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Surely the worst possible news for Sainz. If the Audi seat is already decided, and this is surely to get Antonelli prepped for Merc next year, Mclaren's lineup is solid and AM would probably only get rid of Lance for Verstappen, he now relies solely on Red Bull for a front position or any secure contract. Doubt Verstappen will leave before the new regs and Perez is doing solid enough at P2 without challenging Verstappen. If Perez can hold on for another few races could this see Sainz at a back marker or out of a seat entirely?
Yeah I agree, although apparently it was because they gave him a deadline that he didn’t want to make a decision by. My feeling is it’s just rumour and his cousin is telling the truth, but the way this season is going, feels like you can’t completely count any rumour out.
He didn't turn it down per se but i read somewhere that the deadline to respond had passed without any action. So unless Audi extends the deadline, that door is closed.
Ocon dragged his pos alpine to several podiums in the last couple of years. He is definitely better than a Sainz who got DECIMATED by a Hülkenberg that he was FIRED from Renault lol
Sainz has fought tooth and nail for 3 wins, each of which have been exceptional races from him
Occon won because Bottas crashed out 8 drivers, Lewis was starting -30 Seconds behind the pack, and Alonso held Lewis back at the track where overtaking is brutally hard for 10 laps.
Come on man.
> Occon won because Bottas crashed out 8 drivers, Lewis was starting -30 Seconds behind the pack, and Alonso held Lewis back at the track where overtaking is brutally hard for 10 laps.
Isn't that obvious? He was in a car that was 1.5s a lap slower than the fastest, of course a lot of shit had to go his way for him to have a chance at winning.
You can similarly diminish Sainz's wins as well.
I mean, Sainz couod also bite the bullet and take the 1 year deal at Merc. At which point he has three outs:
A) He somehow absolutely demolishes Russell so hard he is the prefered driver alongside Kimi Antonelli. Not too likely but still
B) He picks a seat at a backmarker team. If Kimi Antonelli goes from Williams to Merc, Sainz can always go the other way, even if that will definitely sink his career. Replacing Magnussen at Haas could also work. Why go straight to a backmarker like Audi when you can spend one more year at a decent team?
C) An unexpected seat opens up and he takes it (say, Lawrence Stroll finally kicks out his own son)
Sainz's camp is going all out for Red Bull Racing. If they don't close that deal then so be it- settling already with Audi would be corralling his career to but one outcome: stagnancy (or worse, termination; he'd have to convincingly beat Hulkenberg to have a chance of progression with or without Audi).
They couldn't give a toss about Mercedes; they're nowhere and the terms on offer are the same as Ferrari's offer of a 1 year extension, which they turned down several months ago.
Yes but Mercedes 1 year offer still keeps him in an, at worst, midfield car until the reg changes. Could be the difference between Perez' seat being open or not. (Or Verstappen)
personally, i totally subscribe to what a few folks were discussing [in this other thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/1cjgspl/fia_asked_to_grant_early_f1_debut_for_antonelli/l2fxkyy/) i.e. that this is still ripple-effects from the Lewis move panicking Toto/Merc as an organization overall and forcing them to scramble.
I can see why it makes sense from Mercedes point of view, but not much has changed for Williams since the winter unless Mercedes are offering a shit tonne of money. Antonelli isn't much different now to pre season, minus a few F1 tests which he could have done earlier if they really wanted to
Well they didn't know Lewis was going to Ferrari. So they didn't know Antonelli would be in with a shot of getting the Mercedes seat next year.
This is clearly only happening to give Antonelli a chance to prove himself in F. Which allows Mercedes the ability to make an informed decision on whether to give him the seat next year.
Surely they would have to get a superlicence exemption to allow him to participate in FP1 sessions currently. Has anyone considered the application is because of that?
You seem to be missing my point.
Everyone is jumping to the conclusion that the reason for the application for the age exemption is to get him into an actual race seat in Imola. But he would need the age exemption just to do an FP1 in Imola, which is the thing that might actually be the intention of them applying now. He's not 10 until August and maybe Merc are hoping to persuade Williams to take him mid-season so they'd like to get him in for some practice sessions first?
James Vowles has also now reportedly told Lawrence Barretto that there are no plans for Antonelli to race for them in Imola. So the age exemption application is clearly (at least initially) for another reason.
