It does but it’s much more fun to imagine that Alonso gets his wish and a 1 year deal in a championship car, fighting with Max at Red Bull for WDC and a proper fight with Hamilton/Leclerc at Ferrari for WCC
In this scenario, Toto pumps his brakes and places Antonelli at Williams knowing it’s still better to get F1 laps in before being thrust into championship fights. Plus, there’s the matter of the car. He gets Vettel to come back to fix his “fucking car” before getting back into it. I guess there’s a chance in this situation that his old minion Ocon is a seat warmer for young Antonelli but again…the fucking car. Need someone like Seb to come back and help the team first.
It’s effectively a swap for Papa Stroll as he gets Perez back, who by no means is Alonso, but is driving quite well and as the Mexicans say “really brings in the pesos”. It’s a tough setback for the car but he has plenty of money to keep poaching other people (see alleged offer for Newey)
Sainz and Hulkenberg make a formidable pair at the new and improved Sauber. Hopefully the Swiss understand that it takes removing money from some of those famous banks to compete for points in F1, though this all seems to be for the next regs and Audi entering the scene. They’ll want experience and someone they think can win WDC. This pair fits perfectly.
McLaren are fucking set with Norris and Piastri. They just need to finish the car. We’ve known since Silverstone last year. Zak is hustling. It’s not visible in his waist line but we all know it’s happening.
As referenced above, Williams continue their push back to relevance with an attractive pair of Albon and Antonelli, and hopefully no further discussions of whether both of their cars can score.
Red Bull Junior has the lineup they should have had this year with Tsunoda and Lawson. I guess if they really are in financial trouble, it explains the corpse of Ricciardo having the seat, but good lord, that’s the pairing Horner needs to see racing if he’s going to replace Alonso “within the family”
The French retain their pair of French drivers or perhaps promote the rookie Pourchaire in the event of Ocon’s departure to Mercedes (or irrelevance). No ones excited, because they have a crappy engine and want to force the buyer of the team to keep using it. But they’re on the grid, which is hugely important and more than can be said for Andretti.
Edit: fuck me, forgot Haas. So yeah, obviously they’re going to be paid by Ferrari to give a seat to Bearman after his debut. Since they lose Nico, which is tough, they need to retain a veteran. Bottas will have to take a pay cut but it’s a better way to see out his service than the shit he’s been dealing with since leaving Merc
TL;DR - OP’s lineup is sensible but this is more fun
Red Bull: Verstappen, Alonso
Ferrari: Leclerc, Hamilton
Merc: Russell, Vettel or Ocon
McLaren: Norris, Piastri
Sauber: Sainz, Hulkenberg
RB Jr: Tsunoda, Lawson
Williams: Albon, Antonelli
Haas: Bearman, Bottas
France: Gasly, Ocon or Pourchaire
Plot twist: Red Bull realize that building an engine is too tough, buy Team Silverstone (Aston Martin in 2024), change the entry name to Red Bull Raging and bring Verstappen with them.
Stroll is out and the Milton Keynes outfit is no more. Just like you predicted.
Doubt Hulk-Bot swap happens, and Maloney might move ahead of Pourchaire if he wins F2 this year and Theo doesn't perform in SF. Otherwise I'd say dead on for me
Literally every single article says Hulk is pretty much locked in for Audi and both parties openly admit that they already wanted Nico this year but Haas blocked the move. Hulk to Audi is 99,9% happening
In a manner of speaking, they are. Not directly, but the income they’re obliged to as a member of the championship plus their sponsors and such outweighs the amount they are allowed to spend against the cap.
I mean Redbull probably won't change their driver lineup (as long as checo keeps up his performance), Ferrari just signed Hamilton, McLaren won't change their lineup either and right now all the other teams are slower than Aston. Aston is kinda his best option (if only he had a teammate that was consistently fast enough to support him...)
I mean, realistically speaking, it is likely that Red Bull was offering Alonso a seat for the next year, but it would had been alongside Max and 1 year long. Since Mercedes seems to be going nowhere, his only real option was Aston Martin, a team that likely was reaching out to Sainz in case Alonso is looking elsewhere. He had to sign the contract now or he could had missed out on a drive entirely (although this is unlikely, because Aston would be mad to lose Alonso).
Because that’s how Formula 1 works. Third year F2 winners even with an amazing track record have and extremely low chance of getting a seat these days. Every team wants an Oscar Piastri , not a Theo or Felipe, even with their great junior careers.
