[Will Buxton] As reported this morning, as I understand it Williams had made this request with the intention of an Imola debut after Antonelli’s stunning Mercedes test. Williams told me they do not comment on driver contracts.
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Sounds crazy but his performance in F2 doesn't seem to be noticeably lacking compared to Bearman (who himself has a seat lined up for next year). Not to mention that this move is clearly based on his F1 test performance which must have been very good for them to ask for an exemption.
Sargeant has also done nothing of note during his time at Williams as well, so nothing of real value is being lost (harsh but I think true).
Then replace him when Kimi hits 18
It’s ridiculous that a driver with a half dozen F2 races will be able to skip 2 of the junior series essentially and get plonked in an F1 car.
F4 isn’t enough of a record to drive in this sport. I don’t care what the testing sessions say. If he’s good enough, prove it this season.
Someone posted the thread about Max when he was getting called up early and essentially all the comments had this exact same sentiment. If he’s good he’s good, and the teams have waaaaay more info than we do.
It's not about showing if he's good enough, it's about granting exceptions. He will still be good enough when he turns 18, and if they want his debut to be a home race, Monza is the first track after he turns 18.
It's 1 thing to apply for an exception when an exception happened- like Herta being a multiple race winner in Indycar still not getting enough points because Covid shorted that season so they didn't award the full points. It's another when he just straight up is too young
Too young? Too young based on what? 18 is completely arbitrary. If he’ll be good enough in a few months he’s good enough now. It’s a rule that isn’t even needed. There’s nothing magical about your 18th birthday that grants increased strength and stamina. Why limit drivers based on nothing?
All rules are arbitrary. The 80kph pit limit is arbitrary, why not allow 85kph? Basically the same innit.
Ask the FIA that then. They're the ones who make arbitrary rules all the time. The point I was making was that he just doesn't meet one of the reauirements, not that he'll magically gain driving ability on his birthday. I agree that if he's proven he's good enough then he should be able to compete. But the rule says you have to be 18 and so everyone has to follow it. They don't grant exceptions for track limits (anymore) even when it results in a slower lap because those are the rules. And there's also plenty of other Mercedes drivers with super licenses they could've replaced Logan with like Mick or Vesti that wouldn't do any worse than Logan until Antonelli meets the requirements. His birthday is August 25th and Monza is on September 1st less than a week after. He can jump in then when he gets his super license