Where I said one thing, I meant another… As I said yesterday, in Formula 1, there's more lying than speaking. Even though the Racing Point boss said he wasn't interested in Sebastian Vettel , shortly afterward it was officially announced that the signing had been completed. It's a good thing they weren't interested and that the driver lineup had already been decided in the past with the active contracts of Lance Stroll and Sergio Pérez (who had a multi-year contract until 2022 that they signed and have now broken)…
The Mexican driver has been left off the grid for the 2021 F1 season for the time being, and has no plans. Now he'll have to look for any opening that may arise, and compete with other drivers also vying for a seat, such as the German Nico Hülkenberg. And frankly, he won't have it easy against Hülkenberg, as he's one of the most talented drivers in F1, even though he's never been in the right car to demonstrate that talent with significant results…
Lawrence Stroll, the team's current owner and father of Lance Stroll, has therefore kept his son on the team, as expected. He has sacrificed Sergio Pérez, bringing forward his departure prematurely, and replaced him with Sebastian Vettel. The contract signed with Racing Point is open-ended, although it should be noted that from F1 2021 onwards, the team will be renamed Aston Martin.
The indefinite contract does not seem to indicate that Aston Martin has too much confidence in Sebastian Vettel, or perhaps it is because they plan to make the leap to Mercedes if Bottas leaves. Another key point is that the German will go from charging the current 35 million to 15 million, therefore, the salary is reduced to less than half. In addition, the team's prank on the Mexican will not come cheap. For having breached the contract they will have to pay Pérez 10 million euros per year until the end of 2022. Taking into account that Lance Stroll's salary is 1 million euros, that means an expense for Aston Martin of 1+15+ 10=26 million euros per year approximately. An amount substantially higher than what they currently paid at Racing Point and that could weigh down investment in other fields, such as development (although taking into account that it is a Mercedes B... perhaps it does not matter too much either).
Sebastian Vettel thus has another opportunity to prove he deserves to be in Formula 1, but it might be his last if he doesn't perform well. Personally, I think he'll do well, since without a winning car he'll be more relaxed, under less pressure, and less likely to make as many mistakes as he did at Ferrari. I suppose that will work in his favor. Now then… what if, by some chance, he gets promoted to Mercedes if one of the German team's drivers leaves? I'll leave that question hanging. But that could mean another ordeal like the one he had at Ferrari.
Therefore, with this announcement now official, F1 is left wondering whether Kimi Räikkönen will leave Formula 1 at the end of this season, freeing up a seat at Alfa Romeo for Sergio Pérez or Nico Hülkenberg. In other words, the 2021 F1 grid, after Sebastian Vettel's confirmation, would look like this:
In blue those already confirmed. In red those that could still have changes...
- Mercedes Benz: Lewis Hamilton / Valtteri Bottas
- Classic Ferrari for sale: Charles Leclerc / Carlos Sainz
- Red Bull: Max Verstappen / Alexander Albon or Pierre Gasly, since the Frenchman is earning his way back
- Racing Point: Sebastian Vettel / Lance Stroll
- McLaren: Lando Norris / Daniel Ricciardo
- Renault: Fernando Alonso / Esteban Ocón
- Alpha tauri: Daniil Kvyat/Pierre Gasly or Alexander Albon, if they demote him like they usually do on the energy drink team when their drivers don't deliver
- Williams: George Russell / Nicholas Latifi
- Alfa Romeo: Kimi Räikkönen if he stays, and if he leaves maybe Pérez or Nico Hülkenberg / Antonio Giovinazzi
- Haas: Romain Grosjean/Kevin Magnussen, although both are likely to stay, trades would not be ruled out. Sergio Pérez is the one who sounds the most for this team, but also Robert Shwartzman and Mick Schumacher are trying to make the jump to F1 from their lower category...