F1 | Twist in the drivers' market: Bottas would be in negotiations with Renault

The Silly Season continues: after last week's explosive news, with Carlos Sainz moving to Ferrari and Daniel Ricciardo replacing him at Renault, it is now the turn of the vacant French seat.

Who will join Esteban Ocon?

The first rumors had Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso competing for the seat of the Enstone team: a historic meeting for both, who became world champions with Renault, but which also sounds impossible, given the unlikelihood of producing a car winning and competitive for 2021 worthy of two world champions like them.

The economic side is also not to be underestimated: it was Cyril Abiteboul himself who proposed a budget cap also for the hiring of drivers, aware, perhaps, of not being able to afford, even from this point of view, both Vettel and Alonso.

Who to hire, then? Nico Hulkenberg is still available, even if the friction of his farewell in 2019 is difficult to resolve. There is then another driver, whose contract is expiring, who could land in Enstone: Valtteri Bottas.

Yes, rumors from Germany report that the Renault team principal is in negotiations with Didier Coton, manager of the Finn, currently at Mercedes.

If the negotiation really took off, the Mercedes seat would be the most coveted one, the one that drivers of the caliber of Sebastian and Fernando (even if the Spaniard's name seems, in this case, more unlikely) would like to compete for. Toto Wolff and Hamilton permitting.

All the key elements of the Brackley team, Wolff, Bottas and also Lewis, have their contracts expiring at the end of 2020. However, it is not yet certain that Hamilton will renew: in all likelihood, the Briton will win the title again this year, coronavirus permitting, thus reaching 7 world titles. Next season already involves changes on a financial level, with the budget cap, with the change in regulations postponed to 2022.

"Hamilton may feel that the great Mercedes era is coming to an end, especially with the budget cap introduced. I imagine he's thinking a lot about his future self – declared Marc Surer, former Formula 1 driver to Speed ​​Week – but I think that, if he wants to stay, he will try to keep Bottas in the garage. Personally, I would put George Russell in Mercedes: Bottas is a very good second, but I don't see him as a future world champion".

The Aston Martin hypothesis is also starting to gain traction (even if Perez is blocked until 2023), thanks to the involvement of Toto Wolff, but still, no announcement from the three-pointed star. And in the meantime, the fans dream of the arrival of a certain German on the silver arrows.