WHAT THE HECK IS A KILOMETER?
BOOOOOM WHAT A RACE!
Finally… some delicious racing!
🔵 Driver Spotlight: Williams Edition pt.1 🔵
It hasn’t taken an expert to see that Williams in no longer the laughing stock of the paddock. Ever since Claire Williams released the reigns of her father’s F1 team in 2020, they have inched their way back to having relatively medium successes. The days of George Russel tearing up when scoring A SINGULAR POINT are over. It’s real, look it up. Generic George being a cheeseball.
Apart from Alex Albon having a mega year, this team has proven that the Williams is a rocket ship in a straight line which makes it so hard to overtake. Also apart from Albon, rookie driver, Logan Sargeant had himself a nice little weekend up until he didn’t.
Logan was the first US-born driver to make it to a 3rd Qualifying session in three decades. Florida man, stand up! Don’t ask him how that Q3 went. He binned it shortly into the session causing a red flag. Then he BINNED IT AGAIN in the race. Team principal, James Vowles, bailed him out blaming the crash on a “hydraulic issue”. Some spicy roomiez are floating around of Williams eye-balling a potential driver change next year. **cough** Mick Schumacher **cough**.
First of all, Logan Sargeant is the most American name an AI name generator could come up with. In support of this, he comes with some very distinctly American baggage (and cash). Sargeant's uncle Harry Sargeant, who is a former fighter pilot and officer in the United States Marine Corps, has since gone on to operate a multibillion conglomerate of oil companies, which includes Sargeant trading which his father started.
The reported billionaire has been caught up in some controversy, though. He made headlines for allegedly being involved with aiding Donald Trump in his political campaign. Harry Sargeant was also wrapped up in reports of a £74 million regarding a sex tape which a senior executive for Burford Capital had been accused of trading papers for. YIKES
Regardless, I think Logan’s F2 career still spoke for itself and he made it to F1 on the back of some of his own merit. But still, it helps to be able to bankroll his earlier career and make connections with powerful potential sponsors.
With the race of F1 and all of it’s team now vying for the attention of American audiences, it’s no wonder they rushed into a relationship with a semi-unproven, yet extremely American rookie. Williams could not wait to bring on the American driver in hopes to potentially lands some US dollars in their bank account from US-based sponsors. Just take a look at this Duracell ad for it to make more sense.
With the future uncertain for Sargeant, we need to look at how massive the gap is between him and Albon. While Albon is absolutely tearing it up this year, I don’t believe he is going anywhere else for the time being. With the team being on an upward trajectory, why risk it to leave?
On the other hand, you have Williams now knowing they can compete to score points. How patient will they be with the inconsistency of Sergeant? Well… actually I guess he is pretty consistent. Just consistency in P20. Who knows what the 2024 will hold for local frat lord, Logan Sargeant… but still… What the f*** is a kilometer?
This has concluded part one. Alex Albon for part two NEXT WEEK 😍. Get ready.
🏁 Dutch Results 🏁
Holy heck, THANK YOU F1 GODS. We needed this race. Easily the best race of the year. Banger.
Straight away the rain came pouring down forcing the teams to throw away their race strategy after the 2nd lap. Then the rain POURED again later in the race. Some teams nailed it, others didn’t. See Ferrari and Mclaren for details.
However odd the scenario you could come up with, Max Verstappen has an answer for it. Even though he didn’t come in for a tire change immediately during the first stint of rain, he kept the car on track and proved to have decent pace. Once the rain cleared up, he then had the pace to regain 1st place after falling to 4th. He now ties Sebastian Vettel’s 9-race record for consecutive wins.
Daniel Ricciardo breaks his hand in qualifying while managing to potentially save the life of fellow Aussie, Piastri. Seriously, that could have been a mess. Daniel chose to hit the wall instead of the Mclaren. So now you the ask reserve driver, Liam Lawson, to perform in quite literally the most difficult circumstances. P13 ain’t bad considering this race had two red flags and two monsoons and he had less than 24 hours to prepare.
Gasly podium? I mean I knew he was passing people, but I guess it caught me off guard as he crossed the chequered flag in P4 (later to be promoted due to a Perez time penalty). Impressive race considering that Alpine has been kind of a nothing sandwich in the performance department at this point. By the way, who’s in charge over there?
🚩 More Ferrari Blunders 🚩
It causes me so much pain being a Leclerc/Ferrari fan. I know he had to pit on such short notice, but damn the Ferrari pit crew looked like they were not prepared for him whatsoever. Not to mention, on another stop he had to change his front wing. Later in the race, Leclerc would go on to retire the car due to a potential floor issue.
For the time being, we still see no end in sight for Leclerc to part ways from the team. Which is sad. I do want to see him win and win at Ferrari, but that team just operates like a circus at the moment. He still trails his teammate in the standings. See below.
📈 The Standings 📈
Fernando buys a little bit of breathing room with Hamilton still attempting to chase down his old rival.
Leclerc vs Russel is spicy at the moment with both drivers tied at 99 points! Also both just right behind Sainz at 102. That’s enticing to me.
Max just continues to build the gap. Anyone know the answer to the most points scored by any driver in an F1 season? It was Max. Last year with 454 points. I predict he will crush that number this year.
🇮🇹 What’s ahead 🇮🇹
✨ M O N Z A ✨
Let’s get to know the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Monza was one of the seven races on the first ever F1 calendar in 1950. Fun fact, the Italian Grand Prix is just one of TWO Grand Prix that have been raced every year without missing a single season. The other being the British Grand Prix.
Monza’s nickname is the “Temple of Speed” (nice), because it is the fastest circuit on the calendar. Due to it’s lack of low speed corners and abundance of long straight, the driver’s can put their foot down for 80% of the circuit. The fastest ever F1 lap and fastest grand prix both took place at Monza.
It’s fast, folks.
🚦 Pit Stops: other news and F1 links 🚦
Max Verstappen will not be going to jail
These “journalists” gotta chill
Aston Engineer: “We need to box this lap.”
Fernando: “No.”
Aston Engineer: “What?”
Fernando:
Thank you for reading! Share with F1-Curious friends. I will continue to write and share fun content on Tuesday mornings. I do read your replies and appreciate your support.
-Reed
