By Ben Anderson | |
Grand Prix Editor |
Williams is a grand old powerhouse of Formula 1, a team that's been an integral part of elite single-seater racing for the best part of four decades, a participant for even longer, yet its best days seem well and truly consigned to history. The track record speaks for itself. The current incarnation of Williams as an F1 constructor (discounting its 1977 season as a March customer team, and the prior outfit Sir Frank sold to Walter Wolf) is the third most experienced on the grid. 659 F1 races have been held during its life, of which it has won 114, finished on the podium in 311, started on pole for 128. Only Ferrari and McLaren can boast a better record. Williams's haul of nine constructors' titles, augmented by seven world championships for drivers, is bettered only by Ferrari - the grandest of grand epreuves equipes. History can buy a reputation, an army of loyal fans, but it won't buy success. The first 20 seasons for Williams in its current guise in F1 were phenomenal; the last 19 nowhere close to those heady early heights. The statistical contrast between the pre-1998 Williams and the post-'97 one is stark. 1978-1997 1998-2016 There once was a time when Williams could do no wrong in Formula 1. At its best it was capable of winning one in every three grands prix it contested. Now, it's lucky if it can win once in every 30. That this once mighty team has failed to win a championship for the best part of 20 years (a pain McLaren also knows all too well), and hasn't even been able to outscore its historical self, despite more races being held and points awarded than ever in the modern era, highlights how far it has fallen. There was a brief period of moderate success between 2000 and '04, thanks to a works alliance with German manufacturer BMW, but otherwise Williams has had very little to celebrate since star designer Adrian Newey departed Grove and Renault withdrew its manufacturer support at the end of 1996. When Formula 1 adopted V6 hybrid engine technology in 2014, it looked as though Williams might finally be ready to reverse this slump. The team leapt from ninth to third in the constructors' championship - its best finish since 2003 - by taking a Mercedes customer power unit and mating it to a well-conceived low-drag chassis, which developed well through the year and was the second fastest on average across the season. Unfortunately, Williams proved unable to capitalise on that initial promise. A woeful 2015 season for Red Bull allowed Williams to repeat its third placed finish in that year's constructors' title race, despite building only the fourth fastest car, while last year represented a marked step backwards, with only one podium finish (for Valtteri Bottas in Canada) and a slump to fifth in the standings, behind fellow Mercedes engine customer Force India. The emerging pattern is undoubtedly a worrying one. But 2017 presents an opportunity for renewal. The hybrid engines remain, but this year's new rules were drafted to encourage design of substantially faster cars, featuring enhanced aerodynamics, and bigger and better tyres. New rules usually lead to upheaval in the competitive order, and the hope within Grove is that Williams can grasp this latest opportunity to reverse its recent competitive slide. "One of the things Williams has been good at doing in the past few years is very quickly identifying its errors and weaknesses, and then resolving those, not letting the grass grow under our feet," Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams tells Autosport. "We started our dramatic restructuring in 2013, we made a whole wealth of changes, which obviously helped us move forward in 2014, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and a Formula 1 team doesn't suddenly transform from being P9 to P1. "There's a huge amount of work involved, and still work to be done. Until you're winning there's always work to be done. Life is hard in Formula 1, but you need to keep plugging away at it. One day it will come to you. Frank plugged away at it for 10 years before he won a race. If it takes 10 years, so be it, we'll keep fighting." But Williams surely cannot afford to wait another decade for glory. The team can take encouragement from a strong recent record meeting the challenge of major rule changes in F1, but the problem comes in trying to consolidate that good work. Williams started well (with the help of a controversial 'double diffuser') in 2009, won a race in '12, but by '13 was lost in trying to properly harness exhaust blown downforce. 2014 represented a big leap forward again, but the team has gradually slipped back over the past two years, struggling particularly with tyre management and aerodynamic development. It became one of the best teams at performing pitstops last season, but otherwise had little else to celebrate. Technical chief Pat Symonds, who left Williams at the end of last year, admitted aero development was poor in 2016. Williams missed its winter targets and failed to develop its front wing effectively through the course of the season - notwithstanding the need for all teams to also divert development resources to their 2017 cars as early as possible to avoid getting caught out by the new rules. "I'm not one to air our dirty laundry in public - I don't want to go down the list and tell you 'these areas are weak, these areas are great', I don't think it's right," Williams adds. "It's a team effort here, and it's no one's fault here that we have those weaknesses. "The situation has arisen over a number of years. I wouldn't say they are weaknesses that have just come to bear in the last year, they've been building and growing and just haven't been addressed. "You don't change your