Silly Season - 2021

[airshifter]

They won't make an announcement until the championship is pretty much decided one way or the other, as they need Bottas to perform to the best of his abilities. After that they'll cut him loose, and welcome George.

This was my thinking. If you axe the guy before the WCC is wrapped up, performance might go down even more.

[F1nKS]

Latest speculation on the Mercedes second seat is the decision has been made, but they are delaying to announce where Bottas is going due to request by that team - who wants to announce their driver lineup in September.

The racing team in which the losing driver will be placed would like to announce their team for 2022 in September.

Thus, the decision for the second driver may have already been made by Mercedes, but the timing of the announcement depends on, for example, Williams or Alfa Romeo, to whom Bottas is linked, among others. The drivers themselves seem to know more, but they will have to keep their mouths shut for the time being.

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/92165...nd-driver.html

[airshifter]

Perez confirmed for 2022.

[gm99]

Albon now appears to be looking at Indycar for next season and was seen at the Indianapolis GP a fortnight ago.

[F1nKS]

https://www.racefans.net/2021/08/31/...zzi-loses-out/

They are reporting

Russel to Mercedes
Albon to Williams
Bottas to Alpha Romeo
De Vries to Alpha Romeo

v2_large_7948e4b65ba7788c86843baf46678f2d5334d05f.jpg

[pantealex]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTSUHnoD..._web_copy_link

KIMI is officially out.

[Mia 01]

This is a sad day for me. I have rooting for im since 2001 and now, he quits at the end of the season.
I hope he will do some rallye or indycar so I can keep follow him.

Thanks for everything Kimi. Kitos!

[The Black Knight]

This is a sad day for me. I have rooting for im since 2001 and now, he quits at the end of the season.
I hope he will do some rallye or indycar so I can keep follow him.

Thanks for everything Kimi. Kitos!

Kimi deserves respect. Onto new pastures. Never my favourite driver by any means but I wish him the best in whatever he does moving forward.

[F1nKS]

Hamilton talking about Russell

"At the moment I have to be super supportive of the team-mate that I have right now, so that’s why I’m always supportive of Valtteri because we have a job to do right now and neither of us can win the team championship alone, we have to do it collectively.

"But he [Russell] is the future, he’s one of the members of the future of the sport. He’s already shown incredible driving so far. I’m sure it’s going to continue to grow.

"Where better to do it than a great team like this – or whatever team he goes to."

Sure seems like a done deal...

[The Black Knight]

https://youtu.be/YNQwvM20sRE

Daniel Ricciardo and Horner congratulate Russell on his new Mercedes deal. It's like the worst kept secret in F1 right now.