5 mins after the show he was complaining vociferously to Patrick Head that the gunge he was splattered with was not the same viscosity as was offered to Alain Prost in his contract and the semi-auto gearbox had jammed meaning he could not avoid the tank.
Robbing Peter to pay Paul ? http://www.gptoday.com/full_story/v...ority_of_shares_in_their_engineering_company/
I'm not sure it's a bad idea. The company they sold is run from Williams site and as such without the 'costs' Williams applied they would have only made £4.5 million last year. I think it was basically a spin off F1 ideas company. i.e. the first thing that Williams spun off F1 was their original energy store, the flywheel system, that didn't actually get used in F1 I think. I think they also spun off some aero tech to reduce power consumption for supermarket fridges. So it's probably a good time to sell as Williams need a bit of focus and extra cash for 2021.
The latter bit is my major concern . I'm not sure it is a good idea at all , but time will tell They also had some involvement in this .
I am going to open up a little bit in this post for which I apologise but I think is in a good cause. I read an update on Michael Schumacher today https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/for...te-about-f1-legend/ar-BBYlgcD?ocid=spartanntp When Michael had his accident, I upset a few on here suggesting that this was not going to be a wake up moment where he would resume life after a short while. I spoke quoting my own experience of my Nephew, who was in a coma for 7 weeks following a head injury 9 years ago and faced a future predicted to be wheel chair based, unable to talk or learn. That was his prognosis and initially he seemed to fit that prediction. Through hard work and determination he proved the doctors wrong, so much so, his consultant asked him to write a book to give others hope and has used his brain scans in lectures to demonstrate we know very little about the mind. This really was a tough road but we, or rather my nephew, is 9 years on and he has run a half marathon, albeit a tad awkwardly, studied and obtained a second masters degree (it took 2 years of study). He suffered complete amnesia and it took approximately 2 years before he remembered his girlfriend, who unfortunately had died in the accident. (They were pedestrians hit by a speeding out of control car). He broke the rules the doctors tried to set him in achieving this, he went to Glastonbury after only 6 months (wheel chair bound) out of intensive care, he learned to ride a bike (I wouldn't let him loose on the road though ) and enrolled at the Sussex University. All things the doctors/nurses said he should not do. Nor should he have run that half marathon. Last year he gave a Ted talk (Brighton) and was voted best speaker of the day. It has been a long road and small steps at a time. I tell this story both out of pride (of course) but also because I believe Michael may yet make progress. He will never be the same, as my nephew isn't, but lets not give up hope for Michael. Small steps still make a journey.
They have sold what they originally invented. They may have got £50m, do you know the price? Even £30m would be good, if they have lost £4.5m a year income to the F1 company, 30m could give them 3m a year for ever, properly invested, without the distraction. Also, new inventions could be put into a new company, or maybe sold to the Private equity buyer. If they only got £10m from the sale, not so smart.
Roxena choose not to renew their sponsorship of Williams . When Latifi senior gets bored of them , they will go under . Sadly imho .
Time to put a new captain in charge perhaps. After their performance last year who would sponsor them.
It does seem like the style of Williams management has had it's time. They don't seem to be able to get the best out of people. That said it must be so difficult starting each new season from a naff chassis/aero package. They really have a clean sheet of paper, nothing decent to build from. Imagine the dilemma of which aero theory to go for? They don't have extra money to hedge their bets.... I feel sorry for them as they are the last of the 'old teams' still going. I really hope they turn things around and can at least get a few points.
He did, somewhere in that region, what was he thinking?? He had lost the plot as well as the direction of travel !!
Claire's reasons for doing it were/are wrong. She spoke of her lifestyle and how she wanted to maintain that for her children, not much if anything about the passion. I think they will end up going under. The earlier sale of the side line may buy them time to turn this around but if they don't see what their problem is it will never be a success. By they, I mean Claire and her Dad, not the team members. They had an opportunity to attract talent a few years back, but now? Might it be the kiss of death for a real talent (not talking drivers but technical team members). McLaren managed a turnaround but with very rich people to bankroll the solution. That said, Williams are more a less on a par with 4 other teams in terms of budget. Williams lost $15m a year when Martini cancelled their sponsorship. The top teams have between 700 and 1000 employees. The following I found on the Racefans website, not sure if it is accurate. Posted 2nd of January. Budget ($m) Mercedes 425 Red Bull 335 Ferrari 435 McLaren 250 Toro Rosso 155 Racing Point 155 Renault 210 Sauber 155 Haas 150 Williams 150