The F1 driver market in 2024 has been everything but straightforward. It all started when Lewis Hamilton announced his shocking departure from Mercedes. He was leaving a team that had been with him from the start of his career. All of his 7 World Championships came with Mercedes power. He left the Stuttgart team to join the team in Maranello. Statistically, the most successful driver on the grid was on his way to the most successful team on the grid.

With Carlos Sainz out of a seat, he became the hottest prospect on the driver market. Every team that had a seat available wanted to get a Spaniard in it. He had proved he was a good midfield driver during his Renault/McLaren days, and when he got a competitive Ferrari, he showed he had it in him to fight for wins too.

Carlos Sainz: The Bottleneck

Carlos Sainz is a very crucial driver to understand and put together the driver market for 2025. His single move to a team determines the placement of all other drivers. Williams, Audi (currently Stake Sauber), and Alpine are showing interest in the Spaniard. It’s up to Sainz to decide where he wants to drive next year. In an ideal scenario, Sainz would’ve liked to remain in a top team, either with Red Bull or Mercedes. But with Red Bull confirming Perez alongside Max and Mercedes in no hurry to make their decision, Sainz would have to settle for a lower-table team.

Audi F1 Project

Audi has been clear from the start, that they want Carlos Sainz in the team. The team earlier signed Nico Hulkenberg who was a no-brainer, a German driver in a German team. Sainz has been offered a very lucrative deal to join the project. However, Sainz is interested more in performance than money. Audi which is currently Sauber sits at the bottom of the Constructor Standings. With Audi coming in 2026, the team would still take a few years to move up to the top half of the field. So while monetarily the deal sounds good, on the performance side it’s not so much. For Audi, the other option would be Esteban Ocon, who left Alpine and is considered a strong midfield driver. Another option would be to re-sign Valterri Bottas who is already at the team and is a former race winner with another German team on the grid.

Alpine’s second seat.

Ever since Flavio Briatore joined the Enstone team, the rumours of Alpine wanting Sainz have picked up the pace. Alpine wants to move up the field quickly and is making its decisions to align them on this path. Bringing Briatore back into the team as an executive advisor was part of it. Signing Carlos Sainz would be a statement of intent from the team. They have already confirmed Gasly on a multi-year deal, bringing some consistency in their future. On the second seat, should Sainz decide not to partner up with Gasly the other option would be Jack Doohan.

The Alpine Academy driver who finished 3rd in Formula 2 last year is currently the team’s reserve driver. Promoting him to the team will also show the team’s confidence in their academy and junior drivers. Another option would be to bring the ex-Alpine Academy driver Zhou into the team. The Chinese driver will most probably end up without a seat next season with Audi (Sauber) showing no interest in him. Alpine can also promote other Academy drivers, Victor Martins or Kush Maini, should either one of them have a stellar Formula 2 campaign in the remainder of the year.

Williams Rebuild

Williams under James Vowles are on their way to the front. The team has shown promise and an uptick in form compared to their previous years. Recently the team announced the hiring of top technical talent from around the grid. Carlos Sainz is the driver that the team wants to lead its rebuilding. Sainz is also said to be inclined more towards Williams out of all his offers. Vowles’s leadership and a promising Mercedes engine in 2026 are what attract the Spaniard to the team.

Williams also has Bottas as their backup plan in case Sainz doesn’t join them. The Finn started his career with Williams and would come to a full circle should he end up there. Another option could be to bring Mercedes junior Kimi Antonelli to the team. But with the Italian all but confirmed for Mercedes, this outcome could be an unlikely one.

VCARB’s Dilemma

VCARB or RB was quick to extend Yuki Tsunoda’s contract with the team. It’s the other seat they have a dilemma about. Daniel Ricciardo needs no introduction, and it is safe to say he brings in wealth of experience and knowledge to the team. However, his performances are not meeting the standards he has set for himself, something he has also said multiple times. RB is a junior team, on the grid to train young drivers before they step up to Red Bull Racing. In that sense, the team might think about promoting Liam Lawson.

The Kiwi turned out for the team last year during Ricciardo’s injury phase and impressed everyone. Should RB promote Lawson, that would mean Ricciardo would be available on the driver market. If you’re a team that’s looking for a driver with experience and a wealth of knowledge, it’s a no-brainer for you to sign Ricciardo. Teams like Audi or Williams should try and get the Australian’s signature should he be dropped by RB.

Junior drivers set for promotions

Oliver Bearman and Andrea Kimi Antonelli who are currently teammates at Prema in Formula 2 are all but confirmed to get their Formula 1 call-ups. Oliver Bearman who subbed at the last minute for Carlos Sainz is vouched to get a seat at Haas for next year. The Brit impressed everyone on his Formula 1 debut for Ferrari, scoring 6 points. He was also voted the “Driver of the Day” by the fans.

