In the round-up: Toto Wolff says his team have decided on who will fill Lewis Hamilton’s seat for 2025
In brief
Mercedes have picked Hamilton replacement – Wolff
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says that his team have made their decision on who will drive alongside George Russell in their car for next season.
Speaking to the official F1 channel, Wolff said that he was confident in his team’s driver line up.
“Yeah, I think ‘confident’,” he said. “This year, obviously. But next year, the decision that we have taken, we will give it all the power, all the effort, in order to keep the two drivers for a long time.”
Haas reprimanded for safety breach
Haas have received a team reprimand from the Dutch Grand Prix stewards after they were deemed to have allowed Nico Hulkenberg to dive his car in an unsafe condition in final practice.Hulkenberg slid off the track approaching the Ernst corner early in a wet final practice, damaging his front wing. Hulkenberg recovered from the run off and drove back to the pits but with his wing damaged.
The stewards determined that the Haas driver’s car has “significant mechanical difficulties” and should have been instructed to stop his car by his team under the regulations. But as he recovered to the pits safely without incident or affecting other rivals, the stewards chose to issue a reprimand to the team rather than a material penalty.
McLaughlin and Simpson take engine penalties
IndyCar championship contender Scott McLaughlin will move back six places on the grid to 20th after taking a fresh engine ahead of today’s race at Portland. Ganassi driver Kyffin Simpson, who qualified 26th, has done the same, and will therefore start last in the 28-car field.
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Links
Schumacher possible Sargeant replacement (AMuS)
'When Vowles knocked on Toto Wolff's office door shortly after the third practice session, the first rumours had already started. Many are already talking and writing about Mick Schumacher in the second Williams cockpit. But Vowles doesn't want to rush things and assures that there are a few options just in case. Not just Mick Schumacher. And if this driver is currently under contract with a team that doesn't use Mercedes engines, then Vowles would also have to speak to Wolff. One such option could be Liam Lawson. The New Zealander would have to be borrowed from Red Bull. Either way, it would be a temporary position. Williams has already made its choice of drivers for 2025 with Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz.'
Pin ‘back in shape’ for title fight (F1 Academy)
''Obviously it's very nice to come back to a pole position. It means that we are here again. We keep working and I keep working on myself to get back in shape for the Standings. I’m really happy to get back on the fight and it promises a good fight on track and for the rest of the season.''
The Forgotten Ferrari (Ferrari)
'Before Ferrari’s victorious return to Le Mans in 2023, the last factory entry with a good chance of outright victory was back in 1973. That was with the 312 PB, which would finish second. On the face of it, there appears to be a 50-year gap between Ferrari’s last competitive sports prototype racer and the newest 499P, victor in 2023 and 2024. In fact, 30 years ago Ferrari built, and numerous private teams raced, a highly successful sports racing car. This is the story of the F333 SP, the forgotten Ferrari.'
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Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
Our marshals doing what they do best. 💪
A nasty incident in Free Practice during the F1 Dutch GP meant our marshals had to safely clear the track and ensure everyone involved was okay.
Luckily, no one was hurt and the track was cleared efficiently. #FIA #Safety #F1 pic.twitter.com/Q0oxy5FWPv
— FIA (@fia) August 24, 2024
Gutted..
— Alex Albon (@alex_albon) August 24, 2024
This also happened today… Sebastian Manson rear-ended by Fuma Horio just after the chequered flag in the Formula Regional Japan race! No official results yet but it seems Manson (the blue car) was penalised #SFormula https://t.co/uJ1Mjiri5d
— Jamie Klein /クライン・ジェイミー (@JamieKlein_) August 24, 2024
Positive update on the stunt motorcyclist who fell this afternoon. He's doing well!
— Dutch Grand Prix (@f1dutchgp) August 24, 2024
Due to the heavy rain at the time of the Senna Tribute demo laps, Bruno Senna will no longer take to the track today.
Across the weekend we are displaying a collection of his incredible cars and, weather permitting, a number of his cars should take to the track tomorrow.
— Silverstone (@SilverstoneUK) August 24, 2024
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Comment of the day
After Alexander Albon was disqualified from Williams’ best qualifying of the season due to an illegal floor, bernasaurus questions why it took until after qualifying for the problem to be discovered…
That’s what gets me. Haas’ explanation for their disqualification in Monaco was that it was an installation error that the mechanics and engineers hadn’t accounted for on the new wing. Basically the dimensions on the new wing were different, and they calibrated it like they had on the previous wing. Fair enough. A mistake. They got it wrong.
