To be fair, it's not like the Sauber pit stop guys have suddenly forgetten how to do pit stops. The design team created a wheel nut that was supposed to be lighter. Well, that didn't work out and the nut causes all these troubles.
Don't get me wrong, Im not letting Sauber off the hook. The whole team bears responsibility if shit happens. But it also sucks that the pit team is getting all the hate and derision, at least online...
Wonder if they'll treat the relationship like they did with Mazepin. Have a full-on Chinese flag livery.
Haas needs an American driver. A decent American driver at that. It would grow their brand immensely, I think.
I'm just saying what the rumor was. But Zhou will be on his 4th year. If he's not ready to lead a team and give proper feedback by then, that's a problem to me at that point.
To be fair, Zhou's got a really unfortunate development path. As soon as he got an experienced teammate (Bottas) to learn from, the car only seemed good for a few races until it all went to shite again - for both of them. We've never gotten to see Zhou perform, that's why it's so important to realize how relatively clean he is as a drover because any performance isn't indicative of his actual peak ability (nor of Bottas' honestly).
Ofc now the wheel nut issues doing the same thing again. I just hope Zhou gets a chance at a different car. I really like the guy on the grid, so I hope he gets a different car just to give him a chance to properly learn: unless they get Zhou-Hulkenberg for next year and the Audi funding actually hits early enough.
Oh yeah, I've said elsewhere that Zhou's tendency to not be crash prone (with a few memorable exceptions, but still not many) is one of his greatest assets. I'm not sure what you mean by as soon as he got an experienced teammate, since Bottas has been his only F1 teammate. Unless you mean in his junior career, but junior drivers usually don't get experienced teammates, because no one tries to stay too long in one place. Though Zhou himself took a slow and steady path up the junior ladder.
I guess I was expecting that Bottas' experience (in F1 himself) and presence in the team would've resulted in a lot of learning for Zhou, but not much learning was going to be done if both their cars were far too slow.
It would've been okay if Zhou was paired up with another rookie, but I think had the cars been better: Bottas would've shown his own peak performance more often, Zhou would've had a better measuring-stick to go up against every race, something Zhou wouldn't be getting with a non-experienced rookie teammate if ever he hadn't been paired up with Bottas, but since the cars were bad anyways, no measuring stick for Zhou. Hope that wasn't too wishy-washy, haha.
Zhou to Haas has always made sense. He brings the Chinese connection for Gene and about 40m in direct sponsorship if the rumours about his contract are true.
Sure, possible. I know were feeling down on kmag rn due to his last races but surely we keep him, no? Losing to Nico is no shame, Nico for most of his career has been a top 10 driver, one of the upper midfield ones consistently throughout different teams and cars and even eras. Haas is extremely lucky to have access to somebody like Nico in the first place because usually theres a certain limit on the talent you can realistically sign as a bottom team and Nico should have been beyond Haas reach but had some fortune in nobody else wanting Nico after his years of break.
I mean if Haas has two worse drivers this year, they straight up have 0 points right now, most of the points come from Nicos incredible performances on both saturday and sunday.
Nico's first point in Saudi was 100% on KMag's defense tactic giving him an entire pit window. In Australia I believe they got 9th and 10th (Nico 9th) on relative merit, having a clean race when there were three DNFs higher up in the field. Have to take those opportunities when they come. China.... I don't recall the details for Haas. Probably Nico got 10th on his own merit since I don't recall. The sprint in Miami was a major KMag defensive assist as well though. I think Nico gets maybe one point without KMag.
Of course, KMag's tactics might not work again, if a required driver through or something becomes part of repeat offenses.
Zhou could stay if Haas prefer to drop Magnussen. I hope that now without Günther they won't be as loyal to extremaly mid drivers (to say the least) as they were a few years ago, but god, is Zhou really the best choice?
Vowles followed up the statement by clearly saying they are not considering changing drivers this year and that their focus is on locking in drivers for 2025 and beyond.
Was out the moment they considered giving his car to Albon in Australia. They would never have even thought about doing that if he was a competent F1 driver.
Sad but true.
I am firmly on the side that Alex was Williams' best shot and the swap HAD to be made, but the fact that I am on that side means that I have (and so has Williams) written off Logan's ability to deliver when it matters.
They're happy to carry him along to instill confidence in their driver's academy and display some "independence" but I doubt they're going to repeat it next year.
It's like Haas learning the hard way that they can't chase money via young drivers (Mick / Mazepin) because at the end of the day they NEED results to get the bigger pot of money.
Meanwhile Sam Collins on F1TV just said Logan is still driving an unupgraded (meaning 15 kilos overweight) car while Albon gets a lighter one
So to recap:
Logan's first race this year was undone by a steering wheel software glitch
Then Sargeant gets booted out of his car for the 3rd race of the year because his *teammate* crashes
From that point on he has to drive the repaired (which means heavier) chassis that his teammate crashed
Also had his race screwed over because his team didn't notice the pit lane exit incident where he passed under SC
Then had another race screwed over because of a pit lane clusterfuck
And Vowles thinks that's a fair chance for him to prove himself?! I don't ever wanna see anyone say Mick Schumacher was treated poorly by Steiner because that has nothing on the way Williams has relentlessly fucked over Sargeant this year
Going back to last year as well:
He was rushed up a year early from F2. Both Albion and Vowles said the FW45 was difficult car to drive.
Had multiple mechanical DNFs.
Drove an upgraded car for most of the second half of the season.
I think a lot of drivers get the shit end of the stick, but if the talent is there people notice. The 2019 Williams was a far worse car and the team was in a worse situation than the Williams the last 2 years and the Mick Haas years. And there wasn’t a single doubt among any TP that George Russell was getting a top tier team seat after watching him that year. These teams aren’t just watching a few laps of free practice and then deciding to screw over Logan. They have hundreds of hours of data on track, on simulators, in race conditions, wet, dry, old tires, new tires, etc.
None of us are saying Sargeant is as good as Russell was, or even necessarily that he deserves to be on the grid in 2025. Personally, I think two years is about right.
What I object to is Williams choosing to make public statements questioning his performance while also creating the conditions to make improving harder. I object to the sanctification of James Vowles as this straight-talking paragon. I object to this weird cognitive dissonance where the Williams car is a tractor when Albon is _hauling_ it into the points but it's actually pretty good when Logan's driving it. Either it's good or it's not; it's not Schroedinger's car. And I object to the idea that Albon is a great driver, deserves a top team because look how badly he's beaten his teammate, and simultaneously that both of his teammates have been complete shit because they've gotten beaten so badly by Albon. If Albon deserves a seat at Red Bull or Ferrari on merit, then getting crushed by him isn't that awful for someone at the low end of the grid. If the teammate he's beating deserves to be racing with the dentists in LMP3, then it's not that impressive and we should stop talking about Alex as an underutilized elite talent.