Bearman’s current teammate might end up partnering George Russell at Mercedes. The Italian already has enough super license points to his name. Just 17 years of age, he has won 4 Feeder Series titles in the last 2 years. He was also promoted to Formula 2 after just one year in the Formula Regional European Championship, where he won the title. Mercedes would look to bring Kimi into the team to secure their future. With Lewis Hamilton out of the team, George Russell automatically takes the leadership role within the team. Kimi is someone they can bring into the team in 2025 and prepare him for the future. Bringing someone like Sainz could hamper the team dynamics as neither Russell nor Sainz would settle to be the ‘Second Driver’. The team has learned its lessons from 2016 and would want to have a compatible driver pairing at their helm.

Mercedes also has another out-of-the-box option for their vacant seat, signing Max from Red Bull. It is no secret that Red Bull is having internal conflicts within the team. From Horner’s scandal at the start of the year to Newey leaving the team more recently, the Austrian team might be losing its stability. Mercedes would do anything to bring Max into the team. Jos Verstappen has also been very vocal about not being a fan of Horner lately. His most recent comments came today calling Horner “childish”.

Max has said that he is happy where he is now. Red Bull offers him the chance to fight for championships. Max himself too is very comfortable with how the car behaves and can drive it according to his preference. In the recent few races, it is Max who has won the races from others rather than the car who has won it for him. So it’s safe to say that Max might not leave Red Bull for a much inferior Mercedes, but in the silly world of F1, you just never know.

The final week of June has brought yet another Grand Prix weekend in the world of Formula One. The triple header offers fans a perfect reason to stay indoors during the monsoons. After an amazing Spanish Grand Prix, the Austrian Grand Prix stands to provide more entertainment in an already entertaining championship. As McLaren and Lando Norris inch closer to the top while the Ferraris face their own fallout, the championship is heating up. So let’s get into what stories might take shape at the Red Bull Ring.

KNOW THE CIRCUIT

The Austrian Grand Prix will be held at the Red Bull Ring. A simple yet challenging circuit. The Red Bull Ring is a 4.318 km long FIA grade 1 race circuit. Home to the Austrian GP for F1 and MotoGP and briefly to the Styrian Grand Prix during the 2020-21 F1 season. With the race competed over 71 laps or 306 km, the circuit consists 10 corners and 3 DRS zones. A fairly short and simple track with the lap record held by Carlos Sainz Jr with a 1:05.619.

The defining feature of this beautiful track is the Bull sculpture looking over the track at turns 6 and 7. The track is home to the Red Bull Formula One team as Dietrich Mateschitz (co-founder of Red Bull) himself bought the track and renovated it after it was left unused for many years.

With a track having fast straights & heavy braking zones, action will be inevitable. Teams are now inching closer to being the best which will give Red Bull a good run for their money on home turf.

Read more about the Red Bull Ring

TEAM PERFORMANCES

The Spanish Grand Prix showed us that Red Bulls aren’t the strongest of the pack anymore. Let’s look at Qualifying itself. Lando Norris qualified on pole with a margin of two-hundredths of a second. It might not seem like much at first, but considering the RB20 was the fastest car at the season’s start, this is a big leap in performance for the Woking outfit. The Papaya team has finished on the podium and collected a good points haul in the past six races.

The same can’t be said by for Ferrari and Mercedes. With the latter suffering from performance issues and the former suffering from one-up-ism. With Red Bull being the benchmark for all the teams, the Mercs have had a huge gap to fill. The 8x WCC winners have fallen short since their last championship campaign back in 2021. The German outfit has lacked performance since the new regulations came in place. Forcing the team to settle for points and finishing in the middle order of the pack. But Spain was a positive weekend for the team. The Mercedes duo locked out the second row for the race in qualifying. They finished in the same order with Lewis Hamilton scoring a podium for the team.

The team tinted in red has its own power struggles with the drivers. On one hand, Charles Leclerc proved to be a worthy adversary on track after his podium spells and enthralling win in Monaco. On the other, the exiting Carlos Sainz Jr has a lot to show to other teams as evidence of his existence on the grid. With these two forces in the same team, clashes are bound to happen and one of them just occurred last weekend. Both drivers commented in the post-race interview and many speculate that there are many more clashes on their way as the season progresses.

The Alpines and Astons have been polar opposites to each other. The Frenchmen have scored double points for two race weekends in a row and showed somewhat consistent performances. The Astons meanwhile have fallen off the order, placing lower than what they used to.

TRACK LIMITS SITUATION

The Track Limits Fiasco from last year has also been taken into account by the FIA and changes have been made respectively. For those in the dark about the track limits situation, many drivers exceeded track limits last year which caused chaos for race control and the stewards. Sergio Perez’s lap in qualifying last year sealed the deal for him in Q3, but exceeding track limits nullified his efforts, resulting in him being knocked out in Q2.