But something like a floor – being pretty much static and well defined, and something that takes a significant amount of time and resources to make – you’d think that someone would ask the FIA long before qualifying what they thought of how Williams had interpreted the rules.
I love that Williams are trying, and a competitive Williams is great. But unless the floor was damaged, I don’t really understand how it got this far before disqualification.
bernasaurus
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Scalextric and Michael Williamson!
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
25th August 2024, 1:08
I wouldn’t want to be the engineer that has to explain this mess to Albon.
notagrumpyfan
25th August 2024, 10:08
His name is Vowles.
He should make sure he has the right people in place to make sure there are systems to check and re-check.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
25th August 2024, 1:30
The Haas reprimand feels fairly pointless. The team were able to recover the car, fix it and return it to the session, so obviously they benefited from their transgression. If the penalty a simple reprimand, then any team would be encouraged to ignore it until the point where a further reprimand would lead to an actual penalty, at which point they could then consider following the rules. If the transgression is serious enough for the FIA to want to prevent it, then there needs to be an actual penalty (whether this kind of situation should be penalised is another question).
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
25th August 2024, 11:32
Peculiar to me ., But it was a chance for Mr Herbert to get involved early on.
Fletch (@fletchuk)
25th August 2024, 13:19
Sargeant was left in the car a very long time with clearly visible flames. Luckily he was eventually able to get out by himself, but if he wasn’t physically able to then I wonder how long he would have been left there before help?
I get this is also about marshall’s safety, so should red flags be thrown as soon as we see flames so they can get on the track quicker?
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
25th August 2024, 2:31
Indeed. I’d imagine the car would need a lot more reinforcement (depending on what they are diving into I guess).
Jere (@jerejj)
25th August 2024, 5:30
Even if Williams changed their mind about letting Sargeant see out the season, Antonelli & Mick would still be the only realistic temporary successors for the last nine rounds & if a driver is currently contracted to a team that doesn’t use Mercedes PUs, why would he still need to speak with Toto?
Zero relevance in such a scenario.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
26th August 2024, 1:20
Zero relevance.,?
I don’t think so
Generally, any team can negotiate taking a driver who is under contract with another team or who came up through another team’s academy. In some cases the driver is considered to be “on loan”, and in other cases the driver simply severs their former relationship and signs a new one. F1 is small enough that everyone knows everyone, and there are plenty of cases of teams choosing to share personnel, technology, etc., when it is advantageous to do so.
In this case it was Lawson. An outlier could have been Doohan. In either case dialogue with Wolff re commercial arrangements would have been necessary.
kuvemar
25th August 2024, 12:03
Kind of weird to call it „the forgotten Ferrari“.
If someone mentions Ferrari and Le Mans in the same sentence, the F333 springs to mind immediately, not least because it has been in so many racing games over the years.
lynn-m
25th August 2024, 13:11
The Haas reprimand is even more stupid than the Perez one in Canada because there wasn’t actually anything hanging off the car.
One side of the front wing was gone & the other was still attached, Yes it was flapping a bit but it was still attached & given how slowly & Cautious Nico was driving back to the pits there was never any risk of it falling off.
I wonder what sort of penalty Gilles Villeneuve & Ferrari would have got if he drove the car back to the pits on 3 wheels like he did at Zandvoort in 1979 today. No doubt a dozen penalty points, a race ban, a fine etc…
It’s truly pathetic!
sim
25th August 2024, 13:52
Will be interesting to see how Antonelli gets on in the second merc seat, Horner has called it a brave decision to put him in and EJ has said its a mistake.
MurasamaRA300 (@murasamara300)
26th August 2024, 9:47
Interesting times ahead for sure.
Here’s a thought – I’m basing this on what Toto Wolff really said.
He said:
“Yeah, I think ‘confident. This year, obviously. But next year, the decision that we have taken, we will give it all the power, all the effort, in order to keep the two drivers for a long time.”
He doesn’t say which two drivers he has in mind for 2025 onwards.
He might not be talking about Russell…
Russell is only contracted until end of 2025 = not really “a long time”.
Sainz was released from his Ferrari contract early despite good results.
Something similar could happen at Mercedes too.
(Yes, I’m only speculating of course.)