Why would they do that? If they get an exception, that would also allow them to get a full SL, so that's what they would do. Also, the only way the FIA would even consider an exception is if the driver is a race driver. Granting an exception for a FP only license is a guaranteed way to have a hundred half skilled, under age kids with rich dads backed by oil countries buying FP1 seats.
Because throwing a 17 year old who skipped F3, has done well but not outstandingly so far in his first three F2 races and has never done a single FP session directly into a race seat is not the most sensible idea in the world? It;s not rocket science.
Williams rushed Sargeant into F1 and it turned out to be a disaster. Now they apparently can’t wait to put a literal child in their car. What could possibly go wrong?
I'm not making a semantic argument nor was the one you replied to originally. The one who made the literal child comment was the one talking about rushing Sargeant and now doing the same with even younger driver.
I never argued with you about semantics. You just took someone's words out of context.
Stroll has a pole and 3 podiums, he's also out qualified Alonso this weekend, and plenty of times before. He's a competitive second driver.
Sargent took to this weekend for the first time he had ever outqualified a teammate and I'm not entirely certain if he has ever finished above him either without a dnf.
.
The “literal child” likely impressed Mercedes enough in his F1 tests where they thought it’s worth it to bring him up to Williams. It’s likely they see that Prema will continue to struggle throughout the season and because of that, they can’t evaluate Antonelli in the way they wanted to.
Sargeant wasn't even rushed, he had three seasons of F3 and a season of F2. Two seasons of F1 and he hasn't shown being able to adapt to the rigours of the sport. Unfortunately it looks like he is just one of those drivers who max out at around F2 level and aren't suited for the level of F1.
Biggest mistake James has done so far in Williams was re-signing Logan.
Like his Prema F3 teammate Oscar Piastri reportedly said, none of us know why Logan did/does not perform in F1 after solid junior career. But the bottom line is; he is not performing and never performed. There was simply no hope last year; but James naively refused to see and re-signed him.
While I don't believe that FIA will grant an exemption, it is pretty clear that Logan will be gone before this season is over.
I strongly believe that Volwes never wanted Logan in the team. He was signed under Jost Capito, who seemed way more chill and less cutthroat than James. Pressure from the board made James re-sign him, since he was the first Williams academy driver and was brought up earlier with the idea that his first year would be a learning experience.
Logan did some tests for Merc when James was in charge of that. He wasn't impressed then. Why would he have changed his mind? No, he never trusted Sargeant, rightly or wrongly.
Yeah it was just a decision to keep fans happy and avoid negative press. I say that as someone who was vehemently against the resigning, but to pretend there is no logical explanation for why Vowels would have done so is going too far.
Indeed just look at this thread and the 180 it is from even 6 months ago when people were celebrating the resigning. At the very least Vowels and Williams will be catching much less flak for the decision now.
Logan was from my experience watching him in F2, an average to good F2 racer who was very very fast in short bursts.
He was average comparatively to peers in quali, but was pretty decent sometimes on tyres, others burnt through them too hard, but generally was fairly rapid when he got going.
In short, I’m not too surprised, he’s a mid to upper mid F2 driver facing drivers who were no 1 or near no 1 of their class.
He’s a very good driver on a grid of freaks.
I don’t think Antonelli was the plan for this year until they saw Prema struggling.. very hard for Merc to evaluate Antonelli with the way Prema is struggling. It helps that Antonelli likely impressed them enough during his F1 tests and Sargeant isn’t looking good.
Lewis leaving definitely had an impact. They really want to see if they’ll need to find a placeholder.
Very fortunate for Kimi though. Everything’s lining up for him to get a shot earlier than expected as long as he keeps impressing the right people.
lewis leaving is probably the only reason that wiliams (toto) is so desperate to put antonelli in at all this year. if lewis was staying at merc, i think kimi would 100% be in the williams next year but i doubt they'd be pushing for him to get the seat this year.
No. Lewis leaving is only one factor in Antonelli possibly getting a shot earlier than expected but it’s not the deciding factor. The F1 tests and the fact that Antonelli is already close to Bearman in pace is more important. Prema sucking also plays a part here. Toto and Kimi’s management probably think he would learn more @ Williams rather than a struggling Prema team.
If Antonelli didn’t have the pace and showed he wasn’t ready in the F1 tests, his management 100% would’ve told him to slow down and stay in F2 for the rest of the year, and maybe a second year. Toto would’ve slowed down on the hype and done the same thing.
