Who Are The F1 Reserve Drivers 2021

Cars were under parc fermé conditions following the end of free practice three instead of qualifying, further restricting teams and drivers from making major changes to setups ahead of the race. The length of the two Friday practice sessions were cut from 90 minutes to 60 minutes. The 2021 W Series for female drivers was added to the list of support racing series alongside Formula 2, Formula 3, and Porsche Supercup. The 2021 W Series season started at the Red Bull Ring, where it was a support event for the Styrian Grand Prix in late June. Formula 2 and Formula 3 supported Formula One on alternate weekends, rather than the same ones as a cost saving measure.

Verstappen would again take pole at the first Dutch Grand Prix to take place since 1985 at Zandvoort. He held his lead from Hamilton to take the win at his home race, taking over the lead of the championship by three points. Bottas came third, overtaking Norris, who finished tenth, in the standings for third place. Bottas won sprint qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix, but was forced to start from the back of the grid after exceeding the quota of one on his power units' components. A slow stop for Verstappen meant that he ended up alongside Hamilton after the latter made his pitstop. Ricciardo led to the end to take his first victory since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix and McLaren's first victory since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.

His teammate Norris finished behind him to secure the team's first 1–2 finish since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix and the first 1–2 finish of the season. After a penalty applied to Pérez, Bottas came third from the back of the grid. After the race, Verstappen was judged by the stewards to have been predominantly at fault for the collision with Hamilton. As a result, he was given a 3-place grid-penalty for the next race and two penalty points on his super licence.

Verstappen took the pole position in Abu Dhabi ahead of Hamilton and Norris. During the race, Hamilton had a better start and took the lead into the first turn. At turn six Verstappen attempted to pass, forcing Hamilton to evade by going off the track. Emerging from the corner still in the lead, Hamilton was instructed to give up the advantage he had gained.

The pair settled in their positions until the first round of pit stops, with Hamilton gradually extending his lead. He later lost much of his advantage when Pérez, Verstappen's teammate with Red Bull, and who had yet to make a pit stop, made it difficult for Hamilton to pass him, though Verstappen was unable to capitalise. Later, a virtual safety car period allowed Verstappen to change his tyres without losing track position, which was an attempt to catch Hamilton with fresher tyres.

Race director Michael Masi took the decision to allow the five lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves before restarting the race with only one lap remaining. Upon the restart, Verstappen quickly passed Hamilton and held him off for the remainder of the lap to win the race and the championship. Lewis Hamilton was the fastest in qualifying in Turkey, but was dropped down the grid because of a penalty due to a power unit component change.

Valtteri Bottas was promoted to pole position and won the race, his first of 2021. He was followed by Max Verstappen, who re-took the championship lead, and Sergio Pérez, who took his first podium since France. Verstappen continued his momentum in the United States Grand Prix, taking pole position.

Despite Hamilton taking the lead in turn 1, Verstappen was able to win the race with Hamilton in second place, in front of Pérez. The result increased Verstappen's lead to 12 points as Hamilton collected an extra Championship point by setting the fastest lap. Bottas took pole in Mexico City, but was spun around at the first corner by Daniel Ricciardo.

Another incident behind involving Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher took both drivers out of the race, calling out the safety car. Verstappen took his second win in a row, increasing his lead from Hamilton in second, and Pérez took the final spot on the podium in his home race. The two title rivals for the drivers' crown entered the last race of the season with equal points. Verstappen sealed the title after winning the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after a last-lap restart pass on Hamilton.

Mercedes initially protested the results, and decided not to appeal after their protest was denied. This was the first season since 2008 where the champion driver was not from the team that took the constructors' title. The major issue has been one of consistency, and how the top two contending teams were too easily allowed to converse with race director Michael Masi to advance their own positions. Some have expressed regret, saying that Masi has tried to do his best in difficult circumstances, that his job is demanding and not easy, and was not helped enough by those around him.

Currently competing in Formula E with Mercedes, Vandoorne has been an official reserve driver for the constructors' champions since 2020. Having previously worked as a simulator driver for the team, Stoff was promoted to reserve after Esteban Ocon made the move to Renault for a full-time race seat in 2020. Dec Mick Schumacher, the son of seven-times Formula One world champion Michael, will double up as a Ferrari reserve driver next season while also having a regular race seat at U.S.-owned Haas.

With Verstappen only off the podium six times in 2020 and Albon only on it twice Red Bull took the decision to pounce on Perez, who had an extraordinary second half of the 2020 season. Hamilton was fastest in qualifying in Brazil, but was disqualified the following day for a technical infringement. Bottas won the qualifying sprint, giving him pole position for the Grand Prix. By finishing second in the sprint, Verstappen increased his championship lead over Hamilton by two points, and Carlos Sainz Jr., who finished third, increased Ferrari's championship lead over McLaren. Hamilton finished fifth in the sprint from last on the grid, but a five-place grid drop due to taking a new engine relegated him to tenth on the grid for the Grand Prix.

