2024 Williams Racing F1 Team

[90feet]

Carlos said that not every guy can choose his team, and he chose Williams. Why not Merc? Is he stupid?

Merc didn’t want him, with KA waiting. Signing a cast off from Ferrari, is not a good look either. Many teams seemed to agree, hence why he’s now ended up at Williams. Think he just sees his days out in F1, like many before him, who have failed at big teams.

Most people thought he would be miles off Leclerc's place and was essentially a seat warmer for Mick Schumacher.

I might be misreading this, hopefully I am, but are you saying there are people who thought Carlos Sainz Jr at Ferrari would be a seat warmer for Mick Schumacher? As in Mick "not good enough for Haas, enjoy your WEC career" Schumacher would join Ferrari? As an actual race driver?

[diffuser]

Merc didn’t want him, with KA waiting. Signing a cast off from Ferrari, is not a good look either. Many teams seemed to agree, hence why he’s now ended up at Williams. Think he just sees his days out in F1, like many before him, who have failed at big teams.

Most people thought he would be miles off Leclerc's place and was essentially a seat warmer for Mick Schumacher.

I might be misreading this, hopefully I am, but are you saying there are people who thought Carlos Sainz Jr at Ferrari would be a seat warmer for Mick Schumacher? As in Mick "not good enough for Haas, enjoy your WEC career" Schumacher would join Ferrari? As an actual race driver?

Prior to Mick Schumacher's faithful year at Haas. Not after.

[JPower]

Merc didn’t want him, with KA waiting. Signing a cast off from Ferrari, is not a good look either. Many teams seemed to agree, hence why he’s now ended up at Williams. Think he just sees his days out in F1, like many before him, who have failed at big teams.

Most people thought he would be miles off Leclerc's place and was essentially a seat warmer for Mick Schumacher.

I might be misreading this, hopefully I am, but are you saying there are people who thought Carlos Sainz Jr at Ferrari would be a seat warmer for Mick Schumacher? As in Mick "not good enough for Haas, enjoy your WEC career" Schumacher would join Ferrari? As an actual race driver?

Absolutely.

People thought Mick was a shoe-in at Ferrari due to family ties, FDA sponsorship, and his championship win in F2.

Sainz was thought to be a cheap(er) stopgap that would give Leclerc backup for a couple of years. People on here and elsewhere were predicting quali gaps of 4-5 tenths and for Leclerc to have a 1.5x his points over a season before the season.

So yeah, I can’t say the past 3.5 years at Ferrari have been a failure. He overachieved given initial expectations. There are people who have posted in this thread today that have said Sainz was not good enough to drive for Ferrari.

[90feet]

Most people thought he would be miles off Leclerc's place and was essentially a seat warmer for Mick Schumacher.

I might be misreading this, hopefully I am, but are you saying there are people who thought Carlos Sainz Jr at Ferrari would be a seat warmer for Mick Schumacher? As in Mick "not good enough for Haas, enjoy your WEC career" Schumacher would join Ferrari? As an actual race driver?

Absolutely.

People thought Mick was a shoe-in at Ferrari due to family ties, FDA sponsorship, and his championship win in F2.

Sainz was thought to be a cheap(er) stopgap that would give Leclerc backup for a couple of years. People on here and elsewhere were predicting quali gaps of 4-5 tenths and for Leclerc to have a 1.5x his points over a season before the season.

So yeah, I can’t say the past 3.5 years at Ferrari have been a failure. He overachieved given initial expectations. There are people who have posted in this thread today that have said Sainz was not good enough to drive for Ferrari.

Just to be clear though, re: diffuser's post - you're referring to before Mick's time at Haas, correct?

[JPower]

I might be misreading this, hopefully I am, but are you saying there are people who thought Carlos Sainz Jr at Ferrari would be a seat warmer for Mick Schumacher? As in Mick "not good enough for Haas, enjoy your WEC career" Schumacher would join Ferrari? As an actual race driver?