By adding gravel traps to Turn 9 and 10 and embedding additional cameras and sensors on the track to monitor drivers, officials will significantly reduce the chances of drivers gaining an advantage, thereby improving the race’s quality.

DRIVER MARKET AND TEAM SWITCH-UPS

Carlos Sainz has still shown uncertainty in his decision to move to a new team. William Or Sauber/Audi could be his main target but Alpine seems to be a viable option considering the heavy changes occurring within the French team’s Management. Speaking of Alpine, Flavio Briatore is back on the team as an Executive Advisor. The Renault CEO, Luca de Meo, has appointed the former team principal to rejoin. This will be Briatore’s return to Formula One after his infamous Crashgate scandal at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

The FIA has lowered the age limit for new entrants in Formula One. They have reduced the age limit to 17 years. This could lead to teams scouting for young guns to hop into their cars to score points and give them experience for better driving in the future. The most exciting prospect in this scenario is Mercedes and Kimi Antonelli. After Lewis Hamilton exits the team, the German team will be scouting for young blood. they have specifically been eyeing Kimi for a while and even issued a request to reduce the age limit to help Kimi seal a contract with them. This could lead to a new face on the grid, come 2025 or even later.

Schedule and Where To Watch

This race weekend is a sprint weekend, allowing drivers to score extra points in an additional shorter race on Saturday. With all the frontrunners “closer than ever before,” we could see an exciting battle for valuable points this weekend. You can watch all the sessions live on F1TV or Fancode.

History and Evolution of the track

The Austrian Grand Prix has been held in southeastern Austria at two locations near each other. It started in Zeltweg, about 70 km (43 mi) west of Graz. Since 1969, it has been held in Spielberg, which is only about 4 km (2.5 mi) away from Zeltweg. The race was first held at the Zeltweg Air Base for six years. It then moved to Österreichring a permanent track built nearby. It was later renamed to A-1 Ring and is now known as the Red Bull Ring.

Zeltweg Airfield circuit

In 1963, a non-championship race was held at the Zeltweg Airfield, won by Australian Jack Brabham. The first official championship race took place the next year. Italian Lorenzo Bandini won his only Formula One race in a Ferrari. Although the race was successful, the track was considered too dangerous because it was narrow and bumpy, and spectators had poor viewing areas. As a result, the FIA removed the race from the F1 calendar until a better track could be built.

Österreichring (Austria Circuit)

From 1970 to 1987, the Austrian Grand Prix was held at the Österreichring, a scenic and fast track in the Styrian mountains near Zeltweg. The track was known for its high-speed, flowing corners. In 1975, the Austrian Grand Prix was honoured with the title of European Grand Prix, an annual designation given to one European race. The 1987 race had to be restarted twice due to accidents on the narrow pit-straight grid. The track was eventually deemed too dangerous by the FIA because of its high-speed corners, lack of protection from trees and embankments, and frequent start-line accidents.

A1-Ring

In 1995 and 1996, the Österreichring was refurbished and modernized, allowing the race to return in 1997. The track was renamed the A1-Ring after a sponsor. Since it was located in Spielberg, the Grand Prix was now listed as being held in Spielberg. The 2002 event received negative publicity when Ferrari ordered Rubens Barrichello to let Michael Schumacher win. The A1-Ring hosted the Austrian Grand Prix until its final race in 2003.

RED BULL RING

When Formula One outgrew the A1-Ring circuit, plans were made to extend it. Parts of the track, including the pits and main grandstand, were demolished. The construction then stopped, leaving the circuit unusable for several years. Eventually, Red Bull’s Dietrich Mateschitz purchased and rebuilt it. Renamed the Red Bull Ring, the track reopened on May 15, 2011. It hosted a round of the 2011 DTM season and the 2011 F2 championship. Formula One returned to the circuit in the 2014 season, and MotoGP followed in the 2016 season.

Controversies

During the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix at the A1 Ring, Rubens Barrichello, who started from pole position, was comfortably leading the race in its final stages. However, Ferrari instructed him to yield his position to team leader Michael Schumacher. Initially resistant, Barrichello eventually allowed Schumacher to pass on the final corner of the last lap. Schumacher narrowly crossed the finish line ahead of Barrichello, resulting in one of the closest finishes in F1 history, with less than two-tenths of a second between them. The incident stirred significant controversy, with both the media and fans expressing outrage. Criticism focused on the timing of Ferrari’s team order, especially since Schumacher had already won four of the season’s first five races. This made the call seem unnecessary and sparked debate about sportsmanship and fairness in Formula One. At the end of the season, Schumacher’s dominant points lead over Barrichello further underscored the controversial nature of Ferrari’s decision at the Austrian Grand Prix.