Albon’s talent has been on display since his rookie year and initially earned him a mid-season promotion from Toro Rosso to Red Bull in 2019 where he struggled against Verstappen — as those before and after him did too. Williams brought him back to the 2022, and Albon has been growing in assurance ever since, leading Williams to its highest finish in the constructors’ standings since 2017.
With a pre-existing relationship with George Russell — with whom he trained with and raced against in F2 — and in great form, Albon could be the answer to Mercedes’ new Hamilton problem.
Esteban Ocon
Having had his young F1 career carved out by Toto Wolff, Esteban Ocon may have a better chance than most at securing a seat at Brackley for 2025.
The Mercedes CEO has managed the Frenchman since 2015 and played a major role in securing him a seat at Renault (now Alpine) in 2020. Ocon has since become a central piece of Alpine‘s plan for the future and signed a long-term deal in 2021 which would keep him racing at Enstone until 2024. But with the team continuing to restructure its high-end staff and with little promise for a more competitive future, rejoining forces with Wolff for 2025 looks to offer more success.
Mercedes would be gaining another experienced race-winner who proved be a calculated and, at times, blisteringly quick driver who stood toe-to-toe with Fernando Alonso from 2021 to ’22 and narrowly missed out to Pierre Gasly in the 2023 drivers’ standings.
The only potential downside to Ocon’s signing could be his fiery reputation as a team-mate, as the Frenchman not only clashed with Gasly and Alonso at Alpine but also with Perez at Force India.
Pierre Gasly
After cutting ties with Red Bull in 2022 with a move from AlphaTauri to Alpine, Pierre Gasly could figure on Mercedes’ shortlist of Hamilton replacements. The one-time race winner is a well-liked figure in the paddock, and has proved himself worthy of a front-running seat in the past.
The Frenchman was promoted into a seat next to Verstappen for 2019 after an impressive rookie year, in which he scored points four times and even finished fourth in Bahrain. Unfortunately his time at Red Bull was plagued with error and misfortune, leading to his early expulsion back to Toro Rosso midway through the 2019 campaign. Upon returning to Faenza, Gasly’s talent blossomed, leading to a incredible victory at Monza in 2020, a ninth place finish in the drivers’ standings in 2021 and a positive first season with Alpine in which he scored his fourth career podium at a rain-soaked Zandvoort.
With his multi-year deal with Enstone set to expire at the end of 2024, Gasly could complete a Mercedes driver line-up filled with youth and race-winning ability.
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso is no stranger to a shock move, and with Mercedes potentially looking for experience to partner Russell’s youth, the Spaniard would fit the bill perfectly.
Alonso completed a blockbuster move of his own in 2022 after he announced he would be leaving Alpine for Aston Martin at the end of the season. After an incredible first campaign with the Silverstone marque, in which he scored eight podium finishes and secured fourth in the drivers standings, Alonso has been publicly keen to re-sign with Aston Martin after his current deal expires in 2024. Could Wolff persuade him to look elsewhere?
The two-time world champion could be of great benefit to a Mercedes team looking to drag itself back to the front of the grid after two years of producing dud cars. With Alonso on board alongside Russell — on paper one of the strongest pairings on the grid — Mercedes would have the tools it needed to compete for a title. But if Aston show any indication of having a quick car in 2024, Alonso may have no motivation to leave at all.
Frederik Vesti
Mercedes junior Frederik Vesti narrowly missed out on an F2 title in 2023 but with all F1 seats at Brackley accounted for at least until 2025, it looked to be a blessing is disguise. Before news of Hamilton’s departure broke, the Dane was set to complete another year in F2 as a title-favourite before making the jump to F1 in 2026 or beyond, but Wolff may be tempted to take advantage of his rapid skillset sooner than we thought.
Vesti competed in two FP1 sessions for Mercedes in 2023 and despite encountering several issues during his debut outing in Mexico City, the seven-time F2 race winner was on the pace during his second appearance in Abu Dhabi. Finishing 12th overall, Vesti’s fastest time in the W14 was quicker than F2 title contender Theo Pourchaire as well as McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, Formula E champion Jake Dennis and Haas’s Kevin Magnussen.
Felipe Drugovich
Since winning the F2 title in 2022, Felipe Drugovich has been patiently sat on the sidelines waiting for an F1 seat to open up. As a member of the Aston Martin driver academy and the team’s F1 reserve driver, the Brazilian’s F1 experience is currently limited to simulation tests and the occasional FP1 session. But in Abu Dhabi, he put the F1 world, and possibly Toto Wolff, on notice.
In place of Alonso, Drugovich finished second in the first practice session of the weekend — just 0.288sec shy of Russell’s time. Running so close to such an established figure in inferior machinery may have been enough to convince Mercedes that Drugovich is ready for an F1 seat and with two years of experience as a reserve driver, he will certainly be well prepared.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
While Hamilton’s departure from Mercedes has shook the F1 world to its core, it might have cleared the way for the next young star to rise up. Andrea Kimi Antonelli has quickly escalated through the ranks of karting and Formula 4 and will make the jump to F2 this season to partner Oliver Bearman at Prema Racing. Another sensational year could see him make a shock leap to F1 in 2025.
“We got Kimi under the wings in 2012 and he was a great kid already then,” Wolff told F1. “You could see the character [and] he was strong. We had him in the garage and there was a lot of confidence.
“In go-karting his track record was immense and then you put him in the junior formulas and he wins every single season in his rookie year. If we give him his time, and don’t expect him to be killing it in his first season, I think he can be a really great one in this sport. He’s 17 – this is so young.”