Don't you think teams take into account mechanical problems when assessing a driver's performance? If Sargeant was good enough, he would already have a contract for next year.
It was his rookie season, was put into the car at least a year earlier than anticipated (per James Vowles), and had/has a highly-regarded veteran teammate to match up to.
I won't pretend that Logan's first year left a good bit to be desired, but I feel like it's basic politeness to not omit *all* context when crapping on Logan.
Here’s my prediction that nobody asked for:
If Antonelli gets his exemption or when he turns 18 in August, Logan drives off into the night.
Kimi drives for Williams the rest of this year, moving to Mercedes next year.
Bottas returns to Williams for ‘25+. Sainz grumbles and signs with Audi.
Yeah I fully agree with this. Sainz won’t want to play second fiddle to Max at Red Bull or a seat filler to Antonelli at struggling Merc so he’ll probably go to Sauber, forcing both Bottas and Zhou out. Zhou might go to Haas or otherwise he’s out of F1 and Bottas will go to Williams, the team he started with. Williams will have a solid line up of “youngster” Albon and experienced veteran Bottas and Valterri will have a seat for multiple years since Williams want stability
Yeah but do Red Bull want Sainz to challenge Max? That team revolves around Max winning and Checo doing enough to guarantee them P1 in the constructors. Having someone come in and challenge Max makes no sense for them.
I think after the Horner/Marko/Jos power play bringing someone like Sainz in is exactly what Horner and the Thai side want. Either Sainz proves that he can push Max and Horner doesn’t necessarily need him to win or Max gets angry and it’s the biggest Red Bull WDC of all time. Horner can’t lose but Marko and Jos could be knocked down a peg. I think it’s something Horner will push hard for.
The last time Max lost to a teammate he became livid and then proceed to never lose to said teammate again all season long, this would be glorious to see with a teammate other than Check.
> Sainz won’t want to play second fiddle to Max at Red Bull or a seat filler to Antonelli at struggling Merc
He will play second fiddle if it means getting in a fast car to at least potentially challenge him. He won't stand a chance of being competitive at Sauber. At the very least I think he'd ride it out at RB for a few years until Audi gets on pace.
I think if Sainz wants the RB seat, it's his and Checo gets the boot. Otherwise I think they keep Checo another year
For Bottas it will depend on what Williams are actively seeking. They seem to like having a leader and Albon has that role sorted. Bottas would come in with more experience and (potentially) higher pay into that setup.
I could see it but I can also see it clashing somewhat. I think that would be an interesting pairing though...would give us a better idea of where they stand ability-wise too.
Of course I could be wrong and they sign him anyway. You don't typically say no to a driver with his experience that is still showing some performance.
The reason you go Bottas for a few years is pure cost cap. He is solid and won’t Have the costs of bringing in a Rookie and their learning curve. With the rebuild going on internally at Williams, that can be of huge benefit for 5 years down the road.
I can’t see Antonelli going to Williams for just half a year. What would the incentive be for them? They would have a rookie in the very worst time of his career that don’t even need to care about the team since he is off to Mercedes anyways. There’s no upside for them.
If they get Antonelli it’ll be for 2 years or at least an option for them to have him two years. Like Vowles says here it’s about having the right drivers in the long term, not just the short term.
Williams is already at the cost cap, a few extra millions isn’t worth much in the grand scheme of things when you are trying to make a long term plan fighting over positions in the championship each worth more than 10 million.
Well, we shall see, yes?
And to be honest, Bottas to Williams for ‘25+ was the least thought I put into this little prediction. I was more interested in speaking to the Sargeant/Antonelli storyline. I could see Zhou as an option too for the long term… But still, I do think there’s something to the idea of Kimi replacing Logan for whatever portion of this season that he can.
> Kimi drives for Williams the rest of this year, moving to Mercedes next year.
Vowels was quoted that he needs to get his '25,'26,'27 line-up correct. They managed to get Albon extended for a few more years. It makes no sense to bother with trying to develop a rookie driver in Antonelli, especially since he going to Mercedes soon afterwards. Last thing they need is another George Russell.
I'm with you with bringing Bottas in. Vowels is familiar with him, he's a team player, and for the most part, he's able to bring the car home. His experience and feedback would be great for developing the car.
Sainz goes to Red Bull imo. Red Bull start struggling now that other teams have caught up. CH realizes he needs to get his act straight, boots out Checo and Ricciardo. Sainz and Lawson replace them
"We are talking to few other drivers because we have to get our **'25, '26, '27** line-up correct". Why would they put Antonelli for the rest of the year or for next year only when they want a driver commited for multiple years (maybe the 3 years he says is too much, but 2 years at least for sure)?
Toto pulls his strings to plop Kimi into Williams for the remainder of the season so he can have F1 racing experience before moving to Mercedes.
As for Bottas, well, he seems a safer bet to me than Zhou or Kmag. Maybe for two years though.
Antonelli needs a driving license as well as turning 18. You need to be 18 to get a driving license in Italy, and I assume it's not something he can instantly take a test for on his birthday.
Bottom line Antonelli isn't going to be in F1 in 2024.
Yep. I assume it's part of the FIAs link to road safety initiatives, I assume they want to be able to use F1 drivers as ambassadors for that.
I wonder if there are any countries where you need to be older than 18 to get a driving license?
You can get It instantly on your birthday actually...
In Italy you can pass the theory exam when still under aged. You have to be 18 Just for the practice exam on the Road.
Does his driving license need to be from his home country, or could he just take the UK test now just to tick that box? He'll probably need a UK license sooner or later anyway since an international driving license is only valid for a couple of years, and he'll likely be working for a UK-based F1 team for a while.
It’s absurd that you can get enough points from things which are not F3 and F2
Personally wouldn’t mind making them both mandatory. Have to do a full F3 to do F2, and full F2 to do F1
Because when you promote them too quickly, you get quick racers who have terrible racecraft and are very crash prone. Max and Young Stroll…
It also makes the feeder series redundant. If Kime was born earlier in the year, he could have driven in Bahrain having skipped them both. What an absurdity.
F3 and f2 cost a fortune; if drivers can get the experience and still appeal to f1 teams by racing other, cheaper f3 series I'd say that's actually pretty good.
I don't think it's the fact that they dish out so many points. It's that his junior record is crazy impressive. The kid has done nothing but succeed everywhere he drives.