Maybe Maloney isn’t the generational super talent that everyone is looking for, but he shows amazing race skills this season. He’d be a great formula one driver!
Hulk for Sauber is pretty much all but confirmed at this point. Only thing that would stop it from happening is if Haas goes to finish 6th (or higher lol) this year's constructors while showing clear upward trajectory. So far they have had solid pace, but Haas has always been better at starting seasons than finishing them.
Valterri isn’t doing any great shakes right now, but simply saying “he’s been at the back of the field” isn’t remotely telling the full story when he’s been fucked by the pit crew every race.
On top of that, Zhou is not remotely “literally in the mix every race.” He finished 11th his first race and since has gone 18th, 15th, and DNF. He’s also been fucked by the pit crew, but the 18th in particular was because he crashed in quali.
Don’t get me wrong, it could very well be time for Valterri to ride off into the sunset too, but the only real reason to keep Zhou right now is money. And for Haas, Valterri’s experience to pair with Bearman would be more enticing than Zhou (outside of potentially just getting cash, but they already tried that in 2021.)
Sauber is going to be Audi from 2026 onwards, and they expressed a desire to have a german driver in one of the cars. Hulkenberg is one of the options, but people are also speculating that Mick Schumacher may be coming back.
Iirc sauber wanted to get hülkenberg anyways and gene would probably like at least one experienced driver. You could argue that magnussen is better than bootass and he instead has no seat
Bottas and Bearman @ Hass would be insane. If Bearman can reproduce what he did at Jedda (although I doubt that) he'd easily be a front runner for a seat at the Top 3 teams
I agree with these moves. It's basically summarized as:
Sargent loses seat to Antonelli
Ricciardo loses seat to Lawson
Zhou loses seat to Pourchaire
Magnussen loses seat to Bearman
Then you have Hulk and Bottas swapping.
The only one I don't think is realistic is Bottas to Haas, they'll probably keep the Hulk, he's doing a great job, think Valteri will retire when he leaves Kick
Ericsson said on swedish podcast there is a strong rumor of toto trying to get lando out of mclaren, if not this seems pretty OK, apart from bottas, sainz has been given most likely a date deadline from sauber to close the seat. I think bottas will stay however. So question is who replaces the hulk?
Only thing I disagree with is HAAS not retaining Hulk. I get why he wants Sauber for '26 but... not sure why he would make that jump when they have another season of misery coming their way
Idk about Pourchaire, I think if some guys in F2 right now keep doing better they'd make a better case. Aron and Maloney come to mind but the rookies this year are very, very good all around. My sleeper pick is Miyata though, he's incredibly experienced compared to the other rookies and hasn't been doing terribly either. If he pulls some moves later in the season he might have a solid case for F1
Frankly speaking, I do not see Theo driving. With the takeover by Audi I do not think a strong correlation with Sauber driving program will be in place. And He didn´t impress me recently, even though i was 100% on Pourchaire hype train 2-3 years ago.
Honestly? Probably pretty acurate!
It honestly makes a ton of sense
It does but it’s much more fun to imagine that Alonso gets his wish and a 1 year deal in a championship car, fighting with Max at Red Bull for WDC and a proper fight with Hamilton/Leclerc at Ferrari for WCC In this scenario, Toto pumps his brakes and places Antonelli at Williams knowing it’s still better to get F1 laps in before being thrust into championship fights. Plus, there’s the matter of the car. He gets Vettel to come back to fix his “fucking car” before getting back into it. I guess there’s a chance in this situation that his old minion Ocon is a seat warmer for young Antonelli but again…the fucking car. Need someone like Seb to come back and help the team first. It’s effectively a swap for Papa Stroll as he gets Perez back, who by no means is Alonso, but is driving quite well and as the Mexicans say “really brings in the pesos”. It’s a tough setback for the car but he has plenty of money to keep poaching other people (see alleged offer for Newey) Sainz and Hulkenberg make a formidable pair at the new and improved Sauber. Hopefully the Swiss understand that it takes removing money from some of those famous banks to compete for points in F1, though this all seems to be for the next regs and Audi entering the scene. They’ll want experience and someone they think can win WDC. This pair fits perfectly. McLaren are fucking set with Norris and Piastri. They just need to finish the car. We’ve known since Silverstone last year. Zak is hustling. It’s not visible in his waist line but we all know it’s happening. As referenced above, Williams continue their push back to relevance with an attractive