In the round-up: Williams team principal James Vowles says they will inevitably be compromised at the next round following their spate of crashes.
In brief
Williams facing spare parts shortage
Williams suffered three crashes in one day last weekend at Interlagos, a week after Alexander Albon’s pair of crashes in Mexico City. Vowles said any team would feel the strain on its spare parts inventory under those circumstances.
“There’s no team on the grid that can cope with five major accidents in two race weekends,” said Vowles in a video released by Williams. “Simply, the amount of spares we carry are not sufficient to carry that amount of attrition.
“Vegas, I have high hopes for. We were fast there last year and I’m confident we have a car that can work well in those conditions. So we’re going to do our absolute utmost to get two cars to the best specification they can be with sufficient spares around us to make that happen.
“What that looks like is difficult to predict at the moment. We’re still getting the items back from Brazil and determining what we have to do in terms of [parts building] in order to give ourselves the best chance possible.”
F1 income rises in third quarter
Formula 1 generated $146 million (£112m) in income during the third quarter of 2024. This is an 11% rise compared to the same period last year, despite holding seven rounds in that period, one less than the year before.Correa out of F2
DAMS have dropped Juan Manuel Correa for the final four Formula 2 races of the year. Ferrari Driver Academy member Dino Beganovic, who finished sixth in Formula 3 this year, will replace him.
GB3 drive for F1 Academy champion
F1 Academy has announced its 2024 champion will receive a fully-funded seat in next year’s GB3 series with Rodin, plus 20 days of testing. GB3 is yet to confirm its 2025 calendar but claimed six of next year’s eight weekends will take place at F1 venues, up from four this year, when it visited Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps, the Hungaroring and Zandvoort.
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Links
Ferrari announces a multi-year agreement with IBM as a premium partner (Ferrari)
'Scuderia Ferrari is pleased to announce a multi-year agreement with IBM, a leading provider of technology and consulting expertise, effective from January 1st, 2025.'
Calado reveals hospital scare amid weight loss push (Sportscar 365)
'I was on medication because I was running and not eating, because I was trying so hard to lose weight. I became properly ill. So I can’t go down to the weight I want, because it’s too dangerous for me.'
Aiming for the championship in 2025: Noel Leon on signing for Prema (Formula 3)
'Jerez was a difficult test for me because I was sick, so it was difficult getting out on track from my side. But then Barcelona was a lot better for me, I was feeling more comfortable in the car and we’ve started our work for next year.'
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Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
Here's what F1 drivers were concerned about eight years ago. Were their complaints taken on board then?https://t.co/EBKDK4zNlw #F1
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) November 7, 2024
|@MBrundleF1 wants to ban blue flags? Good luck to any of @Max33Verstappen's championship rivals trying to lap an RB…
Seriously, though, terrible idea. There's a good reason the rules are the way they are.
It's called Norberto Fontana.#F1
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) November 7, 2024
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Comment of the day
Expecting drivers not to swear on their radios isn’t reasonable, says Riker:
Just like with any other sport – in pre-race and post-race interviews you need to keep that language appropriate.
However – language during the race, match or game is a different matter entirely. The broadcaster has the ability to monitor and choose whether or not to broadcast audio. Policing that communication isn’t right.
Riker (@Corsair)
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Soundscape and Laura Brewer!
Mooa42
8th November 2024, 0:49
Williams must just about be at a point where they need to run one of their 2022 cars.
They’ve had some massive shunts this year.
Maybe they need Stroll driving, he saw the potential for major accidents so parked in the gravel to save some cash.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th November 2024, 1:52
Ahah, that’s true! Maybe they threatened him that if he destroyed another car he’d lose his seat, so he went for the lesser of 2 evils!
JJ (@jjfrazz)
8th November 2024, 3:35
Keith, I haven’t agreed with Brundle in decades! But Blue flags are the joke, along with DRS, that makes modern F1 incomparable to the real F1 racing. Having to overtake lapped cars was one of the exciting elements of any race. Remember racing? No track limits, no tire changes and no blue flags!
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
8th November 2024, 5:56
Really? I’ve never seen a race where I though “gosh, they should be racing the lapped cars!”
I couldn’t care less about lapped cars. They are a lap down for a reason. Is it tough on their races? Yes, but I’d rather watch the leaders of the race battle it out between each other instead.
Tomcat173 (@tomcat173)
8th November 2024, 7:37
Getting front runners to race the cars that are a lap behind is a bit pointless. These days, most cars that are being lapped realise that their fight is not with the guy that’s 90s ahead of them. There’s so much pace/tyres/fuel management anyway… they tend to yield position quite easily.
Ideals (@ideals)
8th November 2024, 6:44
I remember racing, but if we’re going down this road. Then why have track positions at all. Just do a Destruction Derby instead? Or maybe just start the race, have everyone try to be ahead of everyone else instead until sometime randomly between 90 and 120 minutes we throw out the checkered flag and whoever is at the finish line next wins the race. Why not?
