Summer break-ups: F1’s biggest bombshells during silly season

F1 never ceases to entertain its fans, even when there aren’t any races | Credit: Formula One and OscarPiastri on X

Lando Norris has started the summer break off well by winning the Hungarian Grand Prix. Now, the teams and drivers get some well-deserved rest before they come back for the Dutch Grand Prix. The summer break is known as a period of speculation on driver lineups, and multiple rumours have already started. Let the silly season begin!

This year, everyone is awaiting news on Max Verstappen’s future. Will he retire, switch teams or does he still believe Red Bull can turn things around? It wouldn’t be the first time big news breaks during the summer. In the history of Formula One, some very interesting things have unfolded during these weeks off in summer. Let’s look at the most significant ones.

“I understand that, without my agreement…”

It all started when Sebastian Vettel announced that he would retire at the end of the season ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2022. Just four days later, Aston Martin found Fernando Alonso willing to join the team. 

That meant there was another seat to fill: that of the second Alpine. 

A day after learning that their experienced driver would leave the team, Alpine sent out a press release confirming their driver lineup for the next season, as more teams do in the summer break. Their 21-year-old reserve-driver Oscar Piastri would join Esteban Ocon at the French team. 

Piastri was Alpine’s reserve driver, so he was the obvious candidate for their vacant seat  | Credit: Formula One

Piastri had other plans though, two hours later, he wrote the iconic tweet: “I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.” 

Why would Piastri ever turn down the opportunity to become an F1-driver? That would become clear later that month, when McLaren and Ricciardo announced that the Australian wouldn’t race in Papaya the following season. Piastri, fellow Australian, would replace him.

This was so messy that the Contract Recognition Board had to assemble to review Piastri’s contracts with both Alpine and McLaren. It took them a couple of days, but on 2 September, they ruled that the contract between Piastri and McLaren was the only legal one. 

The contracts were reviewed, and it was decided that Piastri would race for McLaren in 2023 | Credit: Formula One

Will they, won’t they?

The Piastri-Alpine saga isn’t the only time that teams have fought over a driver. Back in 2004, Jenson Button was thriving. He raced for the British American Racing (BAR)-team. In the final race before summer break at Hockenheim, he climbed from 13th on the grid to second place under the chequered flag. All was well, or wasn’t it? 

Button’s contract at BAR had to be renewed before 31 July, and there had been some hurdles along the way. BAR had contracted Honda as their engine supplier. That contract was about to end, and Button’s management wanted to have clarity before they committed to a new term at the team.

At the weekend of the German Grand Prix, the contract with Honda was renewed, and the team immediately informed Button’s management. They confirmed that they received the information on July 27, and BAR thought that would be all. 

In 2004, Button secured his first pole position with BAR at the Imola Grand Prix | Credit: Formula One

However, five days later, Williams announced their new driver: 24-year-old Button. In the media, Frank Williams said: “We are of the firm opinion, on strong legal advice, that BAR lost the opportunity to obtain Jenson and I have no doubt he will be with the Williams-BMW F1 team for 2005.” 

BAR was shocked, it should be their driver. It became a whole conundrum, but in the end, Button fired his management team and stayed with BAR for the next season. He did sign a contract with Williams for 2006. 

To make the story complete: the next season, Button’s new management spent the entire season trying to get out of the deal with Williams. Button bought himself out of the contract, and continued racing with BAR in 2006 as well.

Curse of the second seat

In 2016, when Red Bull Racing made the decision to swap Daniil Kvyat for Verstappen, it couldn’t have gone any better. The Dutchman won his first race for the team at the Spanish Grand Prix that year, and the rest is history. What the team didn’t know is that they set a curse with this move. The driver in the seat next to Verstappen, won’t perform to the team’s liking, and will be replaced shortly. 

The first victim to the curse was Daniel Ricciardo. Red Bull was having a difficult time in 2017 and 2018, and the Australian driver had finally had enough. In the summer break of 2018, he announced that he would leave the Austrian team and join Renault the following season.

Ricciardo announced he would depart Red Bull at the end of the 2018 season  | Credit: Formula One

The team needed to fill the second seat, and their choice was 22-year-old Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman had shown talent in his rookie season and the team hoped they could copy-paste what they did with Verstappen.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Gasly suffered under the pressure of the big team and to make matters worse for him, he was so far behind that he got lapped by his teammate in the Hungarian Grand Prix. Christian Horner and Helmut Marko first showed support for the Frenchman, but in the summer break of 2019, the news came that Alexander Albon would replace Gasly. 

Gasly was the centre of attention at the 2019 Belgium Grand Prix | Credit: Formula One

Albon started his new job full of confidence. The team decided that he performed better than Gasly, and he was able to sign for the next season as well. However, as his performance degraded, the Thai driver remained in the seat only until the end of 2020, when Sergio Perez took over from him. 

At first, the Mexican seemed to be a good fit for the team helping Max win his maiden championship and getting the team the constructor’s championship. This good form didn’t last, however, and Perez’ performances weakened. He left the team at the end of 2024, and Liam Lawson got promoted. 

