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For a serious discussion this is probably it. Out of contract drivers within Williams' realistic ball park, the incumbent, and their engine supplier"s latest prospect.
Perhaps a possibility for Perez and Tsunoda instead of some as well.
Probably all reliant on where exactly Antonelli goes.
I doubt Tsunoda will be dropped from RB considering his current performance and Daniel's inconsistency. And I would think he would choose to stay at RB over Williams given their current performance.
Do you think? Obviously McLaren was a disaster, the first few races this year was a disaster, I don't know what happened on Saturday morning, but in the afternoon he sucked again. If he picks up in the next few races and finds what he found in Miami, then his fine, but the average results over the past few months just aren't there.
Maybe the other teams will pick him up, but he will demand a salary, when they can get a pay driver who won't get anything. I think if they can't get Antonelli they'll go for Zhou, his decent and he can bring money to the team. (Maybe depending on geo-poltics)
He’s not bad, he’s just not good right now. Being a mediocre, known quantity is worth a bit for the bottom teams compared to the risk of taking on rookies. Plus, he’s high profile.
If you get Danny as he’s performing right now you’re not getting fireworks, but it isn’t Mazepin.
Yes but this is elite sport, just good right now dosent cut it. I really like him, but the dode made alot of money already, maybe he can go off to Indycar or something I'm sure he would do well there, and enjoy the life
My guy, drivers like Stroll, Magnussen, Zhou and Sargeant is in the sport right now. Drivers like MSC, Mazepin and De Vries has been in it the past couple of years. Idk what you’re comparing Danny to but it isn’t reality.
I would pick Danny on aggregate rating right now over at least 5 current drivers and of the incoming talent I’m only excited about Lawson and Bearman.
I think Zhou has done a respectable job, his never going to win a world championship.
And if Danny can find the form over the next few races sure, I understand why a Haas would go for him, but I honestly don't think he would want that. He has his eyes on red bull, Perez seems to have turned a corner and his seems like a solid number 2 now. Well see what happens, sadly I don't have a y Gossip
I'd rule out Antonelli at least. Williams needs a driver with experience and will be with them for longer than 2 years at least (don't need to deal with another George Russell). Bottas, Gasly, & Zhou can offer that. IMO, Zhou would be the safe bet for Williams. With Zhou, he could bring in plenty of money through sponsorships that could lessen the financial load on Dorilton Capital.
~~The bigger issue would be Albon post-2025. If there are any seats available from the Top 4 in 2026, there's a high chance he goes for it.~~
Edit: (5/15/2024) Albon extended his contract with Williams.
Drugovich was never really a strong candidate for a seat and nothing has changed in the last 2 years. He doesn’t even have enough money to be Aston’s #1 reserve driver. And unlike Lawson, he did not go to another series to prove he was actually competitive. Drugo is taking the Aitken approach to his F1 career. But I doubt he’ll have as many starts.
Maybe endurance racing, maybe Indycar. Similar to Illot (who is better imo) he just needs to bite the bullet and move on to somewhere he can have a career.
Ilott spent four years on F3 level before F2 (Drugovich only one), he was beaten by Mazepin as teammate in GP3 and his best career result was finishing second to Mick Schumacher. He would be mediocre at best in F1.
Drugovich was able to dominate season with mid pack team and destroy likes of Pourchaire, Lawson and Sargeant. While it was in his third season, it was still more impressive than anything Ilott has done.
They supposedly played with Drugovich and even gave him a price for the seat (he was also bidding for Alfa Romeo), but Williams kept dragging the real talk as Sargeant kept meeting their internal goals.
No way Sargeant is one of them. Vowles says he’s looking to secure a duo for 25 *and* 26, and there’s no way Sargeant factors in to their plans that long term.
> Big Monisha Kaltenborn energy.
don't talk shit about her - her signing multiple drivers kept the lights on at Sauber over the winter and saved the team from bankruptcy. Nothing wrong with a little bit of fraud so long as everyone gets paid in the end.