I’d rather see Checo in the Williams. We’ve seen the magic he can pull out of nowhere in a midfield car before, and if Vowles can get the team right, Albon and Checo would be the best midfield pairing depending on what happens with Merc.
My dark horse candidate is Lawson. Williams isn’t much of a step down from VCarb, but they have more potential for growth. I can’t imagine he’s too thrilled with his prospects at the Red Bull family at this point.
> My dark horse candidate is Lawson. Williams isn’t much of a step down from VCarb, but they have more potential for growth. I can’t imagine he’s too thrilled with his prospects at the Red Bull family at this point.
If I'm not mistaken, it's been reported that Lawson has a 2025 guarantee from the Red Bull family.
While I love Danny Ric, it will be very telling of RB management bias if they give him a seat beyond this year. I feel for the guy, but he's sooo inconsistent and requires such a Goldilocks car to suit him that is just not sustainable. Would 100% make sense for Liam to step in and make a challenge for the seat.
I think Liam and Max are the two most likely drivers in their stable to have seats next year. Liam's guaranteed a VCARB spot. I have a sneaky suspicion that Lance goes to WEC in 2025 or 2026 to drive the Valkyrie and Tsunoda goes to Aston Martin. Then you've got Ricciardo and Perez and the field in a deathmatch for the remaining two seats.
Liam’s not guaranteed a VCARB spot I don’t think.. I read some quotes from Marko a while back that said if he doesn’t get a 2025 seat then he is free to pursue other options.. as in he’s not contractually tied to RB if they don’t give him a race seat.
Personally I think Danny Ricc is gone. He needs to be beating Tsunoda week in week out to stay.. and he’s just not. It’s so similar to McLaren.. flashes of performance but generally just getting owned by his younger my inexperienced teammate. Sad to see really.
If Checo is still doing this well around Spa (or signs an extension before then obviously) I’ll believe he’s sticking around. Until then, my prediction is Sainz, yeah.
Why not Bottas to Haas and Zhou to Williams?
I know about the rumours of Zhou and Haas, but I think this makes more sense as Haas will have a rookie (Bearman) with a better experienced driver, and Williams will have a good driver (Albon) with a not bad pay driver.
You'd have to ask Haas that. They're apparently only considering K Mag, Sargeant and Zhou right now.
Williams have only been tracking Gasly and Antonelli that we know of right now.
Could do! Honestly, "Bottas to Williams" was a quickly thought of placeholder in my prediction—I was more interested in the Williams/Mercedes Kimi dance.
It's hard, sure. But the best thing for Sargent is to know his future so he can go and make plans and talk to others about seats. Being strung along until later in the year sucks more.
It's fine that Vowles has had a hard conversation with Sargent, but what's hard to understand is why Vowles thinks talking about that in the media makes sense. If Sargent has any chance at the seat, then he deserves a chance without the extra pressure of his TP bad-mouthing him publicly.
Oof, James being so direct hurts but there's just too many drivers that can do a much better job.
I think we'll have quite a few drivers without seats by the end of this season.
Wonder if Bottas and Zhou will also be gone along with Sargeant.
I think the same. Williams ain't Red Bull. I don't think they've ever done a midseason swap for performance reasons (obviously injury/sudden retirements etc have forced their hand on occasion)
Even when they had a reputation as a cutthroat team and had a driver who was clearly performing well below the bar like Zanardi in 1999, they saw out the season with him.
If they give him the entire 2nd season and he doesn't show up.to the party no one can say they didn't give him all that he needs and they can dump him with no sympathy
Why? I think the situation is clear. It is a question of, okay, what's the point in waiting?
If they've got to do something, they might as well get on with it and give Kimi 9 races to see what he's capable of.
If the powers that be are really pushing the FIA to waive Kimi's age, I'd think they want him that Williams ASAP rather then just wait for him to get his SL in August.
It sucks for Logan but the team have no choice if they want to move forward. He should still have a long career in racing, anyone who makes it to F1 obviously has something, other teams in other series will be interested even if he didn't exactly set the world on fire.
I’m rooting for Antonelli, but honestly if you’re Williams and Vowles what benefit do you get from swapping out Sargeant for Antonelli mid-season vs end of season?
Antonelli’s future is clearly at Mercedes and not Williams. Will Vowles really be happy to just take the check from Toto short term to get Antonelli the seat and be done? I get clearing up the seat for 2025 so no questions in Logan but why give the seat to Antonelli now then? I guess he’d just be doing Toto a favor and helping his old team.
ok that’s fine and all but i do think it’s worth mentioning that he hasn’t been nearly as far away from albon this year, and it’s not like that car is capable of delivering points at the moment. albon and sargeant often have very similar race paces, sargeant gets a lot of bad luck, and albon is a better qualifier. it’s a shame he won’t be racing next year in F1 (barring a turnaround like no other), but understandable given that williams has already signed albon, who is the more consistent choice between the two.
Very clear they are working towards putting Kimi in the car this season. Logan will be on notice from here on out. Any more errors and he’s gone. Also if his pace isn’t good enough, he’s gone. Has to exist on that knife edge of pace and consistency.
I'm not a fan of ditching drivers in the middle of a season, NDV and Logan Sargeant both deserved all of 2023 to show their potential.
But in 2024, so many other drivers could have used that Williams seat to show their potential.
"He is at risk, and we'll continue to tell the media that while giving Albon every upgrade first along with favorable strategies and track position, because we want to be fair. I am James Vowles, and I am definitely not just here until I can replace Toto at Mercedes."
> "He is at risk, and we'll continue to tell the media that while giving Albon every upgrade first along with favorable strategies and track position, because we want to be fair.
People say this as if Logan has ever given them a reason to not favour Albon
He's been significantly closer this year and finished ahead in sprint qualifying and the sprint last weekend (and while he finished behind Albon in race qualifying, it was close enough to be explained by Williams sending him out second overall while holding Albon for track evolution, as they do _every race_). If you're going to take his chassis away during a weekend when he wasn't any slower than Albon, _and_ keep briefing against him in the press even when he has good weekends, yeah, they owe him an even playing field. He's been pretty OK when he's had that, it's just that it's only happened in Bahrain before Williams can start funneling new bits to Albon.
That's all well and good but how does any of that mean the team shouldn't favour Albon?
Logan has 1 point in F1. Albon scored 27 last year. The sprint was the first time Logan has ever outqualified Alex because of a lap time being deleted.
Everything you said does not contribute to one driver outperforming the other by that margin. Even when Logan gets upgrades he doesn't deliver.
