The new F1 season is almost here, and given we were full of opinions on every F1 race in 2020, we have a season preview of sorts with our 2021 F1 Season Bold Predictions.
2020 season was a season line no other. Sure it ended with the now standard Lewis Hamilton-Mercedes title, but it had so much more. No fans, new tracks, old tracks, and some different winners for a change.
So will the 2021 F1 Season be as good or any better?
We’re not sure for now, but that won’t stop our 2021 F1 Season Bold Predictions. Some of them won’t even be that bold, perhaps even reasonably obvious, but that would make for a more boring headline.
MERCEDES WERE SANDBAGGING IN TESTING AGAIN AND THEY WILL BE 1-2 FOR THE FIRST THREE RACES
The common belief from the limited testing on offer was that Red Bull were the bee’s knees, and in particular Max Verstappen which is great for a hopefully more competitive season ahead.
But we aren’t buying anything that Mercedes are selling, and not only because we can’t afford it.
Not that Mercedes could pretend to have car troubles when they don’t, but you just know they’ll pull something out of their hat by the end of P2 on Friday at the Bahrain GP. They are such smooth operators that they will even sandbag in the first practice session of the season before blowing everyone away with 20 minutes to go.
From there it will 1-2 x 2 in qualifying and the race.
More than happy to be proven wrong here for the record.
SIR LEWIS HAMILTON WILL BEAT WIN HIS EIGHTH TITLE, RETIRE AT THE END OF THE SEASON, AND RELEASE HIS MUSIC ALBUM
Following on from the above, Lewis Hamilton will have the best car again in 2021 and
But our bold prediction is that with the eighth title sealed, and holding the World Championships record to himself, the British driver will simply sail off into the sunset to do anything else.
And that anything else will be the long awaited musical offering. Hopefully.
VALTTERI BOTTAS WILL WIN THE FIRST TWO RACES OF THE YEAR, THREATEN A CHAMPIONSHIP RUN, THEN SLOWLY FADE FROM MONACO
Valtteri Bottas returns for another season with Mercedes and we secretly hope he will pull a Rosberg by winning the title and beat Lewis Hamilton to the retirement party.
It would be very funny if it happened again. For us.
But it won’t.
Our bold predictions sees Bottas taking a Bahrain GP pole and win ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, and then double down in the second Grand Prix of the season at Imola.
But from there on the wins will dry up and he will even be beaten into second place in the drivers championship by Verstappen.
SERGIO PEREZ WON’T BE DRIVING FOR RED BULL IN 2022
The second seat at Red Bull will change again in 2022 as Sergio Perez is shown up and thrashed all season long by Max Verstappen.
Not that we don’t like Perez, who is a likeable driver and deserves his chance at a top team, but his stint at McLaren remains in the back of the mind as to whether he can cut it when results are expected at the front of the grid. He also isn’t Max Verstappen in a Red Bull which hasn’t worked out for anyone lately.
The fact that the Mexican is not originally a Red Bull driver means he will be slightly easier to get rid of than the previous drivers judged not to be good enough by Red Bull hierarchy.
And it all may be because the Alpha Tauri driver Yuki Tsunoda will stun at times in 2021 and take the seat off him.
PIERRE GASLY WILL WIN ANOTHER GRAND PRIX IN 2021 AND LEAVE THE TEAM
Pierre Gasly’s win at Monza last season was probably one of the three best stories of F1 last season, and the former Red Bull reject thrived in 2020 in general, one of few to do so after getting the Marko nudge.
At this point we’d love to even more boldly declare that he will win the Monaco Grand Prix this season, but that’s just getting arrogant now.
He may not do it on outright pace, but a combination of an improved Alpha Tauri and a little luck will see the Frenchman step on the podium three times with a win thrown in there somewhere.
We hope so anyway.
But as per the above when Tsunoda is promoted to Red Bull ahead of him, he will rightly crack it and move to another team. Likely replacing an equally perturbed Fernando Alonso at Alpine.
DANIEL RICCIARDO WILL WIN TWO RACES IN 2021
Things are starting to look up for the Australian, which will bring continued smiles to his face and his many fans around the world. Especially the late night loyals of Australia.
The Renault car came good in 2020 after a pretty ordinary 2019 where the highlights were probably his appearances on the Netflix documentary.
In 2020 he got to show the form that kept him at the Red Bull for team, and the world was a better place.
We see that improvement continuing in 2021 as it appears he has done the switch to McLaren at the right time. And timing is everything is F1.
Privately we hoped he’d go to Ferrari for 2021, but now see the dodged bullet that may continue to be in 2021. McLaren look strong after testing, and with a quality line up of Ricciardo-Norris they will be on the heels of the top two cars when they slip up. And they will slip up eventually in 2021.
So if we’re being so bloody clever, where will Ricciardo win his two races? How about Hungary and Singapore.
THE FERRARI WILL PACE WILL GROW IN 2021, MUCH FASTER THAN THE PAINT JOB WILL ON PEOPLE
2020 was almost as bad as it could get for Ferrari, so sure;y 2021 won’t be as bad. They have made significant weight savings on their 2021 car with Vettel’s move to Aston Martin.