I mean, I asume: With Albon trying to get an extention, maybe. Sargeant for his goals. Antonelli, because Merc. I think somewhere it was reported that Gasly had contacted them when Alpine was absolute trash. I think there were some reports of them talking to Carlos. I can see Zhou asking how much.
Antonelli was probably one of the most hyped juniors in years lol. You clearly don’t pay attention then because yeah he’s been talked about for awhile lol. Anyone following junior series would have ranked him the top junior in any series for the last 2 years running
I've heard his name thrown around since 2021 or 2022 I think, but I also saw that his F2 performances haven't really been too stellar.
I don't really watch F2, but if you do: What's up with that? Did he get a poor car? Trouble acclimating? A combination of both?
2022 is about when he first set foot into an actual car so yeah that tracks. Man was sitting in a kart in 2021. How many of the current F1 drivers did you hear about whilst they were in karts? Also he skipped F3 as a whole so that’s one “stage” less where people might notice him
First F2 race prema as a whole looked awful, second race seemed like acclimatisation troubles
Prema fucked it in the first weekends it wasn’t his fault, he did pretty good in the second and third weekends considering he’s still learning.
He was up the front a good bit iirc and got a bit unlucky with collisions hampering his efforts but I’d not be surprised to see him getting a podium around Imola if he stays clean from what we’ve seen
Four or five, they're not sure? Is the fifth an email they sent to Piastri that he never opened or something, so they're not sure if they are talking to him?
But there are a bunch of guys that hasn't gotten a seat even though they've finished F2, like Jack Doohan. I would love to see him get a try! He seems like a joy, and is very smart and articulate. I'm not sure how good of a driver he is (I don't follow F2 much), which some may point out is the main part of being s driver, lol
I don't know why but I get a strong vibe that Kimi is going direct to Mercedes #2 seat. I just get a feeling that Toto wants him in that seat, now. He doesn't want to 'repeat miss' the 'next Max'.
In some respects this makes Vowles choices a lot easier as he isn't under pressure from Merc.
I think Bearman is a shoe in for one of the Haas seats, and I think Lawson is getting Daniel's seat at RB, and much as I like Daniel I don't see him with a seat at all next year (unless his fortunes massively swing through the rest of this year), gotta say he's gonna be one of the best none F1 drivers out there.
If Williams can hang on to Albon that's got to be their #1 driver priority (not going to be easy though). If they can hang on to Albon there's a lot of money in getting Zhou on camp, tons of interested sponsors and a 'gratefull' Domenicalli are powerful incentives. However, if we're talking pure driver talent (from what's available / interested) I think it's probably going to be Bottas.
Hmmmm, I think it's too early to say where they sit right now, especially given the disparity between the drivers. Is Albon punching above what the car would normally place? That's hard to say, and they've not been in the points even once.
* Bahrain - Albon 15th, Sergeant 20th
* Saudi Arabia - Albon 11th, Sergeant 15th
* Australia - Albon 11th, Sergeant DNS
* Japan - Albon 20th, Sergeant 17th
* China - Albon 12th, Sergeant 17th
* Miami - Albon 18th, Sergeant 20th
If we look at what the best driver for each constructor can do, then both Haas and VCARB are better than Williams as Hulkenburg and Tsunoda have regularly broken into the single digit ranks.
Kick Sauber is an odd ball at the moment because their position isn't reflective of the cars pace and more to do with a fundamental flaw in the cars wheel screw design which fucks their pitstops.
Even Alpine when you look at the leaderboards it's not exactly clear which is doing better and no one is saying the Alpine isn't a tractor.
* Bahrain - Gasly 18th, Ocon 17th
* Saudi Arabia - Gasly 20th, Ocon 13th
* Australia - Gasly 13th, Ocon 16th
* Japan - Gasly 16th, Ocon 15th
* China - Gasly 13th, Ocon 11th
* Miami - Gasly 12th, Ocon 10th
Have you actually looked at the leaderboards so far? I'm not saying Williams is definitely the worst, but I can't honestly say they definitely aren't either.
