Wheeling and dealing gathers speed as F1 'silly season' starts

It's time for Formula One's risk-taking drivers, overworked engineers and harried team principals to relax. At least in theory.

With four weeks until the next race, including a mandatory 14-day shutdown of all racing operations from next week, the F1 season is on hold.

It's what F1 calls "silly season," the time when contract talks — and rumors — fill the vacuum.

It often seemed like silly season started early, with feverish speculation about a move from Red Bull to Mercedes for four-time champion Max Verstappen. Now that Verstappen has confirmed he's staying with Red Bull, other decisions — such as contract renewals at Mercedes — could speed up.

Russell at Mercedes

Most F1 teams saw the sweeping rule changes coming for 2026 and tied down key drivers to long contract extensions last year, or even the year before.

The idea was to lock in experienced drivers who could help with development throughout 2025, so the very different 2026 cars wouldn't come as a surprise.

Mercedes does things a little differently. As well as checking out a potential Verstappen move, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has waited on contract extensions for George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, who aren't confirmed beyond 2025.

Both went through Mercedes' young driver program, which helped them through the junior series, and seemingly gives the team more control over their careers.

"Mercedes manages me as well, so it's not really a deadline in my hands as such," four-time Grand Prix winner Russell said last month, adding he'd had no talks with other teams. Antonelli started his debut F1 season strongly, but the 18-year-old driver's performances have dipped in recent months.

Red Bull's other seats

Verstappen's decision has taken a lot of pressure off, but the broader Red Bull organization still has three seats to fill — one at Red Bull and two at Racing Bulls. It's not clear who will take the final decision, and when, after longtime team principal Christian Horner was fired.

If the logic behind dropping the underperforming Sergio Perez last year was that any Red Bull replacement would do better, it's been proved wrong.

Liam Lawson lasted two races as Verstappen's teammate and Yuki Tsunoda has only scored points in three of 12 race weekends since his promotion. The team's engine partnership with Honda ends this year, which could affect Honda-backed Tsunoda's place.

French rookie Isack Hadjar at Racing Bulls has outscored both Tsunoda and Lawson this season, and might be the front-runner for the Red Bull seat. F1's governing body, the FIA, also made an exception to grant Red Bull-backed Formula 2 driver Arvid Lindblad a license before his 18th birthday.

Cadillac is coming

"That's actually a nice seat... I wouldn't mind." Valtteri Bottas' comments in a social media skit in June fawning over a Cadillac road car went viral and cemented him in many fans' minds as the front-runner to join the new General Motors-backed team for 2026.

Bottas and Perez are both F1 race winners, popular with fans, but who had underwhelming seasons in 2024 and aren't racing in 2025.

Other reported options include Ferrari reserve Zhou Guanyu, an ex-Sauber driver who could unlock big sponsor backing from China, or ex-Haas driver Mick Schumacher, son of seven-time champion Michael Schumacher.

The Alpine carousel

Ruthless? Yes. Successful? No.

Alpine benched the departing Esteban Ocon for Jack Doohan for the last race of 2024, then dropped Doohan for Franco Colapinto six races into 2025.

Given that neither Doohan nor Colapinto has scored a point for Alpine, it's perhaps no wonder the team hasn't confirmed who'll partner Pierre Gasly next year.

One option is Alpine reserve Paul Aron, who would be the first Estonian in F1. He's had two practice drives with Sauber this year, but was unlucky last week when his car broke down on Friday after just eight laps.

Agencies Via Xinhua