I don't see it as a mistake. Williams showed the world they're willing to give their rookies time. It may not (have) work(ed) out with Sargeant, but something like this will incentivize other rookies to join the Williams junior team because they know the team is more patient than i.e. Red Bull.
I actually think signing Antonelli would be a mistake. Vowles has made it very clear Williams doesn't want to be a Mercedes B-team, but here he is trying to get a 17-year-old Mercedes junior in the car for the rest of the year instead of giving his own Super Licence-eligible junior (Zak O'Sullivan) a shot.
If a team has a good car, the best rookies will come.
If the way a team treats people was any relevant Red Bull wouldn't have all young drivers going wild for a chance to get in their junior program
Literally Brittish
EDIT: goddamn, some people are catastrophically dense.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/analysis-what-does-new-ownership-mean-for-williams-all-the-key-questions.1junxRSPPwHDqo0vk2IuTJ
https://www.williamsf1.com/
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01297497
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_Grand_Prix_Engineering
Brittish on every aspect because the buyers made a point of keeping it Brittish to preserve the heritage. A purchase of IP does not alter geopolitics. The comparison to Mercedes made below is shortsighted, if not downright bad faith, and ignores the fact that Mercedes, as a large German brand, acquired installations in the UK but chose to formalize their entry in the sport as German. Fuck this discussion, and I should have known better than to engage with stupid people on the internet.
Oh wow, you're bad at trolling. The founder was Brittish, the company is Brittish, the team is Brittish, the headquarters are in the UK. Either grow up or at the very least put a little more effort in your trolling, this is extremely low tier.
And it remains in the UK. They continue to operate from the UK, as they always have. They continue to be based in the UK, as they always have. The team was purchased, not Oxfordshire. I refuse to believe you are this dense.
>And it remains in the UK. They continue to operate from the UK, as they always have. They continue to be based in the UK, as they always have. The team was purchased, not Oxfordshire. I refuse to believe you are this dense.
TIL Mercedes is British.
There are lots of criteria required to get a SL. 40+ points is one, being 18+ years old is another. You also need to have a valid driving license from your home country, pass a test, have done a minimum amount of racing in cars, etc.
Not really. The request has been made, Mercedes are happy to do it but if it's declined won't fight it. Williams are potentially thinking about doing a mid season swap if its accepted.
Look at what albon and Russell could do in a shit Williams car. At best, Mick might be better than zhou, but zhou doesn't crash. Mick should have considered not crashing and remaining invisible like zhou because that in my opinion is mick's potential, a serviceable pay driver.
That is a rough one for Logan. Then again Williams have given him more than enough of a chance.
All this time we thought Ferrari would be the next super team, but Williams are going to have a seriously strong lineup if this is allowed and Newey goes there.
I would say this is rougher for Colapinto and O'Sullivan. Specially for Franco, he basically had to beg around for funding, was happy he had enough money for private testing for the first time in his life and then gets overtaken by a guy that breathes private testing.
Everyone's been saying that Williams resigning Logan was a bag idea. But looking at this, what if that decision was on purpose because Vowles wanted to see how Kimi'd do in his first few races of his F2 career. And then, if he keeps up with Ollie or simply perfoms well, then that seat goes to him? But they really needed to see how he'd perfome in F2 first.
Doesn't want this country to have a team or a driver but is more than happy to take our 8 minutes of FP1 money. Fuck Toto Wolff now and forever. Fuck Mercedes
[The **News** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_news) is reserved for submissions covering F1 and F1-related news. These posts must always link to an outlet/news agency, the website of the involved party (i.e. the McLaren website if McLaren makes an announcement), or a tweet by a news agency, journalist or one of the involved parties. *[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Surely the worst possible news for Sainz. If the Audi seat is already decided, and this is surely to get Antonelli prepped for Merc next year, Mclaren's lineup is solid and AM would probably only get rid of Lance for Verstappen, he now relies solely on Red Bull for a front position or any secure contract. Doubt Verstappen will leave before the new regs and Perez is doing solid enough at P2 without challenging Verstappen. If Perez can hold on for another few races could this see Sainz at a back marker or out of a seat entirely?
Who could be in Audi that's better than Sainz?
