Too early, I know.
I am really looking forward to next year. Lewis in the red car. Magic, or 2 years and retirement? I think it would be very cool for him to be champion with three different manufacturers.
I really, really want Carlos to have a good year with Williams. I'd like to think they are on the brink.
Does Lando have the stones to win WDC? He's is going to have completion, it would seem. At least, I hope. 24 was a great year to watch.
Max, Lando, Oscar, Charle, Lewis, and potentially whoever replaces Checo will all be pretty even odds to win. I hope. I hope nobody dominates. I want more of last year.
Or, I want Lewis to win 19 races and retire.
I see Williams getting up to the high midfield next season- Vowles has fixed a lot of wasteful things for the team, and combine that with the progress they had this season even with the issues- future looks really bright.
Current 2025 lineup. There are recent rumors about Perez leaving though.
Tom1200
PowerDork
12/8/24 7:43 p.m.
In reply to maschinenbau :
I thought Perez was done???
In reply to Tom1200 :
That's the latest I've heard but no replacement or exit plan is confirmed yet. It will probably be a buyout of his contract. I would guess Liam or Yuki obviously but Red Bull leadership has been off the rails this year so who knows?
Give Alonso a wig and a shave and he would look a lot like Lance :) Meanwhile, Lewis looks like he's submitted his passport photo (you're not allowed to smile).
I'm looking forward to seeing what having Lewis as a teammate will do for Charles. Lewis has been through his own rough mental patch, maybe he'll be able to coach Charles into a little more resilience. Ferrari has a strong lineup for 2025.
Will RB be able to recapture the speed they lost so dramatically mid-season?
Tom1200 said:
In reply to maschinenbau :
I thought Perez was done???
I keep seeing headlines saying he is, then others saying he's not. I think the issue is money. He brings a lot of it, and he also has a buyout.
In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
Is he bringing enough money to finish 3rd in the championship?
I would think with the cost caps and current popularity of F1 money for a buyout wouldn't be an issue for RB.
How much did they lose in constructor money by not winning it as they should have?.
alfadriver said:
In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
Is he bringing enough money to finish 3rd in the championship?
I would imagine there have been a lot of meetings at RBR to determine that. 
This is what Motorsport.com calculates the payout to be. Note that Ferrari gets a special "because you're Ferrari" bonus. I think McLaren and Mercedes do as well due to the number of past championships. But it looks like it could be as much as $18M. Meanwhile, it looks like he might bring in as much as $30M plus his salary. All based on the usual F1 gossip, of course.
From https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-constructors-which-team-has-the-most-titles-2024-prize-money-and-more/10680988/ and https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/312278/marca-thinks-sergio-perez-will-stay-at-red-bull-in-2025.html#
It may not be official yet, but there's no way Perez retains his seat after the 2024 performance.
I read heading into the final race he was 277 points behind Verstappen. That was more than the COMBINED difference between EVERY other teammate pairing (254 points).
So it's not just the manufacturer championship dollars difference that he left on the table. From an apples to apples comparison, there was a lot more points (read dollars) left on the table along with that differential.
With the budget cap, I don't think that the constructor's championship money is so important to the top teams with big sponsors. There could be an argument that RB were being canny to get additional wind tunnel time to develop the car without the genius. Their new tunnel won't be ready until 2026, though, so it would be more time in the antique
In reply to glyn ellis :
That's an excellent conspiracy theory. "Sergio, we want you to tank the season so we finish poorly in the WCC to let us prepare better for 2026". It's plausible as long as Perez has no pride.
During the last few races when it became apparent that Alpine would finish ahead of HAAS, they kept throwing out a figure of $30mill difference between 6th and 7th places, but that chart implies $12mill......
In reply to MiniDave :
They got that shock 33 points in Brazil, which is at least 30 more than they nominally would have gotten. Thats where they climbed out of the bottom in the standings- so the 30M is to them specifically due to that one race.
The payout breakdown isn't published, although I swear I've seen the extra bonus money numbers for the "legacy" teams published with some authority. So take them as a general guide instead of highly accurate.
Sounds like Perez is out, Liam Lawson is in the other Red Bull car. Racing Bulls spot still vacant.
https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/42858992/sergio-perez-set-red-bull-exit-end-2024-sources
Will Liam survive through to the end of the summer break? That second Red Bull seat is a harsh place.
I can't say I agree with the move either. I thought Tsunoda would have been a better fit with his experience and let Liam develop more in the junior seat.
In reply to maschinenbau :
When was the last time RBR made the right choice for #2, especially from within its own driver program?
Lewis *should* have a more competitive car next year, but he'll have to lean to be patient with Ferrari's penchant to run the alphabet with its "plans" during a race.
"Ok Lewis, we're only 14 laps into the race, but we think we should go to plans LMNOP, and all plans including vowels, which means sometimes Y." 
In reply to maschinenbau :
I suspect RBR going to "Ford" engines took the pressure off going with Yuki despite him having a good (maybe even a great)season this year.
I also suspect the Yuki of old getting flustered and screaming into the radio every race was also a turn off :)
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
(Picture Max Smart)
I was THIS close to qualify that line.
