The Formula 1 drivers market regarding the top teams is pretty much clear for the 2023 championship. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will be the Red Bull drivers, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz the pair of Scuderia Ferrari and George Russell and Lewis Hamilton the dup of Mercedes unless the seven-time world champion suddenly changes his mind and decides to retire.
The negotiations therefore move to the center of the field, where we are waiting to know the future of former Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. Both Formula 1 veterans have contracts that are currently available only until the end of the current season, with Alpine and Aston Martin respectively. Alpine, in particular, needs to place Oscar Piastri and manager Mark Webber is holding several talks with a few potential seats for the Australian, although Williams seems the most suitable, especially taking into consideration the very poor performance of Nicholas Latifi since joining Formula 1.
Among the possible seats available in F1 for the next season, there is one in Haas alongside Kevin Magnussen, who returned this year after the Uralkali-Nikita Mazepin duo no longer found a place in the sport due to recent political events. It would be wrong, however, to indicate Oscar Piastri as a potential candidate for Haas in 2023. This is because Ferrari wants to continue having a seat within the US team for one of its Driver Academy members. In 2021 and in this season, Mick Schumacher was chosen by Ferrari and supported by Haas for this second seat.
However, the German driver has not shown signs of improvement in this early part of the 2022 Formula One season and may lose his seat for the next campaign. While the Maranello team is still backing Mick to keep his place in F1, if Haas insists for a different option in 2023, British Formula One journalist Joe Saward believes Antonio Giovinazzi would be the second option proposed by Ferrari.
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The Italian driver is currently taking part in Formula E. The alternatives within the Ferrari Driver Academy judging by the drivers that seem ready for the big jump are Robert Shwartzman or Arthur Leclerc, who is looking for a F3 championship win this season. It is difficult, however, to imagine a possible double promotion for Charles Leclerc’s brother: most likely he will make a natural passage to F2 in 2023. A curiosity: already in 2018 a Leclerc stood between Antonio Giovinazzi and his Formula 1 debut. At that moment the Italian driver had to spend another year on the bench because Charles was preferred in Alfa Romeo, a decision which in hindsight proved to be the right one.
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