So what are the current Pro-Am pairings if we're being brutal? Albon-Sargeant, Bottas-Zhou, Alonso-Stroll, Verstappen-Perez? All the other teams are relatively close
I feel like Bearman's really lucky to get into Formula 1. He doesn't seem to have done much of anything in F2, given the derisive way people talk about most top F2 drivers.
With Alpine allegedly going to become a customer and ditch the Renault engines. Understandable that Sainz would be interested. An Alpine team with Mercedes engine is likely going to perform better than a Williams team with the same engine. Surprised Matt is so against it, it's like he seemingly forgot this could be a possibility. Plus, as Spanners said, the Enstone team has always been a solid midfield runner, so it makes sense that theyre more likely to perform over Williams. So it really is no surprise Sainz is taking this option seriously.
I think the difference will be that Mercedes are far more interested and invested in Antonelli than McLaren were than Vandoorne. And by the time Vandoorne had lost his seat, Lewis was still winning, Bottas was still competing in qualifying against him and Russel was moving to F2 and then obviously won F2. Meaning Mercedes didn't see the point in putting V in the car as Bottas was the best number 2 they could ask for. Real unfortunate with Vandoorne. Had he been given another seat I think he'd still be in Formula 1.