team's fortunes unless you actually affect changes. You can't hope the aero guys are going to suddenly come up with something amazing. And a Formula 1 team isn't just about aero - you have to have the whole package working to perfection if you want to be successful. "As much as we've had success in the past with rule changes, I never go into a season - and I don't think the rest of the team do - with high hopes based on previous successes interpreting a rules overhaul. I think that's dangerous, and I think we just have to wait and see when we get into testing to see where our rivals are. "It will be an opportunity for everybody to make a step forward. You never know where you're going to be. I know everybody here has done a great job and I know the numbers coming out of the aero department, but I don't know what is coming out of the aero group at Red Bull or Force India, so until we get to the test track we won't know how good a job we've done. If we're not where we need to be we'll keep working." Williams admits it was "a bit of a shock" and an "eye-opener" in 2016 to get beaten by Force India - a team that uses the same engine as Williams, but employs fewer people (380 versus 530) and operates on a smaller budget (£90million versus £105million), according to Autosport's most recent analysis. Slipping behind a team that has traditionally been a smaller player in F1, rather than continuing to trade blows with the category's current heavyweights, places Williams at a vital crossroad. Will it be forced to accept being a decent upper-midfielder, or can it find a way to force itself back into the big league? "Slipping back isn't an option," Williams asserts. "We have to make progress forward, whatever that looks like. Setting any kind of expectation or hope is really dangerous, but we don't want to come fifth again this year." To do that it will need to produce a better car, and develop at a much better rate than it did last season. In fairness to Williams it is taking steps to address its faults. It recruited former Ferrari tyre specialist Antonio Spagnolo late last season, part of a concerted effort to become vastly better at understanding and using F1's control rubber. There is also the expectation that former Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe will shortly replace Symonds at the technical helm of Williams, while the team also announced this week that Ferrari's former aero chief Dirk de Beer will start at Grove on March 1. Signing Lowe could be the most significant move Williams makes ahead of this season. His experience from working inside F1's current best outfit should prove invaluable in helping Williams implement the further structural changes needed to vault out of the midfield and back into F1's elite group. Lowe's deal has yet to be formally announced, so Williams won't be drawn into discussing his expected arrival. But the team's performance chief Rob Smedley has previously talked of Williams being stuck in the past in some areas, of a need to adopt fresh practices and not simply rest on previous glories. Lowe is a Williams face of old of course, helping mastermind the active suspension systems that helped it dominate F1 in the early nineties, but his recent experience at Mercedes makes him a valuable commodity rather than a retrograde step for this ambitious team. "The people who have left have all contributed to Williams during their time here in a significant way," says Williams. "That's important, but we have to move on and we have to move forward. "You can have a plan, but you need to be able to adapt if things aren't working out, rather than just stick to the plan blindly and hope and pray that something will change. "Our interim engineering team have done a fantastic job. They've been working really collaboratively, and it's been really great to see the inroads they've been able to make to impact the 2017 car. "With regard to other people coming I obviously can't talk about that, nothing has been confirmed yet. I think whenever you bring in new people that have a profile it can be an enormous boost to morale for a number of reasons, but equally you have to recognise the talent you have in your business, and understand and highlight the role they play, because it's not always just about one person at the top, it's about everybody working together. "These race teams we run now are 700 people, so you can't just expect one man or woman to come in and fix everything, it's a team effort, but if you do have that leader at the top who is an inspirational figure then you're in a good place, aren't you?" Unlike McLaren, Williams still believes it's possible to win the world championship without a works engine deal. Red Bull believes this too, and re-emerged as F1's second best team last season, as Renault began to close down Ferrari in F1's engine development war. In theory, Williams should be capable of beating Red Bull, given Williams takes a customer supply of the best engine in F1. But Williams clearly remains deficient when it comes to constructing and developing a potent chassis. Williams clearly lacks the financial might of the top teams (Red Bull's 2016 budget was £215million), so how can it hope to compete given this multi-million-pound disadvantage, in a world where budget caps (favoured by Williams) don't yet exist? "I think we have a healthy budget at Williams, but clearly we don't have the budget that Mercedes or Red Bull have," says Williams. "As much as we can be successful with our budget, of course another £50million is going to help drive us forward. It would be stupid to think that it wouldn't. But we have what we have, and we have to use our budget accordingly. "When it comes to people, I think we have great talent, like Red Bull