Formula 1 Drive To Survive Season 3 (fans amateur review)

COVID made season 3 so much different and very unpredictable to the sport. I hope I'm not too late to review my own POV about last year's season and include some of this year's highlights (2021).

As you all know, we a lot of drivers who's contract ended in 2020 which made 2021 full with speculations. Along the year 2020, we saw a handful of drivers that decided to walk away from the team they were racing for. Let me list it down.

- Ferrari decided to discontinue Sebastian Vettel's contract out of the blue. He even thought about retire before Aston Martin (the team replacing Racing point) approached him. Green for Vettel 2021.

-Which means, Racing Point was kicking one of its current driver (2020). Obviously, it is impossible to be Stroll because his dad owns Racing Point so Perez was released from RP. He then needed to proof his abilities in order to secure a seat in 2021. Bare in mind, only 20 seats are available each year with 10 different teams. 

We saw how he managed to almost win 3rd but due to an engine problem, Albon took it from him. He then won the race in Bahrain, after colliding, he strives from last place to first. Perez said that if he did not get any seat next year (2021), at least it was he had the best memories in 2020.

Then, Redbull approached and recruited Perez to replace Albon in 2021. Albon became their reserve driver in 2021.

- With an empty spot in Ferrari, it seems that Ricciardo was interested and he did mention he had some contact from Ferrari. Without him knowing, Ferrari was also seeking to Sainz. The Red team released to the press that Sainz will be joining them in 2021. 

At first, we thought, okay, the story about Ricciardo. NOPE! He decided to fill in the empty spot Sainz left. He was indeed following Sainz since after Sainz joined Mcleran, he did fill in the spot in Renault.

- Then we see these new young drivers debut in Haas 2021. The arrival of Mick Schumacher (Haas needed a German driver for their German sponsor) and Nikita Mazepin as his dad is paying for the team. So, farewell to Magnussen and Grosjean. Grosjean retired after his accident.

- Mich did spend one weekend with Alfa Romeo team. Giovinazzi felt threated with his seat. In the end, Alfa Romeo kept both of their drivers like William did. 

- Lewis Hamilton decided to renew his contract literally before 2021 season started. His teammate already renew his contract. Max Verstappen continues for the next 3 or 4 years ahead with Redbull. Redbull totally loves him. William keeps their drivers even they did change the owner of the team. An American company is paying for William but they did say, they respect and keeping the team as it was. Something like that.

-Charles, he is still entangled with Ferrari. He was the youngest driver to get a long contact with Ferrari. As long as he is still in with Ferrari, he can't release his own clothing brands (LOL) because of Puma (one of the main sponsor). fyi, i just knew for Ferrari fans, they are called as Tifosi like if you love BTS you're an ARMY. haha

We began our 2020 race with 9 cars retired and Lando Norris as the winner! What were the odds. He then outshines his teammate, Sainz. Even in one of the race, Sainz was required to let Lando pass him. Sainz was not having the best time during 2020 but i guess he was glad next year he will be in the exclusive Ferrari team. 

While we are still in Ferrari topic, they had THEY WORST season since, idk, for the longest. If you do watch drive to survive, you could see that they said that Ferrari 'settle' something outside the court with FIA. Rumors has it that before this FIA allowed something on Ferrari that contributed a lot to their cars. I can't say what because i don't know but karma's a bitch. They didn't win ANY races and struggle to even get a point. Imagine Seb struggling to overtake a William. I mean, no offense William, I love George but come on. Ferrari was among the backfield. We see close competition between Mercedes and Redbull instead of with Ferrari. 

I am not one of the Tifosi but I am indeed a fan of Charles cause he's hot. hahaha 

I know this is not in the topic but do yall realize that Max has a new girlfriend who was older (32 years old so like 8 years apart from Max). His girlfriend has a child whos (drum roll!!!) Daniil Kyvat's daughter because they used to be together before this. I mean Max, come on. You took his seat in 2016 to be in (promoted from Alpha Tauri to Redbull), now his ex-girlfriend who had his child. That's kinda..dark. I guess, if you are happy and in love, the past stays as the past. 

Back to the series, the scandal about 'PINK' Mercedes. Racing point appeared exactly like Mercedes's car last year. After protest from McLeran, William and Renault (not sure if other teams did come along with the protest), Racing Point was fined but FIA allowed them to use the same car for the rest of the season. They bought a piece of information from Mercedes, something to do with brakes but personally, if the car appears SO MUCH ALIKE, they must have bought more than just AN INFO. I saw articles saying they are not allowed to buy certain things (sorry i don't remember the specifics) from your competitors. From POV Racing Point, you still could purchase the info about brakes because it was before it was not allowed. You know FIA loves to update the rules and such. But again, I'm sure they purchased more than just an info~ 

The last thing I guess I could highlight from season 3, the amazing Pierre Gasly. He showed magnificent racing last year. He won a few podiums to prove Cristian Honor was wrong. He was very hurt when Cristian said, they (Redbull) had no interest to reinstate Gasly back to Redbull despite his improvements. To those that didn't know why i used 'reinstate', Gasly was promoted to Redbull from Alpha Tauri for 2019 after Daniel Ricc left the team to be with Renault. Alex Albon came in to fill in Gasly's spot in Alpha Tauri. Due to a lot of pressure and failure to deliver, Gasly was demoted back to Alpha Tauri in the middle of the season and Albon got the promotion to be with Max. 

Redbull and their 'second seat' drama just never fail to disappear. Let's see how Perez managed to keep his spot next year or not. I mean, you can never know what will happen in f1. 

I'm not sure if I covered everything based on drive to survive season 3. I hope I had covered most of it!

Thank you for reading! ;))