Stopped in the pits since mid-March, the Formula 1 teams were on the other hand very active during the coronavirus crisis to prepare for the season … next, from the divorce between Vettel and Ferrari to Alonso’s dreams of return.
The 2020 exercise has not yet started, as F1 has already started to fill (or empty) its buckets for 2021. The postponement of four months imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the large number of pilots coming to an end of their contract at the end of 2020 explain this surprising situation in particular.
The big maneuvers even started at the start of winter. Ferrari and Red Bull have thus protected their young nuggets. Extension until 2024 at the Scuderia for the Monegasque Charles Leclerc, 22 years old. Until 2023 in the Austrian team for the Dutchman Max Verstappen, also 22 years old.
But the thunderclap arrived on May 12 with the surprise announcement of the departure of Ferrari from quadruple German world champion Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel and Ferrari, it’s over
“The team and I have realized that there is no longer a shared desire to stay together beyond the end of this season,” said the pilot. The supposed reasons for the breakup? Disagreement over the length of the extension and a greatly reduced salary.
Sacred four times with Red Bull from 2010 to 2013, Vettel had arrived at Ferrari in 2015. The end of the story with the 33-year-old German propels his 10-year-old cadet, Charles Leclerc, instead of N.1. He who conquered the heart of Italy after one season only in red and two in F1.
Bright future for Leclerc, more nebulous for Vettel who wants to “take the time necessary to think about what (he) really matters in the future”. Sabbatical year or new adventure in another stable? We still don’t know his choice but we know his successor: Carlos Sainz Jr.
The 25-year-old Spaniard, son of the world rally champion, said that he had achieved “a dream” by joining Ferrari, before thanking his future ex-team, an illustration of the incongruity of this 2021 transfer window, which had started even before the previous season. . “You know the affection I have for McLaren and the desire I have to finish 2020 in the best possible way with them,” he hoped.
Game of musical chairs, it is the Australian Daniel Ricciardo, 31, third in the championship in 2014 and 2016, who will take the place of Sainz Jr at McLaren.
Alonso the return?
Who then to take over the wheel of Ricciardo at Renault? To accompany its second driver, the French Esteban Ocon, the diamond brand could reconnect with an old love, Fernando Alonso.
The Spaniard, who turns 39 on July 29, opened the door again last month. “From a physical point of view and in terms of motivation, I am at the top, so I would like to be able to focus on a major championship, whether it be the return to F1, the World Endurance Championship or the Indycar “, said the double world champion with Renault in 2005 and 2006.
It is not the first time, since his departure at the end of 2018, that he evokes his desire to return, but would he do so in a stable which no longer plays the leading roles?
At Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas are also at the end of the contract and candidates for renewal. Could they suffer from Vettel’s competition?
The owner of the German team, Toto Wolff, said at the beginning of June to focus “on discussions with his current drivers” while wishing to “keep (his) options open”.
“We owe it to a four-time world champion not to close the door for him immediately. But we have a fantastic driver duo that I am very happy with,” said Wolff, who, realistically, still recalls that “one of ‘between them can decide that he no longer wants to run and suddenly you have a place to fill. “
While renegotiation of the 35-year-old Hamilton contract has not started, the six-time British world champion insists that he has no intention of leaving Mercedes. “I don’t dream of any other team. I’m on my dream team,” he wrote on Instagram.
But it was at the end of April and the busy month of May proved that everything was definitely going very fast in F1.
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