Kvyat, Shvartsman or Mazepin: which of the Russian pilots can compete in Formula 1 in 2021

There are only five free seats left in Formula 1 for the next season.

Three teams - Mercedes, Red Bull and AlphaTauri - have decided on only one rider, while Haas has not signed contracts with anyone.

At the same time, there are much more applicants for the position of a combat pilot than there are vacancies.

Among those who are in the field of view of the teams, there are three Russians - Daniil Kvyat, Robert Shvartsman and Nikita Mazepin.

Each of them has a certain chance to continue a career in the "royal races", but there are enough shortcomings that can prevent this.

Daniil Kvyat

Daniil Kvyat is the most experienced of this trinity.

This season, he passed the 100 Grand Prix of his career and is 13th overall after 13 stages, ahead of even Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

At the last Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna, the AlphaTauri pilot showed his best result of the past season, finishing in fourth place - less than a second to the podium.

Success in the third Italian race of the season was supposed to increase Kvyat's chances to remain in the team.

This should be facilitated by a change in her own role.

If earlier AlphaTauri (under the name Toro Rosso) was the junior team of Red Bull, then from this year it is already a "sister" team, which does not have to include young riders - it needs pilots capable of giving results.

In this sense, Kvyat meets the requirements of the team.

He is quite experienced and has three podiums in his career, one of which he climbed last year with AlphaTauri.

However, Red Bull's motorsport adviser Helmut Marko has repeatedly made it clear that Pierre Gasly will have a new partner.

He argued about this, including right before the Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna.

The results of the race, according to Marco, did not change anything.

In an interview with Sky Germany, he praised Kvyat for his performance and noted that it would help the Russian decide on his future for the next season, but it is unlikely that it will be associated with AlphaTauri.

Gasli will officially remain in it, and Kvyat can no longer count on joining him.

This position of the team leadership has its own logic.

As much as Russian fans would like to celebrate Kvyat's local successes, in comparison with Gasli, he really does not have an outstanding season.

In qualifying, when both pilots have equal opportunities to prove themselves, Kvyat was the fastest twice against eleven times with his partner - this is a very large gap, which is difficult to turn a blind eye to.

Even if Gasli had not won a sensational victory in Monza and had not been ahead of his team-mate in points, the Russian would still look bad against his background.

Taking into account the fact that last season the Frenchman won the intra-team rivalry, the AlphaTauri management had a reason to think about changing the co-pilot, who should spur Gasley, and not create greenhouse conditions for him.

It will not be easy for Kvyat to find another place in Formula 1.

In Mercedes, first of all, they are waiting for a positive response from Lewis Hamilton, in Red Bull the pilot, who was not useful to AlphaTauri, cannot get by definition.

There is still Haas, but the American team associated with Ferrari already has too many applicants from those who have shown themselves quite strongly in Formula 1 or Formula 2, although such a development cannot be ruled out.

Robert Schwartzman

Haas was the most stable team after Mercedes until recently.

Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen spent nine years in it for two, but they could not achieve either podiums, let alone victories.

Successful 2018, when the stable won the fifth place in the Constructors' Cup, changed two seasons, in which there were only nine finishes that brought them points.

As a result, the Haas management ran out of patience, and they decided to radically change the composition, announcing the departure of the French and Danish pilots.

For them, a career in Formula 1 for at least one season has already ended, but for some now it may just begin.

Among those who can come up to Haas, there are two Russians at once.

One of them can be called Robert Schwartzman.

At the beginning of the year, his debut in the "royal races" generally seemed to be a practically settled issue.

The Formula 3 champion started his season in Formula 2 with two victories, to which was added one second place and a winning sprint finish.

But then a series of failures followed.

In Mugello, Schwartzman dropped out, in Sochi he was left without glasses.

In the overall standings, he fell to fifth place, and it will no longer be possible to correct the situation with a double stage in Bahrain.

According to some reports, Ferrari, of which Schwartzman is a pupil, continues to believe in the young Russian.

However, they want him to make his debut in Formula 1 as a more experienced pilot who has earned his career growth with results.

He will remain in the field of vision of Ferrari, but his candidacy will now be seriously considered in a year, when it will no longer be possible to leave Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi in another subsidiary team of Alfa Romeo, who had no reason to be proud this season, both are above the ninth place the pilot did not climb.

Nikita Mazepin

Nikita Mazepin differs from his compatriots by the fact that he can be attributed to rental drivers - pilots who can participate in the races with solid sponsorship.

His father Dmitry Mazepin is the deputy chairman of the board of directors of Uralkali and already maintains his son's team in Formula 2, actively helping him to build his auto racing career.

However, Mazepin Jr. himself performs well in the junior series, and this season he won two victories (three excluding the penalty) and scored as many points as Shvartsman.

Mazepin is already 21 years old, and it is difficult to consider him a very young pilot, but it is precisely because of this that he can be considered mature enough for the next step - Formula 1.

If the pilot has financial support, then it should not be difficult for him to join the "royal races".

However, as mentioned earlier, there are very few vacancies left, and Mazepin has even less options for continuing his career.

In fact, he can only count on a place at Haas, where the future Formula 2 winner Mick Schumacher is also expected.

In the fall, the media claimed that Dmitry Mazepin was allegedly ready to even completely buy Haas so that his son could fulfill his dream of becoming a Formula 1 pilot.

Over time, these rumors began to subside, but the talk that the Russian would still be on the American team did not disappear.

This option was not ruled out by the head of the stable, Gunther Steiner.

Haas has tried to rely only on pilot skills for quite some time and has earned the opportunity to hire rental drivers to improve its financial situation, if available.