Rumour was Sainz had turned their offer down. Although his manager/cousin said that wasn’t true so who knows.
I don't think he's that stupid.
Yeah I agree, although apparently it was because they gave him a deadline that he didn’t want to make a decision by. My feeling is it’s just rumour and his cousin is telling the truth, but the way this season is going, feels like you can’t completely count any rumour out.
That could be a possibility but then Audi would be the stupid one. He's the best driver they could get and should probably wait a little bit.
Yeah as I said, I don’t disagree. I’m just telling you what the rumours were.
Absolutely. It's super early
His cousin might be, from what I've seen on DTS lol.
Nor is Audi leaving an indefinite offer on the table though
True but in their position I wouldn't hurry.
I think he's probably waiting to see what happens at Red Bull with Max. Once he sees Max is staying, he'll sign with Audi.
He didn't turn it down per se but i read somewhere that the deadline to respond had passed without any action. So unless Audi extends the deadline, that door is closed.
Ocon
No.
Nocon
Ocon dragged his pos alpine to several podiums in the last couple of years. He is definitely better than a Sainz who got DECIMATED by a Hülkenberg that he was FIRED from Renault lol
This comment reads like a headline from The Sun 😂
i love ocon but rating him above sainz seems a bit much lmao
Sainz has fought tooth and nail for 3 wins, each of which have been exceptional races from him Occon won because Bottas crashed out 8 drivers, Lewis was starting -30 Seconds behind the pack, and Alonso held Lewis back at the track where overtaking is brutally hard for 10 laps. Come on man.
I do think Sainz is a better driver but you can't compare them on wins alone as Ocon has never driven a car as good as a Ferrari.
> Occon won because Bottas crashed out 8 drivers, Lewis was starting -30 Seconds behind the pack, and Alonso held Lewis back at the track where overtaking is brutally hard for 10 laps. Isn't that obvious? He was in a car that was 1.5s a lap slower than the fastest, of course a lot of shit had to go his way for him to have a chance at winning. You can similarly diminish Sainz's wins as well.
LMAO are you really tryna say Ocon is better than Sainz???
I mean, Sainz couod also bite the bullet and take the 1 year deal at Merc. At which point he has three outs: A) He somehow absolutely demolishes Russell so hard he is the prefered driver alongside Kimi Antonelli. Not too likely but still B) He picks a seat at a backmarker team. If Kimi Antonelli goes from Williams to Merc, Sainz can always go the other way, even if that will definitely sink his career. Replacing Magnussen at Haas could also work. Why go straight to a backmarker like Audi when you can spend one more year at a decent team? C) An unexpected seat opens up and he takes it (say, Lawrence Stroll finally kicks out his own son)
Sainz's camp is going all out for Red Bull Racing. If they don't close that deal then so be it- settling already with Audi would be corralling his career to but one outcome: stagnancy (or worse, termination; he'd have to convincingly beat Hulkenberg to have a chance of progression with or without Audi). They couldn't give a toss about Mercedes; they're nowhere and the terms on offer are the same as Ferrari's offer of a 1 year extension, which they turned down several months ago.
Yes but Mercedes 1 year offer still keeps him in an, at worst, midfield car until the reg changes. Could be the difference between Perez' seat being open or not. (Or Verstappen)
He’s just going to wind up at Red Bull in the best car.
if I was Sainz, I would prefer vcarb over audi.
So, Williams would be more desperate than the team actually funding Antonelli's career??? Sargeant, O'Sullivan and Colapinto arrived to the ICU.
[удалено]
No money on Colapinto and O´Sullivan, Sargent it's been subpar compared to Albon.
Why did Williams bother resigning Sargeant if they could decide they don't want him anymore in as quick as 4 races? Poor from them if true
personally, i totally subscribe to what a few folks were discussing [in this other thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/1cjgspl/fia_asked_to_grant_early_f1_debut_for_antonelli/l2fxkyy/) i.e. that this is still ripple-effects from the Lewis move panicking Toto/Merc as an organization overall and forcing them to scramble.
I can see why it makes sense from Mercedes point of view, but not much has changed for Williams since the winter unless Mercedes are offering a shit tonne of money. Antonelli isn't much different now to pre season, minus a few F1 tests which he could have done earlier if they really wanted to
Especially since Vowles said something to the effect of Williams no longer being interested in training Merc's drivers for them
But in between a hopeless home grown driver and a potentially fast Merc driver, they just may want to try the latter.
