Formula 1: 5 possible Mercedes drivers for 2021
By Asher Fair
Valtteri Bottas is under contract with Mercedes for the 2021 Formula 1 season, but the team have yet to confirm a second driver. Who will be his teammate?
After entering the 2020 Formula 1 season, his fourth season driving for Mercedes, on his fourth consecutive one-year deal, Valtteri Bottas signed another extension to continue driving for the team through the 2021 season all the way back in early August.
However, his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, has not yet signed an extension more than three months later, and there are rumblings that the second Silver Arrows seat may very well not be his next year.
Who will be paired with Bottas next year? Here are five possibilities.
Possible 2021 Mercedes drivers: #1 – Lewis Hamilton
While there are rumors that Hamilton will be leaving the team, especially if team boss Toto Wolff’s role changes, given the fact that the team have now won a record seven consecutive constructor and driver world championships and he has nothing left to prove, he could very well be back.
The Hamilton-Mercedes duo is undoubtedly the greatest the sport has seen. Hamilton is now the sport’s all-time winningest driver, having tied and broken Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 and immediately added to it, and he has also Schumacher’s championships record with a seventh title this season.
Hamilton has admitted that his future is uncertain, but he has also stated that it simply hasn’t been the right time for him to discuss the future with the team and that he remains confident that a deal will be done if he wants to return. He also noted that he feels like he is “just getting started”.
But if he doesn’t want to return, which is certainly a possibility given the fact that he has won 40 races compared to Bottas’s nine since the two became teammates and yet Bottas signed an extension more than three months ago, to whom will the team turn?