Formula 1 silly season is not going to include a wave of Ferrari Junior Academy drivers, after all.

The announcement over the weekend that Alfa Romeo would be retaining both Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi likely sent a wave of disappointment through the Formula 2 paddock. Just a few weeks ago, the rumor mill was working overtime trying to place three Ferrari junior hopefuls—Mick Schumacher, Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman—in 2021 F1 rides.

At least one of the drivers, likely Schumacher, was supposedly on the path to Haas, while Ilott and Shwartzman were candidates for either a second Haas seat or either of the Alfa Romeo seats.

This weekend in Imola, however, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said that only one Ferrari junior is bound for F1 in 2021.

"There is not a place for all of them," Binotto said. "I think they are all doing well in F2 at the moment, Mick, Callum and Robert. They've got their season to finish. They're all focused on their next race in Bahrain. They are all going for the championship, which is very important for them."

Schumacher heads into the final F2 race weekend of two races Nov. 26-28 leading the standings. Ilott is second and Shwartzman fifth. How they finish may be important for them, but Binotto seemed to imply that a decision as to which one will get the call has already been made.

"The winner will have the opportunity to run an FP1 (F1 practice session in Abu Dhabi at at the Young Drivers Test in Abu Dhabi," Binotto said. "But we make our own decision. The decision will be done on what they've done so far, their potential. Our objective is not to bring them to F1, it is to bring them one day to Ferrari on the red cars.

"There will be eventually one of the drivers that can have a seat in F1 next year. The others may have other opportunities and that's down to us to organize it and to give all of them an opportunity."

That brings us to Haas, which does, in fact, have two seats available. By all indications, Schumacher is pegged for one of the seats. The second Haas seat will likely go to either F2 driver Nikita Mazepin, current Racing Point driver Sergio Perez or free agent Nico Hulkenberg. All three bring something to the table. Mazepin, currently sixth in the F2 standings, brings the money, Perez brings the most recent success, and Hulkenberg brings a decade of F1 experience and a pair of top-10 finishes in 2020 as a substitute driver when Perez missed races after a positive COVID-19 test.

Perez's name continues to surface as a possibility at Red Bull, which appears to be ready to move on from Alex Albon. Should Perez get that seat, that could put Hulkenberg in the Haas machine.

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner seemed to hint that the team is reluctant to go with two rookies in 2021.

"First and foremost, we haven't decided to take two rookies." Steiner said. "Two rookies would have nobody experienced to look at the data and stuff like this. They would have to find out between them what is going on. The pros (with two rookies) are you can put them in a direction that you want to put them. Because it was never done doesn't mean that is doesn't work.

"For sure, there is a risk that (two rookies) doesn't work, and I don't want to be ignorant of that. We have done a few things different than other people. A few years ago, I was asked why we kept Roman (Grosjean) so long. We don't need to do what other people did. We do what we think is right. If it works or not, we will be judged on it, nobody else."

Steiner was quick to not play his hand at Imola.

"I have a short list, but I don't want to give it to you," Grosjean said. "Sorry."

As for Grosjean, who has been with Haas for all five years of the team's existence, said that he agrees the team face a new set of challenges if it goes with two rookies in 2021. Grosjean was scoreless in a partial season (seven races) as a rookie for Renault in 2009.

"In my days, we were probably a little bit less prepared than the (rookie) drivers are nowadays. I was convinced I was ready when I came in, and I wasn't. Obviously, I paid a heavy price at the beginning after 20009.

"Rookies need to have their chance if Formula 1. I've been here for 10 years. If the team goes for two rookies, good for them, and I wish them the best."

Haas Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen has explained how a gearbox issue triggered the headache that caused his early retirement from the Emilia Romagna GP.

Having been hampered by the issue in qualifying, Magnussen dropped to the back of the field after being nudged into a spin by Sebastian Vettel on the first lap.

Despite the upshift problem subsequently costing him lap time, he maintained a good pace relative to that of teammate Romain Grosjean.

He first reported that he didn't feel well on lap 44, noting: "I'm getting a massive headache from these upshifts, it's like a massive kick in the head every time."

Later when asked if he could carry on he said: "It's my job isn't it? But it's painful, man."

After a further enquiry about whether he could carry on, he replied: "I told you, it's painful." His engineer then immediately responded, "Ok Kevin, we'll box now to retire, we're P18, we'll box now."

