Mid-Week Wrap: Williams' Woes, E-Sports, Senna v Hamilton

A week that was short on major stories, somehow the F1 circus still managed to produce enough scraps for us to argue over, so let's get to it!

Prost expects Renault to deliver: A scant five years after they were supposed to have their act together, it seems Renault are finally on the verge of producing a competitive engine – well, at least according to Alain Prost. Considering the French outfit is yet to go a race without a power unit failure, forgive me if I don't hold my breath.

Williams for sale?: If there's one complaint about F1 I hear too much of these days, it's that there aren't enough teams bought-and-paid for by billionaires for the sole purpose of giving their sons a race seat. In all seriousness, I'm not actually sure Dmitry Mazepin pulling a Lawrence Stroll would change anything.

Even if Williams were receptable to that sort of takeover (doubtful, considering they're on relatively solid ground financially), this isn't a team like Force India that is merely trying to be "best of the rest" – they have a legacy to protect, and that means they want to win races, which can only be helped by a works deal.

Mazepin might be rich, but he's not Volkswagen or Toyota rich, and I doubt they'd be willing to sacrifice their autonomy for anything less.

Kubica at a loss: Owner of the greatest sporting comeback in 2019 (sorry Tiger), it seems the fairy tale has taken a dark turn for Robert Kubica at Williams. Whether it's a case of lesser treatment compared to George Russell or just that the Brit is out-pacing him, either way the car is so bad that it's fair to wonder why he even bothers.

Leigh moves from the couch to the cockpit: A story that I don't think got enough attention when it broke last week, F1 e-champ Brendon Leigh's Formula Ford should be recognised for what is: the next step on the inevitable path of a driver going from e-sports to F1.

Of course, there's obviously some significant differences going from virtual to real racing, but we've already seen with Jann Mardenborough that it can be done, and the accessibility of racing sims combined with their ever-improving technology and exposure is going to mean sooner or later, some prodigy comes along who is snapped-up by a young driver programme, and from there goes on to the big show.

Berger puts Hamilton at the level of Senna: Where should we place Lewis Hamilton in the historical record? It's a question that's become increasingly relevant in recent times, and according to Gerhard Berger, it should be in the "same league" as his former McLaren teammate, Ayrton Senna. Even if Berger didn't say Hamilton was

exactly equal with Senna, ranking him close to a figure who has taken on almost mythical proportions was bound to ruffle feathers, although he might have a point.

Statistically, Hamilton certainly has a case – not only does he have two more titles than his idol, but he has a similarly outstanding pole percentage (36.2% to Senna's 40.1%) and a superior win percentage (32.3% to 25.5%), but for many it's not just about the numbers, and that's a harder puzzle to piece together.

Perhaps no other driver has captured the imagination the way Senna has, and it's fair to suggest Hamilton has had consistently better cars as well, although I don't think he had the outright