The Official F1 2025 silly season *contains speculation*

[Hustle_]

vaud said:

PhilAsia said:

...but I doubt RBR will nose-dive that quickly without AN - for that reason I do not see Max moving until 2026, and he will only move then if there is an obviously better option.

Agree - AN has built a team with depth and experience.

He has stepped back before and they lost their way a bit with correlation. 2017/18 I think.

[SmoothCriminal]

Got to feel sorry for Russell.

Gets lumped in the dog st Williams for seasons ruining his pedigree on the promise of a seat at Mercedes.

Gets a shout at a race in the Merc and they fk him for the win.

Finally gets the Merc seat and it's an absolute joke of a car another piece of st.

Get lumped with it for 3 seasons with the team saying they haven't got a clue what's wrong with it.

Finally think you're going to be no1 when Lewis leaves.

And then Toto is openly courting your biggest rival and offering silly money and his first born for him to come to Merc.

[732NM]

SmoothCriminal said:

Got to feel sorry for Russell.

No sympathy here. He's living the dream. He needs to do better, an old man is quicker than him.

[paulguitar]

732NM said:

SmoothCriminal said:

Got to feel sorry for Russell.

No sympathy here. He's living the dream. He needs to do better, an old man is quicker than him.

If Mercedes manages to get Verstappen then Russell will have the opportunity to see how he measures up against him.

[SpudLink]

SmoothCriminal said:

Got to feel sorry for Russell.

Gets lumped in the dog st Williams for seasons ruining his pedigree on the promise of a seat at Mercedes.

Gets a shout at a race in the Merc and they fk him for the win.

Finally gets the Merc seat and it's an absolute joke of a car another piece of st.

Get lumped with it for 3 seasons with the team saying they haven't got a clue what's wrong with it.

Finally think you're going to be no1 when Lewis leaves.

And then Toto is openly courting your biggest rival and offering silly money and his first born for him to come to Merc.

Toto is far to astute a businessman. He will have offered George's first born as part of the deal.

[Mark-C]

paulguitar said:

732NM said:

SmoothCriminal said:

Got to feel sorry for Russell.

No sympathy here. He's living the dream. He needs to do better, an old man is quicker than him.

If Mercedes manages to get Verstappen then Russell will have the opportunity to see how he measures up against him.

This is the 2025 thread - I reckon the Max move will be 2026 so George will get a year as team lead I think ... but that means Merc need a one-year stopgap which I think\hope will be Albon.

[thegreenhell]

Mark-C said:

This is the 2025 thread - I reckon the Max move will be 2026 so George will get a year as team lead I think ... but that means Merc need a one-year stopgap which I think\hope will be Albon.

You hope Albon will get a one year deal and then get dumped? That's not very nice.

Toto has been talking himself into a bit of a corner, if everything he says he hopes for comes true. On the one hand he wants Antonelli in the car ASAP, but on the other hand he's openly chasing Verstappen. If Max takes the bait and signs then he can't have Antonelli, unless George is gone.

Either way he's only really offering a one year deal with somebody as a temporary seat warmer, which isn't an easy sell when you're not the dominant team.

[paulguitar]

thegreenhell said:

Mark-C said:

This is the 2025 thread - I reckon the Max move will be 2026 so George will get a year as team lead I think ... but that means Merc need a one-year stopgap which I think\hope will be Albon.

You hope Albon will get a one year deal and then get dumped? That's not very nice.

Toto has been talking himself into a bit of a corner, if everything he says he hopes for comes true. On the one hand he wants Antonelli in the car ASAP, but on the other hand he's openly chasing Verstappen. If Max takes the bait and signs then he can't have Antonelli, unless George is gone.

Either way he's only really offering a one year deal with somebody as a temporary seat warmer, which isn't an easy sell when you're not the dominant team.

Very interesting times at the moment away from the track.

On the track, not so much!

[HighwayStar]

paulguitar said:

732NM said:

SmoothCriminal said:

Got to feel sorry for Russell.

No sympathy here. He's living the dream. He needs to do better, an old man is quicker than him.

If Mercedes manages to get Verstappen then Russell will have the opportunity to see how he measures up against him.

Russell, like all the top drivers, has stated his belief that he can beat anyone. It’s what he should believe and say. The scenario exists as mentioned above that could see him out the team if Antonelli confirms he’s the real deal.

[vaud]

thegreenhell said:

You hope Albon will get a one year deal and then get dumped? That's not very nice.

