My guess:

• Audi: Sainz
• Williams: Antonelli
• Mercedes: Ocon
• Alpine: Schumacher
• Haas: Bottas / Bearmen

Sainz will most likely join the most promising team left on the grid.

Toto will likely try to get Antonelli on the grid, but I doubt he will immediately promote him to a Mercedes seat. 1-2 years at Williams would be good training and keep other egos (like Russell, who spent too long there) in check. Ocon will likely fill the gap at Mercedes, where two experienced drivers are needed.

Bottas and Bearmen are a safe game for Haas, as they probably look for someone with potential (Bearmen) and experience (Bottas). Zhou might be also an option due to the sponsorship money.

Mick Schumacher at Alpine is more of a hopeful guess, as I believe Briatore will want someone with experience and a team player. Doohan might be faster, but Mick brings insights from Mercedes, and Toto is very persuasive in French.

Looks like Logan’s last race was in Canada then.

I believe a decision was reached behind the doors, and Ocon won’t drive for Alpine next year. We might see a driver swap if Ocon continues his rampage, but for now, they are sticking with him since the team needs stability and he isn’t a bad driver after all.

Good. Ocon’s ego has caused multiple unnecessary accidents both within and outside of the team. If Ocon’s seat was already at risk, this will definitely push him out.

I hope Alpine can find more team players to develop the team from scratch. Maybe Mick will get a second chance in F1 now.

Sure. With Sainz Sr.'s history with Audi, Sainz is definitely their number one choice. However, Audi will likely have a pipeline of drivers, as Sainz’s chances for a seat at Red Bull or Mercedes are also strong. If Sainz isn’t available, I would have assumed Audi would try to grab Albon.

I would have bet that Albon was also a contender for the Audi or Mercedes seat. Williams must have a promising outlook if he decided to stay with them instead of gambling on a one-year stint at Mercedes.

I would have bet that Albon was also a contender for the Audi or Mercedes seat. Williams must have a promising outlook if he decided to stay with them instead of gambling on a one-year stint at Mercedes or a restart with Audi.

Honestly, I assumed Audi had its eye on him. He could also be a strong candidate for a one-year stint with Merc until they get Kimi ready for the seat.

Albon is definitely eyeing more promising offers than Williams at the moment

It seems like having a Frenchman at the helm of Ferrari could once again pave the way for success.

Once more, Mercedes is losing people, and with all these major departures, their outlook seems rather bleak.

Every driver dreams of collaborating with Newey. That final smile hints that Ferrari might be deep in discussions.

The double Frenchmen lineup hasn’t lived up to expectations. Gasly’s silence is notable and may suggest a misfit with Alpine. A Gasly-Albon pairing at Williams sounds intriguing.

Toto’s strong rapport with Alpine could open doors for Mick Schumacher. His current success with Alpine in WEC, combined with Gasly’s potential departure, makes it a plausible scenario.

I see Ferrari as a legitimate option, especially with Fred being a savvy French strategist. The Hamilton deal was an incredible surprise.

However, I also envision him at Mercedes. Aston Martin is certainly in the mix, as Stroll invests heavily to build a successful team. But let’s not overlook Toto’s strategic moves and Mercedes’ overall momentum, along with the potential wildcard of Newey at Aston Martin.

As Palmer demonstrated in his video analysis, Alonso has made similar moves in the past, likely with the same intention: catching his opponent off guard and inducing a driver error.

While Russell’s reaction may have been exaggerated, given how closely he was tailing Alonso, the maneuver was unexpected and dangerous, leaving Russell with little time to react. While Alonso has gotten away with such maneuvers in the past, this time the marshals decided to penalize him, though it’s debatable as similar incidents have gone unpunished before. But this crash was clearly Alonso’s fault.

One of the best drivers never to win a race. He deserves one last shot in a competitive car to show us what we’ve been missing out on for the last couple of years.

It’s absurd to question the car’s reliability based on just one issue.

No doubt, it would add excitement to the sport if Red Bull faced car problems, giving other teams an opportunity to challenge them. However, we’re dealing with Red Bull and Max Verstappen here.

“So, I had to adapt the way I communicate in order to not create even more pressure in the team because it would break us […] It’s not because of a lack of trying that we are not competitive. So, I’d rather be helpful and encouraging and say, ‘That’s interesting’.”

Toto Wolff appears optimistic, but there’s an underlying acknowledgment that Lewis Hamilton’s exit marks a significant shift from Mercedes’ previously unshakeable culture of success.

It serves as a sobering reminder of past mistakes in aerodynamic design and the tendency to overlook driver feedback, a concern Hamilton has frequently raised.

As a result, Mercedes is now in a rebuilding phase, working to recapture the winning spirit that characterized its earlier triumphs. The decision on their replacement for Lewis will be a make or break for the whole team.

The interesting aspect in all of this is: what actually went wrong in the development of the car? As Gasley stated in the article, they went from fighting with Carlos for P4 last year to fighting Hulkenberg for P14.

Read the fine print at the bottom ;)

Adrian Newey once designed the Valkyrie for Aston Martin as a side project, showcasing his passion and creativity (and probably staying connected with them).

While I’m skeptical about him accepting their offer, considering his legacy at Mercedes, Lewis moving to Ferrari was also once unimaginable too. There were rumors about Ferrari offering him a contract. Looking at his creative sideprojects, Aston and Ferrari seem to be the only realistic options he might consider.

“If we were trying to draw that pattern together then probably the strongest correlation that we can make at the moment, is that our competitiveness drops when the track is warm, when the day is at its warmest and therefore the tyre temperatures rise with those of the track. […] From FP3 to qualifying in Melbourne there was not a set-up change.”

“That will be that there are underlying characteristics in say the aerodynamic map that you’ve engineered or the suspension characteristic that is aggravating that particular feature.”

The team’s performance dips when the track heats up, and it’s not just about setup changes. There are underlying factors in the aero or suspension setup and design that Mercedes need to fix.