"We had a problem with the gearbox, and we had that yesterday as well on my fastest lap in qualifying," said Magnussen. "But that problem came back in the race. It was there from the first lap, I was having slow upshifts.

"Not only are they slow, it's also like a big bang, every time you upshift it seems OK for a couple of laps, and it starts shaking your head crazily.

"By the end of it I just got a massive headache. I told the team, and they were like we have nothing to fight for, so they boxed me."

Magnussen admitted that his race was essentially over after the first lap clash with Vettel.

"I got spun round at the start, and that was the end of it almost, I lost so much time getting back on track.

"The pace was really good actually, we had much better pace than expected, even with those upshifts that were costing half a second a lap, I was quicker than expected. So, frustrating again."

Steiner noted that the team believed that it could address the problem after qualifying, but when it put in a request to the FIA to change some gearbox sensors, it was told that it would result in a penalty that would have cost him his 17th place on the grid.

Teams can only change parts like-for-like under parc ferme if they can demonstrate a failure or problem to the FIA.

"A somewhat frustrating Sunday afternoon," said Steiner. "But nothing goes our way it looks like at the moment – not just the moment, it's been a while actually.

"Kevin getting together with Sebastian at turn seven, well that put him in a place where there's not a lot to do.

"But he caught up pretty well in the end. He then had the gearbox issue which we had since after qualifying, but we were not allowed by the FIA to change the sensors without penalty – so that went against us."

Grosjean finished the race in 14th place having picked up a five-second track limits time penalty.

AlphaTauri Formula 1 driver Pierre Gasly has called his retirement from the Emilia Romagna GP "quite hard" after a weld failure led to a loss of water pressure.

The Frenchman looked well set for a strong result from fourth on the grid, and he even edged alongside eventual winner Lewis Hamilton on the first lap before being forced to back off.

The AlphaTauri mechanics first spotted a water leak before the start, and they hoped they had been able to fix it after some urgent work on the grid.

Gasly got off the line well and had a look to the right of Hamilton, who made a bad start. However, as the gap to the grass closed he had to lift, and lost a place to Daniel Ricciardo.

After just eight laps, Gasly received an urgent radio message about a "terminal situation", and he was subsequently told "there is no option, if we don't retire now, we will blow everything up".

He thus had to pit and retire the car from fifth place, in order to protect the Honda power unit. His teammate Daniil Kvyat eventually finished fourth.

"That one is quite hard, especially for our home race here in Imola," said Gasly. "All weekend was going so well until now.

"Very sad to retire, but the guys spotted a drop of water pressure already on the laps to the grid, so they tried everything on the grid to fix it. And unfortunately it didn't work out, which meant we had to retire after a couple of laps.

"You always hope for the best. I had a great start, the reaction time was really good. I tried to go alongside Lewis, but I decided it was too close, quite hard, and I had to back out from it.

"After that we were running in P5. The car was so fast so all weekend, I felt good behind Daniel, I think we had slightly more pace than them. I think there was clearly a top five to fight for.

"On such a weekend for our home race it feels quite hard. But that's motorsport, unfortunately."

Team boss Franz Tost said that the crew believed that the issue had been resolved before the race got underway.

"They thought it's been sorted out," said Tost. "But there is a small broken part in there, and it's gone, unfortunately.

"We observed after four or five race laps that the water pressure decreased, and then we decided to bring him in, because we didn't want to risk the power unit. It was a welded line on the radiator which broke.

"It was a fantastic weekend for him. He did yesterday a really good qualifying, finishing in the fourth position. He had today a fantastic start, was on the side of Hamilton, and Hamilton pushed him to the right, he had to lift.

"Nevertheless he came back in the first lap in fifth position. And I must say a fantastic job from his side.

"We had just a meeting now, the race debrief, and of course he is very disappointed as we all are disappointed, because he could have scored a good number of points."

Honda and Red Bull-backed racer Yuki Tsunoda got his first taste of Formula 1 machinery on Wednesday at Imola when he drove a 2018-spec AlphaTauri, the Japanese driver admitting his surprise at the physical challenge…

Tsunoda, currently third in the F2 championship, is touted to make his racing debut in Formula 1 next season, with speculation mounting that he'll replace Daniil Kvyat in the Italian team. Red Bull arranged the Imola test in order for him to accrue the mandatory 300km required to get basic Super Licence that allows him to drive in FP1 sessions.

