull Racing sister team, Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly, two drivers who have driven for Red Bull Racing in the past, do not have contracts for the 2021 season. The same is the case for Haas teammates Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, the pairing that is tied with that of Mercedes for the longest tenured pairing in Formula 1.

Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi are both in contract years at Alfa Romeo Racing as well. Raikkonen signed a two-year deal ahead of the 2019 season while Giovinazzi had his one-year deal extended by another year back in November after Ferrari backed him to return.

How many of these pending free agents will return to Formula 1 in the 2021 season? How many will remain at their current teams, and how many will move on in that respect while continuing to compete in the sport?