zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
Bottas Re-Signed To Mercedes, Ocon Back At Renault, And Raikkonen May Not Be Racing: Belgian GP Updates
Bottas Re-Signed To Mercedes, Ocon Back At Renault, And Raikkonen May Not Be Racing: Belgian GP Updates-April 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:08

Image for article titled Bottas Re-Signed To Mercedes, Ocon Back At Renault, And Raikkonen May Not Be Racing: Belgian GP Updates

is back from summer break and racing at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend, which means it’s time for all those summer break rumors to start coming to a head. And if you just woke up wondering what the hell is going on in the F1 paddock, you’re not alone. Thankfully, we’ve got you covered.

Folks have not been kind to ol’ Valtteri lately. His lack of performance compared to teammate Lewis Hamilton has been massively critiqued, and there was a shot that he might not actually be returning to Mercedes for 2020, to be replaced by a potentially more promising talent.

That has proved not to be the case. Bottas is back, according to , but it looks like his performance will once again be reevaluated at the end of next season.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff made a big to-do about how difficult it was to decide between Bottas and Esteban Ocon , the young driver who had been rumored to be taking Bottas’ place.

I have to say I think the team made a good call here. Ocon isn’t part of the 2019 F1 grid and so any decisions made regarding him would be a little too soon. Mercedes can at least guarantee its driver will have consistent experience.

But Esteban Ocon Goes To Renault

It was pretty much guaranteed that Ocon would be back in F1 next year, but we just didn’t know where. Now we do. He’ll be .

Now this is a more reasonable place for Ocon’s big return. Renault has been struggling a bit this year, yes—but it makes sense for the French driver to ease back into the swing of things without all the pressure that would come with racing for the biggest team on the grid.

, I haven’t ever really understood the hype around Hulkenberg. He’s fine I guess, but he’s been just fine pretty much ever since he made his way into F1. It’s refreshing to see a promising young talent take a seat that has been consistent but largely mediocre.

That’s not to say Hulkenberg is totally out of the F1 picture yet. He’s on the may be calling up should Romain Grosjean be ousted from his seat next season, according to . The other was, embarrassingly, Ocon himself. So the battle for the Haas seat will be coming down to Hulkenberg and Grosjean.

Kimi Raikkonen May Sit This One Out

This one really set off a domino effect: Raikkonen has confirmed that he during the off-season and may not be fit enough to compete in the race itself (the key there being “may not;”he still very well could get behind the wheel). So, Alfa Romeo had to call in their reserve driver, Marcus Ericsson.

Ericsson, though, is currently a full-time IndyCar driver. By heading out to Spa, he won’t be racing for Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports this weekend at Portland. That means his seat will have to be filled for the weekend—and SPM confirms they’ve signed on Conor Daly for the ride, reports.

It isn’t as though Ericsson is taking a huge leap here; his debut IndyCar season has been a rough one, and Alfa Romeo is actually in a position to score points this year. It’d be silly to not take advantage of all your options here.

That’s a hell of a lot of big news for a Thursday morning, huh?

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
Joey Logano Sweeps NASCAR Weekend At The Glen, Pops Tire Doing Burnouts
Joey Logano Sweeps NASCAR Weekend At The Glen, Pops Tire Doing Burnouts
If there’s one thing I love, it’s a good . Joey Logano won the NASCAR race of the weekend today after Kevin Harvick ran out of fuel in the lead. Logano clearly had the better fuel strategy, as he had enough left to pop a tire and start a fire...
Apr 16, 2025
How To Make The Most Of A Red Flag As A Fan
How To Make The Most Of A Red Flag As A Fan
Red flags are a bummer. Having a one-on-one conversation with your favorite driver, not so much. This dude isn’t crazy. He’s smart. (Well, until NASCAR chases him off, whatever.) This was actually from a few years ago, but there was an opportunity to do the same today, if you were...
Apr 16, 2025
Holy Crap, The Last Lap Of The United SportsCar Race Was Chaos On Chaos
Holy Crap, The Last Lap Of The United SportsCar Race Was Chaos On Chaos
Today’s United SportsCar race at Road America was insanity from start to finish, but one lap stood heads, tails and balls above the rest: the last one. Jörg Bergmeister and Pierre Kaffer were side-by-side battling for second place, and the PC leader disappeared from TV while the guy who was...
Apr 16, 2025
Can't Sleep? Watch Some Super GT Racing Live, Right Here, Right Now
Can't Sleep? Watch Some Super GT Racing Live, Right Here, Right Now
One of the most awesome series in Japan is set to run Round 4 at Fuji Speedway at 1:40 a.m. EDT with full English commentary provided by Radio Le Mans (does that crew ever sleep?) and the folks at Nismo.tv. Here’s the live stream. Why snooze when you can watch...
Apr 16, 2025
This Dude Running Through The NASCAR Pits With A Hood Is Our New Hero
This Dude Running Through The NASCAR Pits With A Hood Is Our New Hero
Denny Hamlin’s hood flew off early in the Watkins Glen NASCAR Sprint Cup race and gave us the best image of the year so far: a crew member running through the pits with a replacement hood. Run for it, dude. Run like your life depends on it. Hamlin’s hood pins...
Apr 16, 2025
Porsche's Earl Bamber Obliterates Track Record At Road America
Porsche's Earl Bamber Obliterates Track Record At Road America
In his first qualifying run ever as a Porsche works driver, Earl Bamber just smashed the GTLM-class pole position record at Road America. Bamber scored a lightning quick lap time of 2:02.384 around the 4.048-mile track. According to , John Edwards held the previous record of 2:03.747, which was set...
Apr 16, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved