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The silly season hasn’t been particularly active in 2021 so far with nothing more than speculations regarding many teams and drivers. However, everything might change in the next couple of weeks…
The main characters of the 2021 silly season are set to be Kimi Raikkonen, who needs to decide whether to continue with Alfa Romeo or retire and the Mercedes AMG team, called to decide between George Russell and Valtteri Bottas.
Canal+ has recently suggested in their live broadcast during the Belgian Grand Prix that the expected announcement from Kimi Raikkonen might come in Monza during the weekend of the Italian Grand Prix. The rumors report Iceman has decided to retire at the end of 2021 and Monza will be his last salute to the Tifosi, as Raikkonen is still the last driver to conquer the World Championship with Scuderia Ferrari.
Alfa Romeo always declared the decision was up to Kimi and the silly season could only begin after he had made his call. Many names have been rotating around the Swiss team in the past months, including Callum Ilott and Valtteri Bottas.
The young Brit, which is linked with Ferrari, has announced on his social media that he has “some news coming soon”. Ilott is currently Alfa Romeo’s reserve driver and has taken part in numerous free practice sessions with the team. Team Principal Fred Vasseur has however already admitted Alfa Romeo will wait for the bigger teams’ moves on the driver market.
Regarding the other option, in fact, Sky Italy has also announced during their live broadcasting that the decision from Mercedes will be discovered in Monza or immediately after with Russell being in pole position to be promoted to Brackley.
Valtteri Bottas, whose name was frequently associated with Alfa Romeo, would then move to the Swiss team to substitute his fellow Finn, bringing his winning experience to the team (and making his knowledge of Mercedes worth to the Ferrari-linked team).
It must be noticed however that Bottas has recently posted a story with his new Mercedes Black Series in a W11 livery. A brand new Mercedes was also received by Lewis Hamilton the day before his contract renewal was announced and the Finn also posted an Instagram story with a pen and paper, maybe hinting at the signing of a new contract.
With the driver market remaining still very much a mystery, all the cards seem set to be discovered in Monza and fans can only wait.
Headline Image: AOP
