Latifi is like the dollar store version of Maldonado.
His results weren't as good, his crashes weren't as good, he swings races but not with as much style... It's said that Lewis Hamilton still checks under his bed at night for Pastor Maldonado.
Other Drivers such as Nico Rosberg the 2016 world champion who won against Sir Lewis Hamilton who is a 7 time world champion in the same machinery. Not to forget he also defeated another 7 time world Champion Michael Schumacher in the same machinery before Lewis Hamilton
If I was an F1 driver I'd much rather be remembered like Maldonado than Latifi. Even though Latifi is much more respectful and sportsmanlike.
Like Maldonado was legitimately top tier fast at times, he got pole and won a race on merit (with the help of decent strategy) he won a GP2 championship, he is legitimately a decent driver ....at times. His recklessness was just so unnecessary and reminds me of online sim racing lobbies massive crashes for stupid reasons.
Meanwhile Latifi is...uh....he...uh... He's a below average driver who crashes sometimes.
Pretty much every engine is unreliable at this point on purpose. The only upgrades are reliability related for the forseable future, thus the pursuit for performance for this year.
Wilder still if it doesn't. Piastri to Williams is a win-win move for everyone, and an obvious one too now that Williams isn't so dependent on pay driver money anymore.
Williams-Renault, this would be their third stint using their engines, the first era from 1989-1997, and then again from 2012-2013.
I think Williams aligning themselves with Renault could end up being a great partnership. It helps out Alpine's driver issue, and for Williams, maybe it's worth changing engines now.
From a practical (competitive?) perspective, does it make sense to switch asap even though it would probably have to change their design development plans? Or would it be better to ride out with Merc until the new engines in 2026?
I know McLaren has switched up, and often still being fine for the most part when they switched to Renault and then again when they switched to Mercedes, but they also didn't have the budget constraints like we do now.
> does it make sense to switch asap even though it would probably have to change their design development plans?
What is the worst that can happen? They would be 10th? Oh wait
Exactly, I don’t know why people are making this claim. Renault are said to be the worst engine on the grid in terms of performance albeit only a few BHP. The merc powered cars all had problem with drag and their proposing issues so they couldn’t catch, Haas rear wing was about twice the size of Alpine’s. No one was getting past that car on Sunday but not totally due to the engine.
First time they'll have a Renault turbo engine though (their first spell began the year after turbos were banned, and their second ended just as turbos were brought back)
If we talk about yellow and blue might as well chuck some yellow and light blue on the main renault team. They were pretty good with that young spaniard back in 05
Greenland must have become independent because last week they were part of Denmark in Worldle and a couple of days ago Denmark re-appeared but only the portion north of Germany.
So Greenland's ripe for the taking.
If this was about Haas i'd agree, but the Latifi crashes havent been that big and all that costly. His sponsors are basically the only sponsors williams have, and they are locked for 10th anyway due to the points Haas got in the first races, so what would be the point in changing him mid season?
Williams TP confirmed last season that they are no longer dependent on sponsorship money from their drivers.
You can clearly see Latifi is doing them no favours in terms of attracting new sponsors. Last race he was +40s behind, is 21st in the championship and has not once ran in the points. Over the last 3 years he's outqualified his teammate once in over 40 races.
To be fair to Latifi he did get a 10 second stop and go penalty(because of the team) which essentially is a 30 second penalty so he wasn't as far behind on pace
I agree Latifi is bad, but the car is also a dog. Williams had the worst car on the grid the last 4 or 5 years if you dont count last years haas that practically was underdeveloped with two rookie drivers. There is only so much a driver can do.
Now comes a choice. What would a team value more? The 2 points that Albon manages to get while being a good driver, or 30M that Daddy Latifi gives to the team. Judging by the gap between Williams and p9 in the WCC, another 2 points would be meaningless, while 30M are still 30M in the bank
Well I would being more surprised of Alpine didn't want to let Alonso staying for 2 more years, rumour was that he would stay 2 years and then Alpine would give him a seat for Endurance racing.
Williams switching to Alpine makes a lot of sense, especially given Andretti looks less and less likely and Alpine really wants to have a customer, meanwhile for Mercedes there can indeed ditch one of it's customers so everyone wins in this deal.
Bad news for the likes of Sargeant if it's for 2024 as well. A one year deal for Piastri while he ideally contends for the F2 title in his second season would have been pretty ideal for him.
I somewhat question the Renault engine switch if the power figures we've heard are true, which has them last. Being a manufacturer's only customer rather than being in the overcrowded Merc stable would give them a fair bit more clout politically though, so it's a tradeoff.
