Silly Season - 2021

[F1nKS]

Bottas move finally announced - Alfa for multi-deal

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...eMcHs3e4S.html

Can only mean one thing - Alex Albon to Mercedes. That is why TOTO wants him out of his Red Bull contract.

[F1nKS]

Nyck De Vries supposedly has signed a F1 contract. It is believed it will be to join Bottas as his teammate.

[The Black Knight]

It's official Russell to Mercedes for 2022:

https://twitter.com/mercedesamgf1/st...202923011?s=21

[Bagwan]

It was looking like Albon to Williams , and De Vries to AR , but now the opposite idea is floating around .
Meanwhile , Mazepin , apparently , is tweeting cryptic messages that hint that he will be the one to get the second seat at AR .

[F1nKS]

It was looking like Albon to Williams , and De Vries to AR , but now the opposite idea is floating around .
Meanwhile , Mazepin , apparently , is tweeting cryptic messages that hint that he will be the one to get the second seat at AR .

I have also seen that the Chinese are trying to "pay" to get Zhou into the AR seat. Which might explain why Toto has been trying to stop Albon from getting the Williams seat so they can put De Vries there.

I suspect who ever brings the biggest suitcase of $$$$ will get the seat(s).

[Zico]

Albon now confirmed for Williams, sounds like he owes Russell a favour for Russell putting a good word in for him.

It appears that Red Bull may have had to officially release him to stop Merc putting the brakes on the move.

[airshifter]

Now the big question for all the changes.... will the "young guns" all be allowed to race the elders on the respective teams, and if so which ones are in for a real fight?

With the car changes coming next year, it seems a good time to make changes. Nobody will really have the upper hand on getting accustomed to the new cars, and with rules changes even the big teams sometimes get it wrong. Though it appears Merc have really focused more on next year.... we don't know for sure until the car is on track.

And I'm glad Albon came back. RB played seat swap so quick for a while there that some good drivers got shuffled out. And more talent is always a good thing.

[F1nKS]

I'm glad to see Albon get the Williams seat. I think Red Bull made a mistake not sticking with him for this year. I'm also glad that Red Bull got to keep "options" for Albon.

I'm hoping that Williams will be able to at least become a good mid-field team next year.

[F1nKS]

Oddly Vettel still hasn't been confirmed yet for 2022. Stroll when asked this week said:

Aston Martin executive chairman Lawrence Stroll indicated on Monday that Vettel is expected to remain at the team next year.

Asked about the world champion’s future Stroll said: “You will be getting an answer to that imminently and all indications are saying yes.”

https://www.racefans.net/2021/09/15/...nd-up-15-09-4/

Rumors were it was not Aston Martin holding this up, but Vettel deciding if he wanted to retire.

[truefan72]

Oddly Vettel still hasn't been confirmed yet for 2022. Stroll when asked this week said:



https://www.racefans.net/2021/09/15/...nd-up-15-09-4/

Rumors were it was not Aston Martin holding this up, but Vettel deciding if he wanted to retire.

That is an interesting twist.
Vettel retiring will cause another silly season Frenzy.
I'd say Devries or Vandoorn would be contenders for that seat.
Ideally, Hulkenberg should be in that seat