does, but maybe we are missing the key talent at the top, and that's why we've done the work we've done recently - to make sure we do have that talent at the top." Talented technical personnel are of course vital, but a good car will be nothing without a good driver to extract its performance. Previously, Williams could rely on one of F1's brightest emerging talents in Valtteri Bottas. His departure to Mercedes to replace shock retiree Nico Rosberg means Felipe Massa will postpone retirement to partner rookie Lance Stroll in 2017. However you slice it this looks like a backward step for Williams. How can it expect to become a serious frontrunning team again if it cannot attract or keep the best drivers available? "Would you not put Felipe and Valtteri on the same level?" Williams shoots back. Autosport explains that replacing a driver courted by Ferrari and Mercedes with one who retired after his 2017 options dried up looks like a retrograde step. "If you're going to look at it from a one-dimensional perspective then maybe that's what it could look like, but there are a number of considerations that you take into account when you make these kind of decisions," explains Williams, who says she hears the same "fire in his voice" Massa had when he first joined Williams after leaving Ferrari at the end of 2013. "We made sure it could work for the team. Everybody knows how much I love this team, how important it is to me, and how much I want it to get back to winning. Anyone who knows me will know I did a good deal for this team, and would only have made that move if it was in the best interests of this team. I have total confidence in the decision I made. I think we did the right thing and I have no regrets. "Of course Valtteri has been an important part of Williams, he's been with the team a long time. He's a great team player, he's dedicated, he's committed, and he's got that fiery passion you want in a driver, because all he wants to do is be in the best car and win. "When you have a driver and you know that's all they want, why force them to race your car? That's not the right thing to do. He has an amazing opportunity. We stood in Valtteri's way once, when Ferrari came along, and I made a promise to Valtteri I wouldn't stand in his way again - and I honour my promises." A noble sentiment for what remains one of grand prix racing's noblest teams, but can Williams really deliver on its promise to return to the top? This year represents a new dawn for Formula 1, an attempt to return to what Fernando Alonso would call its mid-2000s peak, when quick lap times were all that really mattered. Williams has endured a series of false dawns since the end of its own mid-nineties pomp. If it is serious about becoming a true force to be reckoned with in Formula 1 again, it needs to ensure that the FW40 does not represent the beginnings of another. |
By Ben Anderson | |
Grand Prix Editor |
Williams is a grand old powerhouse of Formula 1, a team that's been an integral part of elite single-seater racing for the best part of four decades, a participant for even longer, yet its best days seem well and truly consigned to history. The track record speaks for itself. The current incarnation of Williams as an F1 constructor (discounting its 1977 season as a March customer team, and the prior outfit Sir Frank sold to Walter Wolf) is the third most experienced on the grid. 659 F1 races have been held during its life, of which it has won 114, finished on the podium in 311, started on pole for 128. Only Ferrari and McLaren can boast a better record. Williams's haul of nine constructors' titles, augmented by seven world championships for drivers, is bettered only by Ferrari - the grandest of grand epreuves equipes. History can buy a reputation, an army of loyal fans, but it won't buy success. The first 20 seasons for Williams in its current guise in F1 were phenomenal; the last 19 nowhere close to those heady early heights. The statistical contrast between the pre-1998 Williams and the post-'97 one is stark. 1978-1997 1998-2016 There once was a time when Williams could do no wrong in Formula 1. At its best it was capable of winning one in every three grands prix it contested. Now, it's lucky if it can win once in every 30. That this once mighty team has failed to win a championship for the best part of 20 years (a pain McLaren also knows all too well), and hasn't even been able to outscore its historical self, despite more races being held and points awarded than ever in the modern era, highlights how far it has fallen. There was a brief period of moderate success between 2000 and '04, thanks to a works alliance with German manufacturer BMW, but otherwise Williams has had very little to celebrate since star designer Adrian Newey departed Grove and Renault withdrew its manufacturer support at the end of 1996. When Formula 1 adopted V6 hybrid engine technology in 2014, it looked as though Williams might finally be ready to reverse this slump. The team leapt from ninth to third in the constructors' championship - its best finish since 2003 - by taking a Mercedes customer power unit and mating it to a well-conceived low-drag chassis, which developed well through the year and was the second fastest on average across the season. Unfortunately, Williams proved unable to capitalise on that initial promise. A woeful 2015 season for Red Bull allowed Williams to repeat its third placed finish in that year's constructors' title race, despite building only the fourth fastest car, while last year represented a marked step backwards, with only one podium finish (for Valtteri Bottas in Canada) and a slump to fifth in the standings, behind fellow Mercedes engine customer Force India. The emerging pattern is