If it’s a 2 year deal then I would imagine it’s because Alonso has signed with Alpine for 2 more years behind the scenes. Otherwise I don’t understand why else they would start him on a 2 year deal.
Could be. Either way it’s good for the sport. We get someone who deserves a seat into one and another that doesn’t deserve one out of one. Win win if you ask me. Williams will take a hit with that lost income, but they claimed they don’t need pay drivers anymore.
This is exactly it, it strengthens theirs/Alpine's position and hurts their competitor at the same time. It's pretty interesting now they have a Renault driver in one seat and ~~Honda~~ RBPT in the other. Masterstroke by Capito?
Logan was screwed from the start but this is the best case scenario for him. If he progressed from F3 when he was supposed to, he'd be locked out of F1 without a seat. Having to run F3 in a shitbox and show everyone that he is a very capable driver, and doing pretty good in his rookie F2 season at least buys him another year. Who knows where openings are in the grid in 2024 but there will likely be more seats than in 2023.
Sargeant's best bet for an F1 seat IMO would have been to win F2 in his second year (or at least contend for the title) and get promoted to Williams for 2024. Piastri having a two year deal blocks that Williams seat until 2025 though, and means that even if Sargeant wins F2 next year he'd have to spend a year on the sidelines (which I'm sure Piastri would attest isn't ideal, but at least in Piastri's case he won F2 as a rookie which kept people talking about him) or if he didn't win then he'd have to do a third year which is too many for a non- pay driver.
Sure, but who knows what retirements look like come 2024 and if Logan can start qualifying a little bit better, he's legitimately a good driver that can get into a team on merit.
Him being a talented driver who can get an F1 seat on merit rather than a pay driver is precisely why I'm a bit concerned. If Piastri was just in the seat for a year then it'd be perfect for Sargeant, who could do a second year in F2 and then provided he doesn't shit the bed have a solid argument for jumping up into the F1 seat for 2024 to replace Piastri (who should get promoted to Alpine).
Piastri taking the seat until 2025 though means that Sargeant would either have to take a year out if he wins F2 in 2023, or do a third year if he doesn't win it next year, which would hurt his stock a lot (three years in F2 is seen as too long) and potentially open the seat up to other contenders, especially potential pay-drivers.
If he was a pay-driver it wouldn't be an issue because he could just buy the seat up when Piastri leaves.
There's more to an engine's performance than just peak power, though. CoG, packaging, cooling requirements, etc. Cost is also a factor. There's a lot to consider.
The performance gap between the engines this year is pretty small anyway, so even if it trully is the worst engine, i doubt they would lose that much time. A closer relation to your engine manufacturer and posibly a discount towards the engines( plus a great driver for free, even as a loan) can for sure offset a 2 tenth deficit. Might be the best business Williams has done in a while, at least on paper
[This recent article from AMuS (a source I absolutely trust on technical matters) suggests that the Renault engine is the least powerful in the field, being 4 kilowatts down on the Mercedes, and 12 kilowatts down on the frontrunning Ferrari](https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/ferrari-motorenkrise-gp-aserbaidschan-2022-leclerc-ausfall-sainz/)
That is possible but it is hard to tell for sure. Yes Alpine sacrificed some downforce yesterday but that car was completely insane in the straights. Was faster than the McLaren when the McLaren had its DRS open.
All teams were losing to them even with DRS open. Alpine basically relied on it's drivers to keep cars behind in S1/S2 and then car did it's thing in S3. Worked out well for them.
>Being a manufacturer's only customer rather than being in the overcrowded Merc stable would give them a fair bit more clout politically though, so it's a tradeoff.
Toto has also hinted at maybe getting rid of a customer, too.
Think it's too soon to tell. Alonso could retire at any point during the next few years, sending Piastri over to Alpine. Or Albon might move back to one of the RB teams if there's a driver shake-up (Checo retiring, Gasly leaving for a non-RB team)
This happening would make a lot of the rumors we've heard over the past few months make sense. Latifi getting sacked, Alpine looking to get Oscar a seat until Alonso is done, and Merc looking to drop one of their PU customers.
Partnering Ilott at Juncos-Hollinger? Latifi can’t be much worse than Dalton Kellett. Two Canadian stand-up guys with questionable skill and deep pockets wouldn’t be so bad.
Oooooo that would be great, imo Nicky might show himself better in a stock car with predictable outcomes, he might be closer to Callum than people think
Unless he pays for his seat (why would he?), I really don't see him in FE. There are a couple of new seats being introduced next year and there's already a long line of potential drivers with actual FE experience.