Lapped cars don’t get to race the cars that lap them, that is common sense. Brundle and the rest of the Sky team that constantly bring this up think it will improve battles between leaders if they have more trouble overtaking lapped cars since they will be held up more by them, that is why they want it, but if that’s the goal there are much easier solutions that work even when the field is as closely match as they are now. Just stop the race every 10% of laps and do another standing restart before the next 10%. Constant track action. That’s racing right?
Gimmicked racing exists. NASCAR is extremely good at it. Formula E loves it too. Perhaps Brundle can try commentating on one of those for a while.
MacLeod (@macleod)
8th November 2024, 8:01
As one of the oldies here I have to agree with you. @fer-no65 collisions are still punishable, wheelbanging np everything else nope. But watch some of the old races how often the leaders had to overtake lapped cars and crashed if they didn’t overtake lapped cars with space.
Blue flags were strange things which i saw came into the sport which I thought why…
anon
8th November 2024, 9:13
@jjfrazz people seem to think that they are a modern invention, but you will find references to the use of blue flags being used to signal a slower car that a leader was trying to overtake them in the 1920s and regulatory bodies also issuing formal instructions to drivers that a blue flag meant they should let a faster car through in the 1920s.
You’ll similarly see references to blue flags being used in Formula 1 races in the 1950s – there are references in contemporary race reports to Luigi Piotti causing an accident in the 1956 Argentine GP when he was shown a blue flag as Peter Collins closed up on him to lap him, only for Collins to run into Piotti when Piotti braked unexpectedly in an attempt to let Collins past – and an individual has found the following supplementary regulations issued by the FIA to marshals at the 1960 US Grand Prix, which include the following section on overtaking and the use of the blue flag:
“ARTICLE 25 OVERTAKING
During the race, a car may use any portion of the Circuit.
However, when it is overtaken along a straight line by a car temporarily or consistently faster, it shall give right of way by keeping to the right of the Circuit to allow passing on the left, which is normally the only authorised way of passing on the straight. If a driver does not appear to allow a faster following car to pass, officials will wave the BLUE FLAG as a warning that a car is overtaking him.
Passing on curves may take place on either the right or the left…
The Blue Flag will also be given to drivers who obstruct the left hand side of the Circuit, and to drivers who discourage attempts at passing…”
As you can see, those regulations from 1960 state that a car shall give way if being lapped, gives instructions on how drivers should allow a faster car to pass them and instructions on using the blue flag to notify the driver if they did not do so.
People wrongly refer to blue flags being “introduced” in 1995, but blue flags already existed in the FIA’s regulations decades before that – it’s just that there was no penalty for a driver choosing to ignore a blue flag and refusing to let another driver through. What actually happened in 1995 was that the sport introduced a codified system of penalising drivers if they did not allow a driver through after receiving a blue flag – i.e. it was the enforcement system that was new, not the blue flag itself.
notagrumpyfan
8th November 2024, 13:56
thank you for that insight.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
8th November 2024, 11:06
I spend a fair bit of time watching races from the late 80’s and early 90’s and even races I watched at the time, it’s amazing how different your memory is. I think Martin remembering getting past backmarkers as a ‘skill’ is a little off. What does come up is a select few drivers being very ‘uncooperative’ and actually having a significant say in the outcome of the race. Pierlugi Martini can be frustrated at one moment and decide he’s going to be all over the battle for the lead and then calm down a lap or two later.
The silliness of Ocon / Verstrappen at Brasil, was only significant because it hadn’t happened in a long time. Getting rid of blue flags could easily lead to once again having four or five drivers on the grid who don’t get near a fast car but do get annoyed and have a tool to take it out on others.
ludewig
8th November 2024, 11:09
The problem with getting rid of blue flags is that there is almost never a benefit to fight a much faster car, especially when it is not a fight for position. So the actual effect is probably going to mostly be a random (dis)advantage, rather than anything skill-based. The lapping car will lose out if they come upon a lapped car at a spot on the track where overtaking is hard. And you won’t get excited defenses, but the typical ‘defense’ will be that the lapped car will just stay on the racing line.
And it may result in huge DRS-trains in Monaco or other races where overtaking is hard. And it also opens the door to lapped drivers or even entire teams playing political games by going out of their way to hurt a specific other team.
Jojo
8th November 2024, 11:25
I think it would open a can of worms if they were to do away with blue flags. Just imagine the controversy that would cause when the Red Bull junior team race harder against Red Bull’s rivals!
Jonathan Parkin
8th November 2024, 6:18
Remind me why did Logan Sergeant lose his seat again?
Because of his crash at Zandvoort. We replaced him with Franco but the crashes haven’t stopped
Sham (@sham)
8th November 2024, 6:24
Franco crashes, but scores points.
