A round-up of interesting Williams related stories found on the web this week:
The tussle for the second seats at Williams and Sauber is currently concentrating the minds of most team bosses. A bidding war is underway, with top payers likely to get the nod, and two independent teams for once scoring at the expense of the majors, who have an over-supply of promising development drivers and nowhere to accommodate them.
The changed clause which created a bidding war for the final 2022 F1 seats
“A driver who is still at the beginning of his career and has quite a lot of experience already was appealing. Alex has been in one of the top teams, has driven a race winning car, has experience of being successful and being on the podium – and is eager to do that again.” – Jost Capito
Why Williams chose Albon as Russell’s replacement – and retained Latifi for 2022
“All I can tell you is that he’s a Williams driver for 2022. Whatever it means is up to you. Maybe you have to ask Red Bull. But for us he is a Williams driver and that’s it,” – Jost Capito
Red Bull has ‘released’ Albon but retains links to him
We may be jumping ahead of ourselves here, but there seems to be a lovely synergy forming. With Red Bull already an engine manufacturer, VW coming in to put its name on the unit and provide further technical help – and Williams becoming a key ally?
Albon deal hints at Mercedes/Red Bull F1 power shift
“It is fantastic to be able to confirm our driver line-up for 2022 and I am delighted to be welcoming Alex to the team, along with confirming our continued relationship with Nicholas into next year” – Jost Capito
Alex Albon returns to F1 race seat with Williams in 2022 alongside Nicholas Latifi
“I’ll be saying goodbye to my team mates and friends at Williams. It has been an honour working alongside every member of the team, and an honour to represent the Williams name in F1.” – George Russell
Mercedes announce George Russell will partner Lewis Hamilton in 2022
It’s not at all unfeasible that Albon will be just as impressive upon his return next year.
Alex Albon can thrive away from Red Bull poisoned chalice
“I’m also very happy with Alex coming back to Formula 1; he’s been my team mate, he’s a great guy, he’s a hard worker and he definitely deserves a spot in Formula 1 and he has a lot of talent so I’m sure he will come back strong and show good results” – Max Verstappen
‘We all know he has speed’ – Verstappen backs Albon to thrive on F1 return with Williams
“It is not where I would choose to put a camera for us but if people like that view then that’s all part of it and it’s OK.” – Dave Robson
F1 helmet cam information capturing is “not ideal”
“I’m not saying I will stay here until we win the championship. My objective is building a team that’s long-term sustainable and works properly. Then I would feel my job is done. I’m not putting any time limit on it, but that’s my objective.” – Jost Capito
“I absolutely believe we can reach the top again”
“I remember the [Williams] board guys saying ‘We can’t really take George’s opinion because he is so supportive of you’. They were very friendly about that.” – Alex Albon
Russell was almost ‘too supportive’ of Williams F1 switch
We’re also looking forward to using this innovative research agenda to help the Williams Racing team find the edge in this important but often overlooked aspect of high-performance sport.
Williams Racing and Department of Applied Linguistics at the University of Warwick announce project partnership
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