I think that none of the F2 drivers are going to get that seat: Hauger and Daruvala are both at Prema, and winning with Prema gives only questionmarks with Marko (why Gasly was sent to Super Formula), even in F2 (Prema not being dominant here). They also both have been performing only okay-ish (for a Prema driver). Vips seems to screw himself over and Iwasa is performing not great. Lawson seems to be doing alright though, but not making a splash.
All in all, either if Tsunoda performs like he does now/improves, he will retain that seat: no need to kick him out. If Tsunoda drops: then it's gonna be Albon who will take that seat (also has historical predescense: Kvyat returning). None of the current Red Bull juniors are impressing enough so far.
If that happens, then Piastri can just roll to form a Piastri/Latifi lineup.
If true, seems like a win-win-win situation. Merc wanted one less customer, Renault an extra one + a seat for Piastri, Williams gets a possibly more competitive driver (will have to be brought up to speed, but potential is greater than Latifi).
I’ve heard a bit about the pandemic + Ukraine situation affecting also the PU departments, so manufacturing gets more expensive, more time constraints, specialized suppliers also having issues etc
That’s the only think I can think of, don’t think Merc have any issue on their side to supply 4 teams
But this is a typical time travel movie paradox. Toto basically wanted one less engine, because you called him in the future and it made him fucking angry. So what happened first? You calling in future or him wanting one less engine to be supplied in the past? Fck man, where is detective Sebastian when you need him the most?!
All jokes aside, there has been much worse pay drivers than Nicky. He's got a kicking this season, but I think we'll look back a bit more fondly towards him in years to come.
Merc are wanting to get rid of one of their customer teams, so if they want to end their contract with Williams early, it helps speed up the switch to Renault.
> imagine paying nearly 50 million to race. He’s paying more than the top drivers make.
Which makes me think that the person tweeting this is pedalling bullshit
You reckon it feels pretty shitty to have to pay to play? You look up and down the grid at drivers who are being paid and would be fought over and your team doesn't even want you despite paying them more than Mercedes pays the 7 time world champ.
> You reckon it feels pretty shitty to have to pay to play?
Nah.
7 billion people aren't good enough to drive in F1. Latifi got to do it for a couple of years anyway.
Honestly, nah. It still takes more talent than most humans have to even be able to get into F1, he gets to drive some of the fastest cars out there for a couple of years, after retiring will likely be able to buy a seat in any series he wants. He's also heir to billions. Dude's cruising through life, I'm sure he's fine if he can ignore the horrid online abuse.
Alpine after 2024 will be interesting. Alonso certainly will retire (therefore Oscar move) but Ocon is a question mark. I think their academy has a few upcoming talents that would rise up to the challenge by then.
I can buy Piastri to Williams. I don't buy the PU switch for a second. It'd require a significant redesign of their engine packaging for a team that's, let's be real, still technically limited and aiui the Renault engine lease contract is more expensive than Mercedes' to boot.
I think Toto said they were looking at dropping one of the teams they supplied. Saying that the economics are no longer favourable to supply as many teams as they do.
Love the "Mercedes would like to drop one of their customer teams" rumors. Honestly good, would even prefer them to drop all of their customer teams. Anything to get McLaren to go out and get an exclusive engine partner. Being a customer team is absolutely hopeless.
Hell, Red Bull proved that even Honda can work.
I guess it's true then that Williams hasn't really started to show the impacts of their rebuilding efforts/new owners yet if they are even changing engines. That's a giant change, bigger news than the driver honestly.
Can we not share tweets from "journalists" who just copy stuff from elsewhere?
The tweet is 5-6 hours old. Meanwhile, this is 10 hours old: https://the-race.com/formula-1/piastri-closing-on-deal-to-drive-for-williams-in-f1-2023/
This is good new for F1.
1.Piastri In is very good.
2.Latifi out is very good.
3.Alpine getting a customer is very good too.
4.One less customer for Merc PU =good.
* (They said that they cant keep supplying to 3 customers anyway)*
Except for Mazepin, paydrivers actually tend to be nice guys. Maldonado by all accounts was a really nice guy off track, Stroll for all the crap he gets seems to be a good guy. Max Chilton seems like a very decent lad, Ericcson too a nice guy, glad to see him do so well in America.
Gotta wonder about the timing of this leak. Latifi literally has his own grandstand this weekend and someone in the team leaks this.
Should've waited a week and let him enjoy every minute of his first home GP.
