Can fake Criterion make future NFS in time?

Absolutely right. However, this could merely be filled with placeholders from Heat (such as handling model, jump physics, UI, checkpoints and more) to test gameplay and how it needs to be changed. Although to be honest, I'm more inclined to believe that this could reflect the final product's core mechanics; something that greatly concerns me. It will be interesting to see how this develops, and whether there will be any material with cops...

I'd actually made my own topic in Other NFS Games about the future installment and the leak, but I got rid of it in the end. The general gist is that this potential "Alpha build" is largely comprised of Heat materials, with a few key extra features such as the nitrous bonuses in the bottom right, in addition to brake light trails and how nitrous is used. These are from HP2010/Rivals, and UG era Black Box games respectively.

At this point, I'm already doubting the next installment and didn't even bother with Heat. I'm half hoping for fake(?) Criterion to pull it out of the bag, and half hoping that they don't sell us complete rubbish or the same game again. There's also the justified fears that they'll dilute the spirit of NFS (again) by adding Burnout influence, as you rightly pointed out.

My main hope is that this will be an open-world racing game, with a grip handling model, featuring competent cops who use their numbers rather than a finite damage bar... Maybe even driveable police cruisers, or a cop side, which is rather ambitious. But of course, that's extremely optimistic.

Best of luck to you @GK3512 and @BLVD69 of course. Hoping you guys are both well! We'll just have to wait and see what happens.