MacLeod (@macleod)
8th November 2024, 8:06
And points means money income. Franco crashed in the wet while Logan would crash in the dry. And after replacing the crashes were much lesser. (if Albon would crash less)
dot_com (@dot_com)
8th November 2024, 16:25
Here’s your reminder: Logan was fired because he was consistently useless.
SteveP
8th November 2024, 17:40
Logan was heading toward the exit at the end of the season, but accelerated his exit when he drove like a total noob and crashed in a most spectacular way and at great expense to the team.
It wasn’t the consistent low performance, it was that major fenderbender that tipped it
HAL
9th November 2024, 9:27
Every driver crashes once in the while…. But on top of not performing well, Logan crashed regularly…. And sometimes quite inexplicably, like in Zandvoort when he opened way too much the corner and simply went full speed on the grass…
May I also add that Logan was given a full 1,5 year to improve and show what he can do. I’m sure he is better than what he showed us and I wish him to do well wherever he will land. But he messed up that opportunity.
Franco is proving that a roockie can do well in that Williams and compared to Albon. But of course, he is going through his own leaning process.
To finish off, he was requesting full wet tires, the team put in on intermediate…. Strategy wise, it was maybe sense full, but the team decided to take that risk.. Not sure it was wise in the context they were in.
D
8th November 2024, 6:34
RE: Keith Collantine
Maybe it’s called Damon Hill.
But yeah, it doesn’t make much sense to scrap blue flags.
S
8th November 2024, 8:47
Modern F1’s idea of blue flags is quite unique, and therein lies the reason that nobody else uses them in such an extreme way.
They should revert to being a message that a faster car is behind, not an order to pull over as they are now.
What the drivers do with that information should be up to them – they remain under the guidance of all the other sporting rules anyway.
An even better thing to do is eliminate the team radios, so the teams can no longer coach the drivers through every sector of every lap. Only when the drivers are truly driving alone and unaided will they actually feel compelled to obey the flags.
An Sionnach
8th November 2024, 9:09
I thought blue flags have been used for a long time. Presumably the discussion is more whether they are a warning that a faster car is approaching or that they mean you are about to be lapped and must move over within a number of corners?
An Sionnach
8th November 2024, 9:21
Does Williams have a driver problem? How many crashes did Mick Schumacher have? The ship has most likely sailed for Mick at this stage, but Colapinto should be enough reason for Albon to tidy up his act.
I’m surprised at how well Bearman has done so far. Still not convinced, but I’m wondering if Hulkenberg is really the qualifier I thought him to be. Depending how he fares against Bortoleto, he has either taken a fortunate sidestep, or he’s stepping out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Not sure how Doohan will do. Perhaps these drivers are the most exposed for next year?
Simple
8th November 2024, 14:42
Mick had more crashes than Mazepin. You could argue it was because the car was hard to drive, but statistically he would certainly not be a good replacement to reduce crashes
SteveP
8th November 2024, 18:05
Maybe Albon is crashing more because he’s pushing his limits now that he has a half decent driver in the other car who is likely to show him up otherwise??
One or two have already questioned whether the drivers should be Sainz/Colapinto with Albon as reserve. Wouldn’t that put the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons?
Alonslow
8th November 2024, 18:14
Of the 2025 Rookies, Bortoleto has the most potential, Doohan/Lawson and finally Bearman, Colapinto is a wild card he can be fast but then his teammate is ‘they race me so hard’ Albon and he didn’t get to finish his F2 season but I think a top three finish may have been possible for Colapinto, so he’s gotta be on Doohan/Lawson level give or take.
This is my ranking based on junior results, the only one I feel can be a new superstar is Bortoleto, of course nothing is guaranteed but usually the rookie champions end up in top teams at minimum.
An Sionnach
9th November 2024, 22:36
Thanks for your thoughts. I look forward to seeing how they all do.
Alonslow
8th November 2024, 18:34
Oh yeah I didn’t even answer, not sure if Doohan/Bearman/Colapinto are gonna be exposed, but I don’t think they are all that great either, they’re more the next ‘Albon/Gasly/Tsunoda’ than the next ‘Russell/Leclerc/Verstappen’, so maybe if Colapinto expectations are for him to be the next Senna, yeah he may very well be exposed, if he gets a seat in the first place, I don’t feel Bearman has been hyped as much as Franco after his two Hass races and Doohan is pretty much not talked at all.
And I forgot Kimi 2, another wild card, he’s up there in the F2 championship, a top 3 finish is gonna be hard but then again he’s younger than everyone else there so that’s a plus and no F3 experience at all, I would put him on the same boat as Bortoleto, potential superstar.
An Sionnach
9th November 2024, 22:39
There’s something measured about Lawson and I like this. I’m not sure we’ve had a great smooth driver since Prost. That probably won’t be Lawson or anyone else.