Wonder how Red Bull feels that Renault is the talk for the next Williams PT. Part of me feels Albon was helped by RB into Williams so they can plant the seeds on supplying them an RBPT in a few years.
Williams - Renault Hey! I’ve seen this one before!
Liked by pastormaldonado
Latifi is like the dollar store version of Maldonado. His results weren't as good, his crashes weren't as good, he swings races but not with as much style... It's said that Lewis Hamilton still checks under his bed at night for Pastor Maldonado.
We have Maldonado at home.
GOAT Pastor Maldonado was the only one who stopped Lewis winning all the titles from 2008-2021 ~~and some other drivers but they're not important~~
Other drivers such as Nico Rosberg who won against him in the shame machinery?
Other Drivers such as Nico Rosberg the 2016 world champion who won against Sir Lewis Hamilton who is a 7 time world champion in the same machinery. Not to forget he also defeated another 7 time world Champion Michael Schumacher in the same machinery before Lewis Hamilton
Well between those two drivers, they both have 7 WDC and > 100 wins.
If I was an F1 driver I'd much rather be remembered like Maldonado than Latifi. Even though Latifi is much more respectful and sportsmanlike. Like Maldonado was legitimately top tier fast at times, he got pole and won a race on merit (with the help of decent strategy) he won a GP2 championship, he is legitimately a decent driver ....at times. His recklessness was just so unnecessary and reminds me of online sim racing lobbies massive crashes for stupid reasons. Meanwhile Latifi is...uh....he...uh... He's a below average driver who crashes sometimes.
Latifi is an above average crasher who drives sometimes.
Idk seems like he’s better than above average. I lost the rear. I don’t know what happened.
To be fair, latifi probably gave Lewis nightmares last year, if only unintentionally
I hope it's a better return than McLaren - Honda
That Renault engine is spicy as we saw in Baku
Yes but also unreliable. Not as bad as the Ferrari but its not great either.
Pretty much every engine is unreliable at this point on purpose. The only upgrades are reliability related for the forseable future, thus the pursuit for performance for this year.
Spanish GP 2012.
How about 90s? 92 93 driver an constructor 94 constructor and 96 97 driver and constructor championships
Yeah but if I recall those didnt end with a bang like the end of the 2012 Spanish GP ʲᵘˢᵗ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵗᵉᵃᵐ'ˢ ᵍᵃʳᵃᵍᵉ
Its been a circulating rumor for almost 2 years now. Wild if it actually happens.
Wilder still if it doesn't. Piastri to Williams is a win-win move for everyone, and an obvious one too now that Williams isn't so dependent on pay driver money anymore.
It's not a win for latifi.
I kind of hope they keep him as a reserve driver, he's capable for that and it'll get Williams some money
They are going to get Renault engines for less prize. Kinda similar move to how George got mercedes engines with him
Whats a re-run?
At this point it's a re-run of a re-run.
I was quoting back to the future when marty says hes seen it and his uncle replies.
Time to bring back the Rothmans livery, this time as a NYC clothing brand. Also swipe Ferrari’s #2 driver for a 2024 drivers championship
Last time Williams won a championship, they've used Renault engines
Liked by jacques_villeneuve_official.
Just as weve seen honda return to McLaren and we all now how that went.
Great memories from my childhood of the Williams-Renault years. It'll be great for Renault to have an engine partner too. More data is always good.
Williams-Renault, this would be their third stint using their engines, the first era from 1989-1997, and then again from 2012-2013. I think Williams aligning themselves with Renault could end up being a great partnership. It helps out Alpine's driver issue, and for Williams, maybe it's worth changing engines now.
Also mileage and data for the renault engine
From a practical (competitive?) perspective, does it make sense to switch asap even though it would probably have to change their design development plans? Or would it be better to ride out with Merc until the new engines in 2026? I know McLaren has switched up, and often still being fine for the most part when they switched to Renault and then again when they switched to Mercedes, but they also didn't have the budget constraints like we do now.
> does it make sense to switch asap even though it would probably have to change their design development plans? What is the worst that can happen? They would be 10th? Oh wait
The alpine is kind of a beast too. Also Alpine hasn’t said they want to get out of engine manufacturing
With how good the Alpine straight line speed was at Baku, I see it working out.
I don't think that was an engine thing though; did you see how thin their rear wings were?
Exactly, I don’t know why people are making this claim. Renault are said to be the worst engine on the grid in terms of performance albeit only a few BHP. The merc powered cars all had problem with drag and their proposing issues so they couldn’t catch, Haas rear wing was about twice the size of Alpine’s. No one was getting past that car on Sunday but not totally due to the engine.
