How will the 2020 Formula One Grid Line Up?

With the 2019 Formula One season almost halfway complete, all eyes will gradually be trained on the coming 2020 season. A few drivers will be locked into their contracts already, but the rest of the grid slots are yet to be confirmed.

As of now, Scuderia Ferrari have already confirmed Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel. Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris have also been retained for another year as well by McLaren. Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Kevin Magnussen, Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo and George Russell are already staying put in their respective teams, but with regard to the remaining slots, it is all up in the air.

Coming to our predictions for the 2020 season, with his mojo rejuvenated this year, Valtteri Bottas seems like a surefire stay at Mercedes. Moving on to Red Bull, in spite of a slow start, Pierre Gasly is starting to find his feet. Irrespective of media speculation, he still stands a good chance to remain there if he continues to improve. This is most likely because he is the best option that they have, other than Daniil Kvyat.

Coming to Renault, Nico Hulkenberg has been a solid driver and is highly consistent, so he has an excellent chance of being retained by Renault.

Alfa Romeo have a really tough call on their hands, in terms of finding partners for Raikkonen. Antonio Giovinazzi has been consistently beaten by his veteran teammate, but once again, their choices are really limited. They do have an option to dive into the Ferrari Academy pool, and two good candidates are Mick Schumacher and Pascal Wehrlein. However, Schumacher looks like a better candidate, as Wehrlein will be waiting to find out if the Mahindra Formula E team, retain his services. But given that he has performed for them, he may stick to Formula E.

Moving on to Haas, given that he has retired from five races out of 10, the most by anyone this season, Romain Grosjean may be on his way out. Their only realistic options other than the Ferrari academy drivers are, Pietro Fittipaldi and Arjun Maini. However, Fittipaldi is a better candidate as he has more experience driving the car in practice sessions.

Williams is also another tough call, since Robert Kubica is no spring chicken and his performance since his return has been underwhelming. So, Williams could try and bring back Sergey Sirotkin into the team.

Racing Point will most likely stick with Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll, as Perez has been consistent and Stroll’s standing in the team is strong, owing to his father’s position in the team.

However, Toro Rosso will be the toughest one to call, but both Alex Albon and Daniil Kvyat have been putting on decent performances. On the other hand, how long will it take before Kvyat realizes that he does not want to stick with Toro Rosso for the rest of his career.