I don’t think Yuki has been stellar enough to be an obvious candidate, though he for sure has shown improvement this season. Ricciardo only has a few races left to deliver big time, else he’s just too much of a risk. Albon has been amazing this season, but I have a feeling he’s commited to Williams where he has established himself as the #1 driver. Zhou might be leaving, but I don’t see why RB would want him.
It’s Checos own fault that we’re having this discussion in the first place. He’s my favourite driver, but goddamn he can’t keep having these mid season slumps.
Edit: forgot Sainz. He’s one of those where I’d question whether they’d want the RB seat and bow to Verstappen.
So many drivers made such a leap forward this year, it makes guys like Checo, Stroll and Kmag just look lame, especially in comparison with teammates.
I didn’t have much of an opinion about Yuki last two years, but watching him battle with the other cars is impressive. Same with Zhou. While Checo just seems like he mostly forgot to battle completely and relies mostly on DRS really.
Dunno what’s up there but with so many new drivers being around already or coming up, I’d rather see what they can do.
Stroll is probably my disappointment of the season. I never expected much from De Vries, but Stroll always seemed like a decent midfield driver to me, better than the “daddy bought a team for me” stigma that he has going for him. But this season he’s getting obliterated by Alonso, and he doesn’t seem to be able to recover.
It’s a shame, I was hoping he’ll show he’s actually good. He started the year well - if anyone else finished P6 in a new car with barely any practice, a week after breaking both hands and still with screws in them, they’d be praised to high heavens. Some nice battles with the likes of Russell and Sainz in the early races too.
And then he just quit or something. Tho the team isn’t helping either, he keeps having the worse car problems and shittier strategy of the two.
Regardless, just like with Checo, I might like the guys but at this point I’d prefer to see Drugovich get a seat. At least Lawson now is getting a chance. We see Piastri killing it, so I’d say we need new people instead of reliable fossils if someone is to push Max eventually.
I don’t think Yuki has been stellar enough to be an obvious candidate, though he for sure has shown improvement this season. Ricciardo only has a few races left to deliver big time, else he’s just too much of a risk. Albon has been amazing this season, but I have a feeling he’s commited to Williams where he has established himself as the #1 driver. Zhou might be leaving, but I don’t see why RB would want him.
It’s Checos own fault that we’re having this discussion in the first place. He’s my favourite driver, but goddamn he can’t keep having these mid season slumps.
Edit: forgot Sainz. He’s one of those where I’d question whether they’d want the RB seat and bow to Verstappen.
So many drivers made such a leap forward this year, it makes guys like Checo, Stroll and Kmag just look lame, especially in comparison with teammates.
I didn’t have much of an opinion about Yuki last two years, but watching him battle with the other cars is impressive. Same with Zhou. While Checo just seems like he mostly forgot to battle completely and relies mostly on DRS really.
Dunno what’s up there but with so many new drivers being around already or coming up, I’d rather see what they can do.
Stroll is probably my disappointment of the season. I never expected much from De Vries, but Stroll always seemed like a decent midfield driver to me, better than the “daddy bought a team for me” stigma that he has going for him. But this season he’s getting obliterated by Alonso, and he doesn’t seem to be able to recover.
It’s a shame, I was hoping he’ll show he’s actually good. He started the year well - if anyone else finished P6 in a new car with barely any practice, a week after breaking both hands and still with screws in them, they’d be praised to high heavens. Some nice battles with the likes of Russell and Sainz in the early races too.
And then he just quit or something. Tho the team isn’t helping either, he keeps having the worse car problems and shittier strategy of the two.
Regardless, just like with Checo, I might like the guys but at this point I’d prefer to see Drugovich get a seat. At least Lawson now is getting a chance. We see Piastri killing it, so I’d say we need new people instead of reliable fossils if someone is to push Max eventually.