Just a simple video, but cracking nonetheless.
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Iâve been a Perez fan for sometime and remain one but not sure why. Initially, it was his performance with underdog cars. Last year there was a lot of boasting, which always makes me cringe, about how he will be challenging VER. Seemed like a lot was coming from the dad but Sergio was part of it and his season was a disaster with lots of over driving mistakes. This year, there is no unqualified boasting and he is driving at his best with very few mistakes. He might have a win if VER breaks, other than that no chance. I think heâll retire next year
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Why would he retire if he is able to consistently score podiums and a win or two in tracks that he likes or if Max has issues? He seems to have accepted the #2 driver role and it is definitely helping him a lot.
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On another note, it seems to be the end for Sargeant in Williams. He does not have any confidence in the car, the team does not have confidence in him and the partnership will not work in the long run. I was suprised they kept him for 2024 in the first place. He is just not good enough for F1, this is a fact. In every race he either makes a mistake or is just painfully slow.
I have never rated both Williams drivers. Albon has never stacked well against competent teammates and only looked good against Latifi and Sargeant who are in the bottom of the bottom tier of F1 drivers and has been regularly at the top of the destructors championship (even broke the record for highest damage cost in 2019, he had around 5.5m in damages). Sargeant is slow and crashes every 2 races. The team itself is also terrible operationally and seems to be barely making it financially, they need a complete restart to fix their situation. I might be harsh but it is sad to see one of the most successful teams in F1 suffer like that. Replacing their lineup with consistent, experienced drivers would be a good start.
I rate Albon but I am starting to agree on Sargeant. This is one instance where I think Haas has actually come out ahead with two experienced drivers. The stability of keeping those two is very helpful when rebuilding a team. I think Vowles is doing a good job and really pinpointing the issues at Williams, but his drivers donât make things easy for him right now. I would keep Albon and try to wrangle an experienced guy to replace Logan. They need both cars to finish the weekend without crashing more than anything at the moment.
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Yeaaahh, I definitely agree with you on that. But then again Iâm not too surprised since Williams is an old school team. They come from the age of carburetors, grid girls, and was there when microsoft excel was the latest and greatest haha. I would imagine itâs hard for an âindependentâ team like that to âget with the timesâ without the financial backing of a major corporation like the others. They have cost caps and stuff now, but there for a while it seems like spending was unlimited. Not just for the racing itself, but money towards a teamâs infrastructure too.
I will have to disagree on the Albon statement though. Not only was he was kind of setup for failure when he got âpromotedâ from Toro Rosso to Red Bull in the middle of his debut season (then becoming team-mates with basically a robot of a driver), but even his seat in Toro Rosso came pre-maturely. He didnât have much F1 seat time compared to other drivers, so really his time in F1 has been a sink or swim situation, much like Sargeant. The difference is heâs done a better job at like, ânot sinkingâ.
For example, even though he struggled at Red Bull, on his good days, the gap/difference between his pace and Verstappenâs was smaller than the gap between Perez and Verstappen during the 2021 season when Perez replaced him. But that little bit of info is shadowed because the Red Bull pace during Albonâs time, put Verstappen fighting for podiums while Albon was fighting mid-field. The 2021 season however, Red Bull as a team got faster so Verstappen was fighting for wins while Perez was fighting for podiums. So that makes Perez look better from a results standpoint.
Now Alex is stuck in a team whoâs struggling to level-up their whole operation yet still trying to compete every race weekend.
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The FW14b and F15C would like to say hello.
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Iâm not sure if Williams ever had carburetors on his F1 cars. When he entered Grand Prix racing at the end of the 1960s with a privateer Brabham BT26, everyone had fuel injection on their Cosworth DFVs, as well Ferrari and BRM.
In my mind I kind of lump mechanical fuel injection systems together with carburetors; itâs all analog. Obviously they arenât the same, but theyâre totally different than the modern EFI systems everything has today.
It is interesting though that while the grid girls watched on, Williams apparently used Excel to create the most advanced computerized suspension system ever seen on an analog injected dinosaur of an F1 Car. 
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Lol the excel comment was related to James Vowelâs frustrations with how outdated his teamâs processes are.
Like, its 2024. Why are they managing 20,000 different parts using an excel spreadsheet?
I hadnât seen that article, thanks!
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My guess: Because (Successful, meaningful) transition is hugely expensive and labor intensive. They prioritized the technical development of the cars and thus never allocated (or never had) the resources to make the transition.
Itâs so odd they never looked for an ERP system company for a simple sponsorship and to assist in the overhaul.
Yeah Iâm kinda astonished from that point of view too. They had HP as a sponsor for sometime.
I think you nailed it. Meanwhile other teams like Mercedes or Red Bull have corporations investing in them, they start winning, then feed that money back into the team, and then they start winning back to back championships.
Itâs cool they have the cost cap now, but itâs kind of âtoo lateâ for a team like Williams. The bigger guys already spent their money and now Williams is playing catch up.
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Thatâs an interesting point⌠the cost cap could have them pidgeon holed with Excel sheetsâŚ
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We are talking as if Williams are 5 seconds off. So Excel clearly functions enough. They are mixing it with Haas and Alpine, so it having another system isnât necessarily a magic bullet, itâs just something that can be clearly pointed at rather than the more complex process of ideas and people.
itâs funny how perception works. Newey still likes to draw on paper, and because RBR win, itâs credited with their success, but Williams use Excel and its credited with their relative lack of performance. Thereâs always more factors at play than the surface level story.
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My take on âexcelgateâ is that itâs a testament to the team that theyâve done as well as they have despite that.
You canât really compare Newey drawing thing though, thatâs not much of a hindrance and doesnât require organization wide change. A few more CAD lads/lassies to convert his drawings maybe. But thatâs about it.
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I compare merely from a psychological perspective. The reality is as you describe but the perception is often that Neweyâs âantiquatedâ ways are a key componant to RBRâs success when the reality is always more complex. Point being that humans will attribute success, or not, on specifc things because it is easy. Certainly easier than identifying personnel if youâre a new manager not wanting to upset people.
For all we know RBR could win still using Excel and the headlines would be âexcelâs skmplicity key to RBRâs successâ. I am just highly suspicious of these kind of stories.
Also Williams arent that far off RBR really. Not if we look at time gaps historically. Thus Excel is a weirdly robust system.
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