F1 | Williams: Red Bull open to Lawson loan for Monza

The Dutch Grand Prix that has just ended could have been Logan Sargeant’s last Formula 1 race. The American Williams driver was involved in an accident just minutes after the start of the third and final free practice session, wrecking his car.

The team was thus forced to work overtime to prepare the car for the race, after having tried in vain to put it on the track for Qualifying on Saturday afternoon. More than the effort of the team to provide him with a car and have him race yesterday, it is the amount of damage done to the FW46 that weighs.

Only the body survived the impact of the barriers at Turn 3. So the team had to assemble an almost completely new car. And this, for the team’s accounts, was certainly not ideal. On the contrary. Not only that, because in the accident Sargeant destroyed the updates made by the team in a very short time to allow him to have them already in Holland.

Sargeant had been on the edge for some time. His performances did not convince the patient team leaders, who were convinced last year to give him a second chance, which the American boy did not take advantage of in the first 14 races of this year.

As Motorsport.com reported yesterday, Williams, annoyed by the incident, is testing the waters to find Sargeant’s replacement as soon as possible. The shortlist of candidates includes Mick Schumacher and the Grove team’s favorite, Liam Lawson.

The New Zealander knows he has a seat secured for next season, but Williams team principal James Vowles has offered a seat for the final nine races of this year, before releasing him at the end of 2024.

If until yesterday this might have seemed like a complicated solution, at the end of the Zandvoort race an important opening, even if partial, to Williams’ requests arrived. Christian Horner, team principal of Red Bull Racing, made it known that for the Milton Keynes team there would be no problem in lending Lawson for the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. But the main condition to make this possibility a reality would be to have Lawson always available to return to the Anglo-Austrian team if his immediate contribution were needed.

“Lawson’s loan to Williams is contingent on the terms and conditions of whether we can get him back quickly if we need him,” Horner said.

“But certainly, if they needed a driver for next weekend (the Italian Grand Prix in Monza), we would be willing to lend him. But that’s a question for Williams.”

These are instead the statements of Toto Wolff linked to a possible loan of Mick Schumacher to Williams for the rest of the season: “I really hope Mick gets an opportunity, because we haven’t seen the real Mick. If he wins F2 or F3 and F4 – or the other way around – and then fails to do well in Formula 1, I think he deserves an opportunity. If he was offered an opportunity with Williams, we would be rooting for him. But the decision is up to James Vowles”.

In short, Red Bull would accept a loan that is not only fixed-term, but also limited. Just one race, maybe a little more, but with the full availability to let him return to Red Bull if the need arises. In the meantime, Mick Schumacher will keep his eyes peeled, because, in the absence of such constraints, he could have the opportunity to return to Formula 1 and have an important showcase on tracks where Williams has usually highlighted its qualities.