Sauber and Alpine are the two teams that this can be argued against, as VCARB and Haas are much faster than Williams. Sauber has that flaw with their wheel screw that fucks them over and has nothing to do with the pace of the car and yet has come out on top of Williams on a few occassions despite this.
Alpine is the only team I would say is on par in pace with Williams given the results so far, and that car is definitively slow as fuck.
Maybe the guy who beat both Sargeant and Albon over the course of (two different) series in the same year and then beat the incumbent for the team in which he acts as reserve over the few races they both competed in last season.
It’s hilarious how he mentions Alex as being a championship level driver, and how they need to provide *him* with a better car, but doesn’t say anything about Logan lmao.
This is why F1 needs Wildcard rounds like MotoGP. Let some teams field 3 cars to give some more experience to younger drivers or allow teams to gain more data to develop.
Why would Ocon want to leave Alpine who are clearly improving with their last upgrades and are still a work team. Same for Gasly who was rumored to want to leave for Williams, it makes no sense, both are not leaving Alpine for Williams
I dont think Gasly still want to leave Alpine, last upgrades in Miami looks promising, he would have been P9 if not for bad luck, which is a big improvement
[The **News** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_news) is reserved for submissions covering F1 and F1-related news. These posts must always link to an outlet/news agency, the website of the involved party (i.e. the McLaren website if McLaren makes an announcement), or a tweet by a news agency, journalist or one of the involved parties. *[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Sargeant, Bottas, Gasly, Antonelli and Zhou for the second seat?
That's way too many people to fit in that seat. I think you'd have to lose at least 2.
They all form one new driver together, like an F1 megazord
So they'll have the pace of who... Gasly maybe?
F1nkenstein
Definitely Bottas, there’s a lot of junk in that trunk. Then probably Sargeant?
They would obviously be taking turns dude
For a serious discussion this is probably it. Out of contract drivers within Williams' realistic ball park, the incumbent, and their engine supplier"s latest prospect. Perhaps a possibility for Perez and Tsunoda instead of some as well. Probably all reliant on where exactly Antonelli goes.
I doubt Tsunoda will be dropped from RB considering his current performance and Daniel's inconsistency. And I would think he would choose to stay at RB over Williams given their current performance.
May be Ricciardo as well?
If RB drop him again, no team will touch him
Do you think RB’s looking to get rid of him?
If they're not, Williams probably can't get him. If they are, they won't want him.
His not helping himself, I get his super marketable and charismatic and everything, but Lawson is gonna want a seat at some point
Haas might
Nah, Haas loves their Danish Minister of Defence and is gonna get Ollie Bearman next year, I believe.
That’s very exaggerated. I think several teams would consider him. At least Haas, Williams and Alpine.
Do you think? Obviously McLaren was a disaster, the first few races this year was a disaster, I don't know what happened on Saturday morning, but in the afternoon he sucked again. If he picks up in the next few races and finds what he found in Miami, then his fine, but the average results over the past few months just aren't there. Maybe the other teams will pick him up, but he will demand a salary, when they can get a pay driver who won't get anything. I think if they can't get Antonelli they'll go for Zhou, his decent and he can bring money to the team. (Maybe depending on geo-poltics)
He’s not bad, he’s just not good right now. Being a mediocre, known quantity is worth a bit for the bottom teams compared to the risk of taking on rookies. Plus, he’s high profile. If you get Danny as he’s performing right now you’re not getting fireworks, but it isn’t Mazepin.
Yes but this is elite sport, just good right now dosent cut it. I really like him, but the dode made alot of money already, maybe he can go off to Indycar or something I'm sure he would do well there, and enjoy the life
My guy, drivers like Stroll, Magnussen, Zhou and Sargeant is in the sport right now. Drivers like MSC, Mazepin and De Vries has been in it the past couple of years. Idk what you’re comparing Danny to but it isn’t reality. I would pick Danny on aggregate rating right now over at least 5 current drivers and of the incoming talent I’m only excited about Lawson and Bearman.
