Venus and serena williams

Jost Capito has praised new Williams team principal James Vowles and said he has given his congratulations, after taking over his role at the team. Capito confirmed that “exhaustion” played a part in his decision to take a sudden step away from Williams and Formula 1 at the end of 2022, with former Mercedes strategy director Vowles being approached to take on the role he vacated. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff did not stand in his way, allowing Vowles to head to Grove and take on his first team principal role in Formula 1 with Williams. But for Capito, he feels Vowles is a fine choice to pick up where he left off with the team, with the challenge ahead of pulling themselves off the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship in 2023. “Yes, I’ve already worked closely with James, also with Mercedes and their drivers,” Capito told Auto Bild in Germany. “He’s incredibly competent, I like him a lot and he’s also a great person. I congratulated him accordingly, of course.” … [Read more...] about Jost Capito delivers his verdict on his Williams replacement James Vowles

It has been stressed that James Vowles to Williams is not a strengthening of Mercedes ties, but ex-F1 driver Karun Chandhok has his doubts. With Jost Capito having vacated the Williams team principal role, the Grove outfit moved to confirm Vowles as their new team boss, Mercedes’ now former strategy chief stepping up to a team principal role for the first time. He has made it clear that this move is not designed to provide a clearer bridge between both teams, Williams already an engine customer and technical partner of Mercedes, while the Silver Arrows have said the same. However, Chandhok is not so sure that this is the case. “I think it caught most of the paddock by surprise,” he told Sky Sports F1. “I do wonder whether there’s some Mercedes element to this deal, because it’s very rare that you find someone certainly in a senior position of a team move across with zero gardening leave, and James has done that, so clearly a very amicable thing. “I mean, to the point of … [Read more...] about Karun Chandhok suspects a ‘Mercedes element’ to James Vowles’ Williams move

What kind of a Formula 1 team is Williams Racing? Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free For the last two-and-a-half years, Williams Grand Prix Engineering, formerly owned by its founder family, has been in a state of transition. Its new owners, American investment firm Dorilton, have invested considerable time, effort and funds to rebuild neo-Williams in their own image. Through swanky promotional films with Hollywood actors or hosting public exhibitions during grand prix weekends to bring the team to the fans, Williams has sought to write a new narrative for itself while still proudly embracing its illustrious heritage. But while the team appears to have clarity over how it wishes to present itself, it has struggled to find its footing on the race track in that same time. Rooted to the rear of the grid, sucked into the black hole that tends to hold down any team that falls to the back of the field, Williams would have been disappointed with their 2022 … [Read more...] about Is this the year Williams break free from the back of the grid? · RaceFans

Listen to this article Like Pierre Gasly before him, Albon found life difficult as Max Verstappen's teammate, especially given the Dutchman's particular driving style which the team had developed the car around. While the Thai driver was retained by the Red Bull family as Sergio Perez came in to replace him, a season in the DTM only made him more determined to prove his worth. Albon admitted being nervous going into 2022, but off the back of solid performance on track and signing a new multi-year deal at Williams, those early nerves made way for a sense of calm. "I’d say there's a sense of calmness with everything," Albon told Motorsport.com in an exclusive interview. "I guess the last two years, one of those years being very stressful, and the other one being nervous, and I guess gearing up for the year I didn’t know what to expect. "I’ve signed a contract which is maybe one of the best feelings, long-term. It's a privilege in Formula 1, if I’m honest. I’m feeling very … [Read more...] about Analysis: How Albon made the most of his second F1 chance with Williams

On Saturday, days after an ice storm swept across the state and left thousands without power, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration in seven Texas counties that were heavily impacted by the severe weather. "Through this disaster declaration, we will be able to provide additional assistance to Texans and communities who have experienced property damage and localized power outages from this ice storm," Abbott said in a news release . The declaration specifically addresses the damage and harsh conditions seen in Denton, Hays, Henderson, Milam, Smith, Travis, and Williamson counties, but Abbott said in his released statement that more areas may be added as officials complete their assessments. Below-freezing temperatures and icy road conditions hit North and Central Texas especially hard . More than 400,000 Texans were without power by Wednesday, and Austin Energy, the capital's utility provider, accounted for more than 153,000 of those outages. Ice, debris, and … [Read more...] about Gov. Greg Abbott issues disaster declaration after last week’s ice storm