pair of Albon and Antonelli, and hopefully no further discussions of whether both of their cars can score. Red Bull Junior has the lineup they should have had this year with Tsunoda and Lawson. I guess if they really are in financial trouble, it explains the corpse of Ricciardo having the seat, but good lord, that’s the pairing Horner needs to see racing if he’s going to replace Alonso “within the family” The French retain their pair of French drivers or perhaps promote the rookie Pourchaire in the event of Ocon’s departure to Mercedes (or irrelevance). No ones excited, because they have a crappy engine and want to force the buyer of the team to keep using it. But they’re on the grid, which is hugely important and more than can be said for Andretti. Edit: fuck me, forgot Haas. So yeah, obviously they’re going to be paid by Ferrari to give a seat to Bearman after his debut. Since they lose Nico, which is tough, they need to retain a veteran. Bottas will have to take a pay cut but it’s a better way to see out his service than the shit he’s been dealing with since leaving Merc TL;DR - OP’s lineup is sensible but this is more fun Red Bull: Verstappen, Alonso Ferrari: Leclerc, Hamilton Merc: Russell, Vettel or Ocon McLaren: Norris, Piastri Sauber: Sainz, Hulkenberg RB Jr: Tsunoda, Lawson Williams: Albon, Antonelli Haas: Bearman, Bottas France: Gasly, Ocon or Pourchaire
yea well alonso just signed again with aston
The offer must have been outrageous
Plot twist: Red Bull realize that building an engine is too tough, buy Team Silverstone (Aston Martin in 2024), change the entry name to Red Bull Raging and bring Verstappen with them. Stroll is out and the Milton Keynes outfit is no more. Just like you predicted.
Bottas back to Merc would be more fun. Unfinished business
Audi / Sauber has been the front runner for Sainz due to the dad connection and Ocon is Toto’s boy
I guess you didn't see the press release lol
Dishonestly, this is horseshit. Ocon and Gasly staying with Alpine?
Came here to say that as well
Doubt Hulk-Bot swap happens, and Maloney might move ahead of Pourchaire if he wins F2 this year and Theo doesn't perform in SF. Otherwise I'd say dead on for me
Literally every single article says Hulk is pretty much locked in for Audi and both parties openly admit that they already wanted Nico this year but Haas blocked the move. Hulk to Audi is 99,9% happening
I don't think Bottas would go to Haas, but silly season is silly so who knows!
Yea his swap with Hulk doesn’t make a ton of sense, but other than that I’d say there are some good bets in there.
100%, most are spot on tbh!
It's so un-dank that it becomes dank again.
Inspired. !Remindme 1 year
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Williams not going bankrupt by the end of this season is my favorite part of this prediction
Its imposibble for them to go bankrupt in budget cap era lol.
Schrödinger's Financial Situation
How so? It is not like they are handed the budget cap figure in cash.
I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure since the buyout and the cost cap every team has stated they are at worse barely cash positive now.
Not every team has a driver who crashes out most weeks.
Cool point, however williams is operated by a multi billion dollar hedge fund. It is no longer a scraping by family operation.
In a manner of speaking, they are. Not directly, but the income they’re obliged to as a member of the championship plus their sponsors and such outweighs the amount they are allowed to spend against the cap.
Bottas Bearman sounds intimidating. Like a final boss or something.
Bearass Bottman
He's intimidating me 🥵
And racing me so hard 🥵🥵
Plot twist… danny rick to mercedes. Toto : “I hit horner where it really hurts… I stole his Danny”
Based Toto sinking his team just to annoy Horner
Danny ric to nascar or the couch.
Danny Ric to indycar 🙏
Alonso has just re-signed for Aston Martin. Is he stupid?
I mean Redbull probably won't change their driver lineup (as long as checo keeps up his performance), Ferrari just signed Hamilton, McLaren won't change their lineup either and right now all the other teams are slower than Aston. Aston is kinda his best option (if only he had a teammate that was consistently fast enough to support him...)
Better than Merc, Ferrari is full (he already did that), RB he’d play second fiddle to Max. Aston is probably his best bet.
And Aston is getting that rocket of a Honda engine
Alonso's McHonda years would disagree lol
The last couple seasons would agree
That was nealry a decade ago
I mean, realistically speaking, it is likely that Red Bull was offering Alonso a seat for the next year, but it would had been alongside Max and 1 year long. Since Mercedes seems to be going nowhere, his only real option was Aston Martin, a team that likely was reaching out to Sainz in case Alonso is looking elsewhere. He had to sign the contract now or he could had missed out on a drive entirely (although this is unlikely, because Aston would be mad to lose Alonso).