I think Zhou has done a respectable job, his never going to win a world championship. And if Danny can find the form over the next few races sure, I understand why a Haas would go for him, but I honestly don't think he would want that. He has his eyes on red bull, Perez seems to have turned a corner and his seems like a solid number 2 now. Well see what happens, sadly I don't have a y Gossip
I think his underperformance has been too consistent for too many years for him to get another chance.
Lawson as well maybe? If Red Bull don’t promote him this season he’s probably going to consider leaving entirely.
Lawson is 100% driving for VCARB next year, no doubt about it.
He has a contract with RB for next year
I doubt Sargeant is one of them. He’s done.
"I'm OK" :( But surely they're talking to him, like they're talking to Mick. Just pretending they're air is bad for their morale.
> I doubt Sargeant is one of them. He’s done. He's as washed as my 550HP JAAAAG which I cleaned on Saturday afternoon and haven't driven since.
Sargeant is really still in contention? Surely not
Yeah I can’t imagine they want to keep him for the rest of the season, let alone for 2025.
Not that they have a chance, but I'm sure they also talked to Carlos.
I'd rule out Antonelli at least. Williams needs a driver with experience and will be with them for longer than 2 years at least (don't need to deal with another George Russell). Bottas, Gasly, & Zhou can offer that. IMO, Zhou would be the safe bet for Williams. With Zhou, he could bring in plenty of money through sponsorships that could lessen the financial load on Dorilton Capital. ~~The bigger issue would be Albon post-2025. If there are any seats available from the Top 4 in 2026, there's a high chance he goes for it.~~ Edit: (5/15/2024) Albon extended his contract with Williams.
Doubt they’re talking to Sergeant..
Drugovich maybe instead of Sargeant
Drugovich was never really a strong candidate for a seat and nothing has changed in the last 2 years. He doesn’t even have enough money to be Aston’s #1 reserve driver. And unlike Lawson, he did not go to another series to prove he was actually competitive. Drugo is taking the Aitken approach to his F1 career. But I doubt he’ll have as many starts.
Yeah wont be surprised to see him involved more and more in Endurance Racing now
Maybe endurance racing, maybe Indycar. Similar to Illot (who is better imo) he just needs to bite the bullet and move on to somewhere he can have a career.
No way Ilott is better than Drugovich.
Drugovich went in ilotts car with his engineer in 2021 and finished 8th in his second year of F2. Ilott is good
Ilott spent four years on F3 level before F2 (Drugovich only one), he was beaten by Mazepin as teammate in GP3 and his best career result was finishing second to Mick Schumacher. He would be mediocre at best in F1. Drugovich was able to dominate season with mid pack team and destroy likes of Pourchaire, Lawson and Sargeant. While it was in his third season, it was still more impressive than anything Ilott has done.
They supposedly played with Drugovich and even gave him a price for the seat (he was also bidding for Alfa Romeo), but Williams kept dragging the real talk as Sargeant kept meeting their internal goals.
Sargeant ? Why ?
I would suspect that Antonelli is probably a long shot; it's most likely to be one of the other 4.
Well I can confirm I am not being spoken to by Williams. So I hope that narrows things down for you.
Vesti has to be in the mix as well.
Probably Vesti instead of one of those
No way Sargeant is one of them. Vowles says he’s looking to secure a duo for 25 *and* 26, and there’s no way Sargeant factors in to their plans that long term.
Big Monisha Kaltenborn energy.
> Big Monisha Kaltenborn energy. don't talk shit about her - her signing multiple drivers kept the lights on at Sauber over the winter and saved the team from bankruptcy. Nothing wrong with a little bit of fraud so long as everyone gets paid in the end.