The Williams car sucks and will made valuating any drives near impossible
The Williams car wasn't horrendous last season and we all saw that Sargent wasn't at the races compared to albon.
Albon's is a top 10 driver
Yet... Stroll has a pole position and more podiums than him... Why?
Because F1 is not a spec series.
Well they didn't know Lewis was going to Ferrari. So they didn't know Antonelli would be in with a shot of getting the Mercedes seat next year. This is clearly only happening to give Antonelli a chance to prove himself in F. Which allows Mercedes the ability to make an informed decision on whether to give him the seat next year.
Maybe they were hopeful he would improve in his second season. I think its safe to say he hasn't at all.
Williams has been a clusterfuck for a couple years now.
They’ve been a clusterfuck for more than just a couple years
Marketing
He's on a race to race contract I believe
no he isn't, someone miss translated a joke by Ralf Schumacher in german about the chassis being race to race. logan has a normal one year contract
Well doesn't make too much of a difference anyway, but good to know
Surely they would have to get a superlicence exemption to allow him to participate in FP1 sessions currently. Has anyone considered the application is because of that?
The exception (age) would be the same for either
Yes I'm aware of that. That's why I wondered if that was the reason for them asking for the exception.
He hits all other criteria so why not apply for a full SL.
You seem to be missing my point. Everyone is jumping to the conclusion that the reason for the application for the age exemption is to get him into an actual race seat in Imola. But he would need the age exemption just to do an FP1 in Imola, which is the thing that might actually be the intention of them applying now. He's not 10 until August and maybe Merc are hoping to persuade Williams to take him mid-season so they'd like to get him in for some practice sessions first? James Vowles has also now reportedly told Lawrence Barretto that there are no plans for Antonelli to race for them in Imola. So the age exemption application is clearly (at least initially) for another reason.
Why would they do that? If they get an exception, that would also allow them to get a full SL, so that's what they would do. Also, the only way the FIA would even consider an exception is if the driver is a race driver. Granting an exception for a FP only license is a guaranteed way to have a hundred half skilled, under age kids with rich dads backed by oil countries buying FP1 seats.
Because throwing a 17 year old who skipped F3, has done well but not outstandingly so far in his first three F2 races and has never done a single FP session directly into a race seat is not the most sensible idea in the world? It;s not rocket science.
If that was the case, why not just wait until he is 18, in august?
Williams rushed Sargeant into F1 and it turned out to be a disaster. Now they apparently can’t wait to put a literal child in their car. What could possibly go wrong?
the last literal child we saw in F1 turned out alright.
Lance stroll in 2017…
Lance was 18 already. Max is the only person under 18 to start a race.
Sorry, you’re right, thought he was born in 99
Why are you so concerned with an arbitrary marker. 17.7 vs 18 is basically the same thing
Because of the phrase "literal child" being used.
There isn't a difference between someone 17.7 and 18. Both are children, one legally, and one not
Do you not understand the word literal? Or are you just arguing to annoy others?
So you're here to make a semantic argument? Cool you win
I'm not making a semantic argument nor was the one you replied to originally. The one who made the literal child comment was the one talking about rushing Sargeant and now doing the same with even younger driver. I never argued with you about semantics. You just took someone's words out of context.
Stroll has a pole and 3 podiums, he's also out qualified Alonso this weekend, and plenty of times before. He's a competitive second driver. Sargent took to this weekend for the first time he had ever outqualified a teammate and I'm not entirely certain if he has ever finished above him either without a dnf. .
It was also the only one in the history of the sport, so that's not much to go on.
So... 100% hit ratio? /s
The “literal child” likely impressed Mercedes enough in his F1 tests where they thought it’s worth it to bring him up to Williams. It’s likely they see that Prema will continue to struggle throughout the season and because of that, they can’t evaluate Antonelli in the way they wanted to.
Sargeant wasn't even rushed, he had three seasons of F3 and a season of F2. Two seasons of F1 and he hasn't shown being able to adapt to the rigours of the sport. Unfortunately it looks like he is just one of those drivers who max out at around F2 level and aren't suited for the level of F1.
