Hamilton, Alonso, Schumacher – there is a threat of chaos on the driver market

With Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari The driver carousel in Formula 1 begins to turn even before the season begins. This year could be particularly turbulent.

The name says it all: The so-called Silly Season is accompanied by excitement every year in Formula 1. This refers to the season phase in which the drivers negotiate their contracts with the teams and the driver carousel begins to turn merrily.

The term is no coincidence: Once the first domino has fallen through a driver change, it often sets off a whole chain of events: Who will extend their contract? Who moves where? And who will ultimately no longer get a place in Formula 1? All of these questions keep teams, drivers, fans and journalists on tenterhooks every year.

Just one example of how chaotic things can be: When Fernando Alonso announced his move from Alpine to Aston Martin in 2022, the French racing team quickly presented young driver Oscar Piastri as his successor. He didn’t know anything about it and had negotiated with McLaren about a place for the coming season. In a Twitter post he quickly rejected Alpine, a legal dispute ensued, Piastri ended up driving for McLaren – and Alpine was still without a driver, but with his pants down.

This season, however, the “Silly Season” is likely to be extremely spectacular even without such a dispute. Because not only did the first stone fall with Lewis Hamilton’s move from Mercedes to Ferrari before the start of the season. After the season, the contracts of a particularly large number of drivers expire. Chaos is finding its way into Formula 1.

The driver carousel in the premier class of motorsport often only really begins to turn during the summer break. The timing is ideal because around half of the season has already been completed and the drivers have already been able to sufficiently demonstrate their skills and form. In addition, the break in the racing calendar provides the necessary time for negotiations.

This season, however, everything is different, because the sensational switch from Hamilton to Ferrari, which was announced before the start of the season, now sets the starting signal much earlier. With his Mercedes cockpit, one of the most coveted seats in Formula 1 becomes available. The drivers will literally fight for the seat with the “Silver Arrows”.

Mercedes will definitely have enough options: With Logan Sargeant (Williams), Yuki Tsunoda, Daniel Ricciardo (both RB), Nico Hülkenberg (Haas), Guanyu Zhou (Stake), Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly (both Alpine), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), the contracts of nine drivers expire after the season. There are also three other drivers, Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Valtteri Bottas (Stake) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), whose exact contract term is not known. However, it is expected that their contracts will also expire after the season.

This means that up to twelve of the current drivers in the field could be on the market this time. In addition, the stumbling block was Hamilton, a driver who actually still had a valid working document beyond 2024, but who had an exit clause. Something similar could happen to Williams driver Alexander Albon. According to team boss James Vowles, the Thai still has a contract for 2025, but he is said to be one of the candidates for the Mercedes seat.

Since Mercedes supplies the Williams team with engines and team boss Vowles has also worked for Mercedes for a long time, the relationships between the teams are good and a change could come about despite the valid contract. In the end, up to 14 of the 20 pilots could join the driver carousel. There are also young drivers and other drivers such as Mick Schumacher, who currently do not have a regular cockpit in the premier class of motorsport and see their chance to displace one of the other drivers.