On race day, both Verstappen was able to overtake Bottas on the first lap. Meanwhile, Lando Norris and Sainz were involved in a separate incident, with Norris getting a puncture. On lap 48, Hamilton caught up to Verstappen and attempted an overtake, but failed and resulted in both of them going off track. He won the race from Verstappen, decreasing Verstappen's championship lead from 21 points to 14 points, while Bottas completed the podium. Max Verstappen took his third season pole at the Styrian Grand Prix, the first of two back-to-back races at the Red Bull Ring.

On the first lap, three cars collided at the third turn, forcing Pierre Gasly out of the race. Verstappen won from Lewis Hamilton, meaning Verstappen extended his title lead to 18 points. Verstappen took pole at the Austrian Grand Prix, the last race of the first triple header. Lando Norris received a penalty after being judged to have forced Sergio Pérez off track.

Pérez later received two penalties for doing the same to Charles Leclerc. Hamilton finished fourth, after picking up damage to the underside of his car, meaning that Verstappen was able to extend his championship lead to 32 points. In France, Verstappen got his second pole of the season, only to go wide at the first turn and lose the lead to Hamilton in the first lap. After regaining first with an undercut in his first pit stop, Verstappen found himself under heavy pressure from both Mercedes drivers. Verstappen relinquished his lead to pit a second time, one of two drivers to do so, returning to the track 18 seconds behind Hamilton. The speed advantage allowed him to make up the lost time, overtaking Bottas on lap 44 and Hamilton on the penultimate lap, for his third win of the year and his thirteenth win overall.

Hamilton, now 12 points behind in the Drivers' Championship, did secure second, and with an overtake on lap 49, Pérez managed to take third place, pushing Bottas to fourth. It was the first race of the season where the race winner also took pole position and the fastest lap, and the first race of the season with no retirements. Red Bull extended their lead over Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship to 37 points after the race. Under the previous rules, drivers could be disqualified as soon as such error had occurred.

The race time limit for red-flagged races was also be reduced from four hours to three hours. From the 2021 United States Grand Prix, lap times set under double waved yellow flags were automatically deleted. The young Englishman will share reserve driver duties with Robert Kubica in events during which the Pole is unavailable due to his racing and testing commitments in other motorsport categories. He will also take part in a number of FP1 sessions throughout the season, starting this Friday at the Portuguese Grand Prix, further enhancing his growing Formula One experience.

Team principal Guenther Steiner says it was a simple choice to keep Fittipaldi, especially given his experience of the team compared to the two rookie drivers in the race seats. We won't go into recent event surrounding one of Haas's new signings for 2020 for many reasons, but it's safe to say that all eyes will be on the only American team in F1 in 2021. Long-standing drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean both depart the team – Magnussen to IMSA and Grosjean to an uncertain future. It will be an interesting transition for the team, as Grosjean had been a Haas F1 driver for its entire history, leaving a slightly insecure Renault seat to join in 2016. Jumping into their shoes are new F2 champion Mick Schumacher (son of a certain seven-time champion whose name isn't Hamilton) and Russian Nikita Mazepin.

Again we won't go into Mazepin's recent actions off the track, but if he does race for Haas he will be on his best behaviour. It will be interesting to see how he copes in F1, and the atmosphere at Haas has hardly seemed like the calmest to step into over the last few years. Most notably, Nico Hulkenberg drove for Racing Point thrice during the season.

He replaced Sergio Perez in two races at Silverstone and Lance Stroll at the Eifel Grand Prix. Mercedes reserve driver George Russell also stepped into Hamilton's seat for the Sakhir Grand Prix, after the seven-time world champion tested positive for the virus. With the F1 season now underway, questions have arisen about who teams have on standby if one of their full-time drivers becomes unwell. 'Reserve Drivers', to give them their official titles, are kept on speed dial or often at the circuit during a race weekend.

They are specially trained to jump into the car at short notice and participate in the race if needed. Former AlphaTauri charger Daniil Kvyat will be hanging around the F1 paddock this season, with the Russian imbedding with the Alpine F1 team as its reserve driver for 2021. Kvyat's roller-coaster career in F1 saw the 26-year-old promoted to F1 with Toro Rosso in 2014 and then stepping to Red Bull Racing the following year. But Kvyat was eventually rejected by the energy drink company before its motorsport boss Helmut Marko brought him back into the fray with Toro Rosso in 2019.

However, the Russian had to make way at the end of last year for new recruit and Honda protégé Yuki Tsunoda. "I'm very excited to join the Alpine F1 Team family," said Kvyat in Alpine's presentation on... Ferrari's official reserve driver is once more Alfa Romeo racer Antonio Giovinazzi. The Italian was appointed as Ferrari's reserve in 2017 but since 2019 has plied his trade on the grid for the marque's customer team.