Toto has been talking himself into a bit of a corner, if everything he says he hopes for comes true. On the one hand he wants Antonelli in the car ASAP, but on the other hand he's openly chasing Verstappen. If Max takes the bait and signs then he can't have Antonelli, unless George is gone.

Either way he's only really offering a one year deal with somebody as a temporary seat warmer, which isn't an easy sell when you're not the dominant team.

Antonelli + Verstappen would be a very interesting pairing. Risky if they are a similar pace.

Antonelli + George is riskier I think if George doesn't get more consistent and if Antonelli turns out to not have that extra 1%.

[Mark-C]

thegreenhell said:

You hope Albon will get a one year deal and then get dumped? That's not very nice.

No - I see it as his best chance of getting a year to show to everyone what he can really do

[Forester1965]

I think Verstappen leaving will come down to how confident he is with the 2026 RB engine.

If Aston show good progress in 2025 and with Honda coming in 2026, that might be more tempting than Mercedes who don't seem able to get their act together on car design.

[Muzzer79]

thegreenhell said:

Mark-C said:

This is the 2025 thread - I reckon the Max move will be 2026 so George will get a year as team lead I think ... but that means Merc need a one-year stopgap which I think\hope will be Albon.

You hope Albon will get a one year deal and then get dumped? That's not very nice.

Toto has been talking himself into a bit of a corner, if everything he says he hopes for comes true. On the one hand he wants Antonelli in the car ASAP, but on the other hand he's openly chasing Verstappen. If Max takes the bait and signs then he can't have Antonelli, unless George is gone.

Either way he's only really offering a one year deal with somebody as a temporary seat warmer, which isn't an easy sell when you're not the dominant team.

I think Wolff knows that Antonelli needs to be in F1 ASAP.

Mercedes is a risky option but he (Wolff) would be fine with slotting him in at Williams for a year or two, like Russell did.

If he gets Verstappen, Antonelli goes to Williams. If he can't and there's no other appealing option, take him at Mercedes and see what he's really made of.

[DanielSan]

Muzzer79 said:

I think Wolff knows that Antonelli needs to be in F1 ASAP.

Mercedes is a risky option but he (Wolff) would be fine with slotting him in at Williams for a year or two, like Russell did.

If he gets Verstappen, Antonelli goes to Williams. If he can't and there's no other appealing option, take him at Mercedes and see what he's really made of.

Honestly, if he gets Verstappen I think Antonelli could well find a drive somewhere more competitive than Williams Piastri style

[Sandpit Steve]

DanielSan said:

Honestly, if he gets Verstappen I think Antonelli could well find a drive somewhere more competitive than Williams Piastri style

Perhaps Aston Martin might work for him, although he might still need that first year at Williams. Can’t see him wanting to go to Alpine or Audi, and the top three teams all seem pretty set for a few years.

The cat among the pigeons would be if Fred Vasseur can steal him from under Toto’s nose, and get an Italian driver in the red car once Lewis hangs up his helmet.

[Gazzab]

So is Sainz going to join Mercedes- surely that’s his only half promising option right now.

[SpudLink]

Gazzab said:

So is Sainz going to join Mercedes- surely that’s his only half promising option right now.

I had thought that was a no-brainer. But if Antonelli is at Williams for the 2nd half of the season, they might decide he's good enough to get the 2nd Merc seat.

[Gazzab]

SpudLink said:

Gazzab said:

So is Sainz going to join Mercedes- surely that’s his only half promising option right now.

I had thought that was a no-brainer. But if Antonelli is at Williams for the 2nd half of the season, they might decide he's good enough to get the 2nd Merc seat.

I think the merc issue is that Russell might be a bit btech. So you need a strong experienced driver next to him not a newbie. Maybe

[Leithen]

Gazzab said:

SpudLink said:

Gazzab said:

So is Sainz going to join Mercedes- surely that’s his only half promising option right now.

I had thought that was a no-brainer. But if Antonelli is at Williams for the 2nd half of the season, they might decide he's good enough to get the 2nd Merc seat.

I think the merc issue is that Russell might be a bit btech. So you need a strong experienced driver next to him not a newbie. Maybe

Verstappen will go to Merc at the end of the year. Sainz will replace him and win the 2025 championship.

[vaud]

Leithen said:

Verstappen will go to Merc at the end of the year. Sainz will replace him and win the 2025 championship.

To be fair to Verstappen if he takes a risk and goes to Mercedes and leads them to a WDC over time then much like Lewis, he will be viewed as one of the best.