If Ferrari is smart, they won't hire another number one driver. They already tried it last year and it didn't work. Charles' very long contract extension shows that he clearly is the next era at the team, so you can rule out any top drivers moving to Ferrari to have another shot at a championship. With that I would rule out Riccardo, Hamilton and Alonso.
Other people keep suggesting Sainz as a possible replacement for Vettel and putting him into a number two position. The thing is though, McLaren is forming itself around Sainz currently and he has a very strong relationship on and off the track with Norris, so that would be a huge blow to both Sainz and McLaren if they were to part ways. The current pair McLaren has is perfect and they should stick with it for the next couple seasons.
Bottas is currently comfortable at Mercedes despite his contract ending. He's just coming off the heels of his most successful season in F1 to date, so I'm not sure why he'd want to play second fiddle to Leclerc when he could continue to help Mercedes set records. Either way, a move to Ferrari for Bottas is not a move that would benefit him in any way, so I don't see why he would make it.
Raikkonen is done with Ferrari, he had his time. Don't even suggest a third return because it's not happening.
That really just leaves Nico Hulkenberg and Antonio Giovinazzi. Hulkenberg has experience but he never really set the grid on fire and lost his seat to Ocon. He said that he was eyeing a return to F1 "only if it was exciting", and there's certainly not much more exciting than a drive for Ferrari. If Nico is willing to play as number two for Leclerc, I could see it happening.
Antonio Giovinazzi on the other hand is the only other realistic option I see for Ferrari. He's been peddling around with Saubers for a while so hasn't had a chance to show himself off in race-winning machinery yet. He had a weak start to 2019 but really picked up in the second half and even managed an impressive finish of 6th by the end of the season. I think if Antonio puts in another good performance in 2020 on par with the way he ended 2019, he'd be a very strong candidate for a number two driver. I think he would gel well with Leclerc, he's Italian so that would be popular with the fans, and he would be a driver who would respect team orders in a way that most others on the popular picks list right now wouldn't. As a bonus, him leaving Alfa Romeo would open up space for one of Ferrari's four junior F2 drivers to move up into the sport.
(I forgot to mention that Giovinazzi has already done simulator work for Ferrari and tested their car before, so add that to his list of experience)
So, my two top picks here are definitely Hulkenberg and Giovinazzi. I'll genuinely be surprised if Ferrari goes with another driver over them.
Last edited: May 12, 2020