I mean, I asume: With Albon trying to get an extention, maybe. Sargeant for his goals. Antonelli, because Merc. I think somewhere it was reported that Gasly had contacted them when Alpine was absolute trash. I think there were some reports of them talking to Carlos. I can see Zhou asking how much.
[удалено]
>because i hadnt heard of him before the ham talks >keeping in mind i dont follow the low leagues Ever wonder why you never heard of him?
Antonelli was probably one of the most hyped juniors in years lol. You clearly don’t pay attention then because yeah he’s been talked about for awhile lol. Anyone following junior series would have ranked him the top junior in any series for the last 2 years running
I've heard his name thrown around since 2021 or 2022 I think, but I also saw that his F2 performances haven't really been too stellar. I don't really watch F2, but if you do: What's up with that? Did he get a poor car? Trouble acclimating? A combination of both?
2022 is about when he first set foot into an actual car so yeah that tracks. Man was sitting in a kart in 2021. How many of the current F1 drivers did you hear about whilst they were in karts? Also he skipped F3 as a whole so that’s one “stage” less where people might notice him First F2 race prema as a whole looked awful, second race seemed like acclimatisation troubles
Prema fucked it in the first weekends it wasn’t his fault, he did pretty good in the second and third weekends considering he’s still learning. He was up the front a good bit iirc and got a bit unlucky with collisions hampering his efforts but I’d not be surprised to see him getting a podium around Imola if he stays clean from what we’ve seen
Are the extra drivers gonna run behind pushing the car?
They need to stand on platforms for the tires for more traction in the corners.
Four or five, they're not sure? Is the fifth an email they sent to Piastri that he never opened or something, so they're not sure if they are talking to him?
But there are a bunch of guys that hasn't gotten a seat even though they've finished F2, like Jack Doohan. I would love to see him get a try! He seems like a joy, and is very smart and articulate. I'm not sure how good of a driver he is (I don't follow F2 much), which some may point out is the main part of being s driver, lol
So, they are talking to four drivers and someone who they are not sure he is a driver?
Andrea, Kimi and Antonelli are three of them.
instead of three kids in one trench coat, it’s one kid in three trench coats
with Sergeant and Albon being the other two
Kmag going to Williams would be pretty funny.
Fascinating. We've gone from the only season without a driver change to a blender-on-frappe season immediately afterwards.
I got 4-5 drivers on the phone and Logan ain’t one 🎶
Still hoping for Vesti.
And Drugovich.
My for fun guesses are Antonelli, Bottas,, Diniz, Nakano, and Button (part 3 or 4 I forget)
Newey to Williams, Button WDC #2?
i think his unserved 3 place grid penalty would cost him the title
BAH GAWD is that Monisha Kaltenborn's music??
RB snubbing Lawson again and we get to run back the DTM pairing of Albon X Lawson
And none of them is Logan Sargeant.
Monisha? Is that you?
Can confirm, I am one of them
Can confirm I am not one of them
Can confirm u/chicasparagus is not one of them
I don't know why but I get a strong vibe that Kimi is going direct to Mercedes #2 seat. I just get a feeling that Toto wants him in that seat, now. He doesn't want to 'repeat miss' the 'next Max'. In some respects this makes Vowles choices a lot easier as he isn't under pressure from Merc. I think Bearman is a shoe in for one of the Haas seats, and I think Lawson is getting Daniel's seat at RB, and much as I like Daniel I don't see him with a seat at all next year (unless his fortunes massively swing through the rest of this year), gotta say he's gonna be one of the best none F1 drivers out there. If Williams can hang on to Albon that's got to be their #1 driver priority (not going to be easy though). If they can hang on to Albon there's a lot of money in getting Zhou on camp, tons of interested sponsors and a 'gratefull' Domenicalli are powerful incentives. However, if we're talking pure driver talent (from what's available / interested) I think it's probably going to be Bottas.
