The driver market saw relatively early moves being made for the 2021 season. Sebastian Vettel set the gears into motion by parting ways with Ferrari. Ferrari’s response was to sign Carlos Sainz Jr. as the German’s replacement. As a result, McLaren replaced the Spaniard with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo. Since then things have gotten quieter. However, rumors linking Vettel to Mercedes continue to persist.
Thus Far only Ferrari and McLaren have their driver lineups locked in for 2021. However, Toto Wolff finds it far too early to announce a driver pairing for 2021.
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“It’s not something we would do at Mercedes”- Wolff
Mercedes’ F1 Team Principal, Toto Wolff when asked if they have decided their 2021 lineup in an interview with Auto Motor und Sport said, “ I don’t want to make my corset too tight in terms of timing. We want to start the season now and let both drivers drive freely. We want to see how George (Russell) presents himself, we want to make this decision in the course of the summer.”
Wolff also stated that Mercedes would be in no hurry to rush their decision, He said, “ It was all unusual (at Ferrari and McLaren). But that the new driver pairing was already ahead of the season, just like McLaren, is something we wouldn’t do.”
What Wolff means by the term unusual is that both Ferrari and McLaren made a decision about their 2021 driver lineups so early. This may become problematic for both the teams to manage Vettel and Sainz respectively considering they have a whole season to spend there before they move in 2021. It’s especially interesting in Vettel’s case since he has nothing to lose.
That essentially means that so far, Mercedes are still open to all options in terms of driver lineups. This means that the fight for the coveted Mercedes drive is still on. All three major contenders i.e Vettel, Bottas, and Russell will stand a fair chance. Who knows maybe another surprise contender might pop up during the course of the season. This statement from Wolff would certainly give more incentive to other drivers as if there wasn’t enough already.
