Formula 1: 5 possible Mercedes drivers for 2021

Possible 2021 Mercedes drivers: #5 – Nico Rosberg

And in a year that has seen Tom Brady suit up with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, this would be the most 2020 thing ever, so much so that I’m only including it because it is, in fact, 2020.

2016 Formula 1 world champion Nico Rosberg shocked the world when he announced just days after winning his maiden title that he would be retiring from the sport at the age of 31.

Rosberg has been content as an ex-Formula 1 driver and has maintained that he has no plans to return to the sport. He went out on top, and a return would not guarantee that that remains the case, although given the pace of Mercedes, it might.

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But nothing he has done can ever be taken away from him, and let’s not forget what many still speculate led to Rosberg’s shock retirement — and the fact that he is whom Rosberg would be replacing, should he return.

At just 35 years old, the only driver to beat Lewis Hamilton to a world championship in the last seven years is actually a few months younger than Hamilton, so his window of competition is by no means closed if he decided he wanted to return and were physically fit enough to do so.

And get this: Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas have the same number of Mercedes victories since the start of the 2016 season. The difference? Rosberg retired after 2016, and Bottas has driven for the team as his replacement in the 76 races which have been contested since then.

The odds of this deal transpiring are infinitesimally small, but anything can happen. Let’s also not forget that the retired Fernando Alonso is also set to return to the sport in 2021 competing for Renault, which are set to be rebranded as Alpine.

Who will be Valtteri Bottas’s teammate in the 2021 Formula 1 season? Will Hamilton be back for another year, or will he be replaced by Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg or George Russell? Will Nico Rosberg make a return as shocking as his 2016 retirement?