Logan outqualified Alex on merit in the sprint. Even if Alex's lap had been legal, it would have been slower than Logan's. It was three or four tenths difference, and Alex cut the chicane completely.
Last year Alex was obviously faster than Logan. I'm not saying he wasn't. I'm saying the margin between them is made much larger by the way Williams allocate their resources. They took an underprepared rookie and absolutely hung him out to dry.
Yes, Williams should favor Albon. They're in the results business. But there are ways to favor one driver without screwing over the other one. For example, if you make a whole big thing over multiple race weekends about wanting improved performance, _stop fucking over the driver you're asking for more performance from_.
> They took an underprepared rookie and absolutely hung him out to dry.
Sounds like we all agree he never should have been put there in the first place
Everyone agrees with that! Williams themselves said, before he'd even been called up, that he wasn't ready and needed another year in F2, but that they were going to do it anyway.
Um Logan screwed up his second lap and qualified 19th in the sprint weekend. Defeating Alex did not matter because he didn't put the Williams anywhere close to where it should have been. The fact that Alex didn't do it either is not the point. Alex screwed up his lap twice, and Logan screwed up his lap his second lap, which is the lap that matters when you are already out of the safe zone. Defeating your teammate only means something when they are having an at least a decent weekend, not a stinker.
Being ahead of Albon in sprint doesn't mean much when your Albon starts in the pits. Even at 20th you get the opportunity to jump positions as long as you're on the grid. You don't get that opportunity when you're starting from the pit lane.
His bad lap was still faster than Alex's would have been had it been legal. He was the faster Williams driver in sprint qualifying. And he was legitimately faster in the sprint as well. But you're right, it wasn't like he was lightning fast. Alex had a bad weekend. I hope you keep that level of consistency and don't slaughter Logan for being slower when Alex has new and upgraded parts, his pick of chassis, and favorable strategy. Not holding my breath though.
Fr, Williams has been fucking over Sargeant from the start and then turn around and have the gall to act like he needs to prove himself with a car that's 15 kilos heavier than his teammate's
Vowles is a slimy shit, but because he talks nicely reddit has a hardon for him
Are we really going to pretend like every other team doesn't first give their upgrades to the better driver? Lando's win is literally due to the upgrades that Piastri got half of.
Some teams alternate, actually. And no other team that I'm aware of takes the worn parts from one car and replaces them with the less worn parts from the other car, as Williams has done. Lots of teams also alternate which driver goes out first in qualifying.
So, this is basically him saying that unless Sargeant puts in a couple of miracle performances and gets loads of points (which he's obviously not gonna do), they're gonna drop him.
I am still not sure why they even renewed him for this year...
I imagine James Vowles wanted to show his new team values of a patient man who appreciates employees, cares for them and nurtures them... but I'm sure he's regretting it now. That kind of thing doesn't really work in this sport.
Fully expect Sargeant and Zhou to be out of F1 at the end of this year.
I think Zhou still has a chance, albeit a small one, at Haas. Sargeant's gone for sure though.
wasn't Zhou touted as one possible replacement for Logan?
I've more recently see Zhou touted as a replacement at Haas, for it to be a Zhou Ollie lineup
Won't be surprised by this. Haas would have 20-30 million dollars reason to have him.
A Haas lineup consisting of a Ferrari junior and a pay driver. Why does that sound so familiar?
Fortunately Zhou is a better driver and a much better person than Mazepin. Also the Haas is less of a shitbox.
The Sauber pit is the biggest shit box box.
To be fair, it's not like the Sauber pit stop guys have suddenly forgetten how to do pit stops. The design team created a wheel nut that was supposed to be lighter. Well, that didn't work out and the nut causes all these troubles. Don't get me wrong, Im not letting Sauber off the hook. The whole team bears responsibility if shit happens. But it also sucks that the pit team is getting all the hate and derision, at least online...
Box box? No! Don't box! It's too late!
"STAY OUT STAY OUT STAY OUT STAY OUT STAY OUT ST-" "HEY IT'S TOO FUCKING LATE NOW, FUCKS SAKE."
Zhou is actually skilled in driving the track properly though
Old habits die hard
I mean he’s at least partially responsible for the return of the Chinese GP this year isn’t he? That’s a hell of a lot of revenue
I guess hes not a bad benchmark for Bearman, although I think there exists better alternatives
Jesus, is he really worth that much?
It's the amount rumored to be brought by him to Sauber
He reportedly brings crazy sponsor money, yeah
Chinese Haas livery let's go
Wonder if they'll treat the relationship like they did with Mazepin. Have a full-on Chinese flag livery. Haas needs an American driver. A decent American driver at that. It would grow their brand immensely, I think.
Thats probably 2-3x their annual expenditures.
I highly doubt it, with a rookie in Ollie they'll need a much more experienced team leader who can give them the proper feedback like Bottas or DR.
I'm just saying what the rumor was. But Zhou will be on his 4th year. If he's not ready to lead a team and give proper feedback by then, that's a problem to me at that point.
To be fair, Zhou's got a really unfortunate development path. As soon as he got an experienced teammate (Bottas) to learn from, the car only seemed good for a few races until it all went to shite again - for both of them. We've never gotten to see Zhou perform, that's why it's so important to realize how relatively clean he is as a drover because any performance isn't indicative of his actual peak ability (nor of Bottas' honestly). Ofc now the wheel nut issues doing the same thing again. I just hope Zhou gets a chance at a different car. I really like the guy on the grid, so I hope he gets a different car just to give him a chance to properly learn: unless they get Zhou-Hulkenberg for next year and the Audi funding actually hits early enough.
Oh yeah, I've said elsewhere that Zhou's tendency to not be crash prone (with a few memorable exceptions, but still not many) is one of his greatest assets. I'm not sure what you mean by as soon as he got an experienced teammate, since Bottas has been his only F1 teammate. Unless you mean in his junior career, but junior drivers usually don't get experienced teammates, because no one tries to stay too long in one place. Though Zhou himself took a slow and steady path up the junior ladder.
I guess I was expecting that Bottas' experience (in F1 himself) and presence in the team would've resulted in a lot of learning for Zhou, but not much learning was going to be done if both their cars were far too slow. It would've been okay if Zhou was paired up with another rookie, but I think had the cars been better: Bottas would've shown his own peak performance more often, Zhou would've had a better measuring-stick to go up against every race, something Zhou wouldn't be getting with a non-experienced rookie teammate if ever he hadn't been paired up with Bottas, but since the cars were bad anyways, no measuring stick for Zhou. Hope that wasn't too wishy-washy, haha.