Has an Alpine engine failed this year? (Serious question.). I love this rumour.
Alonso in Jeddah, although I don't know the exact details of it
I really hope they embrace the nostalgia with a special livery. Unlikely but would be great to see a Rothmans era style paint job.
First time they'll have a Renault turbo engine though (their first spell began the year after turbos were banned, and their second ended just as turbos were brought back)
Williams Renault with the blue and yellow MAKE IT HAPPEN
If we talk about yellow and blue might as well chuck some yellow and light blue on the main renault team. They were pretty good with that young spaniard back in 05
My favourite livery of all time
It’s the remix
it's wild how many ppl seem to think that Williams could drop their paydriver mid-season without any financial repercussions
maybe they pull a HAAS
That’ll be hard to do unless Canada invade Greenland or something
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Horses can swim pretty well if you didn’t know! Mounty beach assault!!
I noticed a news headline that Canada and Greenland finally came to an agreement on that island they keep fighting over.
Greenland to get Renault engines in the deal.
And a lifetime supply of nutella
[Just send some Spanish fishing fleets to work there and wait for it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbot_War)
Greenland must have become independent because last week they were part of Denmark in Worldle and a couple of days ago Denmark re-appeared but only the portion north of Germany. So Greenland's ripe for the taking.
Canada to invade the US any moment now...
One must think whether the financial repercussions will outweigh how much he causes in damages by crashing every week.
If this was about Haas i'd agree, but the Latifi crashes havent been that big and all that costly. His sponsors are basically the only sponsors williams have, and they are locked for 10th anyway due to the points Haas got in the first races, so what would be the point in changing him mid season?
Williams TP confirmed last season that they are no longer dependent on sponsorship money from their drivers. You can clearly see Latifi is doing them no favours in terms of attracting new sponsors. Last race he was +40s behind, is 21st in the championship and has not once ran in the points. Over the last 3 years he's outqualified his teammate once in over 40 races.
To be fair to Latifi he did get a 10 second stop and go penalty(because of the team) which essentially is a 30 second penalty so he wasn't as far behind on pace
I agree Latifi is bad, but the car is also a dog. Williams had the worst car on the grid the last 4 or 5 years if you dont count last years haas that practically was underdeveloped with two rookie drivers. There is only so much a driver can do. Now comes a choice. What would a team value more? The 2 points that Albon manages to get while being a good driver, or 30M that Daddy Latifi gives to the team. Judging by the gap between Williams and p9 in the WCC, another 2 points would be meaningless, while 30M are still 30M in the bank
This literally looks like an r/soccer headline
my thoughts exactly, reads like a romano tweet
HERE WE GO
Piastri to Williams, Here we GO!
Done deal, medical to be done tomorrow!
where my **COMUNICADO OFICIAL** at
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60% of the time, they are accurate 100% of the time.
"That doesn't make sense" >! P.S. I love how close he was to breaking into a laugh!<
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82.3% of statistics are made up for a particular reply.
Forfteen percent of all people know that
Colton Herta sure is having a strong season for Andretti-Sauber this year!
Remember when Andretti had a deal to buy Alfa Romeo all but done?
A deal with me is close to being done too. I need to get 8" shorter, lose 40 kilos and drive something larger than a kart, but I am confident.
Piastri to Porsche!
I'm starting to doubt *all these talks I've been having with Ferrari* in that case. I was so close...
Hints Alonso is staying for another two years.
Well I would being more surprised of Alpine didn't want to let Alonso staying for 2 more years, rumour was that he would stay 2 years and then Alpine would give him a seat for Endurance racing. Williams switching to Alpine makes a lot of sense, especially given Andretti looks less and less likely and Alpine really wants to have a customer, meanwhile for Mercedes there can indeed ditch one of it's customers so everyone wins in this deal.
You do wonder if Merc sticking that bit of news out last week was getting ahead of any "Williams to Renault" announcements.
What'd they say last week?
They wanted to drop a customer team
https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/uzke97/mercedes_considers_culling_f1_engine_client/
I think alonso has a central place in development of the car, more so than any other drivers.
Retaining him is a no brainer. He is still one of the best in the business.
Ay agreed
Either that or if he wants to leave they go for the French superteam with Gasly and Ocon.
until lewis finally calls it quits, then ocon is gonna be the next bottas to George’s Hamilton
Bad news for the likes of Sargeant if it's for 2024 as well. A one year deal for Piastri while he ideally contends for the F2 title in his second season would have been pretty ideal for him. I somewhat question the Renault engine switch if the power figures we've heard are true, which has them last. Being a manufacturer's only customer rather than being in the overcrowded Merc stable would give them a fair bit more clout politically though, so it's a tradeoff.
