Williams sporting director Sven Smeets has suggested that ART's Zak O'Sullivan's departure from Formula Two was not purely financial, after he was replaced by one other Williams junior, Luke Browning.
O'Sullivan announced after the Monza event that he wouldn’t complete his debut campaign, citing financial problems as the rationale for his resignation.
He was replaced at ART by Browning, who finished third in F3 that season and was within the championship mix before the ultimate race.
Speaking exclusively to Motorsport.com, Smeets suggested that two-time race winner O'Sullivan's sudden departure from ART is just not solely in charge for funding.
“It's personal between Zak and ART,” he said. “We don’t have anything to do with it.
“However, I can confirm that Zak continues to be on the Academy, so Zak has not left the Academy.
“Now we have to see what we will do together in the next few months. The ball will also be somewhat in the court of Żak's management. As for the rest, I can't describe it in detail and it's more of a question for them what happened to ART.”
Zak O'Sullivan, Grand Prix ART
Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Pressed on whether Williams could have provided more help to make up for O'Sullivan's budget shortfall, Smeets added: 'It's at all times a difficult query. There are agreements and naturally I cannot describe it intimately.
“Something happened between them and ART and that is the conclusion ART drew from it. Finally they said: we are able to't proceed working together.
“But like I said, Zak is still in the Williams family. We will continue to cooperate and he will be with us until the end of the year.”
Browning set for the Hitech 2025 F2 seat
O'Sullivan's departure got here at the proper time for Browning, who joined fellow F3 drivers Gabriele Mini and Christian Mansell in making their F2 debuts on the streets of Baku, with the chance coming through his connections with Williams.
“I think ART has contacted a few people,” Smeets said. “But they said, 'Listen, this year the idea was to do it with Williams as well,' part of it. So they gave Łukasz a chance.”
The move to ART meant Browning left Hitech, the team the Briton had raced for for the past three years.
Luke Browning, Hitech Pulse-Eight, 1st place on the rostrum
Photo: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
However, based on Smeets, this relationship will likely be re-formed in 2025 when Browning moves full-time to F2 with Hitech.
“Obviously for him the preparation for next year is great because he intends to stay with Hitech in F2,” Smeets said.
“There are three tracks coming up that he doesn't know from F3. I told him, 'The more kilometers you’ll be able to do, the higher,' since it's preparation for next yr.”
Although this has not been confirmed by either the team or the driving force, Motorsport.com understands that Hitech intends to announce its squad after the tip of the season in December.