DRs days on the f1 grid are numbered if the current form continues.
Not as long as RB wants to keep Visa.
Zhou to Haas has always made sense. He brings the Chinese connection for Gene and about 40m in direct sponsorship if the rumours about his contract are true.
Goddamn Zhou and Ollie in the same team? That just screams 'we want to be dead last', perhaps Gunther wasnt so bad after all
> That just screams 'we want to be dead last' Yeah but it also might scream "Gene wants to sell a lot of CNC's in China"
Sure, possible. I know were feeling down on kmag rn due to his last races but surely we keep him, no? Losing to Nico is no shame, Nico for most of his career has been a top 10 driver, one of the upper midfield ones consistently throughout different teams and cars and even eras. Haas is extremely lucky to have access to somebody like Nico in the first place because usually theres a certain limit on the talent you can realistically sign as a bottom team and Nico should have been beyond Haas reach but had some fortune in nobody else wanting Nico after his years of break. I mean if Haas has two worse drivers this year, they straight up have 0 points right now, most of the points come from Nicos incredible performances on both saturday and sunday.
Nico's first point in Saudi was 100% on KMag's defense tactic giving him an entire pit window. In Australia I believe they got 9th and 10th (Nico 9th) on relative merit, having a clean race when there were three DNFs higher up in the field. Have to take those opportunities when they come. China.... I don't recall the details for Haas. Probably Nico got 10th on his own merit since I don't recall. The sprint in Miami was a major KMag defensive assist as well though. I think Nico gets maybe one point without KMag. Of course, KMag's tactics might not work again, if a required driver through or something becomes part of repeat offenses.
I think they both could be better than Kmag not gonna lie
Never. They have been linked to Magnussen's seat recently, but Zhou has never been touted as a Sargeant replacement.
Ah that may be what I remembered, thanks
Zhou will go to Alpine, according to the Shanghai grapevine over here
Replacing who at Alpine? Sorry, I’m out of the loop!
Zhou could stay if Haas prefer to drop Magnussen. I hope that now without Günther they won't be as loyal to extremaly mid drivers (to say the least) as they were a few years ago, but god, is Zhou really the best choice?
Sargeant, Ricciardo and Kmag will be out next year. Jury is out for Zhou and Bottas.
Right, wrong, right, right, maybe
> Right, ***wrong***, right, right, maybe lol
I can see Zhou to Haas, bringing some chinese money and pairing with Bearman
Lol. Zhou prints money, he'll be here as long as his backers keep signing checks.
Honestly both should have never been in their respective teams this year.
Wanted him to do well, but I don't blame them.
I'm new this season, and though mclaren has been my team, I've kinda been rooting for him, but I completely understand their reasoning.
what a weird way to say "we will not renew Logan's contract"
"We will not renew Logan's contract, but if he keeps not improving he isn't even making it to the end of the season."
Vowles followed up the statement by clearly saying they are not considering changing drivers this year and that their focus is on locking in drivers for 2025 and beyond.
Saying a driver is safe and they aren't considering replacing him out loud to the press is the closest thing to the kiss of death you can get.
Not even negotiating the danger of contract renewal, but the danger of calling an uber and sending him home at the first gravel trap visit.
Is it weird? He's said it fairly explicitly but it'd be weird to be more blunt.
Logan has to drive this weekend and Monaco like his life depends on it. Maybe then he'll get to race till the end of this year.
He will, and that’s why he’ll crash, and beat himself up on comms.
It's always painful listening to his radio after a spin
“I can still tend the rabbits, George?”
oh geez 💀😂 i feel bad laughing so hard
💀
Makes no difference. He's already out.
Was out the moment they considered giving his car to Albon in Australia. They would never have even thought about doing that if he was a competent F1 driver.
Sad but true. I am firmly on the side that Alex was Williams' best shot and the swap HAD to be made, but the fact that I am on that side means that I have (and so has Williams) written off Logan's ability to deliver when it matters. They're happy to carry him along to instill confidence in their driver's academy and display some "independence" but I doubt they're going to repeat it next year. It's like Haas learning the hard way that they can't chase money via young drivers (Mick / Mazepin) because at the end of the day they NEED results to get the bigger pot of money.
Right, there really was no other choice. With Logan there was no serious change of points, with Alex there was. It’s just a fact.
He was lucky he got a seat this year.
Meanwhile Sam Collins on F1TV just said Logan is still driving an unupgraded (meaning 15 kilos overweight) car while Albon gets a lighter one So to recap: Logan's first race this year was undone by a steering wheel software glitch Then Sargeant gets booted out of his car for the 3rd race of the year because his *teammate* crashes From that point on he has to drive the repaired (which means heavier) chassis that his teammate crashed Also had his race screwed over because his team didn't notice the pit lane exit incident where he passed under SC Then had another race screwed over because of a pit lane clusterfuck And Vowles thinks that's a fair chance for him to prove himself?! I don't ever wanna see anyone say Mick Schumacher was treated poorly by Steiner because that has nothing on the way Williams has relentlessly fucked over Sargeant this year
Going back to last year as well: He was rushed up a year early from F2. Both Albion and Vowles said the FW45 was difficult car to drive. Had multiple mechanical DNFs. Drove an upgraded car for most of the second half of the season.
I think a lot of drivers get the shit end of the stick, but if the talent is there people notice. The 2019 Williams was a far worse car and the team was in a worse situation than the Williams the last 2 years and the Mick Haas years. And there wasn’t a single doubt among any TP that George Russell was getting a top tier team seat after watching him that year. These teams aren’t just watching a few laps of free practice and then deciding to screw over Logan. They have hundreds of hours of data on track, on simulators, in race conditions, wet, dry, old tires, new tires, etc.
None of us are saying Sargeant is as good as Russell was, or even necessarily that he deserves to be on the grid in 2025. Personally, I think two years is about right. What I object to is Williams choosing to make public statements questioning his performance while also creating the conditions to make improving harder. I object to the sanctification of James Vowles as this straight-talking paragon. I object to this weird cognitive dissonance where the Williams car is a tractor when Albon is _hauling_ it into the points but it's actually pretty good when Logan's driving it. Either it's good or it's not; it's not Schroedinger's car. And I object to the idea that Albon is a great driver, deserves a top team because look how badly he's beaten his teammate, and simultaneously that both of his teammates have been complete shit because they've gotten beaten so badly by Albon. If Albon deserves a seat at Red Bull or Ferrari on merit, then getting crushed by him isn't that awful for someone at the low end of the grid. If the teammate he's beating deserves to be racing with the dentists in LMP3, then it's not that impressive and we should stop talking about Alex as an underutilized elite talent.
