131-race driver now a ‘potential’ candidate for 2025 Mercedes F1 seat

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The list of drivers linked with the vacant Mercedes seat in 2025 continues to grow with Pierre Gasly the latest driver reportedly in contention.

Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari has thrown the Formula 1 driver market wide open.

Writing on Formula 1’s official website, journalist Lawrence Barretto has outlined who could be in line to drive for Mercedes next year.

Pierre Gasly a ‘potential’ candidate for Mercedes in 2025

With so many drivers out of contract at the end of the year, there could be a huge amount of change within each driver line-up next season.

The most coveted available seat is currently at Mercedes alongside George Russell.

A whole host of drivers have been linked with joining Toto Wolff’s outfit, including Max Verstappen.

He’s been named by one report as the ‘hottest candidate’ to fill the role, but there are loads of other names in the mix.

A new one to add to the is Pierre Gasly, who could be looking for a way out of Alpine in 2025 with Mercedes likely his most attractive option.

The French team were at the back of the grid in Bahrain and he wasn’t happy on the team radio during the race.

‘Bad decisions’ have been criticised within the team and it won’t be easy to fix the current problems with the car.

Gasly’s name added to list of potential teammates for Russell

Writing on the F1 website, Barretto said: “The likes of Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon (and Alex Albon if he can be convinced to exit his Williams contract early) are all potential options for Mercedes in 2025 – but it is believed that serious talks with that quintet or indeed anyone else have yet to get off the ground.

“That doesn’t rule any of them out, though, given Mercedes are taking it slow and have not accelerated their search just yet.”

It would be a surprise to see Gasly at the top of the list of drivers Mercedes would look to for 2025.

His teammate Esteban Ocon is still a Mercedes driver, although he was the slower of the two Alpine drivers last season.

Carlos Sainz is definitely an option as well and showed in Bahrain that he’s still got plenty of hunger to race at the very front.

Toto Wolff has so many options to choose from, making the right decision won’t be easy.