F1 Hungarian GP Notebook: Alonso to Aston Martin Does Not End F1 Silly Season

Formula 1 has headed off for its summer recess after a run of four Grands Prix in five weekends. Autoweek wraps up some of the off-track news from the Hungarian GP.

Elsewhere in Silly Season

Sebastian Vettel’s retirement decision, and Fernando Alonso’s shock switch to replace him at Aston Martin for 2023, means two of the biggest names involved in the silly season have made their respective choices.

Any more seismic news from this point onwards is unlikely (though not necessarily impossible). The second seats at AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo and Haas remain unconfirmed, but Yuki Tsunoda and Zhou Guanyu are both likely to remain for 2023.

Haas, meanwhile, is set to make a call in September on the seat that is influenced by power unit partner Ferrari and currently occupied by an improving Mick Schumacher.

Williams is the team where a change is most probable. Williams CEO Jost Capito told German media at Hungary that Alexander Albon is expected to stay—he is a good fit at the team and has performed well in his comeback season. Less assured is Nicholas Latifi (pictured above), now in year three at Williams, with his financial backing having assisted Williams through rocky waters the has now navigated.

American Logan Sargeant Getting FP1 Debut

Logan Sargeant will make his grand prix weekend debut on home soil in Austin on October 21. Sargeant will drive Williams’ FW44 in place of Latifi for the opening one-hour Friday practice session. The Formula 2 racer joined Williams’ young driver program in late 2021 and then had an outing in last year’s car at the end of season rookie test. This will be Sargeant’s first on-track run in a Grand Prix event.

“To be given the chance at the U.S. Grand Prix is something extremely special to me,” said Sargeant. “The goal for me will be to learn as much as possible in the new generation of cars. I’m looking forward to making the most of this experience and really enjoying it.”

Williams Sporting Director Sven Smeets outlined that “Logan has demonstrated a great level of ability and maturity so far this season through his accomplishments both on and off the track. He’s delivered race winning performances in Formula 2 matched by his hard work during simulator sessions. It felt only right to reward these achievements with the opportunity for him to take part in a free practice session at Austin.”

Nicholas Latifi Shines on Saturday

There was an unusual outcome to Saturday’s rain-hit practice session at the Hungaroring. As drivers switched to the Intermediate tire times began to tumble, with the usual suspects trading top spot. Only when the checkered flag fell it was the only full-time driver without a 2022 point—Nicholas Latifi, who wound up fastest. The fans applauded Latifi’s achievement and there was a huge cheer, too, in the media center for a surprise result.

I was pleasantly surprised, even before going P1,” said Latifi on the pace. “Everyone was doing lap times at the same time on track, we did something right and I’m clearly not a bad driver. It is still difficult to drive, it was a nice moral victory, nice morale boost.”

However, come the dry qualifying session Williams and Latifi regressed to the mean, with a mistake through the final corner relegating him to last on the grid.