I've never agreed with an entire comment more than this
I don't rate Sargeant but Williams have made an embarassment out of this and Vowles is at the head of it.
Don't you think teams take into account mechanical problems when assessing a driver's performance? If Sargeant was good enough, he would already have a contract for next year.
Damn. Someone better tell Vowles to take the weight of the car into account !
You just gonna ignore that he was way behind Albon all of his own doing last year?
It was his rookie season, was put into the car at least a year earlier than anticipated (per James Vowles), and had/has a highly-regarded veteran teammate to match up to. I won't pretend that Logan's first year left a good bit to be desired, but I feel like it's basic politeness to not omit *all* context when crapping on Logan.
I think you’re thinking of the last few races… This is already over for him
Here’s my prediction that nobody asked for: If Antonelli gets his exemption or when he turns 18 in August, Logan drives off into the night. Kimi drives for Williams the rest of this year, moving to Mercedes next year. Bottas returns to Williams for ‘25+. Sainz grumbles and signs with Audi.
It’s so weird to see just the name Kimi used in F1 circles and it not be about Raikkonen. This will take some getting used to.
100%
I was getting confused because I kept imagining Raikkonen coming out of retirement
A subreddit can dream…
Stop, please. I can only get so erect.
Oh, one can always become more erect.
You are correct... there is only ONE Kimi and that is Raikkonen. Fuck this Antonelli kid...
Don’t, he’s not yet legal !
👏
If Italians weren't allowed to find Finnish racer names cool we wouldn't have had Jarno Trulli
Trulli correct
That's excessive.
I do the same half the time...
Yeah I fully agree with this. Sainz won’t want to play second fiddle to Max at Red Bull or a seat filler to Antonelli at struggling Merc so he’ll probably go to Sauber, forcing both Bottas and Zhou out. Zhou might go to Haas or otherwise he’s out of F1 and Bottas will go to Williams, the team he started with. Williams will have a solid line up of “youngster” Albon and experienced veteran Bottas and Valterri will have a seat for multiple years since Williams want stability
I think Sainz wants the Red Bull seat and to see if he can challenge Max, not be second fiddle
Yeah but do Red Bull want Sainz to challenge Max? That team revolves around Max winning and Checo doing enough to guarantee them P1 in the constructors. Having someone come in and challenge Max makes no sense for them.
I think after the Horner/Marko/Jos power play bringing someone like Sainz in is exactly what Horner and the Thai side want. Either Sainz proves that he can push Max and Horner doesn’t necessarily need him to win or Max gets angry and it’s the biggest Red Bull WDC of all time. Horner can’t lose but Marko and Jos could be knocked down a peg. I think it’s something Horner will push hard for.
The last time Max lost to a teammate he became livid and then proceed to never lose to said teammate again all season long, this would be glorious to see with a teammate other than Check.
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> Sainz won’t want to play second fiddle to Max at Red Bull or a seat filler to Antonelli at struggling Merc He will play second fiddle if it means getting in a fast car to at least potentially challenge him. He won't stand a chance of being competitive at Sauber. At the very least I think he'd ride it out at RB for a few years until Audi gets on pace. I think if Sainz wants the RB seat, it's his and Checo gets the boot. Otherwise I think they keep Checo another year
We’re on the same wavelength, amigo.
I could see Sainz going to Mercedes for 2025 for a filler year if he thinks max is leaving 26
For Bottas it will depend on what Williams are actively seeking. They seem to like having a leader and Albon has that role sorted. Bottas would come in with more experience and (potentially) higher pay into that setup. I could see it but I can also see it clashing somewhat. I think that would be an interesting pairing though...would give us a better idea of where they stand ability-wise too. Of course I could be wrong and they sign him anyway. You don't typically say no to a driver with his experience that is still showing some performance.
Albon and Bottas would be an insanely good PR pairing as a driver lineup
The reason you go Bottas for a few years is pure cost cap. He is solid and won’t Have the costs of bringing in a Rookie and their learning curve. With the rebuild going on internally at Williams, that can be of huge benefit for 5 years down the road.
Ooh. Ok. Interesting!
I can’t see Antonelli going to Williams for just half a year. What would the incentive be for them? They would have a rookie in the very worst time of his career that don’t even need to care about the team since he is off to Mercedes anyways. There’s no upside for them. If they get Antonelli it’ll be for 2 years or at least an option for them to have him two years. Like Vowles says here it’s about having the right drivers in the long term, not just the short term.
$$$$$$$
Williams is already at the cost cap, a few extra millions isn’t worth much in the grand scheme of things when you are trying to make a long term plan fighting over positions in the championship each worth more than 10 million.
Well, we shall see, yes? And to be honest, Bottas to Williams for ‘25+ was the least thought I put into this little prediction. I was more interested in speaking to the Sargeant/Antonelli storyline. I could see Zhou as an option too for the long term… But still, I do think there’s something to the idea of Kimi replacing Logan for whatever portion of this season that he can.
? It's Antonelli we are taking about though??
> Kimi drives for Williams the rest of this year, moving to Mercedes next year. Vowels was quoted that he needs to get his '25,'26,'27 line-up correct. They managed to get Albon extended for a few more years. It makes no sense to bother with trying to develop a rookie driver in Antonelli, especially since he going to Mercedes soon afterwards. Last thing they need is another George Russell. I'm with you with bringing Bottas in. Vowels is familiar with him, he's a team player, and for the most part, he's able to bring the car home. His experience and feedback would be great for developing the car.
Sainz goes to Red Bull imo. Red Bull start struggling now that other teams have caught up. CH realizes he needs to get his act straight, boots out Checo and Ricciardo. Sainz and Lawson replace them
"We are talking to few other drivers because we have to get our **'25, '26, '27** line-up correct". Why would they put Antonelli for the rest of the year or for next year only when they want a driver commited for multiple years (maybe the 3 years he says is too much, but 2 years at least for sure)?
My prediction foretells Kimi in the Williams ONLY during this season, for whatever he’s allowed. Then Bottas from ‘25.
Yea, I didn't read it correctly. Still, why would they put Antonelli there? And 3 years of Bottas? I don't think so
Toto pulls his strings to plop Kimi into Williams for the remainder of the season so he can have F1 racing experience before moving to Mercedes. As for Bottas, well, he seems a safer bet to me than Zhou or Kmag. Maybe for two years though.
Antonelli needs a driving license as well as turning 18. You need to be 18 to get a driving license in Italy, and I assume it's not something he can instantly take a test for on his birthday. Bottom line Antonelli isn't going to be in F1 in 2024.