undoubtedly a worrying one. But 2017 presents an opportunity for renewal. The hybrid engines remain, but this year's new rules were drafted to encourage design of substantially faster cars, featuring enhanced aerodynamics, and bigger and better tyres. New rules usually lead to upheaval in the competitive order, and the hope within Grove is that Williams can grasp this latest opportunity to reverse its recent competitive slide. "One of the things Williams has been good at doing in the past few years is very quickly identifying its errors and weaknesses, and then resolving those, not letting the grass grow under our feet," Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams tells Autosport. "We started our dramatic restructuring in 2013, we made a whole wealth of changes, which obviously helped us move forward in 2014, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and a Formula 1 team doesn't suddenly transform from being P9 to P1. "There's a huge amount of work involved, and still work to be done. Until you're winning there's always work to be done. Life is hard in Formula 1, but you need to keep plugging away at it. One day it will come to you. Frank plugged away at it for 10 years before he won a race. If it takes 10 years, so be it, we'll keep fighting." But Williams surely cannot afford to wait another decade for glory. The team can take encouragement from a strong recent record meeting the challenge of major rule changes in F1, but the problem comes in trying to consolidate that good work. Williams started well (with the help of a controversial 'double diffuser') in 2009, won a race in '12, but by '13 was lost in trying to properly harness exhaust blown downforce. 2014 represented a big leap forward again, but the team has gradually slipped back over the past two years, struggling particularly with tyre management and aerodynamic development. It became one of the best teams at performing pitstops last season, but otherwise had little else to celebrate. Technical chief Pat Symonds, who left Williams at the end of last year, admitted aero development was poor in 2016. Williams missed its winter targets and failed to develop its front wing effectively through the course of the season - notwithstanding the need for all teams to also divert development resources to their 2017 cars as early as possible to avoid getting caught out by the new rules. "I'm not one to air our dirty laundry in public - I don't want to go down the list and tell you 'these areas are weak, these areas are great', I don't think it's right," Williams adds. "It's a team effort here, and it's no one's fault here that we have those weaknesses. "The situation has arisen over a number of years. I wouldn't say they are weaknesses that have just come to bear in the last year, they've been building and growing and just haven't been addressed. "You don't change your team's fortunes unless you actually affect changes. You can't hope the aero guys are going to suddenly come up with something amazing. And a Formula 1 team isn't just about aero - you have to have the whole package working to perfection if you want to be successful. "As much as we've had success in the past with rule changes, I never go into a season - and I don't think the rest of the team do - with high hopes based on previous successes interpreting a rules overhaul. I think that's dangerous, and I think we just have to wait and see when we get into testing to see where our rivals are. "It will be an opportunity for everybody to make a step forward. You never know where you're going to be. I know everybody here has done a great job and I know the numbers coming out of the aero department, but I don't know what is coming out of the aero group at Red Bull or Force India, so until we get to the test track we won't know how good a job we've done. If we're not where we need to be we'll keep working." Williams admits it was "a bit of a shock" and an "eye-opener" in 2016 to get beaten by Force India - a team that uses the same engine as Williams, but employs fewer people (380 versus 530) and operates on a smaller budget (£90million versus £105million), according to Autosport's most recent analysis. Slipping behind a team that has traditionally been a smaller player in F1, rather than continuing to trade blows with the category's current heavyweights, places Williams at a vital crossroad. Will it be forced to accept being a decent upper-midfielder, or can it find a way to force itself back into the big league? "Slipping back isn't an option," Williams asserts. "We have to make progress forward, whatever that looks like. Setting any kind of expectation or hope is really dangerous, but we don't want to come fifth again this year." To do that it will need to produce a better car, and develop at a much better rate than it did last season. In fairness to Williams it is taking steps to address its faults. It recruited former Ferrari tyre specialist Antonio Spagnolo late last season, part of a concerted effort to become vastly better at understanding and using F1's control rubber. There is also the expectation that former Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe will shortly replace Symonds at the technical helm of Williams, while the team also announced this week that Ferrari's former aero chief Dirk de Beer will start at Grove on March 1. Signing Lowe could be the most significant move Williams makes ahead of this season. His experience from working inside F1's current best outfit should prove invaluable in helping Williams implement the further structural changes needed to vault out of the midfield and back into F1's elite group. Lowe's deal has yet to be formally announced, so Williams won't be drawn into discussing his expected