Williams preparing for ‘three years of work’

In brief

Williams prepare for three years of work in one

Williams team principal James Vowles says he is trying to set up his team to carry out “three years worth of work in one” with the major regulation changes for 2026 looming on the horizon.

“We go into every race weekend wanting to achieve the absolute maximum we can and we are highly competitive, which means where we finish in this year’s championship – and next year’s championship – is of significant impact and merit to us,” Vowles said. “It’s also an indication of where we are as an organisation. So the balance of those is what my job is to do, to make sure we strike the right one.

“I’m confident now that we do have a good amount of forward vision taking place in the background. That we have teams working, be it on an aerodynamic perspective or concept development ’26. And that’s going to be very, very strong in the years to come. And what we’re also trying to do is make sure our company is structured correctly, such that we can deal with almost three years’ worth of work in one, because that’s what we’re now asking of the organisation.”

Red Bull domination “should be celebrated”

NASCAR hall of fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jnr believes that the dominance of Red Bull and Max Verstappen in Formula 1 should be “celebrated”.

“I think that if a guy goes out – and we had this happen when Martin Truex Jnr won a race at Kentucky by like 13 seconds one night and everybody just thought the sky was falling – I’m thinking ‘why don’t we think this is amazing?’,” Earnhardt said on a recent podcast. “This team went out and set themselves so far apart from anyone else. Why aren’t we amazed and just in awe of what they accomplished tonight?

“But instead we thought ‘oh man, this is the worst! Gosh, I hope this never happens again…’ And I thought ‘that wasn’t the case 30, 40, 50 years ago – somebody went out and did something truly unique and was quite a bit better than the rest of the competitors. We celebrated that for decades’.

“It’s not always going to be that way. When it does happen, whoever deserves the credit – Max, the cars, the developers – all of that should be celebrated.”

Sette Camara and De Vries penalised

Sergio Sette Camara lost his points finish from Saturday’s Misano Eprix after he was hit with a post-race drive through penalty of 50 seconds for
overpower use. The ERT driver had finished in seventh but was demoted to 16th in the final classification, promoting Jean-Eric Vergne, Norman Nato, Stoffell Vandoorne one place each and Sacha Fenestraz into the points in tenth.

Nyck de Vries was also hit with a five second penalty after the race for forcing Jehan Daruvala off the track in the closing laps, but the penalty had no affect on his finishing position.

Links

The drivers Vettel could follow by coming out of retirement to make an F1 return (F1)

‘A year later, and with the CART title also under his belt, Mansell returned to F1 and Williams following Ayrton Senna’s death, making several appearances through 1994 and scoring a pole position/victory double at the season finale in Adelaide – only for Williams to give David Coulthard a full-time drive alongside Damon Hill in 1995. Mansell subsequently headed to another legendary British team in McLaren, but having struggled to fit into the narrow MP4/10B and missing the start of the season, he could not get to grips with the car when he eventually sat behind the wheel and permanently retired after two challenging race weekends.’

Motor-racing deal faces quick antitrust pitstop (Reuters)

‘John Malone’s group must first win a green flag from the European Commission. The acquisition brings back memories of a 2006 case involving CVC Capital Partners, a previous Dorna owner. The buyout firm wanted to purchase F1 while holding onto MotoGP. The EU Commission was at the time concerned with the private equity firm gaining too much ‘bargaining power’ on TV rights deals in countries where racing sports were most popular, particularly in Spain and Italy. These fears led the EU antitrust officials to rule CVC had to sell the Spanish company to acquire F1.’

A $10bn car? The trend for hyper-personalised cars gains momentum (Financial Times)

‘This hyper-personalisation boom is a major factor in rising profitability for those brands, such as Ferrari and VW-owned Bentley, that can cater to the demands of the big spenders. Last year, Ferrari was so profitable it increased its forecasts every quarter and posted a record €1.26bn of net profit for the year, of which about €460mn came from higher prices driven by customisation.’

Bold new Formula 1-style format changing the face of triathlon (Yahoo Sport)

‘A radical new Formula 1-style format is shaking up the world of triathlon. And with the second event of a globetrotting race calendar on the horizon, double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee reckons it’s the perfect way to catapult the profile of the sport to new heights.’

Title contender Aron: ”It’s easy to get too comfortable too quickly” in F2 (Formula Scout)

”I think already last year in the Formula 3 season, we saw that I was very, very consistent. I would say I’m beginning to be quite a complete driver, and especially in a championship like F2 where driving with your head and taking risks in a smart way works out. It’s showing now because we are second in the championship.”

Formula E round 7: Misano (Formula E via YouTube)

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