Absolutely.

People thought Mick was a shoe-in at Ferrari due to family ties, FDA sponsorship, and his championship win in F2.

Sainz was thought to be a cheap(er) stopgap that would give Leclerc backup for a couple of years. People on here and elsewhere were predicting quali gaps of 4-5 tenths and for Leclerc to have a 1.5x his points over a season before the season.

So yeah, I can’t say the past 3.5 years at Ferrari have been a failure. He overachieved given initial expectations. There are people who have posted in this thread today that have said Sainz was not good enough to drive for Ferrari.

Just to be clear though, re: diffuser's post - you're referring to before Mick's time at Haas, correct?

Yes, not after.

[90feet]

Gotcha, thanks for clarifying my dudes. That makes way more sense.

[Chuckjr]

Outstanding signing for Williams. Looking forward to seeing Carlos and Albon head to head. I’m as excited to see that as I am Ham and Leclerc. I continue to be impressed with the work James V is doing at Williams. Fair of them to write a porous contract allowing Carlos to sign with a better team if the stars align. But he will have to pound Albon into submission all year if he is going to ever hope to drive for a top team again. If he can’t, I can see Carlos becoming a journeyman like Bottas or Hulk. Prolly not what Carlos wanted, but it’s not such a bad life being a journeyman F1 driver.

[deadhead]

But he will have to pound Albon into submission all year if he is going to ever hope to drive for a top team again. If he can’t, I can see Carlos becoming a journeyman like Bottas or Hulk. Prolly not what Carlos wanted, but it’s not such a bad life being a journeyman F1 driver.

It's unlikely he could demonstrate that level of "dominance" over either Russell or Hülkenberg, making Albon the most plausible scenario for him to exhibit any superiority over a teammate.

[diffuser]

But he will have to pound Albon into submission all year if he is going to ever hope to drive for a top team again. If he can’t, I can see Carlos becoming a journeyman like Bottas or Hulk. Prolly not what Carlos wanted, but it’s not such a bad life being a journeyman F1 driver.

It's unlikely he could demonstrate that level of "dominance" over either Russell or Hülkenberg, making Albon the most plausible scenario for him to exhibit any superiority over a teammate.

Think he was hoping to go to AMR. There was a minute there where AMR were thinking of replacing Lance. Then Lance's form improved.

[Jurgen von Diaz]

But he will have to pound Albon into submission all year if he is going to ever hope to drive for a top team again. If he can’t, I can see Carlos becoming a journeyman like Bottas or Hulk. Prolly not what Carlos wanted, but it’s not such a bad life being a journeyman F1 driver.

It's unlikely he could demonstrate that level of "dominance" over either Russell or Hülkenberg, making Albon the most plausible scenario for him to exhibit any superiority over a teammate.

Think he was hoping to go to AMR. There was a minute there where AMR were thinking of replacing Lance. Then Lance's form improved.

I wouldn't be surprised if the entire team is thinking of replacing Lance every year until Lawrence steps into the meeting with a contract.

[KimiRai]

Auto motor und sport says Newey won't go to Williams

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... on-vowles/

Great article about Williams in general

[Henk_v]

From a neutral's perspective, it will be interesting to see how Albon fares against Sainz. I've always been on the camp that Albon is a bit overrated and has been flattered by weak teammates, but now he will have a true benchmark

I think Albon might actually prove to be underrated once truly challenged. He has been driving inferior cars against farts as teammates in a team that is actually happy to finish 16th+ . How numb must he be? I really see flashes of brilliance, but how motivating is it to challenge for q3 knowing you'll fall outside the points anyway...

[KimiRai]

Albon's new floor was found to be outside the regulatory volume. Could mean disqualification

[chrisc90]

Also could be a thrown away upgrade if there are discrepancies between how it’s measured.

[PapayaFan481]

That's gonna be costly.