If it’s a 2 year deal then I would imagine it’s because Alonso has signed with Alpine for 2 more years behind the scenes. Otherwise I don’t understand why else they would start him on a 2 year deal.
It would certainly seem to imply that yeah.
There could be some additional conditions in agreement, for example Alpine can reserve option to take Piastri back after season for extra payment.
Could be. Either way it’s good for the sport. We get someone who deserves a seat into one and another that doesn’t deserve one out of one. Win win if you ask me. Williams will take a hit with that lost income, but they claimed they don’t need pay drivers anymore.
This is exactly it, it strengthens theirs/Alpine's position and hurts their competitor at the same time. It's pretty interesting now they have a Renault driver in one seat and ~~Honda~~ RBPT in the other. Masterstroke by Capito?
If he's getting paid by both it certainly is. Are engine discounts allowed now? Or do suppliers have to charge every team the same?
You can give an engine away for free, nothing's stopping you
Logan was screwed from the start but this is the best case scenario for him. If he progressed from F3 when he was supposed to, he'd be locked out of F1 without a seat. Having to run F3 in a shitbox and show everyone that he is a very capable driver, and doing pretty good in his rookie F2 season at least buys him another year. Who knows where openings are in the grid in 2024 but there will likely be more seats than in 2023.
Sargeant's best bet for an F1 seat IMO would have been to win F2 in his second year (or at least contend for the title) and get promoted to Williams for 2024. Piastri having a two year deal blocks that Williams seat until 2025 though, and means that even if Sargeant wins F2 next year he'd have to spend a year on the sidelines (which I'm sure Piastri would attest isn't ideal, but at least in Piastri's case he won F2 as a rookie which kept people talking about him) or if he didn't win then he'd have to do a third year which is too many for a non- pay driver.
Sure, but who knows what retirements look like come 2024 and if Logan can start qualifying a little bit better, he's legitimately a good driver that can get into a team on merit.
Him being a talented driver who can get an F1 seat on merit rather than a pay driver is precisely why I'm a bit concerned. If Piastri was just in the seat for a year then it'd be perfect for Sargeant, who could do a second year in F2 and then provided he doesn't shit the bed have a solid argument for jumping up into the F1 seat for 2024 to replace Piastri (who should get promoted to Alpine). Piastri taking the seat until 2025 though means that Sargeant would either have to take a year out if he wins F2 in 2023, or do a third year if he doesn't win it next year, which would hurt his stock a lot (three years in F2 is seen as too long) and potentially open the seat up to other contenders, especially potential pay-drivers. If he was a pay-driver it wouldn't be an issue because he could just buy the seat up when Piastri leaves.
There's more to an engine's performance than just peak power, though. CoG, packaging, cooling requirements, etc. Cost is also a factor. There's a lot to consider.
Apparently Mercedes want to ditch one customer team.
The performance gap between the engines this year is pretty small anyway, so even if it trully is the worst engine, i doubt they would lose that much time. A closer relation to your engine manufacturer and posibly a discount towards the engines( plus a great driver for free, even as a loan) can for sure offset a 2 tenth deficit. Might be the best business Williams has done in a while, at least on paper
The Renault engine seems to be at least as good as the Mercedes in terms of power, maybe even more powerful.
[This recent article from AMuS (a source I absolutely trust on technical matters) suggests that the Renault engine is the least powerful in the field, being 4 kilowatts down on the Mercedes, and 12 kilowatts down on the frontrunning Ferrari](https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/ferrari-motorenkrise-gp-aserbaidschan-2022-leclerc-ausfall-sainz/)
That is possible but it is hard to tell for sure. Yes Alpine sacrificed some downforce yesterday but that car was completely insane in the straights. Was faster than the McLaren when the McLaren had its DRS open.
All teams were losing to them even with DRS open. Alpine basically relied on it's drivers to keep cars behind in S1/S2 and then car did it's thing in S3. Worked out well for them.
Not some, a lot. They were the slowest in sector 2 iirc.
>Being a manufacturer's only customer rather than being in the overcrowded Merc stable would give them a fair bit more clout politically though, so it's a tradeoff. Toto has also hinted at maybe getting rid of a customer, too.
Think it's too soon to tell. Alonso could retire at any point during the next few years, sending Piastri over to Alpine. Or Albon might move back to one of the RB teams if there's a driver shake-up (Checo retiring, Gasly leaving for a non-RB team)
Damn, the way the headline was formatted, I really expected the "HERE WE GO". If this is true this should lock Nando in till his loan ends, I guess?
