Another day, another new name on the list of 2023 driver candidates.
The F1 driver market is in an unusual place, with way more drivers floating around than seats but no team apparently willing to commit to any of them before an excruciating amount of thinking time.
Before the Singapore Grand Prix at least four different drivers will run in a private test with Alpine as the team attempts to convince itself which one it wants. Pierre Gasly is still at the top of its list, but hopes are fading that AlphaTauri will release him without an alternative.
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Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton says he’s beginning to doubt whether Mercedes will be able to win a race this year with just six rounds remaining. While his car has been competitive at a handful of events this year, Red Bull Racing is making massive strides forward, and the Briton thinks it’s debatable whether it can be caught.
And there’s some good news for Alex Albon, with the Thai driver back home and recovering after complications from surgery last weekend that had him temporarily in intensive car.
ANTONIO GIOVINAZZI JOINS ALPINE LIST AS McLAREN TEST PALOU
Former Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi has joined the list of candidates for Fernando Alonso’s vacated Alpine seat should the French team be unable to snare Pierre Gasly from AlphaTauri.
Giovinazzi lost his Alfa Romeo seat to Zhou Guanyu this year but has retained Ferrari backing as one of the team’s official reserve driver, part of which has involved undertaking free practice sessions with Haas.
The 28-year-old will join Jack Doohan, Nyck de Vries and Colton Herta at a private test organised by the team in Budapest as it attempts to evaluate its options for 2023.
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Herta’s attendance is part of a mutually beneficial deal with AlphaTauri, which will release Gasly to Alpine only if it can sign the young American prospect, for which it will need a superlicence exemption from the FIA.
Red Bull hasn’t given up on securing Herta’s services, which is why the Californian is taking part in the Alpine program instead of the private test organised by McLaren this week, where 2021 IndyCar champion Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward have been in action.
McLaren has said it would be willing to end its relationship with Herta if it meant him getting a full-time F1 seat.
The team is already well subscribed with IndyCar talent, with Palou free to continue testing with the team after he settled a legal dispute with his Chip Ganassi Racing team over an attempt to defect to McLaren’s IndyCar team for 2023.
The Spaniard will remain with CGR next year but is allowed to pursue his F1 dream when he’s not racing.
This week’s test in Barcelona was his first experience in Formula 1 machinery. If McLaren isn’t able to extract Oscar Piastri from his Alpine reserve contract ahead of next season, then Palou, O’Ward and Herta are all candidates for McLaren’s two mandatory rookie FP1 sessions.
HAMILTON DOUBTS HE CAN CONTINUE VICTORY STREAK
Lewis Hamilton has won at least one race in every season of his professional racing career, but with six races to go this year, he’s beginning to doubt he’ll be able to continue that streak in 2022.
Mercedes is enduring its worst campaign since winning its first title in 2014 and is on track for its first winless season since 2011.
The W13 has become a generally stronger car in the second half of the season to trail Ferrari by only 35 points in the battle for second in the constructors standings, and George Russell is equal with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz on seven podiums apiece.
But that progress has been flattered somewhat by Ferrari failing to keep up with the runaway Red Bull Racing, which is enjoying a five-race victory streak courtesy of Max Verstappen, the latest being a comfortable win at the Italian Grand Prix despite Leclerc starting on pole.
Speaking after a strong recovery from 19th to fifth in Monza, Hamilton said the scale of Red Bull Racing’s dominance may have closed the door to Mercedes converting its improved form into victory before the end of the season.
“We have to be realistic, that Red Bull is almost unbeatable,” he said. “It’s going to take some real doing to beat that car. Performance-wise they are fully ahead of everyone.
“We have not caught them, we don’t have upgrades coming to overtake them, and so it’s going take some fortune going our way.
“It’s not impossible, because we could have potentially beaten them in Budapest. But he [Verstappen] is generally chilled at the front, so you never know their true pace. So we’ll see.”
But team boss Toto Wolff was more optimistic, noting that the team was close to sniping for victory at the Dutch Grand Prix before a virtual safety car undermined its ambitious strategy.
“I think [victory] must be the target,” he said. “We don’t want to end the season with no race win, even if the sails are absolutely set for 2023. It would be quite a nice thing in a difficult season for all our people.”
Wolff said the slow-speed Singapore circuit would be a better match for the W13 which, combined with it likely being a weaker track for Red Bull Racing, could present it with a shot at the top step.
WOLFF HEAPS PRAISE ON DE VRIES
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has sung the praises of Mercedes Formula E world champion and F1 reserve driver Nyck de Vries after his successful debut at the Italian Grand Prix.
After some Friday practice running for Aston Martin, De Vries received a Williams call-up on Saturday morning after Alex Albon was rushed to hospital for an appendectomy. The Dutch driver qualified 13th, which became eighth on the grid after penalised, and finished ninth to score points on debut.
It immediately put him at the centre of the driver market, with Williams keen to offer him Nicholas Latifi’s seat and Alpine considering him as a possible candidate.
Speaking on Sunday night, Wolff said he wasn’t surprised the 27-year-old had done such a solid job.
“He’s just a good young man,” he said. “He’s not only fast, and has shown that in the junior categories, but he’s also intelligent and a good team player.
“And that’s why he deserved it today. I don’t think that anyone else could have possibly done a better job than what he did.
“You’re in an Aston Martin, you’re driving around with the [aero] rake. And then you’re being drafted at the last minute in a different car. You’re beating your teammate by quite a margin.
“You’re starting eighth and you’re finishing ninth. Niki [Lauda] would have taken his hat off as a driver.
“We rate him, and I think that Nyck deserves to have a place in F1.”
Despite De Vries having won Mercedes a world title in Formula E, he has no formal management links to the team beyond being a reserve driver — in fact the Dutchman revealed in Italy that he is managing himself as he attempts to land a seat for 2023.
ALBON HOME FROM HOSPITAL
In some good news, Alex Albon has been released from hospital to return home after a bout in intensive care following complications from an appendectomy.
Albon withdrew from the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday morning with an acute case of appendicitis and went under the knife in Monza later that day.
Williams subsequently confirmed late on Monday night that Albon had suffered “unexpected post-operative anaesthetic complication” that had sent him into respiratory failure.
He was placed into intensive care on Saturday night but was well enough to be removed from mechanical ventilation on Sunday.
He was released from hospital on Tuesday and is at his home in Monaco recovering.
Albon is still targeting a return to the cockpit for the Singapore Grand Prix in a little over two weeks.
Nyck de Vries substituted for him in Italy and is a candidate to replace teammate Nicholas Latifi next season after scoring points on debut.