Lawson cracked under the severe pressure, and was replaced by Tsunoda after only two race weekends. The Japanese driver wasn’t any luckier, as he got demoted at the end of the season. All hopes are now on Isack Hadjar: will he beat the curse? So far, there are no speculations about him yet, so that should be good news. 

Joining the prancing horse

Alas: a memorable moment that wasn’t controversial. Michael Schumacher made his F1 debut with Jordan in 1991 , but soon switched to the Benetton team. All his hard work and dedication paid off in 1994, and when he became world champion. 

Halfway through his first season as reigning champion, things were looking good. At the time of the summer break, he had already won five races. He was leading the championship by 11 points over Damon Hill even more comfortably over Jean Alesi. 

Schumacher was set to become a two-time world-champion with Benetton when he announced his departure | Credit: Formula One

On 16 August 1995, Schumacher announced that he would leave the team and join the struggling Ferrari, instead. There was nothing Benetton could do, other than help him win his second championship in the remainder of the year. 

It took him a few years, but the German lifted the Scuderia to a whole new level. In 1999, he helped the Italian team win their first constructor’s championship in 16 years, and the first of six consecutive titles. His surprise announcement changed the history of F1 forever.

Leaving the prancing horse

In the early 2000s, Ferrari was dominating F1. Schumacher led them to become a force to be reckoned with. But halfway through the decade, the other teams started to catch up with them. 

At that time, Alonso was driving for Renault, but the exit-clause in his contract became effective when he only finished ninth in the championship. He made the move to Ferrari hoping that he could do what Schumacher had done ten years prior. 

This two-time world champion couldn’t turn things around at Ferrari like his predecessor did | Credit: Formula One

Unfortunately, Alonso just missed out on the championship in 2010 and 2012, but in 2014, the tides had changed so much that Alonso couldn’t see himself winning at Ferrari anymore. In the summer break, he started to push contract negotiations to allow him to leave the Scuderia. 

With Alonso wanting to leave, Ferrari had to look elsewhere to fill the seat. They found Vettel unhappy at Red Bull, where his dominant streak had come to an end. In August, they had reached an agreement with the German. Speculations about Alonso’s future were running wild. 

It wasn’t until October that the news came out. Vettel would leave Red Bull to replace Alonso. The Spaniard found a drive at McLaren. 

Career suicide or career birth?

Lewis Hamilton was a McLaren boy through and through. He had been with the team since he was 13 years old. He made his F1 debut with the team in 2007, and won his first championship only a year later. However, the following seasons were a bit less spectacular for the Brit. He finished fourth and fifth in the next four years. 

Still, it was unexpected that he would leave the team where he had basically grown up. But in the meantime, Hamilton was getting unhappier by the day. He wasn’t where he thought he deserved to be. In the summer break of 2012, rumours that he would switch teams reached a fever pitch. 

Hamilton grew up with McLaren, and him leaving the team was unexpected | Credit: Formula One

In September, the word finally got out: Hamilton would replace Schumacher at Mercedes. This was a huge gamble, as the German team hadn’t yet booked any impressive performances since taking over from Brawn GP. Some even said it would be a ‘career suicide’. 

Luckily for the Brit, he did not only replace a seven-time-world champion, but he became one himself. Mercedes hit the ground running in the turbo-hybrid era, and the rest is history. 

Disastrous exit

At the beginning of the 2024 season, Hamilton announced that he would leave his beloved Mercedes and would make the switch to red in 2025. That left Carlos Sainz without a seat. Several teams were fighting over the fate of the Spaniard, but in the summer break, a winner was chosen. Sainz believed the ideas of James Vowles and would join Williams.

Sargeant was topping the destructor’s championship in 2024 | Credit: Formula One

Now Sargeant was the one to lose his seat. After a disappointing start of the season, he had to give it his all to market himself for one of the remaining seats for the following year. Unfortunately for the American, he would endure an incident-riddled weekend in Zandvoort.

Only a few days later, it was announced that Franco Colapinto would replace the American for the remaining races of the season. 

Gardening leave

Just before the summer of 2024, Adrian Newey announced that he would be leaving Red Bull Racing. 

He immediately stepped down from his job and commenced his gardening-leave period. He wasn’t allowed to work on any F1 car for the better portion of a year, making it impossible to take any secrets to another team. 

Newey had been with Red Bull since 2006 | Credit: Formula One

But F1’s most successful car designer wouldn’t leave the sport entirely, would he? In summer, people started to become suspicious of his new challenge. There were rumours he would join Ferrari and help the team build a championship winning car, like he had done so many times. But what is the challenge in doing something you’ve already done?

Another rumour emerged of his recruitment by Lawrence Stroll to help Aston Martin to the top. Just after the summer break, in September, the team from Silverstone and Newey announced their collaboration. It wouldn’t be until March 2025 that he started working for his new team. 

Class of 2026

F1 never ceases to entertain its fans, even when there aren’t any races. All the ingredients to make an interesting summer are present, but will they combine into a cocktail of emotions? Only time will tell. 

Did we miss any memorable moments? Let us know in the comments!