Nine races down, eight to go. The frenetic triple-headers are over (for a couple of months) and Formula 1 2020 is settling into a more normal pace, albeit with a far from normal calendar.
With time to catch breath at last, some drivers and teams have plenty to be pleased about.
Others have a lot to do in the next three months to make sure they go into the short off-season with some confidence, or even with an ongoing F1 career.
Our F1 writers pick the drivers and teams under the most pressure going into this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix and beyond.
Alex Albon
The simple fact is if Albon had done everything he needed to convince Red Bull, he’d be signed up and announced for 2020 by now. And he isn’t.
Pierre Gasly’s mega form at AlphaTauri has to be at the back of the Red Bull decision-makers’ minds, even if it’s clear they don’t necessarily want to go down that route.
And though Christian Horner has reiterated the priority is Albon and then drivers within Red Bull’s pool, even he acknowledged during the Tuscan Grand Prix weekend that it’s his job to be aware that the likes of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg are free agents.
If Albon produces more gutsy, higher-ranking drives like he did at Mugello, and builds on the fundamental promise that has underpinned his last few weekends, he will secure the second Red Bull seat for 2021.
The need to execute complete weekends and show Red Bull his first podium is just the beginning is where the pressure comes from now. – Scott Mitchell
Antonio Giovinazzi
Giovinazzi’s performances against a perceived not particularly tough team-mate target are not demanding he be retained by Alfa Romeo.
He’s averaged a couple of tenths adrift of Kimi Raikkonen in qualifying and the momentum is, if anything, with the older driver.
Intensifying the pressure is the surfeit of Ferrari junior drivers in Formula 2. Ferrari would need to explicitly keep the faith with Giovinazzi for his place at Alfa to be rescued – and there’s no indication it’s about to do that. – Mark Hughes
Racing Point
Considering Racing Point has had a decent season so far, it seems strange to declare it to be under pressure. But third place in the constructors’ championship is there for the taking. The team needs to ensure that it delivers on this potential.
In reality, it has scored enough points to hold third with a small cushion, but thanks to the 15-point penalty for illegally-designed rear brake ducts currently lies one place behind McLaren.
Given how congested this midfield battle is, there’s the risk that a bad run of races could lead to it slipping as far back as sixth if Ferrari starts to pick up again.
That shouldn’t happen as the Racing Point is, on average, the third-fastest car and the most consistent on outright pace. It just needs to ensure two-car points finishes are nailed most races and, if that happens, a remarkable third place is there for the taking.
And in doing so, it will have proved it has the capability of developing its Mercedes clone in the longer-term. – Edd Straw
Valtteri Bottas
A distant second in the championship and with just one win from nine races – this is not the season Bottas was hoping for, or talking up before it began.
The silver lining is that Bottas is still a force on Saturdays and that means he can always be in a position to take the fight to Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton on race day. But Bottas’s consistent defeats at the hands of Hamilton serve as proof that the Sunday challenge has never materialised properly.
If Bottas does not change that, it will chip away at him to a point he will offer no weekend challenge at all. And if that happens it’ll be 2018 all over again, when Bottas slipped into true mediocrity, was pretty broken and just wanted the season to end. – SM
Daniil Kvyat
Kvyat’s revived F1 career (beginning at Melbourne last year) initially went promisingly well, but in the final analysis he established no discernable advantage over rookie Albon at what was then Toro Rosso – and has subsequently been thoroughly out-shaded by the re-energised Gasly.
The pressure from the junior programme below means his flashes of speed will be unlikely to be enough. He has a handful of races left to produce something more consistently eye-catching. – MH
Sebastian Vettel
Now Vettel has a contract for 2021, the pressure to determine his future is off. But what about his reputation, and confidence?
It’s clear that, at the very least, the Aston Martin side of his soon-to-be new employer is already sold on Vettel because of his status as a four-time world champion and the value that gives the brand with him becoming an ambassador.
But as a racing driver, Vettel’s not impressing very much. He’s continued to make mistakes (spins in Austria and Britain) and has had plenty of weekends where he’s quite a way from Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc’s pace.
It’s fair to say that the combination of Vettel’s relationship with the team breaking down, Leclerc’s position as the favoured son, and Ferrari’s shameful reliability at times this season have derailed his farewell.
But he needs to prove he’s still the same title-winning driver within that, to convince people (and maybe even some within Racing Point) that the team’s getting the calibre of driver it expects. – SM
Kimi Raikkonen
Kimi isn’t giving the impression he’s deriving much satisfaction from occasionally dragging the Alfa out of its natural Q1 part of the grid. It’s not as if he and the team together are on a fruitful development path, either.
After all these years, it’s got to be difficult to be motivated in such a task – and the team certainly seems to be feeling the missing tenths that the gifted then-rookie Leclerc used to give it.
If Raikkonen wants to stay in F1, now would be the time to show it. – MH
Red Bull
Max Verstappen wrote off fighting for wins early in the season. He then said Red Bull’s nightmare Italian Grand Prix weekend proved its car’s simply not very fast.
But the light at the end of the tunnel for team and driver has been that a good development platform and minor changes for 2021 will allow Red Bull to build on this year and fight for the title next season.
Where have we heard that before?
Time’s up for Red Bull to deliver on its constant promise of a championship challenge. Proving it is actually capable of doing that and not making the same mistakes as before starts now.
If it cannot chip away further at Mercedes’ advantage this season, why should we – and crucially, Verstappen – believe it can address its shortcomings beyond? – SM
Sergio Perez
Squeezed out between boss’s son and multiple champion at Aston for next year, Perez almost certainly has more than one option to remain in F1 – but not in the part of the grid that would give his career much impetus.
Helmut Marko says that there’s unlikely to be a place for him at Red Bull so long as Albon continues to develop. Perez’s aim in the remaining races in a nicely competitive car must be to make him irresistible – but it’s a very long shot for the only top-notch drive that might be open. – MH
Ferrari
While the 2020 season is beyond redemption for Ferrari, it desperately needs to get into a position where it at least can consistently pick up points. A return of 11 points in the past four races isn’t good enough even for a struggling team on tracks that don’t favour it so some better returns are needed to keep the wolf from the door in terms of team pressure.
It needs to prove it can get the maximum from its limited package over the rest of the season to raise hopes that 2021, with a carry-over car, is less lamentable.
Listen to “Why can’t Vettel sort out his driving style?” on Spreaker.
And part of that is making some improvements to the car itself over the next couple of months even though there cannot be any changes to the engine hardware.
With Vettel making waves on his way out and the sniping of the Italian media, it could be a rough couple of months that will only be eased by picking up the kind of big results Charles Leclerc managed to grab earlier in the season. – ES
Esteban Ocon
Ocon has come up against the formidable phenomenon that is Daniel Ricciardo and – like Kvyat before him – has so far come up short.
Being outperformed by a team-mate has likely been a shock to the system for Ocon and is less than the ideal preparation for a 2021 season alongside Fernando Alonso, who is bound to command much of the team’s attention. To avoid the number two tag he really needs to step it up in the remaining races. – MH
Both Haas drivers
There’s a staleness to this combination and neither of them has been able to make the team their own.
When the car’s good, Romain Grosjean still has a great turn of speed. When it’s working less well, Kevin Magnussen seems better able to compensate. In fairness they are both performing to a decent level but when results are adrift of hopes, the drivers inevitably feel the push of change coming up behind them. – MH
