The Official F1 2026 silly season *contains speculation*

[thegreenhell]

I assumed it was a form of tough love. "I'll give you a free ride in F1, but you'll have the toughest teammates I can find for you".

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

thegreenhell said:

I assumed it was a form of tough love. "I'll give you a free ride in F1, but you'll have the toughest teammates I can find for you".

Two ex world champions who are in the twilight of their careers? Can you imagine how Lance would fare against Piastri, Verstappen, Norris, LeClerc or Russell?

For Stroll to win the world championship he would need a car at least a second a lap quicker than the rest.

PRO5T said:

Alonso? You just know he'd fall out with the team half way through the season.

And the car the year after would be championship winning.

Edited by ThingsBehindTheSun on Wednesday 17th September 14:18

[Sandpit Steve]

Checo is ingratiating himself well in American culture, ahead of his move to Cadillac next year.

Last night he was a guest at the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game, throwing the ceremonial first pitch of the evening.

https://x.com/mlb/status/1968504626694471997

[Milkyway]

Alonso has hinted that next year will be his last year...more so, if the car is competitive.

So....
The cars great: He's off at the end of the season.
The cars rubbish: He's off...by the end of the season.

Lance as a #1 driver...

Edited by Milkyway on Saturday 20th September 20:45

[SpudLink]

Milkyway said:

Alonso has hinted that next year will be his last year...more so, if the car is competitive.

So....
The cars great: He's off at the end of the season.
The cars rubbish: He's off...by the end of the season.

Lance as a #1 driver...

Edited by Milkyway on Saturday 20th September 20:45

If the car’s great, they’ll put everything behind Alonso to get the best result possible. That’s also likely to attract a top driver to replace him.

Lance’s best chance to be #1 is if the car is so bad that no decent driver wants to be there.

[vaud]

SpudLink said:

If the car s great, they ll put everything behind Alonso to get the best result possible. That s also likely to attract a top driver to replace him.

Lance s best chance to be #1 is if the car is so bad that no decent driver wants to be there.

Maybe not 2026 but a strong younger driver might consider it a risk after seeing the car in 2026.

[Milkyway]

Hadjar will be at RBR for '26... So will be available to join AM for '27.

[n3il123]

Alex Dunne leaving the McLaren young drivers programme so the only reason I can see for that is he is off to Alpine.

[WilsonWilson]

A blow to McLaren but looks too good to be on the sideslides waiting. Hopefully he doesn't end up in an Alpine or Red Bull toxic situation.

[Mark-C]

Does he have enough points for a Super License? Fifth in F2 will get him 20 if he stays in that position.

[Mark-C]

Mark-C said:

Does he have enough points for a Super License? Fifth in F2 will get him 20 if he stays in that position.

To answer my own question - have found this https://superlicencetracker.com/ and he has 22 points

So he will have enough if he stays in fifth in F2

[Muzzer79]

WilsonWilson said:

A blow to McLaren but looks too good to be on the sideslides waiting. Hopefully he doesn't end up in an Alpine or Red Bull toxic situation.

Rumours are that Red Bull want him - he wants a race seat, which looks more likely at Red Bull in some capacity, than at McLaren.

[Rotary Potato]

Surely after Oscar's epic "I will not be driving for Alpine next year" tweet, there would be some irony if a McLaren junior does end up driving for Alpine next year? If he does sign for them, he should absolutely put out a parody tweet mimicking Oscar's, but with a more positive outcome!

[Sandpit Steve]

He obviously got an offer somewhere, in which case congratulations to the young man.

McLaren has too many drivers chasing too few seats. Lando and Oscar are clearly going nowhere for the next couple of seasons, and they can’t really place someone elswhere for a year or two.

[Nickp82]

Rotary Potato said:

If he does sign for them, he should absolutely put out a parody tweet mimicking Oscar's, but with a more positive outcome!

This was my first thought on it

[thegreenhell]

Perhaps a bit soon for inclusion in the F1 silly season, Kalle Rovanpera (2 times WRC champion, and the youngest ever champion) has announced he's quitting rallying for single seaters with the aim of getting to F1, starting with Japanese Super Formula next year. He's a Toyota driver, and will retain Toyota support next year, so a possibility for Haas in the future if he progresses well.

[Mark-C]

Interesting - he's probably left it too late at a ripe old 25 but I admire the ambition.

Loeb was in his 30s when he started testing F1 cars so he's ahead of the curve by recent standards.

[vaud]

Wild guess, he will end up in WEC.

[Milkyway]

vaud said:

Wild guess, he will end up in WEC.

That crossed my mind too...perhaps as a teammate to Max & Fernando.

Edited by Milkyway on Friday 10th October 12:03

[Sandpit Steve]

thegreenhell said:

Perhaps a bit soon for inclusion in the F1 silly season, Kalle Rovanpera (2 times WRC champion, and the youngest ever champion) has announced he's quitting rallying for single seaters with the aim of getting to F1, starting with Japanese Super Formula next year. He's a Toyota driver, and will retain Toyota support next year, so a possibility for Haas in the future if he progresses well.

Sounds interesting, good luck to him. Super Formula also an interesting choice for a first season in single seaters, big, heavy, powerful and very quick cars, and good Super Licence points on offer if he does well, but the series is a lot easier in travel and much cheaper to enter than FIA F3 or F2.

Edit: video from Rovanpera, he’s doing JSF next year and plans F2 for ‘27, supported by Toyota.
https://x.com/kallerovanpera/status/19761920801803...

Edited by Sandpit Steve on Friday 10th October 06:34