The Official F1 2027 silly season *contains speculation*

[Byker28i]

Milkyway said:

Re the Summer Break, after watching a YouTube video.

Verstappen: Leaves F1 (Possibly a year out).
Alonso: Retired... wants to do Dakar. (Audi)
Ocon: Out... Replaced by a Rookie (Camara)
Sainz: AM

Cadillac: Want an American driver. (Carlton Herta)
Williams: TBC x1
Red Bull: TBC x1
Racing Bull: x1... if Lawson or Lindblad go to Red Bull.

Edited by Milkyway on Thursday 30th July 00:26

My guess.
I think Alonso out this year. New baby, car isn't great although looking better.

Verstappen to Mercedes, because it's too early to go to Aston Martin and follow Newey, but I expect he'll go there in a couple of years
Toto is still trying to get him, was seen again on holiday with him

Russell out of Mercedes, will he go to Aston Martin and fill that seat?
Only other place is McLaren so they have a all British lineup, but would they want Russell?

So I think he'll take Alonsos seat at AM as the best thing he'll be offered.
Lawson or Lindblad promoted to Red Bull, leaving a vacant seat at Racing Bull for a new rookie

[Zetec-S]

Byker28i said:

My guess.
I think Alonso out this year. New baby, car isn't great although looking better.

Verstappen to Mercedes, because it's too early to go to Aston Martin and follow Newey, but I expect he'll go there in a couple of years
Toto is still trying to get him, was seen again on holiday with him

Russell out of Mercedes, will he go to Aston Martin and fill that seat?
Only other place is McLaren so they have a all British lineup, but would they want Russell?

So I think he'll take Alonsos seat at AM as the best thing he'll be offered.
Lawson or Lindblad promoted to Red Bull, leaving a vacant seat at Racing Bull for a new rookie

Max -> Mercedes would mean Piastri -> Red Bull and Russell -> McLaren
Max -> McLaren would be a straight swap with Piastri
Max leaving F1... I think Red Bull would want an established driver, either Piastri or Sainz

[vaud]

I can’t see Max and Kimi in the same team.

Toto and other have said the tension of 2016 was incredibly destructive and consumed far too much from management. I think they are too similar in pace and mindset…

[paulguitar]

vaud said:

I can t see Max and Kimi in the same team.

Toto and other have said the tension of 2016 was incredibly destructive and consumed far too much from management. I think they are too similar in pace and mindset

It would be great fun for us. As talented as Verstappen clearly is, he hasn't really had a top-line, established teammate since Ricciardo.

[HTP99]

vaud said:

I can t see Max and Kimi in the same team.

Toto and other have said the tension of 2016 was incredibly destructive and consumed far too much from management. I think they are too similar in pace and mindset

Me neither, I just don't see the point, Kimi is the future, apart from the commercial aspect which I don't really think Mercedes need, what can Max bring to the team that Kimi isn't currently providing and he is only going to get better.

[thegreenhell]

I think they'd take him if he became available. It's not that they need him necessarily, but more of a case of having him racing for you versus racing against you, and it would be marketing gold.

Toto needs to give his head a wobble if he turns him down because he thinks he can't handle two drivers like that.

[Milkyway]

Another YouTube title.... McLaren need Max.

So that would be a straight swop with Oscar.
Zak could keep the no #1 Or #2 policy...Lando & Max are still pals,

That would aliviate the potential Kimi & Max partnership, with Kimi being #1 as World Champion.
Potentially a toxic scenario... another Lewis / Nico partnership.

NB: Oscar & Arvid at RBR would be a good combo... two young fighters.
They need some new experienced blood at the team... & that's not Arvid.
(Yet).

Edited by Milkyway on Thursday 6th August 10:55

[Muzzer79]

HTP99 said:

I just don't see the point, Kimi is the future, apart from the commercial aspect which I don't really think Mercedes need, what can Max bring to the team that Kimi isn't currently providing and he is only going to get better.

I am certainly not Max's biggest fan. Far from it.

However:

He's a 4 time world champion and has won 71 races - third in the all time list.
He's produced drives and results in machinery that had no business delivering said results.
When he's had the car, he's produced metronomic success.

Is he likeable? No, but he's the epitome of a proven, top level driver.

Kimi has won 6 races within half a season of success in a good car. He was average in an average car in 2025 and was blown away by George last year - finishing ahead of him in only 3 races.

Kimi may indeed be Verstappen-level. But a top line TP wouldn't bet on that now if Max was available.

[Byker28i]

Muzzer79 said:

HTP99 said:

I just don't see the point, Kimi is the future, apart from the commercial aspect which I don't really think Mercedes need, what can Max bring to the team that Kimi isn't currently providing and he is only going to get better.

I am certainly not Max's biggest fan. Far from it.

However:

He's a 4 time world champion and has won 71 races - third in the all time list.
He's produced drives and results in machinery that had no business delivering said results.
When he's had the car, he's produced metronomic success.

Is he likeable? No, but he's the epitome of a proven, top level driver.

Kimi has won 6 races within half a season of success in a good car. He was average in an average car in 2025 and was blown away by George last year - finishing ahead of him in only 3 races.

Kimi may indeed be Verstappen-level. But a top line TP wouldn't bet on that now if Max was available.

He's produced drives and results in machinery that had no business delivering said results.

Has he though, if anything that myth has been blown this year when the car was difficult. When the car was good he performed...
He's a very good driver, one of the best, but not the messiah some make him out to be

[Muzzer79]

Byker28i said:

He's produced drives and results in machinery that had no business delivering said results.

Has he though, if anything that myth has been blown this year when the car was difficult. When the car was good he performed...
He's a very good driver, one of the best, but not the messiah some make him out to be

He has. Particularly last year - that Red Bull had no business coming within a couple of points of the title.