The Japanese racer achieved that distance with ease, adding that while the driving aspects were as anticipated, the physical strain – particularly on his neck – was stronger than expected – and he has vowed to increase his training to get stronger ahead of his next experience in an F1 car.

“[It was] easier for the driving, but also harder for the more physical aspects,” said Tsunoda. “I expected it to be a little bit less hard from a physical [perspective], especially the neck because I have quite a lot of confidence that I don’t get a tired neck.

“In my life, even in Formula 2 I don’t feel the neck much and my neck is pretty strong, but after I drove the Formula 1 car it was pretty hard.

“It felt hard, especially in the braking zones, the braking performance, I always went (moves head forwards) and I tried to avoid going like that but still the braking power is more than I expected. So I need to do lots of training until the next session or next event I drive Formula 1, to prepare a lot.”

He added: “The power, after I went on-throttle, you feel initially a big power from the engine which I don’t feel that much in Formula 2. I think that power is like more than I expected.

“The first session was raining, but even in the rain there is really, really big performance when you initially went on throttle, even in wet conditions it was more than I felt in Formula 2 in dry conditions. So that was the biggest surprise for me. And also the second thing for me was the braking performance in dry conditions was really big. Huge."

Tsunoda is expected to complete at least one FP1 session this year, potentially at one of the Bahrain races – when F2 will also be on the schedule – and/or the season finale at Abu Dhabi, before completing a day of running for AlphaTauri at the end of season young driver test at Yas Marina.

“If I drive [F1] free practice one in Bahrain, its going to be a very tight schedule,” he said. “I need to adapt quickly to each car. There’s a big difference between F2 and F1. It’s going to be a challenging weekend. Also I have to put together all my experience from F2. It’s going to be a big challenge if I drive F1 FP1.”

Tsunoda currently sits third in the F2 standings with two rounds to go. Providing he finishes inside the top five, he will gain enough points to get an F1 racing Super Licence, paving the way for him to partner Pierre Gasly next season at AlphaTauri.

Ferrari quash rumours of Costa’s return...

Formula 1 has revealed the calendar for the 2021 season, with 23 Grands Prix on the provisional schedule for next year. The season will start in Australia in mid-March, finish in Abu Dhabi in early December, and feature the first-ever World Championship race in Saudi Arabia.

Provisional 2021 F1 calendar

• 21 March – Australia (Melbourne)
• 28 March – Bahrain (Sakhir)
• 11 April – China (Shanghai)
• 25 April – TBC (TBC)
• 9 May – Spain (Barcelona)*
• 23 May – Monaco (Monaco)
• 6 June – Azerbaijan (Baku)
• 13 June – Canada (Montreal)
• 27 June – France (Le Castellet)
• 4 July – Austria (Spielberg)
• 18 July – United Kingdom (Silverstone)
• 1 August – Hungary (Budapest)
• 29 August – Belgium (Spa)
• 5 September – Netherlands (Zandvoort)
• 12 September – Italy (Monza)
• 26 September – Russia (Sochi)
• 3 October – Singapore (Singapore)
• 10 October – Japan (Suzuka)
• 24 October – USA (Austin)
• 31 October – Mexico (Mexico City)
• 14 November – Brazil (Sao Paulo)*
• 28 November – Saudi Arabia (Jeddah)
• 5 December – Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi)

*Subject to contract

The announcement follows an unprecedented year for Formula 1 in which the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a revised 2020 calendar of 17 races, as F1 became the first international sport to resume its season.

“The plans for 2021 have involved extensive dialogue with all promoters and their local and national authorities at a time of ongoing fluidity related to the global pandemic,” read an F1 statement. ”Formula 1 and the FIA put in place robust health and safety measures to allow the revised 2020 season to restart and run effectively.

“Our hosts for 2021 are reassured by our safe return to racing this season and confident that the plans and procedures we have in place will allow us to return to a level of normality for the 2021 season.

“As we have said before, we expect fans to return for the 2021 season and for the calendar to look similar to the originally planned 2020 season. We will continue to work closely with our promoters and partners and look forward to the start of the season on the 18th March 2021 in Australia.”

