In the round-up: Williams team principal James Vowles says his staff were thrilled to learn Carlos Sainz Jnr would be racing for them in 2025
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In brief
Williams staff ‘screamed with joy’ after Sainz announcement
Upon revealing to his factory staff that Carlos Sainz Jnr had signed to race with them in 2025, James Vowles said the announcement prompted the biggest visceral reaction he had ever seen in his time in Formula 1.
“We set up a sort of projector screen with a TV in there,” Vowles told the F1 Nation podcast. “I walked in – Netflix with me as well. There was about 600 to 700 people – because of shift patterns, you don’t get all one thousand in at the same time – and introduced him.
“Now, I’ve had the pleasure of winning races and being in part of the race bay element – winning a championship and being in the race bay. I promise you, the emotional reaction to this was the largest I’ve ever seen in my Formula 1 career. It was extraordinary. The shouting, screaming… Carlos did a piece to camera fundamentally that was about maybe a minute and a half – they missed the first minute. There was just screaming ongoing in that period of time. That alone told me what it meant to every one of those individuals in there.”
Vasseur not keen on muting radios
Despite concerns that drivers face too much scrutiny for what they say over team radio these days, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur says that it would not be best for the sport if limitations were placed on team radio clips during broadcasts.“We have also to keep in mind that we are the only sport in the world where the guys are speaking on the radio during the effort or the race,” Vasseur said.
“I’m not sure that if you put a microphone on a football player, it would be much better. Even on the referee sometimes. It means that we have also to calm down with this. Or we have to switch off the microphone, but I’m not sure that it will be a step forward for the show.”
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Links
Nico Rosberg explains where Ferrari have got it wrong this season (Independent)
''It’s got away from them a little bit because the upgrades introduced bouncing in high-speed corners, which is not the thing you want to have. They didn’t really understand why so they had to do a step back to understand, to then hopefully make progress again for the future. You cannot allow yourself to do that when someone like McLaren is just straight-lining the development curve at an amazing pace. And so that’s why now they find themselves where they are today, three, four or five-tenths behind. Let’s see if they can get closer.''
Franco Colapinto drives during FP1 (Williams via YouTube)
'Go behind-the-scenes with Franco Colapinto as he drives the FW46 during FP1 at the 2024 British GP.'
POV: Formula 1 Toro Rosso V10 at TT Circuit Assen (Rick van Barneveld via YouTube)
Remarkable onboard footage of driver Ingo Gerstl in a Toro Rosso STR1 during a BossGP event at the Assen circuit in the Netherlands.
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Comment of the day
Although he is not ranked in our mid-season driver rankings, Oliver Bearman’s stand-in performance for Carlos Sainz Jnr at Jeddah left an impression on F1Frog…
Finishing just 24 seconds off Charles Leclerc, one of the best on the grid, on your debut after just one hour of preparation does indeed seem like an extraordinary performance. But there has been a trend of this recently, most obviously with Nyck de Vries, but also Liam Lawson was brilliant at Zandvoort and then effectively remained at that level for the next four races. I think if Ollie Bearman’s performances at Haas next year make it seem like he would remain about 24 seconds off Leclerc all season then that is a sign drivers are too prepared for Formula 1 today and perhaps some new rules regarding simulator use would be food for thought. But it also makes you wonder why teams have been so afraid of taking on rookies recently when they seem able to be on it straight away.
F1Frog
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to F1Antics!
stefano (@alfa145)
6th August 2024, 1:48
that POV camera video is the best I’ve seen so far, including the ones with camera inside helmet used in broadcasting. I’ve done a modest share of driving (much smaller) formula cars and this is the first time that the only difference I see is the speed, while all the other sensations appear preserved
Jay
6th August 2024, 3:07
Absolutely stunning video! Really wish onboard videos were shown more during broadcast. The distinct lack of jumbo sponsor ads means onboards aren’t well received by the money that drives F1, and just about everything in the world.
theRealMax (@millionus)
6th August 2024, 8:23
Agree that video is stunning. Just makes you think that at that speed these guys are changing gears, changing settings on steering wheels, talking on radios and about 8 other things during laps. I can barely work out where the breaking point is, let alone do all those other things.
mantresx (@mantresx)
6th August 2024, 14:03
The wide angle lens helps, but mainly in this video the image has been stabilized allowing you to see more of the detail.
The problem with mounting the camera on a helmet is that it picks up all the vibrations and when watched on the tv it becomes disorienting.
But when inside the car your eyes/brain will naturally filter out all these movements as you focus at the horizon. That’s exactly what the camera is doing in this particular video.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
6th August 2024, 16:21
@mantresx The other problems with mounting cameras on a helmet is that you lose the tape clear system so within a dozen laps it tends to pickup a lot of dirt on the lens & as Indycar found when they were mounting cameras on top of the helmet a few years back within 20 laps they tended to become unusable.
There are additional restrictions on where cameras can be mounted during official sessions (In testing & short practice runs most series will relax the restrictions). You aren’t allowed to place a camera on the side where it will strike the headrest in an accident as that could affect the effectiveness of the headrest material in certain situations. And you also can’t mount them on the visor for both safety & visibility reasons.
The top of the helmet is considered OK as long as the camera is crash tested while fixed to the helmet & found to not affect the effectiveness of the helmet. However teams tend to dislike that solution as it can affect the airflow into the airbox & in some cases can cause a bit of extra buffeting if the design of the camera housing isn’t quite right.
Indycar’s old helmet camera was mounted on the top/centre. F1’s old helmet mounted camera started out been placed at the top/side in a ‘safe zone’ but was moved to the top/centre in 2013 before they shifted to looking at internally mounted solutions.