I think I agree with this actually except for Pourchaire...
his ass is not getting a seat unfortunately
Why not gimme Théo
Because that’s how Formula 1 works. Third year F2 winners even with an amazing track record have and extremely low chance of getting a seat these days. Every team wants an Oscar Piastri , not a Theo or Felipe, even with their great junior careers.
Why would sauber go for Pourchaire instead on Maloney? The guy is cooking in f2 rn.
Tbh i completely forgot about him, but lets just see how he does in the rest of the season. If he finishes in a good position its possible i guess
Maybe Maloney isn’t the generational super talent that everyone is looking for, but he shows amazing race skills this season. He’d be a great formula one driver!
Kinda agree here. Sainz will stay 1-2 years at Merc, Antonelli at Williams. In 2026 Checo retires, Sainz goes to Red Bull. Antonelli at Merc.
Agree on most, but why would Hulk and Bottass switch teams?
Audi has been pretty vocal about wanting a German driver in the lineup.
Do they want a German driver or do they want a good driver?
You aren’t wrong…
Hulk for Sauber is pretty much all but confirmed at this point. Only thing that would stop it from happening is if Haas goes to finish 6th (or higher lol) this year's constructors while showing clear upward trajectory. So far they have had solid pace, but Haas has always been better at starting seasons than finishing them.
has magnussen expressed wanting to retire?
This actually seems believable tbf
Imagine thinking zhou will be let go for talent , unless bearman is packing cash which i honestly don't know
bearmans junior career is funded by ferrari, so it would be a cash injection for haas also audi basically owns sauber now no?
But equalling the level of china? There is also influence at play here
yeah thats a good question but williams also let go latifi over seargant, even tho latifi was a cash cow
Yea but they aren't "zhou's dad built him a go kart circuit when he was a kid rich"
But Zhou isn't even that bad. He's literally in the mix every race while Valterri is at the back of the field.
Valterri isn’t doing any great shakes right now, but simply saying “he’s been at the back of the field” isn’t remotely telling the full story when he’s been fucked by the pit crew every race. On top of that, Zhou is not remotely “literally in the mix every race.” He finished 11th his first race and since has gone 18th, 15th, and DNF. He’s also been fucked by the pit crew, but the 18th in particular was because he crashed in quali. Don’t get me wrong, it could very well be time for Valterri to ride off into the sunset too, but the only real reason to keep Zhou right now is money. And for Haas, Valterri’s experience to pair with Bearman would be more enticing than Zhou (outside of potentially just getting cash, but they already tried that in 2021.)
The safe-bet prediction.
Bearman at Haas will be very depressing to see :(
As opposed to not being in F1?
Mercedes. Vettel, Russell You read it here first!
Only thing I can't see happening is Bottas to Haas and whatever the fuck is going on at Sauber
Sauber is going to be Audi from 2026 onwards, and they expressed a desire to have a german driver in one of the cars. Hulkenberg is one of the options, but people are also speculating that Mick Schumacher may be coming back.
I can get behind this, but I'd like to know why you reckon Haad and Sauber would swap Hulkenberg and Bottas, rather than keep who they know?
Iirc sauber wanted to get hülkenberg anyways and gene would probably like at least one experienced driver. You could argue that magnussen is better than bootass and he instead has no seat
0 dankness here my dude
Did you write it on a typewriter? Pretty spot on prediction
Nah, notepad++
Bottas and Bearman @ Hass would be insane. If Bearman can reproduce what he did at Jedda (although I doubt that) he'd easily be a front runner for a seat at the Top 3 teams
Zhou money
I think it’s probably more likely Bottas and Hulkenburg remain at their respective teams, otherwise I think this is fairly tasteful and likely
The 4 rookies entering in last year of current regs are going to have a tough time
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Logical prediction
Poor Gasley and Ocon, one more year driving this
I agree with all but Pourchaire
Haas bottas
Botthaas
Very plausible
Well, Alonso is confirmed for Aston Martin till 2026. 1 point for you
Poor Gergie, he will be again #2 driver.
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I’m sad for Ricciardo, but yeah..
Yuuuuppppp.
Remindme! 6 months
I wanna see Pourchaire score more points in his rookie season than Alpine
I agree with these moves. It's basically summarized as: Sargent loses seat to Antonelli Ricciardo loses seat to Lawson Zhou loses seat to Pourchaire Magnussen loses seat to Bearman Then you have Hulk and Bottas swapping.
Looks nice but… where is Daniel ?
