Williams needed “a leader, not just someone quick

In brief

Sainz improves his teams – Vowles

Vowles expects Sainz to use his 10 years of experience in Formula 1 to help lead Williams back to the front when he joins next year.

“I needed a leader, not just someone who is quick in the car,” he told the official F1 channel. “I wanted everything around them to be just right in order to create performance. Carlos has that.”

Sainz will join the team from Ferrari, having previously also driven for McLaren, Renault (now Alpine) and Toro Rosso (now RB). “If you look at every team he’s gone to – look at where they started and where they finished,” said Vowles. “You’ll see he has a history of ending in a much better place in the team than when he started.”

Vowles first met Sainz’s family in secret at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year, before the news broke that Lewis Hamilton would replace him at Ferrari.

“What I [was] doing is making sure they are aware we’re serious about moving back towards the front and here we are – and get to know me,” Vowles explained. “Then the news struck with Lewis, which caught me off-guard, and caught Carlos off-guard at the same time. So, I started the normal negotiation procedure.”

Vandoorne and Hughes join Maserati

Maserati has confirmed an all-new driver line-up for the 2024-25 Formula E season. Stoffel Vandoorne will join the team from DS Penske alongside Jake Hughes, who arrives from McLaren.

The teams said it “extends its sincere thanks to Maximilian Guenther and Jehan Daruvala for their incredible contribution to the team” this year.

F1 forms closer ties to Las Vegas

Formula 1 has entered into a partnership deal with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which it worked with to set up the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The LVCVA will use F1 to promote tourism to the Las Vegas area.

Links

Many functions of steering wheels keep drivers in control (IndyCar)

Felix Rosenqvist: ‘I’ve had times in my career where I took the data off the wheel because I would look at it too much. I actually figured that out in the simulator where they had a camera on you, and I realised that I’m like looking more at my steering wheel than on the road.’

Indian F4 revives plan to host night race on streets of Chennai (Formula Scout)

‘At an announcement event in Chennai this morning, it was revealed that the Indian Racing Festival (which contains the open-wheel Indian Racing League sportscar series and Indian F4) will be visiting the city on August 30th – September 1st for the country’s first ever night races on a street circuit. That means it will be round two of the F4 season.’

Brundle on Belgian GP (Sky)

‘I remember sitting in early debriefs with my team-mate Mika Hakkinen at McLaren in 1994 and he kept referring to a chicken when talking about the car handling. Eventually we had to ask him what he meant about this chicken, but of course in his Finnish English he was saying chicane. And I’ve witnessed very few who could navigate a ‘chicken’ faster than he did.’

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On this day in motorsport

• 35 years ago today Ayrton Senna won at the Hockenheimring as both McLaren drivers suffered slow pit stops and a gearbox glitch cost Alain Prost the lead