Race winner, challenging at the front with some consistency, but out of a seat.
Not sure what happened, but F1 academy drivers should not lose funding to finish an F2 season…
I imagine Williams wasn’t ready to pay as much for his seat as Art GP wanted. And some other sponsor that should have paid the difference fell through?
It might be a combination of factors, but it is weird for an academy backed driver to be bumped as the season is almost done.
And yes, I would guess that Williams was not paying 100% of the cost. Which again is weird, because the concept, as I understood, was support in exchange for exclusivity of driver’s services and less leeway for the driver to choose his path.
Each Academy works differently. For example, Alpine’s academy is said to be very good in providing training opportunities for their drivers, while Red Bull doesn’t offer any special training and just expects their drivers to be good but gets them way better spots in championships.
Just to cement the point we were discussing: https://x.com/ZakOSullivan/status/1833177788628476134
Race winner, challenging at the front with some consistency, but out of a seat. Not sure what happened, but F1 academy drivers should not lose funding to finish an F2 season…
I imagine Williams wasn’t ready to pay as much for his seat as Art GP wanted. And some other sponsor that should have paid the difference fell through?
It might be a combination of factors, but it is weird for an academy backed driver to be bumped as the season is almost done.
And yes, I would guess that Williams was not paying 100% of the cost. Which again is weird, because the concept, as I understood, was support in exchange for exclusivity of driver’s services and less leeway for the driver to choose his path.
Each Academy works differently. For example, Alpine’s academy is said to be very good in providing training opportunities for their drivers, while Red Bull doesn’t offer any special training and just expects their drivers to be good but gets them way better spots in championships.