Williams rookie Logan Sargeant thinks his recent Formula 2 experience could give him a leg up in Formula 1’s new condensed sprint format.
The F2 weekend format offers far less time for practice than F1’s usual schedule, with drivers allowed only 45 minutes of free running on Friday compared to the three hours ordinarily afforded to their premier-class counterparts across two days.
Qualifying usually follows around two hours later on the same day rather than the next afternoon, with Saturday reserved for the sprint race and Sunday comprising the longer feature race.
Continue reading on RACERJost Capito is leaving his role as Williams team principal and CEO after just two years in the job.
The heritage team issued a short statement on Tuesday confirming Capito would be relieved of his duties before the start of the 2023 season.
Technical director François-Xavier Demaison, who was hired in March 2021, will also leave the team in a management clean-out ahead of the new season.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSNicholas Latifi took a shock top spot in a soaking-wet final practice session at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Latifi took the unlikely accolade with his final lap of the hour, when the previously saturated track was at its driest after a long break from the rain.
Running had been suspended for a little over five minutes to clear Sebastian Vettel’s crashed Aston Martin from the barriers at Turn 10 after aquaplaning on entry, sending his rear-right corner into the wall.
Continue reading on RACERThe Belgian Grand Prix will be remembered as the shortest race in F1 history, declared after only two laps in torrential rain, but for George Russell it was the first podium finish of what is sure to be many more.
George Russell remembers his 2019 F1® debut for Williams in Australia, reflects on the lessons learned from his memorable stand-in appearance at Mercedes, talks about his rivalries with peers like Lando Norris and reveals why he wanted a director role in the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association alongside Sebastian Vettel.
The Williams Formula One team has been up for sale since May, but its acquisition in full by American investment firm Dorilton Capital still came as a shock.
Williams, the sport’s third-oldest team and second-most successful by constructors championships, had been the only continuously family-owned team on the grid since its 1978 debut.
But that rare tangible link to the sport’s past has been lost through this sale, and though Frank Williams and daughter Claire will retain their principal and deputy positions respectively, it marks the end of a long transition away from the independent constructors that were the bedrock of the sport for most of its 70-year history.
It’s been no secret that Williams has been struggling on and off track for years. Poor results begot a decline in financial returns, which in turn resulted in worsening car performance.
The vicious cycle is laid bare in championship results: from third in the standings with 320 points in 2014 to a lucky solitary point to finish comfortably last in 2019.
The sale of its research and development arm to refinance debts last year was a final roll of the dice to see the team through to 2021, but the plan lasted only until COVID-19 postponed the season for four months. By May it was on the market for fresh investment, and last week it was snapped up in full for €152 million.
But sale of the family’s shares at least ensures the iconic team’s survival, and Dorilton says it intends to maintain the team’s historic name and honour its heritage. The firm also says this is a long-term investment, which bodes well for the team’s growth prospects.
Williams’s white knight has arrived with impeccable timing. Not only has it galloped in during the same week all 10 teams agreed to a new, fairer and egalitarian financial deal with the sport, but it still has 18 months to prepare for a regulatory overhaul.
The sport was originally due to switch to a new set of technical regulations designed to promote better, closer racing and introduce a budget cap of US$175 million for 2021, but the pandemic forced a delay in their implementation to reduce new spending during these financially precarious times.
However, crucially the budget cap has not only remained in place but has been negotiated down to US$145 million, far closer to Williams’s annual expenditure.
For its entire history Formula One has been vulnerable to cashed-up teams spending their way to victory — Ferrari and Mercedes, for example, reportedly spend more than US$400 million apiece — but from 2021 will be restrained in how much can be spent developing a car.
The doling out of prize money is also set to change dramatically. Unfair financial terms struck by F1’s previous owners allowed the largest teams to cream money off the top of the total pool before championship standings were used to divvy up the rest, but from next year the differences in payment from first to last on the title table will be smaller and bonus payments for championship success will be correspondingly reduced. … Continue reading
Williams driver George Russell won’t take part in Friday afternoon’s practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku after the team confirmed his run-in with a loose drain cover in the abbreviated morning session damaged his survival cell.
Continue reading on RACERFormula One isn’t a two-tier racing category, but the 2018 season featured an undoubted class divide.