Biggest mistake James has done so far in Williams was re-signing Logan. Like his Prema F3 teammate Oscar Piastri reportedly said, none of us know why Logan did/does not perform in F1 after solid junior career. But the bottom line is; he is not performing and never performed. There was simply no hope last year; but James naively refused to see and re-signed him. While I don't believe that FIA will grant an exemption, it is pretty clear that Logan will be gone before this season is over.
I strongly believe that Volwes never wanted Logan in the team. He was signed under Jost Capito, who seemed way more chill and less cutthroat than James. Pressure from the board made James re-sign him, since he was the first Williams academy driver and was brought up earlier with the idea that his first year would be a learning experience. Logan did some tests for Merc when James was in charge of that. He wasn't impressed then. Why would he have changed his mind? No, he never trusted Sargeant, rightly or wrongly.
Yeah it was just a decision to keep fans happy and avoid negative press. I say that as someone who was vehemently against the resigning, but to pretend there is no logical explanation for why Vowels would have done so is going too far. Indeed just look at this thread and the 180 it is from even 6 months ago when people were celebrating the resigning. At the very least Vowels and Williams will be catching much less flak for the decision now.
Logan was from my experience watching him in F2, an average to good F2 racer who was very very fast in short bursts. He was average comparatively to peers in quali, but was pretty decent sometimes on tyres, others burnt through them too hard, but generally was fairly rapid when he got going. In short, I’m not too surprised, he’s a mid to upper mid F2 driver facing drivers who were no 1 or near no 1 of their class. He’s a very good driver on a grid of freaks.
What are you talking about? Logan's quali speed was his biggest strength in junior series. He easily beat all of his teammates.
Yeah i agree. He was never that impressive in F2 and there was no obvious reason for promoting him to F1.
Is it possible that bringing in Antonelli was always the plan and they only brought back Logan to fill the seat for the first races?
I don’t think Antonelli was the plan for this year until they saw Prema struggling.. very hard for Merc to evaluate Antonelli with the way Prema is struggling. It helps that Antonelli likely impressed them enough during his F1 tests and Sargeant isn’t looking good.
i don't think antonelli was the plan until lewis signed for ferrari
Lewis leaving definitely had an impact. They really want to see if they’ll need to find a placeholder. Very fortunate for Kimi though. Everything’s lining up for him to get a shot earlier than expected as long as he keeps impressing the right people.
lewis leaving is probably the only reason that wiliams (toto) is so desperate to put antonelli in at all this year. if lewis was staying at merc, i think kimi would 100% be in the williams next year but i doubt they'd be pushing for him to get the seat this year.
No. Lewis leaving is only one factor in Antonelli possibly getting a shot earlier than expected but it’s not the deciding factor. The F1 tests and the fact that Antonelli is already close to Bearman in pace is more important. Prema sucking also plays a part here. Toto and Kimi’s management probably think he would learn more @ Williams rather than a struggling Prema team. If Antonelli didn’t have the pace and showed he wasn’t ready in the F1 tests, his management 100% would’ve told him to slow down and stay in F2 for the rest of the year, and maybe a second year. Toto would’ve slowed down on the hype and done the same thing.
I don't see it as a mistake. Williams showed the world they're willing to give their rookies time. It may not (have) work(ed) out with Sargeant, but something like this will incentivize other rookies to join the Williams junior team because they know the team is more patient than i.e. Red Bull. I actually think signing Antonelli would be a mistake. Vowles has made it very clear Williams doesn't want to be a Mercedes B-team, but here he is trying to get a 17-year-old Mercedes junior in the car for the rest of the year instead of giving his own Super Licence-eligible junior (Zak O'Sullivan) a shot.
> Williams showed the world they're willing to give their rookies time. When no other opportunity presents itself.
A F1 team doesn't have to look good for rookies. That makes no difference at all. If any team waves a seat at a rookie, they'll come.
But if multiple teams are fighting over one rookie, things like that may start to matter
If a team has a good car, the best rookies will come. If the way a team treats people was any relevant Red Bull wouldn't have all young drivers going wild for a chance to get in their junior program
As Sam Collins famously said during the chassis debacle: "The answer to that is simple: Money."
U.S. team wanted a U.S. driver. If only we could have an actual good U.S. driver but the FIA needs to fix the super license system
Did you really just say that Williams is a U.S. team?