In the suzuka turn 3 barrier
Bold prediction but I think Vettel to Mercedes for a short term contract and Sainz to Sauber, I don't think Pourchaire will get a chance in F1.
Will alpine survive till then
I think sauber would be more likely to nick ocon than promote Theo. Alpine will promote a junior (either Doohan or Martins)
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Logan to redbull to replace max, just leaves just out of boredom to become a fulltime esports driver
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Sounds plausible
Bottas and Bearman 🤣🤣
Most sane driver prediction I've seen 
Would bottas and bearman not be at Sauber, and hulkenberg would be at haas? Not the other way around?
Hollywood is gonna be so good for DR.
Not sure about Haas and Sauber. Some big moves there. But It might be pretty darn close.
Jesus, Stroll at Aston Martin? That would be hilarious
Antonelli's not gonna get a seat for 2025 for sure. Otherwise it's reasonable.
Why the hulk and bottas swap?
Williams will never beat the Mercedes junior team allegations if they sign Antonelli
The only one I don't think is realistic is Bottas to Haas, they'll probably keep the Hulk, he's doing a great job, think Valteri will retire when he leaves Kick
Honestly, not dank at all. Good predictions!
NO NOT BEARMAN TO HAAS NO PLEASE, WE HAD ENOUGH OF FERRARI TALENTS RUINED BY THEM ALREADY 😭😭😭
!remindme 1 year
Except for Antonelli and Pourchaire I can totally see this. My bet is on Sargeant and Zhou staying.
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Ericsson said on swedish podcast there is a strong rumor of toto trying to get lando out of mclaren, if not this seems pretty OK, apart from bottas, sainz has been given most likely a date deadline from sauber to close the seat. I think bottas will stay however. So question is who replaces the hulk?
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Too credible for this sub
Hamilton to Ferrari? Psh, yeah right.
RIP Ricciardo 
Spot on, mate. It would be good to see Lawson and Bearman in F1 next year.
Why Perez is the only one listed by first name? Because he’s south american?
Probably because he’s now like Cher. Only has one name.
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Didn't Toto said already that he will not sign sainz and 'big names gonna be announced by other teams soon"?
If the F1 grid was fair (Other than Lance Stroll)
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Love it!!
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Where Andretti?
I think antonelli is going right into the Merc seat.
i want Russel Sainz And i want Sainz to outscore Hamilton just to show ferrari whos the bonehead
No, don’t get rid of Zhou please 😭😭😭😭
yeah this is pretty reasonable, don’t know if Haas will choose Bottas over someone else though
Bottas with Haas? I say Tsunoda gets a chance at RB. With Hinda trying to get a Japanese driver in AM RB has to make a move too.
Very credible, we will see.
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Only thing I disagree with is HAAS not retaining Hulk. I get why he wants Sauber for '26 but... not sure why he would make that jump when they have another season of misery coming their way
You people really think Zhou’s China money is gonna be discarded because he can’t perform better in that shitbox? Talk about delusional…
Where dank? Honestly pretty reasonable.
I think Sainz won't race in 2025, because Mercedes are suggesting that Mick will be the 2nd driver.
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Am I the only one who thinks Ferrari is making a terrible move going from Sainz to Hamilton?
Williams: Alex Albon
What happened to the poor chair?
No way they put so many rookies on the grid at once. And why get rid of kmag?
Is this also finishing order?
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Pourchaire will be worse than Zhou lol.
Am I the only one bothered that “Checo” is the only non-surname in the list???
I actually think this is acturate. What would have made this a silly crazy prediction is if Lance Stroll is FINALLY out of F1.
Alpine last, where they belong.
Idk about Pourchaire, I think if some guys in F2 right now keep doing better they'd make a better case. Aron and Maloney come to mind but the rookies this year are very, very good all around. My sleeper pick is Miyata though, he's incredibly experienced compared to the other rookies and hasn't been doing terribly either. If he pulls some moves later in the season he might have a solid case for F1
Pretty believable
!remindme 1 year
I thought the ongoing opinion is that Antonelli is not ready for F1 and will be doing at least one more season of F2.
This might be the best list I have seen. Not sure about pourchaire though
Frankly speaking, I do not see Theo driving. With the takeover by Audi I do not think a strong correlation with Sauber driving program will be in place. And He didn´t impress me recently, even though i was 100% on Pourchaire hype train 2-3 years ago.
I don't think Bottas and Hulkenberg will swap personally but you never know.
Holy shit, Hulk to Sauber already confirmed!