The internally mounted cameras like what you see in F1 now are considered the best as with a good mounting solution there are no negative side effects in terms of safety, aero or distracting the driver. It is also possible to place them at or closer to a drivers eye level to try & get a more realistic idea of what the driver see’s. And of course you don’t need to worry about the lens becoming dirty as it’s behind the visor so a driver will pull off a tear off when the visor gets dirty.
I gather that with the camera used in F1 they limit the amount of image stabilisation they use because they see one of the key things they want to get across is how physical driving an F1 car is & so they want it to pick up a lot of the bumps & vibrations.
They are also experimenting with some other camera locations to better get the physical element of driving an F1 car across. This because a key piece of feedback they have heard for a while now from drivers & some of the former drivers involved in broadcasting now (Brundle. Coulthard, Davidson, Chandhok etc..) is that the cars look less physical to drive than they actually are from most onboard cameras & trying to ‘fix’ that was one of the main things they wanted to see.
Nick T.
6th August 2024, 16:38
Ditto opinion and racing experience. It’s a shame what a terrible job F1 generally does at showing the speed and they’ve made great strides recently. Their exterior shots need a lot of work. Mid 00s did a better job at showing speed than they do today.
SteveR (@stever)
6th August 2024, 20:27
You’re spot on. F1 keeps a full frame of the cars (or closer) most of the time and that destroys the visual effect of speed. When a camera just pans following a car around a corner the true cornering speed if amazing. That’s why I was so stunned to see cornering speeds that are, frankly, unbelievable the first time I attended a GP. And I was racing FF1600 at the time.
Nick T.
7th August 2024, 0:35
Exactly. And most times they do that it’s an accident like a delayed cut to another camera feed. Malaysia is the easiest play to show the insane cornering speeds and it’s really easy to do. They used to do it with a great wide angle camera shot from the rear, which I never see now.
Nick T.
7th August 2024, 0:40
One additional note: I attended the 2002 Indy GP which was insane, but I was seated in the banking. Imagine though how much my mind was blown when I got to be a free roaming marshal the next year at CART’s Long Beach GP. I could stand within 5’ of the track in some places. It absolutely blew my mind that the cars could stick to the track. The only place I wasn’t allowed was in the hot pit lane. I went there anyway and got scolded out after 5 mins standing next to Paul Newman. haha
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
6th August 2024, 20:24
@alfa145 Bonus: the colours look mostly correct, making the impression of movement relevant.
On the last few helmet cameras, the colours have been so distorted as to make the screen look like a fishbowl in a disco for me (a more aesthetically interesting version of when I go to a 3D movie and see a screen of amorphous brown shapes instead of the film).
JoshJ81
6th August 2024, 5:08
Wow, I’m sure Logan is pretty glad to hear that news…I’d leave the team if I saw or heard this…that is unprofessional.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
6th August 2024, 5:45
poor leadership, poor culture.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
6th August 2024, 7:33
That was literally my first thought. We don’t know if he was in the factory that day (Netflix presumably did / do) and Logan will have read this by now if he wasn’t. Yes F1 is a tough game, but imagine watching everyone you work / worked with scream and celebrate at the announcement of your replacement.
Logan has been comprehensively beaten by Alex, fair enough. But James’ comments, giving up chassis etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if Logan would just rather the season ended here.
Tristan
6th August 2024, 10:26
I would, an F1 seat is an F1 seat for as long as he has it left. Why wouldn’t he cherish the opportunity to show anyone at all why he deserves a drive next year, let alone a top flight drive in another series. Leaving Williams would not be the way to go about that at all.
He had more than his fair chance by getting this second season after last. He has to know it.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th August 2024, 6:40
Also as far as I’m concerned, sargeant still has to score his first point of his f1 career, and probably won’t succeed: hamilton and leclerc in the usa would’ve come in front of him with or without legal wear, so with a fair rule he wouldn’t have got any point there.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
6th August 2024, 20:26
@bernasaurus The cheering is fine, Vowles harping on about it is not fine.
Jay
6th August 2024, 8:48
I’m not sure why there’s hate for the Williams team when they just upgraded from the 20th best driver on the grid, according to this website, to the 7th or 8th. I don’t really rate Carlos but he’s at least top 10. The last time Williams didn’t have a pay driver, or Logan, was 2016. That’s gotta be a huge morale boost for every single employee, except Logan but he knew he was out of a seat a long time ago. Things are actually looking up at Williams, which hasn’t been the case in a very long time.
I’m sure the factory at Ferrari was like a Library when Hamilton was announced. Not even one fist was punching air. And was Carlos at the factory that day? Poor guy.
Nick T.
6th August 2024, 16:40
Agreed. I wouldn’t take the cheering personally. They’ve got their first very good lineup in a long time. Carlos and maybe Alex are both top 10 drivers. I also wouldn’t throw away my opportunity to continue proving myself in a huff.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th August 2024, 6:43
The difference is sainz is being replaced by a driver who didn’t do any better overall this season, which can’t be said for sargeant.
Mooa42
6th August 2024, 23:33
@JoshJ81 If I was Logan I’d be more disappointed if I was replaced by another pay driver, at least he knows he has been replaced by a proven driver. Also, pressure is off for the rest of the year, just enjoy the rest of the season. I’m guessing we should see Logan make a vast improvement now that he doesn’t have to worry about keeping his seat.
Retired (@jeff1s)
6th August 2024, 8:33
Racefans only picture of Sainz with a white T. The cost is amotized !