MALONEY... I’m confident about the weekends to come, we just need to be focused on executing each session as well as possible.
(Photo: Motorsport Images)
Having taken heart from his performance at the British Grand Prix, Barbadian Formula 2 driver Zane Maloney is even more upbeat about the prospects for the remainder of the season.
Though he failed to secure a win, Maloney registered two podium finishes for his Rodin Motorsport team at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. Those two second-place performances in the sprint and feature races, propelled Maloney back up the standings in third position on 101 points.
The 20-year-old is now 32 points behind Frenchman Isack Hadjar of Compos Racing, and 16 points adrift Estonia’s Paul Aron of Hitech Pulse-Eight, who occupies second position.
“To come away from the weekend with two P2s though, you can never complain. The only thing better is obviously Bahrain, but other than that, it’s the best weekend I’ve had in Formula 2, and I’m really happy about it,” Maloney said in an interview on the F2 website.
Still, Maloney believes the results could have been more positive had certain things gone their way.
“We struggled a bit in the sprint, but we know why looking back on it. Some things on my side, and some things that were out of our control, so we were confident going into the feature race even if it was wet.
Maloney in action (Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited).
“The feature was great. I think it was one of the best races I’ve done in a long time. Got a good start, made up three places up at turn 3, braking very late up the inside. We had great pace on the softs and the hards (tyres),” Maloney reasoned.
He continued: “I was having to push really hard to try and make the moves. I made a move on one of the Invictas I think, and then it was all about having a good pitstop.
“The team did a great stop, but unfortunately, I almost had a small crash in the pit lane, and I think that cost us the win. But after that, I had to push really hard to keep [Prema Racing driver] Ollie [Bearman of Great Britain] behind, killed the tyres a bit too much and struggled a bit at the end.”
With his next assignment being the July 19-21 Hungarian Grand Prix, Maloney believes his Rodin team are now well-placed to challenge for the Championship.
“I’ve never felt we were really out of the game to be honest. We’ve had one round that we struggled with pace in general, which was the [previous] round [in Speilberg, Austria], so to bounce back from that was amazing from the team,” Maloney declared.
“But for seven of eight rounds, we’ve been up there, on the pace and on the money, so I’m confident about the weekends to come, we just need to be focused on executing each session as well as possible. Still, somethings to improve from my side, but that’s the thing in general as a racing driver, but I think we’re back in the fight,” he added.
After Hungary, the championship will move to Belgium for July 26-28 action, followed by Italy for action from July 30 to August 1. The Azerbaijan meeting follows on September 13-15, with the November 29 to December 1 Qatar meeting, and Abu Dhabi action from December 6-8 to bring down the curtains on the season.
Albon believes Williams' foundations are strong despite results
Alex Albon remains confident that the foundations are in place for Williams to improve despite their recent spell of disappointing results.
After 14 races last season, Albon had achieved five top 10 finishes yet has only finished in the top-half of the field twice at the same point this season.
Williams revealed that their car was overweight at the start of the season, estimated to have cost them 0.45 seconds per lap.
Despite the disappointment, however, Albon still feels the team are heading in the right direction.
“It's a real shame that at the start of the year, we were not on-weight where we should have been,” he told Motorsport.com.
“Our car should have been in the points consistently for the first few races and then we would have shuffled down to where we are now.
“A lot of what-ifs but I'm happy we're getting the foundations in place. I don't think without the changes we've made, I would ever see us as a team that can get out of this backfield battle.
“I feel like now at least we've got foundations that can bring us up."
While Albon remains realistic that Williams needs to improve, he also feels their struggles are in part due to the improvement of the rest of the field.
"We are obviously not where we want to be. Truthfully, I feel like that's testament to the other teams too. That midfield group has made such a huge step,” he said.
"We've made a good step but relative to the others, maybe we are holding back a little bit.
"We've done a lot of changes within the team, last year into this year, there's been big changes around the DNA of the car, but also the structure of the team.
"When you put the team under that much work and do that many changes, it shows the cracks.”
Due to those cracks, scrutiny has been focused on team principal James Vowles, who joined the Williams in 2023 after 12 years at Mercedes.
His arrival saw an immediate improvement as Williams finished seventh in the Constructor’s Championship in 2023, three places better than the previous season.
They currently sit ninth but Albon still believes Vowles remains “the right man for the job”.
He said: "I have been very much a part of the project. James has brought me into it. He's very straight. He doesn't tell you things are better than they actually are, and I like that.
