Shock driver market twist as F1 2024 star conducts secret rally testing

An unnamed F1 2024 driver has been testing rally cars in the utmost secrecy in a potential bombshell for the driver market.

That is the astonishing claim of F1 analyst Peter Windsor, who has revealed that the mystery star has impressed in rally tests – and confirmed that the driver in question is not reigning World Champion Max Verstappen.

Mystery F1 2024 driver in secret rally test shock

With the exception of the two Red Bull-affiliated teams, Red Bull Racing and junior outfit VCARB, and Mercedes, just two seats remain unconfirmed for the F1 2025 season at Alpine and Audi/Sauber, where vacancies exist alongside Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg respectively.

A number of F1 drivers over the years have turned to rallying following the end of their grand prix careers, with the most famous example of modern times coming in 2010 when Kimi Raikkonen swapped Ferrari for the World Rally Championship.

Raikkonen spent two years in the WRC, claiming a best finish of fifth in the 2010 Rally Turkey, before returning to F1 with Lotus-Renault in 2012.

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Meanwhile, former BMW-Sauber and Renault star Robert Kubica carved out a respectable career in rallying, winning the title in the WRC2 junior category in 2013 – six years before mounting a sensational F1 comeback with Williams.

Appearing on a recent YouTube stream, Windsor revealed that an active F1 driver has been conducting rally tests “in massive secrecy” with the star impressing.

He said: “I know of one Formula 1 driver that has done some rally testing recently – not Max Verstappen – in massive secrecy.

“I would never betray that secrecy by telling you who it is, but he was good and did well.”

The identity of the driver to whom Windsor referring to is unclear, though former Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas is known to have a deep passion for rallying.

Bottas participated in the Arctic Lapland Rally behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta WRC – the same car driven in competition by eight-time WRC champion Sebastien Ogier with the M-Sport team in 2017/18 – in January 2019, collecting a stage victory en route to a fifth-place finish overall.

The 34-year-old Finn currently remains without a confirmed deal for the F1 2025 season, with his future at Sauber in doubt ahead of Audi’s highly anticipated 2026 arrival.

Windsor went on to discuss Raikkonen’s stint in the WRC, claiming the F1 2007 World Champion struggled to adapt to the use of a co-driver and pace-notes in the off-road series.

He said: “Vic Elford is the standout Formula 1 driver who was brilliant in rallying as well. Stirling Moss too. Jim Clark, I guess, is the other one. So there’s three very, very good drivers who did it back in the ’60s.

“In recent times, obviously Kimi went from Formula 1 to rallying – and other stuff as well – and then back to Formula 1.

“He did well in Formula 1 on both occasions but he didn’t do that well in rallying. But I think that was a Kimi thing – he just didn’t want to listen to the co-driver too much.

“He was, as he used to say in Formula 1, like: ‘Let me get on and drive the car.’

“But that doesn’t work in rallying because, even if you’ve got amazing anticipation and feel, you’re still listening to those pace-notes coming through that you’ve specifically written with the co-driver.

“It’s got all your codewords in it, words that you immediately understand.

“Is this corner absolutely flat in fourth [gear] if the road’s going to get more rutted or not? You have your word, whatever that is, that sums up the feel of the road at that moment and the co-driver is completely in sync in using that word.

“And they’re doing it three corners ahead, depending on how quick that part of the stage is. So if you can’t adapt to that you’re starting way behind the 8-ball and that’s what Kimi was doing, I think.

“I haven’t spoken to Carlos Sainz about it much but he does seem to have the Carlos Sainz Sr flair for just floating the car around and doing what he does with his car control.”

Windsor was speaking after a recent trip to Rally Finland, the high-speed event widely regarded as the highlight of the WRC season, where he was treated to a passenger ride by current championship leader and Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville on the shakedown stage.

The Australian is convinced that Neuville has the talent to have excelled in F1 and expressed regret that WRC legend Sebastien Loeb was prevented from racing for Red Bull junior team VCARB (then Toro Rosso) at the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The decision to deny Loeb an F1 super licence came despite the Frenchman impressing in F1 tests for Red Bull at Silverstone and Barcelona as Loeb considered a full-time switch to grand prix racing.

Windsor said: “It was a great shame for me that Formula 1 didn’t adopt Sebastien Loeb when he was ready to start crossing from rallying to circuit racing.

“He wasn’t given a super licence and he lost interest after that. Great shame because he would have been absolutely superb, I think.

“I have no doubt that Thierry Neuville, had his career gone a different way and had he got into F3 and F2, would be right up there in Formula 1.

“In a good team, he’d be winning grands prix. I think he’s that good.”

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