arrival. But the team's performance chief Rob Smedley has previously talked of Williams being stuck in the past in some areas, of a need to adopt fresh practices and not simply rest on previous glories. Lowe is a Williams face of old of course, helping mastermind the active suspension systems that helped it dominate F1 in the early nineties, but his recent experience at Mercedes makes him a valuable commodity rather than a retrograde step for this ambitious team. "The people who have left have all contributed to Williams during their time here in a significant way," says Williams. "That's important, but we have to move on and we have to move forward. "You can have a plan, but you need to be able to adapt if things aren't working out, rather than just stick to the plan blindly and hope and pray that something will change. "Our interim engineering team have done a fantastic job. They've been working really collaboratively, and it's been really great to see the inroads they've been able to make to impact the 2017 car. "With regard to other people coming I obviously can't talk about that, nothing has been confirmed yet. I think whenever you bring in new people that have a profile it can be an enormous boost to morale for a number of reasons, but equally you have to recognise the talent you have in your business, and understand and highlight the role they play, because it's not always just about one person at the top, it's about everybody working together. "These race teams we run now are 700 people, so you can't just expect one man or woman to come in and fix everything, it's a team effort, but if you do have that leader at the top who is an inspirational figure then you're in a good place, aren't you?" Unlike McLaren, Williams still believes it's possible to win the world championship without a works engine deal. Red Bull believes this too, and re-emerged as F1's second best team last season, as Renault began to close down Ferrari in F1's engine development war. In theory, Williams should be capable of beating Red Bull, given Williams takes a customer supply of the best engine in F1. But Williams clearly remains deficient when it comes to constructing and developing a potent chassis. Williams clearly lacks the financial might of the top teams (Red Bull's 2016 budget was £215million), so how can it hope to compete given this multi-million-pound disadvantage, in a world where budget caps (favoured by Williams) don't yet exist? "I think we have a healthy budget at Williams, but clearly we don't have the budget that Mercedes or Red Bull have," says Williams. "As much as we can be successful with our budget, of course another £50million is going to help drive us forward. It would be stupid to think that it wouldn't. But we have what we have, and we have to use our budget accordingly. "When it comes to people, I think we have great talent, like Red Bull does, but maybe we are missing the key talent at the top, and that's why we've done the work we've done recently - to make sure we do have that talent at the top." Talented technical personnel are of course vital, but a good car will be nothing without a good driver to extract its performance. Previously, Williams could rely on one of F1's brightest emerging talents in Valtteri Bottas. His departure to Mercedes to replace shock retiree Nico Rosberg means Felipe Massa will postpone retirement to partner rookie Lance Stroll in 2017. However you slice it this looks like a backward step for Williams. How can it expect to become a serious frontrunning team again if it cannot attract or keep the best drivers available? "Would you not put Felipe and Valtteri on the same level?" Williams shoots back. Autosport explains that replacing a driver courted by Ferrari and Mercedes with one who retired after his 2017 options dried up looks like a retrograde step. "If you're going to look at it from a one-dimensional perspective then maybe that's what it could look like, but there are a number of considerations that you take into account when you make these kind of decisions," explains Williams, who says she hears the same "fire in his voice" Massa had when he first joined Williams after leaving Ferrari at the end of 2013. "We made sure it could work for the team. Everybody knows how much I love this team, how important it is to me, and how much I want it to get back to winning. Anyone who knows me will know I did a good deal for this team, and would only have made that move if it was in the best interests of this team. I have total confidence in the decision I made. I think we did the right thing and I have no regrets. "Of course Valtteri has been an important part of Williams, he's been with the team a long time. He's a great team player, he's dedicated, he's committed, and he's got that fiery passion you want in a driver, because all he wants to do is be in the best car and win. "When you have a driver and you know that's all they want, why force them to race your car? That's not the right thing to do. He has an amazing opportunity. We stood in Valtteri's way once, when Ferrari came along, and I made a promise to Valtteri I wouldn't stand in his way again - and I honour my promises." A noble sentiment for what remains one of grand prix racing's noblest teams, but can Williams really deliver on its promise to return to the top? This year represents a new dawn for Formula 1, an attempt to return to what Fernando Alonso would call its mid-2000s peak, when quick lap times were all that really mattered. Williams has endured a series of false dawns since the end of its own mid-nineties pomp. If it is serious about becoming a true force to be reckoned with in Formula 1 again, it needs to ensure that the FW40 does not represent the beginnings of another. |