In season driver changes are not a regular feature of Formula One racing. Red Bull have a history of doing this more than most with Nyck de Vries being the latest in the line, sacked after just ten races last year.

Daniel Ricciardo was the beneficiary of that decision and he had hopes of a call up to drive alongside Max Verstappen, going into this year’s summer break. Yet the call didn’t come for him or Liam Lawson to replace Perez following a ‘filming day’ for V-CARB which didn’t suggest either was a guaranteed better replacement for Checo.

Dr. Helmut Marko insisted last year that Lawson would find his way into and F1 during this season. The recent decision on Perez leaves that less likely now unless the Mexican’s form nose dives again as McLaren close in on the constructors’ title race.

 

 

 

Williams boss says Sargeant crash “avoidable”

Williams suffered another blow in Zandvoort from a Logan Sargeant crash in FP3 which all but destroyed the car. Such was the extent of the repairs required it meant the team cold not rebuild the car in the two and a half hours or so before qualifying.

The incident came when the track was damp and it appeared just poor driving decisions from Sargeant which caused the huge shunt, described by team boss James Vowles as “avoidable.”

For a team like Williams to now be forced to restock the inventory destroyed by Sargeant will mean time lost in fabricating new upgrades required in their fight at the bottom of the table. The surprise was how quickly a number of the less outspoken F1 commentators began talking of Sargeant being benched for the remainder of the season.

As a regular in favour of the solution – ‘off with his head‘ its no surprise if the likes of Jacques Villeneuve weigh in calling for Sargeant’s sacking. Yet even Martin Brundle questioned whether Williams cold continue suffering the cost of the American’s off track excursions suggesting a change could be made even before this weekend in Monza.

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Serious F1 commentators question Sargeant’s future

“The problem is they’re not getting the results, Logan’s not scoring points for them,” reflected Brundle on SkyF1. “It’s costing them a fortune in repairs and while you’re making replacement parts, you’re not making development parts if all your resource is going in to just keeping two cars on the track.”

With the exception of Nyck de Vries, the problem for Williams is the lack of drivers with recent full time experience in F1 is scarce to none. This is why Liam Lawson who deputised successfully five times in 2023 for Daniel Ricciardo became top of everyones list to replace the American.

Williams brought big upgrades to Zandvoort which clearly worked on the car as Alex Albon cruised into the top ten qualifying shootout claiming P8 before cruel being disqualified because his new floor was 3mm over the FIA prescribed limit. Performance like this could see them overtake Alpine in the closing weekends and generate more funds in terms of prize money – even Haas in P7 are not out of sight if Williams have two drivers contributing to scoring points.

Mick Schumacher is in his second year out of F1 and is Mercedes’ reserve driver along with driving for Alpine in the WEC. He receives boost today from Red Bull in his hopes of claiming the Williams drive until Abu Dhabi.

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Mick “favourite” for the Williams seat

F1 journalist Matt Coch believes a condition required by Red Bull will stymie a deal for Lawson, speaking to the Pit Talk podcast he says: “Mick Schumacher is in the mix there, in fact, my intel, as we’re recording this…I mean the problem with this story is that it’s changing so quickly because the deadlines are seemingly so near.

“I mean, we’re talking Thursday for when a decision has to be made by, so that’ll probably shake out in the next 24 hours.”

Coch adds that he has had a number of “phone calls” which confirm Mick to be the favoured choice for Williams, although acknowledges Liam Lawson could be loaned out.

“Red Bull is keen for that to happen, but they also want the right to be able to call him back if they do and James Vowles at Williams isn’t keen on that.

“The probable outcome is that it will be Mick Schumacher in that car if there is a change because time is running out.”

Lando Norris tells journalist “Don’t ask me that again!”

 

 

 

Red Bull boost Mick’s chances with demands

Mick has been credited this year with a number of late night Friday simulator sessions which have resolved poor running issues from the track sessions held that day. Yet the abiding vision of Schumacher in his final season was him sitting in just half of his Haas F1 car after a huge smash in the swimming pool section at Monaco.

Mick’s old boss Guenther Steiner was driven to distraction by the cost to the team of the regular Schumacher’s shunts. Whether Williams are prepared to take a risk on his most recent form, is yet open to question.

Lawson on the other hand is a tried and tested campaigner, he rattled Yuki Tsunoda when deputising for Ricciardo last year – who injured his hands in Zandvoort and missed the next five Grand Prix weekends.

When asked about the possible loan of Lawson to Williams, Dr. Helmut Marko was relaxed stating: “If it’s good for a young driver and he can gain some race experience we wouldn’t stand in the way,” said Marko.

Marko reportedly canvassed for Lawson to replace Perez over the Sumer break, but a wait and see approach has been adopted by Red Bull who hope the upcoming circuits are happy hunting grounds for Sergio who has won both in Singapore and Azerbaijan.

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Ex-Red Bull Chief Designer responsible for McLaren’s success

Formula One land is at times an incestuous place to be. With seven of the teams based in England’s motorsport corridor the opportunity to move from one organisation to another and progress sees a constant ebb and flow of employees between the teams.

Much was made of the fact that Mercedes fall from grace was due to a ‘brain drain,’ something both Toto Wolff and Mercedes technical director, James Allison, have both refuted.

Speaking to F1’s Beyond the grid podcast Allison addresses the topic head on suggesting the ‘brain drain’ narrative about Mercedes in the media is in fact a propaganda effort from the team’s rivals… READ MORE