There was no NASCAR. No IndyCar. No MotoGP. A few world championships were decided. A few seasons ended. There were some debuts and some farewells. A surprise pole-sitter and one that was unsurprising. A team closed down, and another is expanding. Schedules were finalized. Trips were booked. Some are open to future plans. Others are closing doors. It was wet. It was dry. A few people cried. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
How Can Logan Sargeant Fail to Get a Super License?
The World Drivers' Championship is decided, as is the World Constructors' Championship and even the Formula Two title has been claimed. The final grand prix weekend of 2022 at Abu Dhabi is rather pedestrian on paper, but the main story of the weekend involves the American driver closes to a Formula One seat, and his future, like many others, will come down to Super License points.
Logan Sargeant has a Formula One contract practically complete with Williams F1 for the 2023 season. The only problem is he is short of the requisite 40 Super License points, but he can reach that threshold in Abu Dhabi.
Everyone keeps talking about what Sargeant must do this weekend to obtain a Super License.
Between finishing third in the 2020 Formula Three championship and seventh in Formula Three last year, Sargeant has 27 Super License points, but he also has one point from completing at least 100 kilometers without any reprimands in the first free practice at Austin and picked up another point for completing second free practice in Interlagos. Entering the Abu Dhabi weekend, he will have 29 Super License points with the chance of adding another point in the first practice Friday ahead of the grand prix. He will still need at least ten Super License points and those will have to come from his Formula Two championship results.
It has been a respectable season for Sargeant. He won feature races at Silverstone and the Red Bull Ring. He started on pole position at Circuit Paul Ricard. Entering the final weekend, Sargeant is third in the championship on 135 points, and that would be enough for the Super License points required. It would get him all the points he needed without his previous results or practice sessions. The top three in Formula Two receive 40 Super License points. Sargeant will likely only need ten points, which would be sixth in the championship. To clinch sixth, he would just need to score 28 points over the Abu Dhabi weekend.
Sounds simple? Well, of course it isn't that simple for an American driver.
One would think Sargeant sits pretty in third with three insurance positions behind him, but the Formula Two championship is rather tight in the top ten entering its finale.
Sargeant has 135 points, but he is only nine points clear of Jack Doohan, Jehan Daruvala and Enzo Fittipaldi, and Liami Lawson is only 12 points back in seventh with Frederik Vesti 18 points back in eighth. Ayumu Iwasa and Jüri Vips both are within 25 points of Sargeant.
We all know what the dream weekend is for Sargeant, but what is the nightmare? How does this go wrong, Sargeant drop from third to seventh in the championship, fall short of the 40 Super License point total, and leave Williams scrambling for a solution ahead of the 2023 season?
The maximum of points a driver can be scored in a single Formula Two weekend is 39 points, 25 points for a feature race victory, ten for a sprint race victory, two for feature race pole position, one for fastest lap in the sprint race and one for fastest lap in the feature race. Points for fastest lap require a driver to finish in the top ten of that race.
With that being the case, anyone down to Dennis Hauger in 11th could leap ahead of Sargeant in the championship in the final race weekend. Not all eight of those drivers can jump ahead of Sargaent in the championship, but enough could knock him down to seventh and crush his dreams on the Arabian Peninsula.
Twelve points is all that covers Sargeant, Doohan, Daruvala, Fittipaldi and Lawson. The top four in the feature race score 12 points or more. It could all go wrong in that race alone.
Doohan, Daruvala, Fittipaldi and Lawson could sweep the top four in the final feature race while Sargeant ends up without a point in either race. Suddenly, Sargeant wouldn't have enough to qualify for a Super License. Lawson has won three races to Sargeant's two. The tiebreaker would go to Lawson. Sargeant could fall short of a Super License on a tiebreaker!
To add insult to injury, Vesti could finish fifth in the feature race, second in the sprint race and pick up a fastest lap and that would be enough to lift Vesti ahead of Sargeant in the championship and falling to eighth would mean Sargeant would lose him another two Super License points, only sliding him further from the Formula One grid.
But let's pour more salt into the wound. Iwasa could finish sixth in the feature race from pole position while winning the sprint race and scoring fastest lap in the sprint race and now Iwasa would finish ahead of Sargeant in the championship on tiebreaker because the two drivers would finish level on victories, but Iwasa would have more runner-up results. Now Sargeant would be ninth in the championship and only score four Super License points.
It could get even worse. Let's keep everything above the same, but instead Vips wins the feature race and gets 25 points while Doohan finishes third in the sprint race and seventh in the feature race. That would drop Sargeant to tenth in the championship, the final spot to award Super License points, and Sargeant would only get three Super License points in that case.
The good news for Sargeant is that is rock bottom. He can finish no worse than tenth in the championship. There aren't enough points to go around for Sargeant to drop to 11th and he holds the tiebreaker over the likes of Fittipaldi, Vesti, Iwasa and Vips entering the weekend. But Sargeant's Super License is far from a guarantee entering the final weekend.
Sargeant is the hero entering the weekend. I have written you the tragedy.
Champions From the Weekend
The #8 Toyota of Sébastien Buemi, Brandon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa clinched the World Endurance Drivers' Championship with a runner-up finish in the 8 Hours of Bahrain.
The #38 Jota Oreca-Gibson of António Félix da Costa, Will Stevens and Roberto González clinched the Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers with a third-place finish at Bahrain.
The #51 AF Corse Ferrari of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi clinched the World Endurance GT Drivers' Championship with a fifth-place finish at Bahrain.
The #33 TF Sport Aston Martin of Ben Keating and Marco Sørenson clinched the Endurance Trophy for GTE-AM Drivers with a fourth-place finish at Bahrain.
Álvaro Bautista clinched the World Superbike Championship with finishes of second, fourth and second at Mandalika.
Dominique Aegerter clinched the World Supersport Championship with finishes of fourth and first at Mandalika. Niki Tuuli won the first World Supersport race of the weekend
Winners From the Weekend
You know about some champions and Niki Tuuli, but did you know...
George Russell won the Brazilian Grand Prix, his first career grand prix victory and Russell also won the sprint race this weekend.
The #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López won the 8 Hours of Bahrain. The #31 Team WRT Oreca-Gibson of Sean Gelael, Robin Frijns and René Rast won in LMP2. The #52 AF Corse of Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina won in GTE-Pro. The #46 Team Project 1 Porsche of Matteo Cairoli, Niki Leutwiler and Mikkel O. Pedersen won in the GTE-Am.
Mikel Azcona and Norbert Michelisz split the World Touring Car Cup races from Bahrain.
Thierry Neuville won Rally Japan.
Toprak Razgatlioglu swept the World Superbike races from Mandalika.
Coming Up This Weekend
Abu Dhabi closes out the Formula One season.
Phillip Island closes out the World Superbike season.
The Macau Grand Prix will take place but feel rather domestic.