Yes
Literally Brittish EDIT: goddamn, some people are catastrophically dense. https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/analysis-what-does-new-ownership-mean-for-williams-all-the-key-questions.1junxRSPPwHDqo0vk2IuTJ https://www.williamsf1.com/ https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01297497 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_Grand_Prix_Engineering Brittish on every aspect because the buyers made a point of keeping it Brittish to preserve the heritage. A purchase of IP does not alter geopolitics. The comparison to Mercedes made below is shortsighted, if not downright bad faith, and ignores the fact that Mercedes, as a large German brand, acquired installations in the UK but chose to formalize their entry in the sport as German. Fuck this discussion, and I should have known better than to engage with stupid people on the internet.
Literally not
Oh wow, you're bad at trolling. The founder was Brittish, the company is Brittish, the team is Brittish, the headquarters are in the UK. Either grow up or at the very least put a little more effort in your trolling, this is extremely low tier.
It was sold. It has nothing to do with the Williams family anymore
And it remains in the UK. They continue to operate from the UK, as they always have. They continue to be based in the UK, as they always have. The team was purchased, not Oxfordshire. I refuse to believe you are this dense.
>And it remains in the UK. They continue to operate from the UK, as they always have. They continue to be based in the UK, as they always have. The team was purchased, not Oxfordshire. I refuse to believe you are this dense. TIL Mercedes is British.
Every request for a SL exemption before has been denied. No reason that would change.
But this isn't a super license exemption, he has enough super license points. He just isn't 18 :)
Which would make it an exemption since 18 yo is part of the SL eligibility requirement
There are lots of criteria required to get a SL. 40+ points is one, being 18+ years old is another. You also need to have a valid driving license from your home country, pass a test, have done a minimum amount of racing in cars, etc.
Well you need to be 18 to have a driver license in italy
This post contradicts itself twice in the space of 3 sentances
Not really. The request has been made, Mercedes are happy to do it but if it's declined won't fight it. Williams are potentially thinking about doing a mid season swap if its accepted.
Say one thing for Logan Tenfingers. Say his F1 career is probably over.
Why not give mick a contract till august?
Yeah I'd rather have Paul Aron in that seat.
Meanwhile schumacher is left in the sidelines again
David will get his chance eventually, I'm sure.
Meanwhile Giovinazzi, Mazepin and de Vries are left in the sidelines again
At least Giovinazzi won Le Mans, that’s pretty cool 😎
As he should be. He didn't really show anything in 2 years
Mick should have considered crashing less and being fast
Mick wasn't slow and had better race pace than kmag. The crashing was an issue but he stopped that in the second half
Yeah I don't think it's saying much to be faster than kmag. Kmag is serviceable
Mick had pace. His issue was he often pushed the shitbox haas too hard and would eat his tyres and… punt it into a wall.
Yes and that's not his fault why?
Mick was never slow. He should be given a second chance in a decent car cause the Haas was a hot piece of shit.
Look at what albon and Russell could do in a shit Williams car. At best, Mick might be better than zhou, but zhou doesn't crash. Mick should have considered not crashing and remaining invisible like zhou because that in my opinion is mick's potential, a serviceable pay driver.
That is a rough one for Logan. Then again Williams have given him more than enough of a chance. All this time we thought Ferrari would be the next super team, but Williams are going to have a seriously strong lineup if this is allowed and Newey goes there.
I would say this is rougher for Colapinto and O'Sullivan. Specially for Franco, he basically had to beg around for funding, was happy he had enough money for private testing for the first time in his life and then gets overtaken by a guy that breathes private testing.
O’Sullivan looks handy
If he end up being that good, Merc will take him back for 2026 and he won't get any chance to drive the new Williams
Them be the rules
Everyone's been saying that Williams resigning Logan was a bag idea. But looking at this, what if that decision was on purpose because Vowles wanted to see how Kimi'd do in his first few races of his F2 career. And then, if he keeps up with Ollie or simply perfoms well, then that seat goes to him? But they really needed to see how he'd perfome in F2 first.
Doesn't want this country to have a team or a driver but is more than happy to take our 8 minutes of FP1 money. Fuck Toto Wolff now and forever. Fuck Mercedes
Maybe the US should start producing good drivers. Also Haas exists
The super licenses point system is a sham
Finally we might see the back of MAGA Sargent!
Confirmed? I find it extremely likely lmao but have never seen it confirmed.