Damon Hill feels he was the first driver to “convert” the pure test driver role into a reserve one in Formula 1, after his roundabout entry into the sport. He earned a test drive with Williams in 1991 before being given an unexpected Formula 1 debut with Brabham the following year, with the team struggling financially and Hill taking part in eight race weekends before the team subsequently folded, all while testing with the dominant Williams outfit. With Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese both leaving the team at the end of 1992, Hill found himself in the team alongside Alain Prost for the following season, and he feels the fact he was around in the paddock at the time and showed early potential with Brabham helped his cause. Along with this, the eventual 1996 World Champion believes this marked a shift from teams having specified test drivers and moulding the role into a reserve capacity, which enabled drivers to fill in where needed. He admitted there is an element of being … [Read more...] about Damon Hill on how he helped break test driver’s ‘dead-end job’ mould

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton said that Formula 1 can be like the NFL with the amount of people who are changing teams. As all 10 teams go to battle on the track, there is an army of personnel at each team making that possible, and these days, the people have an even more important role to play. With a budget cap now active in Formula 1, it means that the talent level within the team’s personnel, rather than the size of their budget, is key. It is no surprise then that the teams are constantly battling to bring the best people onboard, and Hamilton says this leads to changing faces on a regular basis. Recently Red Bull brought in a chunk of staff from Mercedes for Red Bull Powertrains, while Aston Martin’s recruitment drive has seen them snatch several people from Red Bull, including their former head of aero Dan Fallows, who is now Aston Martin technical director. “In my team there are 2000 people,” Hamilton said in a UBS/Mercedes interview. “It is actually over 2000 … [Read more...] about Lewis Hamilton likens in-team ‘silly season’ to NFL player trading

On the back of Ferrari’s strongest Friday – and Red Bull’s weakest – for many months in Hungary, cynical observers questioned just how Ferrari would manage to end up being beaten to pole position on Saturday. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free As it turned out, those expectations were well founded. But it was not Max Verstappen who denied Carlos Sainz Jnr and Charles Leclerc pole position at the Hungaroring and nor was it Sergio Perez. It was not even the man with the most poles in the history of Formula 1 – Lewis Hamilton. Instead, Ferrari were stunned by George Russell , who delivered a fantastic final lap to deny Sainz and take a shock maiden pole position of his career, despite not setting a single fastest sector in the process. For Mercedes, it was a stunning turnaround from their poor Friday – and no one was more stunned than the team themselves. “It’s a total unknown,” Russell admitted. “We’ve turned the car upside down since yesterday.” … [Read more...] about Is Mercedes’ mystery “big step forward” enough for Russell to beat Ferrari? · RaceFans

The first dry qualifying session of 2014 saw Mercedes continue their monopoly on pole position this year – though this time it was Nico Rosberg , not Lewis Hamilton, on the top spot. But while a Mercedes front-row lockout was predicted by most, there were some interesting upsets and incidents throughout the rest of the field that could also be heard playing out over team radio. Romain Grosjean has often sounded unhappy on the team radio this year but for once his frustration wasn’t directed at his uncompetitive Lotus. Grosjean fumed at Adrian Sutil who got in his way during Q1, for which the stewards later penalised the Sauber driver . An unusual message from Valtteri Bottas pointed to a new kind of problem for drivers to cope with. It appears he was directed onto the weigh bridge between sessions and when a marshal turned his steering wheel to manoeuvre his car they accidentally changed some of his settings . Sebastian Vettel complained of gear change problems … [Read more...] about 2014 Bahrain GP qualifying team radio transcript · RaceFans