Do you NEED a road license to drive in F1? I didn’t think that was the case—but what do I know about such things.
Yep. I assume it's part of the FIAs link to road safety initiatives, I assume they want to be able to use F1 drivers as ambassadors for that. I wonder if there are any countries where you need to be older than 18 to get a driving license?
You can get It instantly on your birthday actually... In Italy you can pass the theory exam when still under aged. You have to be 18 Just for the practice exam on the Road.
Does he even have enough SL points to join the grid even if he turns 18.
Yes he does. He just needs to turn 18.
Hopefully he will.
And get an Italian driving license, and pass a FIA theory test.
Does his driving license need to be from his home country, or could he just take the UK test now just to tick that box? He'll probably need a UK license sooner or later anyway since an international driving license is only valid for a couple of years, and he'll likely be working for a UK-based F1 team for a while.
Driving license from his country of nationality
Just counting last year his 2 Formula Regional championships would get him to 43 and thus above the required 40.
It’s absurd that you can get enough points from things which are not F3 and F2 Personally wouldn’t mind making them both mandatory. Have to do a full F3 to do F2, and full F2 to do F1
Not only that, but that Indycar and Indy Lights are worth less than random Formula 3.5 regional championships.
It’s such a racket
Why?
Because when you promote them too quickly, you get quick racers who have terrible racecraft and are very crash prone. Max and Young Stroll… It also makes the feeder series redundant. If Kime was born earlier in the year, he could have driven in Bahrain having skipped them both. What an absurdity.
F3 and f2 cost a fortune; if drivers can get the experience and still appeal to f1 teams by racing other, cheaper f3 series I'd say that's actually pretty good.
I don't think it's the fact that they dish out so many points. It's that his junior record is crazy impressive. The kid has done nothing but succeed everywhere he drives.
💯
I’d rather see Checo in the Williams. We’ve seen the magic he can pull out of nowhere in a midfield car before, and if Vowles can get the team right, Albon and Checo would be the best midfield pairing depending on what happens with Merc. My dark horse candidate is Lawson. Williams isn’t much of a step down from VCarb, but they have more potential for growth. I can’t imagine he’s too thrilled with his prospects at the Red Bull family at this point.
> My dark horse candidate is Lawson. Williams isn’t much of a step down from VCarb, but they have more potential for growth. I can’t imagine he’s too thrilled with his prospects at the Red Bull family at this point. If I'm not mistaken, it's been reported that Lawson has a 2025 guarantee from the Red Bull family.
While I love Danny Ric, it will be very telling of RB management bias if they give him a seat beyond this year. I feel for the guy, but he's sooo inconsistent and requires such a Goldilocks car to suit him that is just not sustainable. Would 100% make sense for Liam to step in and make a challenge for the seat.
I think Liam and Max are the two most likely drivers in their stable to have seats next year. Liam's guaranteed a VCARB spot. I have a sneaky suspicion that Lance goes to WEC in 2025 or 2026 to drive the Valkyrie and Tsunoda goes to Aston Martin. Then you've got Ricciardo and Perez and the field in a deathmatch for the remaining two seats.
Liam’s not guaranteed a VCARB spot I don’t think.. I read some quotes from Marko a while back that said if he doesn’t get a 2025 seat then he is free to pursue other options.. as in he’s not contractually tied to RB if they don’t give him a race seat. Personally I think Danny Ricc is gone. He needs to be beating Tsunoda week in week out to stay.. and he’s just not. It’s so similar to McLaren.. flashes of performance but generally just getting owned by his younger my inexperienced teammate. Sad to see really.
From the rumblings, Checo seems to be a lock for an extension with Red Bull though.
I don't think RBR will replace Checo if he keeps doing what he is doing but who knows really. Who would replace Checo though? Maybe Sainz?
If Checo is still doing this well around Spa (or signs an extension before then obviously) I’ll believe he’s sticking around. Until then, my prediction is Sainz, yeah.
I'm assuming Perez stays at Red Bull in this case?
Yes, I too am assumptioning this.
Don’t know why Williams would bother with that, they don’t give a shit about being merc’s test team anymore
Why not Bottas to Haas and Zhou to Williams? I know about the rumours of Zhou and Haas, but I think this makes more sense as Haas will have a rookie (Bearman) with a better experienced driver, and Williams will have a good driver (Albon) with a not bad pay driver.
You'd have to ask Haas that. They're apparently only considering K Mag, Sargeant and Zhou right now. Williams have only been tracking Gasly and Antonelli that we know of right now.
Could do! Honestly, "Bottas to Williams" was a quickly thought of placeholder in my prediction—I was more interested in the Williams/Mercedes Kimi dance.
Didn’t Williams supposedly ask for a minimum of 2 years of Kimi in their seat? Which means, this season and next?
It's hard, sure. But the best thing for Sargent is to know his future so he can go and make plans and talk to others about seats. Being strung along until later in the year sucks more.
It's fine that Vowles has had a hard conversation with Sargent, but what's hard to understand is why Vowles thinks talking about that in the media makes sense. If Sargent has any chance at the seat, then he deserves a chance without the extra pressure of his TP bad-mouthing him publicly.
That means he's out then. Sucks for Logan but Williams has to look forward, if they don't want to become the backmarker no.1 again.
Oof, James being so direct hurts but there's just too many drivers that can do a much better job. I think we'll have quite a few drivers without seats by the end of this season. Wonder if Bottas and Zhou will also be gone along with Sargeant.
Yup , he is off to indy then
Haas are apparently considering him. If Andretti get to be the 11th team, he'll be back in F1. I don't think Logan's F1 future is dead yet.
Why would Haas take him over Lawson, Zhou, Ricciardo? There’s more than one seat getting pulled when the music stops this year
american, that's really about it
Now the question: is he gonna leave by the end of season or after Antonelli gets his superlicence after his 18th birthday in August?
I think he'll do the full season but be out for 2025
I think the same. Williams ain't Red Bull. I don't think they've ever done a midseason swap for performance reasons (obviously injury/sudden retirements etc have forced their hand on occasion) Even when they had a reputation as a cutthroat team and had a driver who was clearly performing well below the bar like Zanardi in 1999, they saw out the season with him.
If they give him the entire 2nd season and he doesn't show up.to the party no one can say they didn't give him all that he needs and they can dump him with no sympathy
Nobody gives championship points or prizes for sympathy points. They give prizes for finishing higher in WCC.
Why? I think the situation is clear. It is a question of, okay, what's the point in waiting? If they've got to do something, they might as well get on with it and give Kimi 9 races to see what he's capable of.