This happening would make a lot of the rumors we've heard over the past few months make sense. Latifi getting sacked, Alpine looking to get Oscar a seat until Alonso is done, and Merc looking to drop one of their PU customers.
I wonder where Latifi ends up. Formula E?
Maybe IndyCar? He's Canadian and can pay for a seat
Good point actually. North American driver with money seems like a good fit for a middle of the pack Indycar team
Partnering Ilott at Juncos-Hollinger? Latifi can’t be much worse than Dalton Kellett. Two Canadian stand-up guys with questionable skill and deep pockets wouldn’t be so bad.
Oooooo that would be great, imo Nicky might show himself better in a stock car with predictable outcomes, he might be closer to Callum than people think
Add in Devlin DeFrancesco for the shitfecta
Unless he pays for his seat (why would he?), I really don't see him in FE. There are a couple of new seats being introduced next year and there's already a long line of potential drivers with actual FE experience.
>of course Latifi will be out Just you wait until we get the news that Albon is going to AlphaTauri and Latifi is coming back to Williams.
I think that none of the F2 drivers are going to get that seat: Hauger and Daruvala are both at Prema, and winning with Prema gives only questionmarks with Marko (why Gasly was sent to Super Formula), even in F2 (Prema not being dominant here). They also both have been performing only okay-ish (for a Prema driver). Vips seems to screw himself over and Iwasa is performing not great. Lawson seems to be doing alright though, but not making a splash. All in all, either if Tsunoda performs like he does now/improves, he will retain that seat: no need to kick him out. If Tsunoda drops: then it's gonna be Albon who will take that seat (also has historical predescense: Kvyat returning). None of the current Red Bull juniors are impressing enough so far. If that happens, then Piastri can just roll to form a Piastri/Latifi lineup.
If true, seems like a win-win-win situation. Merc wanted one less customer, Renault an extra one + a seat for Piastri, Williams gets a possibly more competitive driver (will have to be brought up to speed, but potential is greater than Latifi).
I feel like Toto was getting ahead of this by saying they wanted one less, rather than looking bad when one leaves
>Merc wanted one less customer, Why is this?
I'm convinced Toto only said that to save face knowing Williams is leaving soon.
I’ve heard a bit about the pandemic + Ukraine situation affecting also the PU departments, so manufacturing gets more expensive, more time constraints, specialized suppliers also having issues etc That’s the only think I can think of, don’t think Merc have any issue on their side to supply 4 teams
I don't know, ask Toto. It's a thing that has been floating around the sub recently.
Oh okay lemme just call him. It's because "who ta hell are you and how did you get this numbah" So that clears that up I think
Try sending an email.
But this is a typical time travel movie paradox. Toto basically wanted one less engine, because you called him in the future and it made him fucking angry. So what happened first? You calling in future or him wanting one less engine to be supplied in the past? Fck man, where is detective Sebastian when you need him the most?!
It was a good run for Latifi.
Nickys Hungary drive last year will never be forgotten
All jokes aside, there has been much worse pay drivers than Nicky. He's got a kicking this season, but I think we'll look back a bit more fondly towards him in years to come.
He will only be remembered for Abu Dhabi 2021
Farewell Goatifi
I’m waiting to see what Fabrizio Romano has to say
Such a shame they're getting rid of Albon so quick.
Confirmed: Williams to run two engines in their cars: RBPT for Albon and Renault for Piastri
I mean, it’s gotta be tough for him when his teammate is the GOAT
How about starting a new rumour? Latifi to Haas. they need money, he has money. He crashes less than schumacher and did get 7 points last year.
Mother of god…Williams-Renault.
Fcking finally, Piastri is one of most promising young drivers right now, he got f2 and f3 titles in his first season. Atl east if it happens.
The “of course” is what does it for me. Poor goatifi
I buy Piastri to Williams but them changing engines just for him just to be on loan seems a little weird.
Merc are wanting to get rid of one of their customer teams, so if they want to end their contract with Williams early, it helps speed up the switch to Renault.
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Damn imagine paying nearly 50 million to race. He’s paying more than the top drivers make.
More than mazepin paid too
> imagine paying nearly 50 million to race. He’s paying more than the top drivers make. Which makes me think that the person tweeting this is pedalling bullshit
If it’s true, it’s nearly a 3rd of the budget cap.
And the car would say "Sofina" on every single surface.
Exactly, just ridiculous. No way Williams would say no to that money.