Alfa Romeo, meanwhile, again has former BMW, Renault and Williams racer Robert Kubica on standby and he is poised to participate in select FP1 sessions in 2021. While Lando Norris will be sad to see his good friend Carlos Sainz Jr. depart, he will be delighted to see a man who has seemed like his big brother at times join. When not on track Daniel Ricciardo and Norris have gained reputations as light-hearted kids looking to have some fun. Ricciardo famously caused Norris to cry laughing in a press conference last year, so it seems hopeful that the good atmosphere that McLaren boss Andreas Siedl (mastermind of Porsche's mighty 919 programme) has fostered will remain. Whether McLaren can build on two seasons of progress will be seen, but in signing Ricciardo they have a race-winner in the team with a proven track record at pushing teams up the grid.

Ricciardo's switch to Renault may not have yielded the returns he hoped, but he has no doubt managed to push the team forward up the grid. Racing Point, which used to be Force India, which used to be Spyker, which used to be Midland, which used to be Jordan, becomes an Aston Martin works team in 2021, marking the company's return to F1 for the first time in 60 years. Naturally both shall be retained to drive the Mercedes-clone RP20 for a second season? Stroll – a talented driver no doubt but also the son of the team's owner and Aston Martin shareholder Lawrence – will remain, but Perez finds himself out of a drive just a week after finally taking his first F1 win. On the face of it making a step forward , Vettel arrives as a refugee from a relationship that went sour and will be looking to reclaim some of his former lustre – the 53-time race winner only stood on the podium once in 2020. Albon will drop down to be the team's reserve driver for 2021, with no places left at junior team AlphaTauri following the team's signing of Honda protégé Yuki Tsunoda.

It ends a turbulant two years in F1 for Albon, who joined the then Torro Rosso team despite having originally signed up to race in Formula E in 2019 with Nissan. He then stepped up to the main Red Bull team after just half a season to replace Pierre Gasly. A tricky season in 2020 has seen Albon clinch his first two F1 podiums, but also struggle to match superstar team-mate Verstappen, which Gasly, the driver he replaces, took an incredible first F1 victory at the Italian Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc set the fastest time in qualifying, but did not start the race. Hamilton took pole position in Qatar, while a penalty for failing to respect double waived yellow flags during qualifying forced Verstappen to start from seventh. Verstappen quickly recovered to second place but was unable to threaten Hamilton's race lead despite setting the fastest lap on the last lap of the race. Fernando Alonso used a one-stop strategy to finish third, less than three seconds ahead Peréz in fourth, it was Alonso's first podium since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix. Bottas and Nicholas Latifi retired from the race after they and multiple others suffered punctures on track. The result reduced Verstappen's lead in the Driver's Championship to eight points while Mercedes's lead in the Constructors' Championship was reduced to five points.

Leclerc took pole again in Azerbaijan, this time he was able to start the race. Hamilton was held up in his pitstop to allow Gasly to pass him in the pitlane, handing Verstappen the net race lead. On lap 30, Lance Stroll crashed out due to a tyre failure and brought out the safety car. With Verstappen comfortably leading with six laps to go, he suffered a tyre failure, causing him to crash on the pit straight, bringing out the safety car and then the red flag on lap 46 and 48, respectively. Hamilton went up the inside of Pérez at the restart, but forgot to adjust his brake bias and missed the corner. Pérez won for the second time in his career and took his first win for Red Bull.

Sebastian Vettel took Aston Martin's first podium in Formula One, while Gasly took his third career podium. Leclerc took pole at the Monaco Grand Prix despite crashing in the final minutes. The crash caused a driveshaft failure, meaning he was unable to start the race.

Verstappen started at the front and led from Bottas and Carlos Sainz Jr. On lap 30, Bottas was forced into retirement after his front-right tyre would not come off during a routine pitstop. Verstappen took the victory, as well as the championship lead for the first time in his career; Red Bull came away from this race with a one-point lead in the Constructors' Championship. Behind Verstappen, Sainz took his first podium for Ferrari, and Norris took his second podium of the season in third place.

While Schumacher will be racing full-time for Haas, he will act as Ferrari's reserve for 11 races next season. It means he would switch teams should full-time Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz be unavailable, as agreed with Haas. Mick Schumacher will double up as a Ferrari reserve driver next season while also having a regular race seat at Haas. Following his impressive outings as an F1 'super-sub' in 2020, the rebranded Aston Martin squad has signed Hulkenberg in an official reserve driver capacity to be on standby for team regulars Sebastian Vettel and Stroll this year. With cars carried over to 2021 the lacklustre Ferrari SF1000 shows little sign of moving up the grid. Charles Leclerc stepped up into the role of lead driver with aplomb in 2020, dragging the sluggish Ferrari to the podium twice and only failing to cross the line in the points six times.