If the powers that be are really pushing the FIA to waive Kimi's age, I'd think they want him that Williams ASAP rather then just wait for him to get his SL in August.
It sucks for Logan but the team have no choice if they want to move forward. He should still have a long career in racing, anyone who makes it to F1 obviously has something, other teams in other series will be interested even if he didn't exactly set the world on fire.
Too much talent on the sidelines for mediocre drivers to stay on the grid. Unless your Dad owns the team of course.
I feel bad for Sargeant. He was put in F1 too early.
I’m rooting for Antonelli, but honestly if you’re Williams and Vowles what benefit do you get from swapping out Sargeant for Antonelli mid-season vs end of season? Antonelli’s future is clearly at Mercedes and not Williams. Will Vowles really be happy to just take the check from Toto short term to get Antonelli the seat and be done? I get clearing up the seat for 2025 so no questions in Logan but why give the seat to Antonelli now then? I guess he’d just be doing Toto a favor and helping his old team.
ok that’s fine and all but i do think it’s worth mentioning that he hasn’t been nearly as far away from albon this year, and it’s not like that car is capable of delivering points at the moment. albon and sargeant often have very similar race paces, sargeant gets a lot of bad luck, and albon is a better qualifier. it’s a shame he won’t be racing next year in F1 (barring a turnaround like no other), but understandable given that williams has already signed albon, who is the more consistent choice between the two.
Very clear they are working towards putting Kimi in the car this season. Logan will be on notice from here on out. Any more errors and he’s gone. Also if his pace isn’t good enough, he’s gone. Has to exist on that knife edge of pace and consistency.
I'm not a fan of ditching drivers in the middle of a season, NDV and Logan Sargeant both deserved all of 2023 to show their potential. But in 2024, so many other drivers could have used that Williams seat to show their potential.
Very diplomatic and corporate way of telling Sergeant is out. Could’ve used fewer words
How is this corporate it's straight talking and transparent If he said "Yep, Logan out" that'd just be more blunt not more real
People have had their brains melted and now think that the only way of being ‘honest’ is to be blunt and harsh.
If their SM team just tweeted out "Logan't" it'd be based
Logan needs his father to get involved in F1. That would save his seat.
"He is at risk, and we'll continue to tell the media that while giving Albon every upgrade first along with favorable strategies and track position, because we want to be fair. I am James Vowles, and I am definitely not just here until I can replace Toto at Mercedes."
> "He is at risk, and we'll continue to tell the media that while giving Albon every upgrade first along with favorable strategies and track position, because we want to be fair. People say this as if Logan has ever given them a reason to not favour Albon
He's been significantly closer this year and finished ahead in sprint qualifying and the sprint last weekend (and while he finished behind Albon in race qualifying, it was close enough to be explained by Williams sending him out second overall while holding Albon for track evolution, as they do _every race_). If you're going to take his chassis away during a weekend when he wasn't any slower than Albon, _and_ keep briefing against him in the press even when he has good weekends, yeah, they owe him an even playing field. He's been pretty OK when he's had that, it's just that it's only happened in Bahrain before Williams can start funneling new bits to Albon.
That's all well and good but how does any of that mean the team shouldn't favour Albon? Logan has 1 point in F1. Albon scored 27 last year. The sprint was the first time Logan has ever outqualified Alex because of a lap time being deleted. Everything you said does not contribute to one driver outperforming the other by that margin. Even when Logan gets upgrades he doesn't deliver.
Logan outqualified Alex on merit in the sprint. Even if Alex's lap had been legal, it would have been slower than Logan's. It was three or four tenths difference, and Alex cut the chicane completely. Last year Alex was obviously faster than Logan. I'm not saying he wasn't. I'm saying the margin between them is made much larger by the way Williams allocate their resources. They took an underprepared rookie and absolutely hung him out to dry. Yes, Williams should favor Albon. They're in the results business. But there are ways to favor one driver without screwing over the other one. For example, if you make a whole big thing over multiple race weekends about wanting improved performance, _stop fucking over the driver you're asking for more performance from_.
> They took an underprepared rookie and absolutely hung him out to dry. Sounds like we all agree he never should have been put there in the first place
Everyone agrees with that! Williams themselves said, before he'd even been called up, that he wasn't ready and needed another year in F2, but that they were going to do it anyway.
Um Logan screwed up his second lap and qualified 19th in the sprint weekend. Defeating Alex did not matter because he didn't put the Williams anywhere close to where it should have been. The fact that Alex didn't do it either is not the point. Alex screwed up his lap twice, and Logan screwed up his lap his second lap, which is the lap that matters when you are already out of the safe zone. Defeating your teammate only means something when they are having an at least a decent weekend, not a stinker. Being ahead of Albon in sprint doesn't mean much when your Albon starts in the pits. Even at 20th you get the opportunity to jump positions as long as you're on the grid. You don't get that opportunity when you're starting from the pit lane.
His bad lap was still faster than Alex's would have been had it been legal. He was the faster Williams driver in sprint qualifying. And he was legitimately faster in the sprint as well. But you're right, it wasn't like he was lightning fast. Alex had a bad weekend. I hope you keep that level of consistency and don't slaughter Logan for being slower when Alex has new and upgraded parts, his pick of chassis, and favorable strategy. Not holding my breath though.
Fr, Williams has been fucking over Sargeant from the start and then turn around and have the gall to act like he needs to prove himself with a car that's 15 kilos heavier than his teammate's Vowles is a slimy shit, but because he talks nicely reddit has a hardon for him
Are we really going to pretend like every other team doesn't first give their upgrades to the better driver? Lando's win is literally due to the upgrades that Piastri got half of.
That last part’s bullshit, Lando’s outperformed Oscar with or without upgrades
Some teams alternate, actually. And no other team that I'm aware of takes the worn parts from one car and replaces them with the less worn parts from the other car, as Williams has done. Lots of teams also alternate which driver goes out first in qualifying.
I think you made it clear to him when Albon destroyed his car and you gave him Logan’s.
Sad to see it (Logan seems like a good dude) but it’s time.
As we like to say in the states: "He gone"
Translation: “learn to drive ovals, buddy”
So, this is basically him saying that unless Sargeant puts in a couple of miracle performances and gets loads of points (which he's obviously not gonna do), they're gonna drop him.
I really like James Vowels. Seems very honest and straightforward unlike Horner or Toto.
I am still not sure why they even renewed him for this year... I imagine James Vowles wanted to show his new team values of a patient man who appreciates employees, cares for them and nurtures them... but I'm sure he's regretting it now. That kind of thing doesn't really work in this sport.