It feels like the year has just begun, but it’s already mid-April.
It’s already been a crazy Formula 1 season, but there are still plenty of seats to fill on the 2025 grid. Nothing quite as remarkable as the Mercedes seat that Lewis Hamilton left open during his time at Ferrari at the end of the year.
There seem to be three major contenders for the title, while several others are battling it out for the seat. Now that Fernando Alonso is finalising Aston Martin Aramco’s silly season deals, the Mercedes seat is even more important.
Mercedes’ move will be supported by its young superstar Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Antonelli is in his first season in Formula 2 and has so far shown speed after skipping Formula 3. It’s clear that Mercedes believes it has something special about the Italian driver. The challenge with Antonelli, however, is that he’s only 17 years old. And although he shows promise so far in F2, he has not achieved a podium either and does not win them all like many F2 drivers who get this call. up.
Which suggests that the option for Mercedes would be to bring in a veteran driver for that seat right now.
The maximum visible on the surface would be Carlos Sainz. He is the only driver to have won a Formula 1 race in the last 22 Grands Prix without being named Max Verstappen.
But here’s the challenge. Team principal Toto Wolff also has the challenge of George Russell. He likes Russell and giving him a car that can reliably win races. Signing Sainz would be a sign that Mercedes needs him to challenge Russell.
For this reason, Mercedes would need to dedicate itself to Sainz in the long term. They haven’t done it yet with Russell, who also has a one-year contract plus a one-year option like Hamilton had.
If they lead Sainz in a 1:1, then in 2025 there will be a fight between him and Russell, with Antonelli joining the one standing.
Either way, Mercedes arguably wouldn’t even be the most productive landing site for Sainz. Christian Horner has hinted that Sainz is a candidate for second place at Red Bull. Going up against Max proves a tall order, but Sainz has been right to accept Leclerc at Ferrari for years now. And if Max comes up with something or retires, Sainz will be one of the championship favourites, which sounds interesting.
That’s also not to say that Sainz has been connected with KICK Sauber Audi connections and would be the undisputed number one driver there, regardless of who occupies that second seat.
There are a number of smaller features that Mercedes could consider. Let’s review them:
Frederik Vesti is an option as a Mercedes Junior Team driver and runner-up in Formula 2 last year. Poor Vesti has been ignored in his career so far and will most likely come back in this decision.
If Mick Schumacher had been called into action at some point last year and been impressed, he would certainly have been a clear favourite. Sadly, Michael Schumacher’s son didn’t get his second chance in F1 and probably never will.
Perhaps the ultimate choice of the troll in all of this would be Valtteri Bottas. Wolff has nurtured Bottas in his career, while Bottas has proven to be one of the most productive number two drivers in F1 history. It’s possible that Bottas will play Russell’s role again, but Russell doesn’t really want him at this level of his career and neither does Bottas.
Then the wonder option.
Sebastian Vettel has been open to discussing a return to Formula 1. The four-time champion tested a Porsche Penske Hyperautomobile last month in his first publicly known action on a new race car since retiring from F1 in 2022.
That’s probably the most productive option for Russell outside of Antonelli. Vettel has struggled at times in his later years; The German came close to a fifth championship in 2018, and that seemed to break him mentally. Charles Leclerc managed to beat him decisively at Ferrari, and then Vettel managed to beat Lance Stroll at Aston Martin, but not as much as Alonso did. .
Vettel would be a challenge for Russell, but at the same time it would also be positive for Great Britain. Russell beat him and will be informed a lot by doing so, not to mention that Vettel will only be positive for the team in many other ways. It would be a big decision for Mercedes to market, especially as German champion for the German automaker.
Vettel would be a smart measuring tool to judge Russell without turning things into a purely competitive environment as would be the case with Sainz.
One clever thing about the limited number of seats in F1 is that, in hindsight, there are terrible options possible here with the vast pool of candidates. However, Wolff will soon have to make that decision; More and more drivers will slowly leave the market as Alonso just did if he is not careful.
Michael has been watching NASCAR for 20 years and covered the game from 2013 to 2021. He went on to cover Formula 1, IndyCar and SRX for the venue, while also getting in the water from time to time in the NASCAR pool.