Chase Carey, Chairman and CEO of Formula 1, said: “We are pleased to announce the 2021 Formula 1 provisional calendar after extensive conversations with our promoters, the teams and the FIA. We are planning for 2021 events with fans that provide an experience close to normal and expect our agreements to be honoured.

“We have proven that we can safely travel and operate our races and our promoters increasingly recognise the need to move forward and manage the virus. In fact, many hosts actually want to use our event as a platform to show the world they are moving forward.

“We are delighted to see Saudi Arabia become part of the schedule and are equally excited to return to the venues we hoped to race at in 2020. We want to thank all our promoters and partners for their ongoing enthusiasm and collaboration and look forward to giving our fans an exciting season on the track.”

The provisional F1 calendar for 2021, along with those for the FIA Formula 2 and Formula 3 Championships, remains subject to approval by the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council.

When it comes to Covid-19 in Formula 1, unfortunately the hits just keep on coming.

Williams F1 team announced on Wednesday that team principal Simon Roberts will miss this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul after testing positive for the virus.

"Williams Racing can confirm that acting team principal Simon Roberts has tested positive for COVID-19 prior to travelling to Istanbul for this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix," the team reported in a press statement on Wednesday. "Simon returned a negative test on Monday during the team’s regular COVID testing schedule, however after displaying minor symptoms he underwent a further test this morning which returned a positive result.

"Simon is feeling otherwise well but will now isolate for the required 10-day period as per UK national guidelines whilst supporting trackside operations remotely this weekend. Dave Redding, team manager, and chief engineer of vehicle design, Adam Carter, will assume his responsibilities on the ground in Turkey."

The team said that Roberts was not in contact with any other team members, and that no other Williams team personnel is expected to miss this weekend's event in Turkey.

This is the second report of COVID-19 infecting the Williams team since Formula 1's last race on Nov. 1 at Imola, Italy. On Nov. 4, the team reported "a number" of positive cases in post on the team's website.

Formula 1 has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, starting with a positive team from a McLaren crew member in Australia in March. Other positive cases in the series have included Force India drivers Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll, and several unidentified members of the champion Mercedes team.

Pirelli has concerns about being able to run a full 18-inch Formula 1 tyre test programme next season in preparation for the 2022 rule change.

The Italian company had 25 days of slick and wet running spread across all 10 teams scheduled for this year, using converted "mule" cars.

However after just one outing with Ferrari at Jerez in February the programme was put on hold when COVID-19 hit, and the change of rules was subsequently postponed from 2021 until 2022.

The original schedule included visits to Fiorano, Bahrain, Barcelona, Red Bull Ring, Silverstone, Suzuka and Paul Ricard, and included five days of wet running at the French GP venue.

The 18-inch testing will now have to be slotted in during 2021, and in theory the definitive 2022 tyres will have to be ready for a final validation test, with mule cars from all teams, after the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

However with an uncertain race calendar and amid ongoing COVID-19 restrictions Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola knows that the company faces a difficult challenge as it tries to plan the necessary days.

"It will be very difficult to fit the 25 days of testing in next year's calendar," he said.

"We know for sure that we are going to start the season with COVID restrictions still in place.

"As soon as there is a draft of the calendar, we will try to put some days in it. One option for example is to try and use as much as possible the Tuesday and Wednesday after events, so staying on the same track. This minimises the movement of the teams.

"We have to consider that quarantine will still be in place, moving from one country to another, this kind of stuff.

"We will try to do a clever and flexible plan for testing, but it is clear that without testing, we cannot introduce the 18-inch tyres, so we have to find a solution.

"It's not easy, but we will do our best, but together with the teams we will try to introduce a calendar for these criteria."

One problem is that only Paul Ricard is properly equipped for wet tyre running.

"For wet testing it's difficult or impossible to test on the same circuits," said Isola. "Other than Paul Ricard, which is the only circuit with sprinklers, or in Fiorano, but in Fiorano we don't have a Grand Prix. So for wet testing we have to make a plan that is not linked to one event."

Racing Point technical director Andrew Green agreed that Pirelli and the teams face a difficult challenge.

"We don't really know how next season is going to pan out yet," he said.

"But I can see unless we clear this pandemic quite quickly in the early part of next year, then 18-inch testing is going to become really difficult.

"I'm sure we will do something, but it's probably not going to be the testing schedule that we'd all like."