#than being stuck in lawrence stroll's very expensive personal sociological experiment with micromanagement & false promises???

[leqclerc]

Top 5 drivers most likely to NOT be returning to their current teams in 23? In your opinion, of course. Also, where you think they'll be going (another team, kicked out of F1, retired)

Ohh, excellent question! 👀

TL;DR:

Nicky (dropped) Seb (retirement or team switch) Yuki (dropped??? maybe??? idk) Checo (dropped or shock team switch) Zhou (probably not but I’m running out of options and honestly I have no clue sjdjfj)

The list gets more and more shaky as it goes on tbh sjdjf Nicky and Seb seem the most reasonable, Yuki’s a toss-up given RB, and the others are unlikely imo but for the sake of putting five names down... sjdjfgr More in-depth explanation/rambling under the cut:

Right off the bat, Nicky. I believe his contract's up at the end of this season, and, well, he hasn't exactly impressed so far, especially against Alex, who's sat out an entire year and yet is performing significantly better. The question is how much is Williams relying on the sponsor backing and money that he's bringing to the table? If they wouldn't be taking a significant financial hit, I think they'll drop him, especially now that they've got more options to choose from (Alpine loaning out Piastri if they re-sign Alonso, de Vries just did a FP with them, other drivers from the current grid, etc.)

I'm gonna be honest, I'm on the fence about Seb. I was way more confident about him staying on for another season last year, but lbr the circumstances were way different (new regs, pretty much an unknown for all of the teams, a chance to shake up the grid, etc.) But this year is looking much more dire by comparison, especially now that the green Red Bull B-Spec car isn't looking like too much of an improvement on their initial package. AM has generally been under-delivering, both on a technical level and also on a managerial level (accounts of Lawrence's stifling micromanaging, the staff rotation). So, if we're being pessimistic, I'm gonna say (and it pains me to say this, on a personal level, trust) retirement at the end of the season. They wouldn’t even have to look very far for a replacement, I believe they’d just settle for Hulk rather than looking elsewhere. BUT if we're being optimistic, I would kinda love to see him paired with Alex at Williams 👉🏻👈🏻🤧 Of course the question is how much of an upgrade would that be? Or would it be more of a sideways/even backwards step? He’s not there to be a backmarker, he’s said as much himself, there’s not much motivation or joy to be found in that. But hey, at least the team spirit and attitude seems better at Williams than at Nepotism Central 🙃

Based on his own comments and the general hype around him, I can’t really see Fernando wanting to leave. What the team decides is another thing, a driver’s desire to stay doesn’t always result in a contract extension (😭💔), but as things currently stand I can see Alpine loaning Piastri out to have their cake (not “waste” him) and eat it too (keep Alonso on.) Lewis, George, Max, Charles, Carlos (though I think a one year extension or a 1+1 at most would’ve been the better play here, but oh well 🙃), Daniel, Lando, Valtteri, Esteban and Kevin are all locked in I think?

So that leaves Zhou, Pierre, Yuki, Checo, Lance, Mick and Alex.

I think Red Bull would be idiots to let Checo go since he’s doing his job near flawlessly and Max is clearly on good terms with him, but they’re notorious for running low on patience and kicking drivers out unceremoniously, even mid-season. Depends what they make of Checo being hungry for more, I suppose. I can’t see them bringing Pierre back (given his position at AT I can’t see him being eager to play second fiddle, even if it’s in a quicker car, plus he definitely feels at home with AT’s fashion/social media-leaning vibe), so maybe promoting one of their academy drivers? Or Yuki? Bit of a gamble though. They might be re-considering Alex given his current performance, but I’m not sure if Alex would want that (he seems to enjoy building up Williams) and also not sure how much of a hold they’ve still got on him, officially.

Lance isn’t going anywhere as long as Lawrence is in charge so that’s one seat permanently filled. Mick, again, he’s having a lackluster season especially compared to Kevin, but they’re not going to drop a Schumacher two seasons in. He’s also bringing in sponsorships/money I believe, so I think they’ll keep him on, at least for another year.

As mentioned, Alex is doing a stellar job and he seems to be genuinely happy and in a really good place within the team so that’s an easy renewal in my mind.

I haven’t seen all that much of Zhou tbh, so it’s hard to gauge his actual performance (esp given his string of bad luck/Alfa’s reliability issues). Afaik he brought in a good bit of money and the Chinese sponsors would probably want to see a Chinese driver in a Chinese GP, which would imply at least another year, but idk. Same with Yuki, I really don’t know. I would lean towards renewal (especially since he’s gelling so well with Pierre and his performance has been decent this year) but idk, RB might be eager to bring in one of their academy drivers, maybe Vips? Honestly just vague speculation since I don’t follow feeder series all that much. Pierre as well... logically I’d see him getting renewed but AT is kind of a career standstill. Especially since the car’s worse this year than it has been previously.  They’re the ones I’m unsure about the most, I think. It really could go either way.