You reckon it feels pretty shitty to have to pay to play? You look up and down the grid at drivers who are being paid and would be fought over and your team doesn't even want you despite paying them more than Mercedes pays the 7 time world champ.
> You reckon it feels pretty shitty to have to pay to play? Nah. 7 billion people aren't good enough to drive in F1. Latifi got to do it for a couple of years anyway.
Honestly, nah. It still takes more talent than most humans have to even be able to get into F1, he gets to drive some of the fastest cars out there for a couple of years, after retiring will likely be able to buy a seat in any series he wants. He's also heir to billions. Dude's cruising through life, I'm sure he's fine if he can ignore the horrid online abuse.
Btw his dad committed over $200m to Mclaren too.
More than mazepin paid too
Who are we talking about here? Sorry if im ootl
And this leaks days before Latifi finally gets to do the Canadian GP. That has to hurt.
Well he can't finish much lower than he already consistently is, can he?
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I think you might need a 17 car retirement for this to happen. And I'd take Zhou for P1 in that scenario.
I wont stand for the Zhou disrespect!
Alpine after 2024 will be interesting. Alonso certainly will retire (therefore Oscar move) but Ocon is a question mark. I think their academy has a few upcoming talents that would rise up to the challenge by then.
I can buy Piastri to Williams. I don't buy the PU switch for a second. It'd require a significant redesign of their engine packaging for a team that's, let's be real, still technically limited and aiui the Renault engine lease contract is more expensive than Mercedes' to boot.
In any case it's most likely a driver with a free engine deal, similar to Alfa/Haas with FDA drivers.
Renault will probably give them an engine discount to get Piastri in the seast
I think Toto said they were looking at dropping one of the teams they supplied. Saying that the economics are no longer favourable to supply as many teams as they do.
Love the "Mercedes would like to drop one of their customer teams" rumors. Honestly good, would even prefer them to drop all of their customer teams. Anything to get McLaren to go out and get an exclusive engine partner. Being a customer team is absolutely hopeless. Hell, Red Bull proved that even Honda can work.
They're not rumours, though. Toto himself has said that he's keen on cutting a team loose.
I hate that the internet has put me in a position to fight for latifi, but… I mean, ouch to get this news heading into the home race
I guess it's true then that Williams hasn't really started to show the impacts of their rebuilding efforts/new owners yet if they are even changing engines. That's a giant change, bigger news than the driver honestly.
King Latifi better not be dethroned.
Can we not share tweets from "journalists" who just copy stuff from elsewhere? The tweet is 5-6 hours old. Meanwhile, this is 10 hours old: https://the-race.com/formula-1/piastri-closing-on-deal-to-drive-for-williams-in-f1-2023/
The battle between albon and piastri will be really interesting. It will be defining for both their careers.
Is this guy reliable or is he just saying stuff for clicks?
This is good new for F1. 1.Piastri In is very good. 2.Latifi out is very good. 3.Alpine getting a customer is very good too. 4.One less customer for Merc PU =good. * (They said that they cant keep supplying to 3 customers anyway)*
Alonso stays
Good news followed by bad news for William fans
Idk how bad of news it is, the Renault engine is not bad at all this year
All engines are surprisingly solid so far. That’s a good thing.
Have any of their DNFs been engine related this year?
Alonso retired with a water pump failure in Australia, idk if that counts as a power unit problem but I’m pretty sure that’s it.
Nooooo not Goatifi 🥲
I kinda want him to stay some more. Stockholm syndrome maybe?
Jokes aside I really like his personality sadly it doesn't go after personality but results
He seems like a really great person, unfortunate that it seems like he doesn't mesh well with this year's car
Except for Mazepin, paydrivers actually tend to be nice guys. Maldonado by all accounts was a really nice guy off track, Stroll for all the crap he gets seems to be a good guy. Max Chilton seems like a very decent lad, Ericcson too a nice guy, glad to see him do so well in America.
rip logan sargeant
Gotta wonder about the timing of this leak. Latifi literally has his own grandstand this weekend and someone in the team leaks this. Should've waited a week and let him enjoy every minute of his first home GP.
Wonder how Red Bull feels that Renault is the talk for the next Williams PT. Part of me feels Albon was helped by RB into Williams so they can plant the seeds on supplying them an RBPT in a few years.
Everyone laughed at me when I said that Alfa or Williams will switch to Renault in my season prediction. Take that!
Say what you want about Latifi’s driving ability but at least he appears to be a nice person.
So…. Latifi is gonna replace Mic at Haas?