"I feel like whenever something's not come to plan he tells me the areas that the team needs to work on. He tells me if there's anything I can do to help.”
That pragmatism has rubbed off on the 28-year-old driver, who cannot see titles coming Williams’ way soon.
“If I am being totally honest, I don't see us being in position to fight for wins and titles for a while, but to do steps where we start nipping in and getting podiums,” said Albon.
"I believe that 2026 would be difficult, but winning in '27 would be much more realistic. We've got great investment, and we're recruiting very aggressively.”
Barbados women secure promotion to Americas Group II of Billie Jean King Cup
Barbados’ women’s tennis team made history on Saturday by advancing to Americas Group II of the Billie Jean King Cup at the National Racquet Centre in Tacarigua, Trinidad & Tobago.
The Bajans first went 4-0 in Pool A preliminary round action with wins over Antigua & Barbuda (3-0), Jamaica (2-1), Bahamas (3-0) and Trinidad & Tobago (2-1) from August 5-8 before coming up against El Salvador in the promotional playoff on Saturday.
El Salvador advanced to that playoff thanks to a second-place finish in Pool B after three wins and one loss.
In the first match of Saturday’s playoff, El Salvador’s Michelle Irigoyen secured a dominant 6-0, 6-2 victory over Barbados’ Serena Bryan before Gabrielle Leslie tied proceedings at 1-1 with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Sara Valentina Cruz Bonilla.
The deciding doubles match was a fitting way to determine the victor as both teams left it all on the court.
Barbados’ Hannah Chambers and Cherise Slocombe went up against El Salvador’s Bonilla and Irigoyen.
Chambers and Slocombe took the first set 6-3 before the El Salvador pair roared back into it with a bagel (6-0) in the second set.
The teams then played out a marathon third and deciding set which Barbados eventually won 11-9 to book their spot in Americas Group II.
Costa Rica will join them in Group II after beating Jamaica 2-1 in the other playoff.
McLaren chief Brown surprised to be competing with Red Bull
Zak Brown has admitted to being shocked by McLaren's competitive performance in the Formula One world championship this season.
McLaren sit just 42 points adrift of Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship, with lead driver Lando Norris also second to Max Verstappen in the standings.
The team have achieved podium finishes in their last 10 races, and they are well placed to challenge across the back half of the campaign.
Brown, however, was not expecting such success so soon.
"If I were to sit here and say I'm not surprised, that would be disingenuous," Brown told BBC Sport.
"Red Bull had such an advantage over everyone and Mercedes has been so dominant.
"I felt like we'd continue to close the gap. Did I think we would be here at the summer break, one race away from getting the lead?
"That race would have to be first and second and fastest lap, and do I think it's going to happen like that? No. But if we keep the same trajectory we've been on the last six, seven races, we'll be where we need to be by the end of the year.
"I thought we might get where we are now by 2025. I didn't think we would be where we are now in 2024. But I'm not complaining."
Both Norris and Oscar Piastri have claimed their maiden race wins this season indicative of an increasingly competitive McLaren.
Brown credits team principal Andrea Stella, who was appointed ahead of the 2023 season, for the growing success.
"He unlocked the talent that we already had here," Brown said. "We've got approximately 1,000 people here in F1. I changed three. But it was three leaders. So, 997 are the same people who gave us the [uncompetitive] car at the beginning of 2023.
"A leader's job is to get the most out of their people and that's what we didn't have previously. We weren't able to let the talent we have in here flourish.
"Andrea communicates very well. He listens very well. He's very hard-working. He's very technical. He leads by example. All the traits you would want in a great leader. He unlocked the potential this team clearly had sitting there."
While Piastri continued McLaren's podium success at the Belgian Grand Prix, Norris could not make gains in the driver standings despite Verstappen having to deal with a 10-place grid penalty.
He finished fifth, one place behind Red Bull’s reigning champion. Brown, however, sees these experiences as a learning curve for everyone.
"We've all made a variety of errors, which to me are learning experiences," he reflected.
"I thought [Mercedes team principal] Toto [Wolff] was accurate with his comment. He said: 'Well, sometimes you figure these things out once they've kind of been put on your plate.'
"So if I look at the mistakes we've made - whether those are drivers or us, kinda doesn't matter; we're one team - we wouldn't make these mistakes again. We're learning. And I think maybe because we have got where we are quicker than we thought, it shows we still have learning to do.
"Lando is trying to fight for a world championship. He's going for it. He's learning, as are we. So I'm not concerned about it."
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