And just because he can't always drag a bad car to a result, doesn't devalue the times he does.

Senna did wonders with the '93 McLaren, but he couldn't do it every week and he couldn't deal with the crap early-94 Williams.

I agree he's not the messiah, not by any stretch, but the point is if you were a team manager, you wouldn't say no to him because your driver Kimi Antonelli has had a good half season......

[Milkyway]

Oscar had a good half season last year, thought he was on his way to be WC... then the wheels fell off.

[732NM]

Milkyway said:

Oscar had a good half season last year, thought he was on his way to be WC... then the wheels fell off.

Nowt wrong with the wheels, his head went.

[MustangGT]

Byker28i said:

My guess.
I think Alonso out this year. New baby, car isn't great although looking better.

Verstappen to Mercedes, because it's too early to go to Aston Martin and follow Newey, but I expect he'll go there in a couple of years
Toto is still trying to get him, was seen again on holiday with him

Russell out of Mercedes, will he go to Aston Martin and fill that seat?
Only other place is McLaren so they have a all British lineup, but would they want Russell?

So I think he'll take Alonsos seat at AM as the best thing he'll be offered.
Lawson or Lindblad promoted to Red Bull, leaving a vacant seat at Racing Bull for a new rookie

One thing I would note is that none of the other 3 top teams have any need of Max, they all have 2 top drivers already. Mercedes certainly do not want the toxicity the Verstappen camp brings to a team.

There is also zero evidence that Max would perform any better than the current drivers. Max is outstanding, maybe the best ever, at extracting the best performance from a car that has a tiny operating window, i.e. the last era RBR cars. However, this skill set does not appear to be needed in the current era cars, hence his relative struggles with the current RBR. Max has not yet had a WDC team-mate to prove himself against either.

He is currently behind 5 of the 6 other drivers and not far ahead of his own team-mate. Yet the ICE element of the RBR is supposedly the best. The aero is obviously lacking now Newey has gone, but the RBR is still up there in the top 4 somewhere, probably on a par with McLaren and Ferrari but lagging behind the Mercedes.

[Muzzer79]

MustangGT said:

One thing I would note is that none of the other 3 top teams have any need of Max, they all have 2 top drivers already. Mercedes certainly do not want the toxicity the Verstappen camp brings to a team.

There is also zero evidence that Max would perform any better than the current drivers. Max is outstanding, maybe the best ever, at extracting the best performance from a car that has a tiny operating window, i.e. the last era RBR cars. However, this skill set does not appear to be needed in the current era cars, hence his relative struggles with the current RBR. Max has not yet had a WDC team-mate to prove himself against either.

He is currently behind 5 of the 6 other drivers and not far ahead of his own team-mate. Yet the ICE element of the RBR is supposedly the best. The aero is obviously lacking now Newey has gone, but the RBR is still up there in the top 4 somewhere, probably on a par with McLaren and Ferrari but lagging behind the Mercedes.

Any of the top 3 teams would metaphorically give him a blank cheque if he was available. It's a fact.

Again, I'm not his biggest fan, but it's impossible to plausibly argue that he doesn't extract the maximum out of a car - he's done it for 10 years in F1.

These cars are very circuit dependent, it's not as simple as a defined running order. The only one consistently up there every race is Mercedes.

As for comparing him to Hadjar and "not being far ahead"........Verstappen has 50% more points than him and has scored all four of their podiums with Hadjar's best result being one fourth place.....

[nordboy]

Muzzer79 said:

Any of the top 3 teams would metaphorically give him a blank cheque if he was available. It's a fact.

Again, I'm not his biggest fan, but it's impossible to plausibly argue that he doesn't extract the maximum out of a car - he's done it for 10 years in F1.

These cars are very circuit dependent, it's not as simple as a defined running order. The only one consistently up there every race is Mercedes.

As for comparing him to Hadjar and "not being far ahead"........Verstappen has 50% more points than him and has scored all four of their podiums with Hadjar's best result being one fourth place.....

This, if Max becomes available then every team, including the top teams will want him. Contracts of current drivers may make it very difficult or very expensive to do, but he's still one of the top drivers in F1. I dislike the way he races a lot of the time, but he's certainly fast.

All the teams would love an ex WC in their team. For MV, he wants a team that can compete, RB seem to be a little way off at the moment, and with quite a few of their senior staff leaving they may struggle for a few years yet.

And I don't think he takes a year out, if he leaves then I think he's probably gone for good, he'll make a good living driving other stuff or even SIM racing.

[Milkyway]

Re MV: If George's second half of this season continues like the first half, I can see Toto being very interested in signing Max.
The thing is, would Max accept the offer... & he would want equal status, even if Kimi is WC.
(Poss #1 if he isn't).

George wouldn't want to go to RBR... but he could do a swap with Oscar.

Edited by Milkyway on Friday 7th August 10:56

[BrettMRC]

If George can't turn this around I can see him heading off back to Williams.

[Milkyway]

BrettMRC said:

If George can't turn this around I can see him heading off back to Williams.

Williams don't want him back.. but there could be a seat available at AM.

Edited by Milkyway on Friday 7th August 11:37

[kambites]

Milkyway said:

BrettMRC said:

If George can't turn this around I can see him heading off back to Williams.

Williams don't want him back.. but there could be a seat available at AM.

I suspect Cadillac or Audi would jump at the chance to get Russell if he wanted a long-term project with clear number-one status.

[Milkyway]

kambites said:

Milkyway said:

BrettMRC said:

If George can't turn this around I can see him heading off back to Williams.

Williams don't want him back.. but there could be a seat available at AM.

I suspect Cadillac or Audi would jump at the chance to get Russell if he wanted a long-term project with clear number-one status.

"Sorry George... but we've decided to go with Daniel Ricciardo".