Formula 1: Mercedes 2021 driver lineup all but confirmed
By Asher Fair
Mercedes have all but confirmed that the 2021 Formula 1 season will be the fifth consecutive season with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas as teammates.
The coronavirus pandemic-extended offseason between the 2019 and 2020 Formula 1 seasons featured several notable driver lineup changes for the 2021 season, most notably four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel losing his ride with Ferrari and being replaced by McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr.
Vettel had been rumored to join McLaren for 2021 long before this annoucement was made, but the Woking-based team quickly confirmed Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo as Sainz’s replacement.
After additional rumors, which also began well before this announcement, linked Vettel to Renault to complete a three-driver carousel, the team announced that two-time world champion Fernando Alonso would be coming out of retirement to replace Ricciardo.
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So where, if anywhere, will the 33-year-old German end up competing in the 2021 season?
The new primary rumored landing spot for Vettel had become Mercedes. Both of their drivers, six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, have contracts that are set to expire at the end of the 2020 season.
But that possibility has been looking less and less likely. Hamilton has been tipped to return to the team while Bottas has said that the team have informed him that they are not considering replacing him with the Ferrari driver next year. Vettel himself has stated that a move to Mercedes doesn’t seem likely.
Now Ola Källenius, the Swedish businessman who serves as the chairman of the board of management of Daimler AG and the head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, has said that the Silver Arrows will retain both of their drivers for the 2021 season, as expected.
“We’ll stay with our two boys,” said Källenius.
Mercedes team principal and CEO Toto Wolff shared the same ideas.
“I assume that we will continue with Lewis and Valtteri,” Wolff said. “We are very happy with our drivers.”
He did add that should one of his two drivers unexpectedly decide to leave the Brackley-based team after the 2020 season, which is a possibility but certainly not a likelihood, Vettel would be hard to pass up.
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An official confirmation has not been made, but as far as Hamilton and Bottas becoming free agents and their highly coveted seats becoming available for the 2021 season, there is not much else to say about those rumors other than the fact that they appear to have been put to bed.