TL;DR:

  • Carlos Sainz, though sources say Aston Martin, Sauber, Alpine and Williams are potential teams where he could land
  • Alex Albon
  • Fernando Alonso, if he ever get lured from Aston
  • Daniel Ricciardo
  • Esteban Ocon, whom is managed by Toto Wolff
  • Rapidcreek@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Bottas back to Merc

    Sainz to replace him at Sauber soon to be Audl

    Hulkenberg and Zhou Guanyu exchange seats to give Audi their German driver.

    Haas gets a big pocket Chinese sponsor and puts red livery on their car.

    Everybody is Happy…except Andretti

      • Rapidcreek@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Yes indeed

        Any doubters should answer two questions.

        1 who does Carlos Sainz Sr, who just won the Dakar, race for?

        2 Audi says they want a German driver. Who are the German drivers currently on the grid?

  • BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.comOP
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    9 months ago

    Surprisingly no one seem to mention Mick Schumacher (who I have forgotten about until I saw him in a meme this morning), even though Toto made sure that he appeared alongside him at every GP 🙃

    • Microw@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Those merc garage appearances (like he did for Ocon and De Vries) are Toto being a driver manager, not Toto being a team boss.

      I see a 0.5% chance that Merc hires Schumacher as GP driver.

      • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I see a 0.5% chance that Merc hires Schumacher as GP driver.

        Probably depends on his performance driving for Alpine in WEC

        • Microw@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          Being good in WEC =/= being good in F1, as evidenced by countless drivers.

    • TheMalWare@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      I’d pick Ocon over him, they just need a stopgap until Antonelli’s ready. But Gasly should be in contention too, he had a better season in his first year. Albon is just overrated by likeability.

      • florge@feddit.uk
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        9 months ago

        I know they are famously bad at contracts, but isn’t Ocon contracted for a while at Alpine?

        • TheMalWare@lemmy.ml
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          9 months ago

          Until the end of 2024, also Piastri was more of an incompetent oversight and leniant terms than just a bad contract, but the ones involved are gone now anyway

  • Microw@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    I mean, in theory they have a lot more options than that.

    Contracts expiring at the end of 2024 include…

    Somewhat likely that Merc would consider them:

    • Gasly
    • Tsunoda
    • Hulkenberg

    Probably not:

    • Bottas
    • Perez

    Certainly not:

    • Sargeant
    • Zhou
    • Magnussen
    • Nighed@sffa.community
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      9 months ago

      I would probably put Mag on an equal footing with Hulk? Either would be happy to take the seat.

      Gasly hasn’t being doing too well, not sure his rep is as good as it once was.

      • Microw@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        Hulk is a german driver, which makes him more likely to be considered by Merc IMO. He was their top pick in 2017 after all, and only lost the opportunity to Bottas because Renault didnt let him go.

    • Sentau@discuss.tchncs.de
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      9 months ago

      What about Ocon?? He already has merc connections and isnt his contract expiring in the end of 2024 as well. He might not be the best choice though because he always clashes with his teammates.

  • IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    Daniel Riccardo if he doesn’t get an RB contract. So unlikely since I don’t see Perez surviving the ‘24 season. He might not even finish the season. Seriously I predict that if Perez can’t consistently finish right behind Verstappen he will be out during the summer. With new regs coming in ‘26 RB doesn’t want to take the risk with a second driver who can’t even finish second in a car that can finish 30 seconds ahead of the entire grid.