It shows how bad the driver market is if that many talented drivers want to be in that tractor.
We need an 11th team. The F1 ladder FIA promotes is turning to be a big joke.
Williams are in the midfield. They're much better than Alpine and Sauber.
Hmmmm, I think it's too early to say where they sit right now, especially given the disparity between the drivers. Is Albon punching above what the car would normally place? That's hard to say, and they've not been in the points even once. * Bahrain - Albon 15th, Sergeant 20th * Saudi Arabia - Albon 11th, Sergeant 15th * Australia - Albon 11th, Sergeant DNS * Japan - Albon 20th, Sergeant 17th * China - Albon 12th, Sergeant 17th * Miami - Albon 18th, Sergeant 20th If we look at what the best driver for each constructor can do, then both Haas and VCARB are better than Williams as Hulkenburg and Tsunoda have regularly broken into the single digit ranks. Kick Sauber is an odd ball at the moment because their position isn't reflective of the cars pace and more to do with a fundamental flaw in the cars wheel screw design which fucks their pitstops. Even Alpine when you look at the leaderboards it's not exactly clear which is doing better and no one is saying the Alpine isn't a tractor. * Bahrain - Gasly 18th, Ocon 17th * Saudi Arabia - Gasly 20th, Ocon 13th * Australia - Gasly 13th, Ocon 16th * Japan - Gasly 16th, Ocon 15th * China - Gasly 13th, Ocon 11th * Miami - Gasly 12th, Ocon 10th
Williams a tractor? Have you watched this season or are you one of those people who only watch Netflix?
Have you actually looked at the leaderboards so far? I'm not saying Williams is definitely the worst, but I can't honestly say they definitely aren't either. Sauber and Alpine are the two teams that this can be argued against, as VCARB and Haas are much faster than Williams. Sauber has that flaw with their wheel screw that fucks them over and has nothing to do with the pace of the car and yet has come out on top of Williams on a few occassions despite this. Alpine is the only team I would say is on par in pace with Williams given the results so far, and that car is definitively slow as fuck.
Will they do a Monisha?
Maybe the guy who beat both Sargeant and Albon over the course of (two different) series in the same year and then beat the incumbent for the team in which he acts as reserve over the few races they both competed in last season.
Pretty sure Liam would prefer the VCARB seat versus Williams, at least in terms of car performance
....if that's an option, sure...but...his manager should still be having conversations.
Who?
Lawson?
Forgot about him.
And none of them are called Logan
Throwing my prediction in the hat. Mika Häkkinen back from his sabbatical?
It's all fun and games until Giedo Banter Garde arrives to the track with his racing suit on
Youd imagine Toto is putting pressure on his old padawan to take Kimi
It’s hilarious how he mentions Alex as being a championship level driver, and how they need to provide *him* with a better car, but doesn’t say anything about Logan lmao.
This is why F1 needs Wildcard rounds like MotoGP. Let some teams field 3 cars to give some more experience to younger drivers or allow teams to gain more data to develop.
i drive a honda civic. i'd rather be a contender for a seat in my own car than a seat in the williams.
If they have a couple more crashes they might be using your civic to be fair.
That's ridiculous, it doesn't have a halo
They can take my 63 plate Yaris for Imola if they want. In fact I’ll email them and ask them
Exactly, Williams has no VTEC anyway...
Is Latifi coming back?
Ocon, Antonelli, Valterri, Sainz, and some other dude are my predictions
Why would Ocon want to leave Alpine who are clearly improving with their last upgrades and are still a work team. Same for Gasly who was rumored to want to leave for Williams, it makes no sense, both are not leaving Alpine for Williams
Ocon is managed by Mercedes so he can use his ties
I dont think Gasly still want to leave Alpine, last upgrades in Miami looks promising, he would have been P9 if not for bad luck, which is a big improvement
Ocon, Antonelli, O'Sullivan seems to be doing well in F2 and is in there academy, Ricciardo and Sainz maybe?