Mercedes decided to retain its two drivers for another two seasons announcing the new contracts before the Italian Grand Prix. However, a number of senior paddock members have questioned the move from Toto Wolff for a number of reasons.
Firstly, its usual for a Formula One team to sign two drivers simultaneously for the same contractual period, something Martin Brundle noted when discussing Mercedes’ move with their team boss.
Brundle questions Mercedes’ contract strategy
The Sky F1 commentator said it was “unusual” that an F1 team didn’t “offset” the contract end dates of its drivers given they both may chose to leave at the same time which causes any team a headache.
Of course Mercedes at present are still perceived as the best hope rival Red Bull racing given their recent domination of Formula One, but the sands of the paddock are shifting in the new cost cap age, which will see the teams restricted further this season allowing just $135m of spend.
Aston Martin and now McLaren have demonstrated Formula One is no longer a three team sport, with Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull fighting for top spot and this trend may continue further as the Mercedes drivers contracts unwind towards the next big rule change in 2026.
Ex-F1 Grand Prix winner Johnny Herbert told GiveMeSport he believed Mercedes may live to regret their double two year contract awards.
Rumours EXPLODE on Norris team switch
“I’d probably try and wiggle a way of making Lando ready because I see him as one of the better drivers that we’ve got that is probably going to be one of the available ones. That’s who I think I’d be trying to aim for.”
Lando Norris is tied up with McLaren for the same time frame Russell and Hamilton are committed to Mercedes, but given the recent pay off made to Daniel Ricciardo believed to be in excess of $12m for a years lost pay, contracts are not what they may be perceived to be.
The 2016 F1 champion Nico Rosberg also suggests Mercedes may have missed the boat by sticking with Hamilton instead of striking for the hottest property in the F1 driver market. Rosberg claims Norris may not be sticking around with his current team until the end of 2025 and during the Sky coverage of the Monza weekend he SHOCKED listeners when stating:
“Where’s he [Norris] going? Next year already, I hear there’s a switch coming.”
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Perez numbers are poor
Of course if this is true, both Mercedes and Ferrari have set on their driver lineup for 2024 and so only one real possibility is on the table for the star British driver.
Red Bull of course will be looking for Sergio Perez replacement given he has clearly demonstrated in a closer title fight he cannot be depended upon to run second behind his team mate.
This year Sergio has an average qualifying position of an incredible 7.92, while Verstappen who has not had the uber dominant Saturday car averages 3.14.
The huge problem for Red Bull is despite the genius of the RB19 car design which is smashing Formula One records held for decades, Perez average finishing position is outside the podium places and after 14 races is just 4.07.
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Perez and Max have history
Just two years ago Red Bull faced a close battle for the drivers championship with Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes but they conceded the constructors title to their arch rivals because perez failed to match the performance of Valterri Bottas, Hamilton’s number two.
Of course Red Bull knew the writing was one the wall when their drivers had a very public row at the Sau Paulo Grand Prix towards the end of last year. Verstappen refused to hand over sixth place to Perez in this closing laps of the race.
Perez had publicly asked Max to help him win his hoe Grand Prix even the drivers’ championship was over by then. Verstappen responded stating “every race win should be earned” though there source of the bad blood was believed to have originated in Monaco.
Ahead of Verstappen in the principality with one last qualifying run remaining, Checo had an unusual crush before the tunnel blocking the entire track and costing Verstappen the chance to beat him or claim pole position.
Horner mocks Wolff’s “lack of understanding”
Red Bull promoting Liam Lawson
Red Bull looked to deal with the duel problem of Perez by bringing Daniel Ricciardo home to the fold when McLaren ditched him at the end of last season.
The plan was going ahead as the Aussie replaced Nyck de Vries in Alph tour with twelve races remaining this year to prove he was worthy of the drive alongside Verstappen again.
Yet having broken his hand in Zandvoort, Christian Horner stated during the weekend in Monza he didn’t expect Richard to return for the Singapore Grand Prix up next.
The more surprising revelation was that the team may elect to run Ricciardo’s replacement Liam Lawson the following race too, given he has a Super Formula Championship decided at the same Suzuka circuit the week after F1 is in town. Ricciardo may now struggle to prove his worth alongside Max, depending on how quickly he gets up to speed when he returns to the cockpit.
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Zak Brown defensive of Norris
McLaren boss Zak Brown has been on the defensive ever since Christian Horner revealed Red Bull had spoken twice to Norris about driving for them and Norris recently suggested he would have “no problem” with driving alongside max Verstappen in a Red Bull car.
Max Verstappen added even more fuel to the rumours when he told reporters in Monza he and Lando have discussed being team mates.
”We talk about it,” said Verstappen, who has previously described Norris as his “best friend” on the grid, in an interview with Sky Sports in Italy.
Brown has reiterated several times this year that Norris is contracted until the ed of 2025 and he is ‘happy’ with his McLaren team.
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Improved MCL60 may sway Norris
“He loves McLaren, it’s been his family, so there’s no doubt in my mind is his number one choice is to win a world championship with McLaren,” said Brown before the F1 summer break.
“I think the best thing we do to retain him is to demonstrate to him we’re a team capable of doing that. It’s not a case of wooing him or not wooing him, it’s about giving him a car where he can look himself in the mirror and say ‘I think I can win a world championship with this team’.”
Of course McLaren have made huge strides since their upgraded MCL60 proved to be a front runner in Austria. In the five races before Monza the historic Woking based team had scored more points amongst the chasing pack than Mercedes or Ferrari.
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Norris walking would be ironic
Whether this is enough to tempt Norris to stay, only the next few races will reveal.
McLaren expect to be strong next up in Singapore as the circuit is suited to their car whereas Monza may have been the least friendly toward the characteristics of the MCL60.
Should Norris walk on his contract with McLaren, there would be some ironic smiles in the paddock given Brown’s behaviour stealing Oscar Pisatri from under Alpine’s nose and the current legal battle with Indycar champion Alex Palou.
READ MORE: Perez confirms he is “looking for alternatives” to Red Bull
How racing should be, tough but fair 🫡 #ItalianGP 🇮🇹 #F1
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) September 3, 2023
If Red Bull truly wants Lando, they’d definitiely be able to provide financial compensation for contract termination.
However, such a move would only happen after next season anyway, after which I can see Checo quitting F1 for good, perhaps switching to IndyCar.
Btw, the final SF round in Suzuka occurs on the Mexico City GP weekend, so five weeks after F1’s Suzuka round rather than one.
In my mind, Toto Woolf is possibly looking to retire when Hamilton does – maybe that will be in two years’ time. After that, it would be his replacement’s task to organise a racing team line-up, and he would have the opportunity of a clean sheet …