Williams appoints Nasr as Test and Reserve Driver


By Williams F1 Team
February 22 2014

The Williams F1 team announced that Brazilian Felipe Nasr would be the teams Test and Reserve Driver for the 2014 season. Nasr also brings sponsorship from Banco do Brasil to the team.

 
 Williams appoints Nasr as Test and Reserve Driver
 
Felipe Nasr
 

Williams is pleased to announce the appointment of Brazilian Felipe Nasr to the position of Test and Reserve Driver for the 2014 season.

In this role Felipe will attend all Grands Prix during the 2014 season and take to the wheel of the Williams Mercedes FW36 in three tests and five FP1 sessions. This will be combined with factory based work in the team’s simulator to support the continued development of the team’s cars.

Felipe began karting in Brazil at the age of seven and won several titles before making his open wheel racing debut in 2008 in the final round of the Formula BMW Americas season. For 2009 he moved to Europe and competed in the Formula BMW Championship, claiming the title in his first season with seven wins in 16 starts. In 2010 and 2011 he competed in the British Formula Three Championship, finishing in 5th position in his first year and claiming the title in 2011 after securing seven wins. 2012 saw Felipe move to the GP2 Championship with DAMS where he finished the championship as the second highest placed rookie and in tenth place overall. That year he also competed in the Daytona 24 Hour, finishing third overall with Michael Shanks Racing. For 2013 Felipe joined Carlin Motorsport, finishing in 4th place in the GP2 Championship.

Commenting on his new role Felipe Nasr said: “I’m really happy to be joining the Williams family. They have a great history in the sport and some of the greatest Brazilian drivers of all time have driven for the team, so it’s an honour to join names such as Piquet, Senna and Massa. This is a fantastic opportunity for me to make the next step in my career and I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of a Formula One car for the first time in Bahrain.”

Williams Founder and Team Principal Sir Frank Williams added; “Felipe has a strong track record of success in his career so far and we have been watching him closely for a while. We have a track record at Williams of bringing through new talent and giving them a chance to show what they can do on the world’s biggest stage. By driving in five FP1 sessions this season, Felipe will have the perfect chance to showcase his skills and I’m confident he will be a strong addition to our driver roster.”

 

Williams appoints Nasr as Test and Reserve Driver
Posted by: Williams F1 (IP Logged)
Date: 22/02/2014 04:09

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Re: Williams appoints Nasr as Test and Reserve Driver
Posted by: Polemik (IP Logged)
Date: 25/02/2014 11:55

What is wrong is that the contract with NASR is only valid for 1 year !!

Because Nasr and his management want for 2015 a racing seat in F1. When Nasr does not get in the race seat at Williams for 2015, he will leave Williams even with his personal sponsor Banco do Brasil ! This will cause a hole of 10 mil.EUR in the budget of Williams sad smiley (Sm123)

(sorry for my poor English)

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Re: Williams appoints Nasr as Test and Reserve Driver
Posted by: Anderis (IP Logged)
Date: 25/02/2014 12:05

This is why I've always had mixed feelings about this deal. It's good to have a real 3rd driver, and an alternative for Massa, talented driver who brings money.

But on the other hand, it really looks like we may be just preparing a driver to take a race seat at one of the opponent teams in 2015.

Re: Williams appoints Nasr as Test and Reserve Driver
Posted by: Polemik (IP Logged)
Date: 25/02/2014 12:13

to Anderis:
I agree, as well as with Hulkenberg, unfortunately

sad smiley

Re: Williams appoints Nasr as Test and Reserve Driver
Posted by: crusty_bread (IP Logged)
Date: 25/02/2014 12:57

I disagree. Williams are grooming a potential replacement should either of their drivers under-perform in 2014. Should both drivers perform well, Williams are not obliged to replace any of them, and Williams will have received a load of sponsorship money in the meantime.

The value of the sessions he will "take up" in 2014 are a lot less, IMO, than the value of the sponsorship money he brings, which basically is enough to enable Williams to hire all these exiting new recruits.

The alternative approach is to cut one's nose off to spite ones' face, which isn't something I agree with.

Re: Williams appoints Nasr as Test and Reserve Driver
Posted by: Polemik (IP Logged)
Date: 25/02/2014 13:46

to crusty_bread:

However Massa has a contract for five years. So he is hardly replaceable by Williams. And Bottas is Williams' kid. Replacing him would mean a loss of effort and investment put into him. And from a marketing perspective it is not good to have two Brazilians as "sharp drivers". Although Bottas is not bring a lot of sponsors so far, its replacement is also questionable.
We'll see what happens next year, but I see there is a risk of further holes in the budget of Williams...and it just make me not happy ! sad smiley

(sorry for poor English (Sm16) )

Re: Williams appoints Nasr as Test and Reserve Driver
Posted by: crusty_bread (IP Logged)
Date: 25/02/2014 14:16

All good points, but there are performance clauses in every contract.

Re: Williams appoints Nasr as Test and Reserve Driver
Posted by: Polemik (IP Logged)
Date: 25/02/2014 14:46

to crusty_bread :

If those performance clauses are really in contracts of Williams drivers, then OK eye rolling smiley

Re: Williams appoints Nasr as Test and Reserve Driver
Posted by: crusty_bread (IP Logged)
Date: 25/02/2014 15:20

Always; to saddle themselves to him for 5 years without any clauses would be absolutely insane. Something like; "Williams reserve the right to break the contract at the end of the season should Massa fail to be within 75% of his teammate's points with less than 4 races remaining in that season." In that way, they are sending out a strong message to Felipe that they believe in him, they are planning on a medium term future which includes him should he jump through the caveats, and provide him with some stability without being stuck with him if he struggles.

But even in the off chance that Massa doesn't have these caveats, would you really wave goodbye to 10M euros for the sake of having a talented non-race driver do a few test days and practice sessions? Everything is a compromise, but this one seems a net win every time and focussing exclusively on the potential drawbacks seems a little lopsided.

If he brought no sponsorship, and there was no possibility of Nasr getting a drive in 2015, then yes- it would not be worthwhile, but that is not the case.

Then there is the question of Bottas. If Banco Brazil and Petrobras offer more to have Nasr in a race seat, then that could diminish the financial hit of dropping Bottas should he struggle. It would, basically, plug the gap. I know on paper having two Brazillians isn't ideal, but in reality, Nasr would seem to bring more to the table in funding than Bottas, and if both Massa and Nasr perform better on track, it's a bit of a no-brainer.

Re: Williams appoints Nasr as Test and Reserve Driver
Posted by: j-s (IP Logged)
Date: 26/02/2014 03:21

Occam's Razor: Nasr = 10M for a year. Simple.

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