We look into our into our F1 crystal ball and can forsee at least a few podiums for the Ferraris in 2021. And fewer Q1 exits than 2021.
Perhaps even a race win for Leclerc at Monza for good measure.
The improvement in form may not lead to an improvement in looks, but who cares if it wins or goes better than last season.
A cynic would say that F1 bosses wouldn’t let Ferrari go uncompetitive for too long.
VETTEL V STROLL WILL BE THE BOX OFFICE TEAM CLASH OF THE YEAR
Talking of the ex Ferrari driver above, it is something else to see the German in the shiny new green overalls of Aston Martin.
For the record Aston Martin used to be Racing Point for 2018 and 2019, prior to that it was a Force India for a decade, and before that it was called a Spyker for a few seasons and before that it was team called Midland from 2006 when the original team owner Eddie Jordan sold the team with his name. In the long history of the overall team family tree the cars have been green, yellow, orange, grey and red, black, white, pink and combinations of all of those.
Colour is the big talking point of the Aston Martin this season. Well apart from luring Sebastian Vettel, changing the name to Aston Martin, and the occasional digs at Stroll for being the owners son.
But our bold prediction is that this team will descend quickly into a intra-team battle and then intra-team war as multiple collisions in the first six rounds take their toll. And there’s nothing like a bit of hate.
Vettel does have loads of experience of running into team mates at Ferrari. The problem is his team mate’s dad is the boss, so a battle will ultimately cost him as surely Stroll won’t lose his position.
ALPINE AKA RENAULT WILL PROVIDE A CAR THAT WILL END ALONSO’S CAREER
Another team name change in the off season as Renault become Alpine in 2021. Like the previously mention team Alpine have had a few different throughout their F1 lifetime like Benetton, Renault a few times and even Lotus when there were two Lotus-Renault teams on the grid.
But there has been
And despite the excellent paint job, the new Alpine doesn’t look faster than last season, and testing was inconclusive about where it will sit on the grid.
We’re taking a guess and saying lower midfield. A position that won’t fill Fernando Alonso with joy. Neither will being beaten by Esteban Ocon for the first half of the season.
Battling for 12th and the occasional 7th will likely drive Alonso back into something else. But luckily at his age he still has a few years left to be competitive at the Indy 500 and can then upgrade to Nascar and win their big race.
GEORGE RUSSELL WILL FINALLY SCORE SOME WILLIAMS POINTS AND BAG A MERCEDES DRIVE
Having almost single-handedly proven that Lewis Hamilton may be a little expensive in one race last season, George Russell will still have to bide his time in 2021 as another season towards the back of the field looms.
But maybe not so far back.
Williams look like they may have a Haas shaped cushion underneath them in 2021, and with the Mercedes Experience from last season Russell should be primed for regular or at least occasional point scoring drives from Williams.
If not, it probably still won’t stop him moving to Mercedes next season either replacing a retired Hamilton or an underwhelming Bottas. He’s already proved he’s up for the big time.
George Russell does have the highest fastest lap points v overall point scored percentages in F1.
KIMI RAIKKONEN WILL ENTERTAIN US ONE MORE TIME IN 2021
We almost forgot that Kimi Raikkonen is returning for another season of F1 racing, and here’s hoping for
Our bold prediction is that somewhere, sometime during the season Kimi is going to plonk his Alfa in the top five of qualifying, just giving a quiet reminder of his skills, as well as leading a wet race at sometime in 2021 for a number of laps.
MICK SCHUMACHER WILL SHINE IN RACES
It is easy to dismiss Mick Schumacher as just another son-of lucky to be on the grid. Lord knows it is easy as the other two lucky sons on the F1 grid in 2021 are just so difficult to like.
But you need to remember that Mick Schumacher is a champion in both GP2 and GP3 and a talented racing driver in his own right. Sure the name helps, but he has done the yards in the junior formula. Interestingly enough he finished 12th in his debut seasons of both GP2 and GP3 before winning the title the next year.
A championship will be too far away for Schumacher this season or ever at Haas, but could he sneak into 12th place in the standings by the end of his first F1 season? Not even we would boldly claim that.
But that won’t stop him racing at his best. Some of his moves in GP2 were brave, bold and well taken. He will need all of those and more if he’s going to score points this season.
We can forsee a handful excellent drives and how about a debut point at Monaco to start his career and a few more later in the season.
NIKITA MAZEPIN WILL BE F1’s JERK IN 2021
Nikita Mazepin will be one to watch in 2021, for a variety of reasons.
His off season off track work so far has given F1 fans a taste of what’s to come in the upcoming season.
With Kevin Magnussen gone the sport needs a jerk to polarise, and you get the feeling that Mazepin won’t mind at all at being F1’s bad boy.
That’s not to say that Mazepin’s best jerk work will be off track in 2021, as his forceful driving will no doubt not be the taste of the established F1 family this season.
But despite being accused of being another playboy son gifted an F1 seat due to loaded father, the Russian, we mean driver from nowhere in particular is also occasionally very fast. He won two races in the 2020 F2 season. As many as his team mate with the much more famous name.
But we still see him as the go-to jerk for 2020 with loads of social media outrage abuse coming his way through the season.
