I thought it was my imagination that Williams looked so similar to last years car!!!! Unless they found the fundamental issues and fixed them then they will be taking the last 2 grid spots for the 2020 season again. While surely it costs similar amounts of money no matter what the front wing design is, is it that much more expensive to design a new one?
Most concerning lines in the Williams release in my opinion are that they've kept things the same so could focus resources on other areas. They must be the only team on the grid without sufficient resources to fully fund development of every area of the car? My only hope is that it's because a lot of resources are being sunk into 2021.
So the only way it’s a good thing is if Williams are already concentrating on 2021, in which case not really bothering to invest in this year’s car may pay dividends in the end.
Not sure about pay dividends, maybe keep them afloat. The budget cap isn't going to really level thinks off for at least 3 if not more years. In a similar way to the PU limits and the early development tokens eventually gave way to easier development and PU manufacturers started catching up.. If this car is still at the back I fear Williams time may be up soon.
The sidepods look odd and bulbous. You'd think they packaging of it would be better, as it all comes from Mercedes so unless Williams do their own ancillaries and just can't make them as compact as Merc, you have to wonder what they are doing? It does seem odd that with all the CFD, data etc that anyone can produce a car so slow compared to the others.
Williams have been making some odd statements about their development. Like 'retaining core architecture has saved them resources', 'less resources invested in developing new concepts' 'greater bandwidth to optimise their work'. It all seems to be about resources, which I am interpreting as money!!! It almost seems like they have written off 2020 and are concentrating their sending on 2021, if they have funds. If Hass have sorted their issues and Force India (what ever they are called now) have recovered from 2018 Williams will be along way back. Other teams seem to have narrowed their noses to get as much air under the nose and floor as possible. Williams launch nose looked just as wide and almost flat elements, no in or out washing. I do hope they have sorted their main issue out and can actually race others this year but I fear that's not the case. Does the 107% rule still exist?
I LIKED this because it's a good interesting post , don't like the content though as a Williams fan . I agree , seems they are struggling for cash . I THINK the 107% rule is still in place , but not certain . Williams are F***ed IMHO and their arrogance ( Frank and Claire ) is in large part to blame for that IMHO .
Sadly I think you are right, they are up the creak...... Not sure it's purely Frank and Claire fault although they are in charge so ultimately buck stops with them. I feel that the privateers are being pushed out by the bigger teams and Liberties actions although some of that may have been Bernie. I think the big teams will all, by the end of 2020 have B teams and I think McLaren are Mercs!!!! So they can 'spread' the budget cap unevenly between the 2! So that leaves Williams and FI out in the cold!!!!!!! Maybe Ferrari even have a C team! I am very sad to say I don't see a way out for them. Liberty still have some wiggle room with regs but I'm not sure it's enough to help them or other small independant teams.
Another good post . I hate you Have you seen / heard any of the Beyond the grid series ? Ralph Schumacher saying how BMW wanted to help Williams , but Williams simply would not be told .
Cheers mate. Not seen Beyond Grid, any idea where it's available? I'm looking forward to the Netflix 2019 doc that's out on 28th and testing starting tomorrow
It's not on TV . Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=beyond the grid Speech only , which IMHO makes you concentrate more .
I had forgotten about that, thanks. I listened to the Rob Smedley one which was great. I will have a listen. Cheers.
Some are better than others obviously , I think Johnny Herbert's is very interesting . The way Briatore treated him
On the eve of testing here is a beautiful studio shot of what has simply been “THE BENCHMARK” since 2014. I hope the chasing pack close in and push them harder than ever but Merc just seem to keep churning out the great cars.
Mercedes usually sandbag the first test. They're currently sitting pretty up front? Apparently the fastest time on the first day last year was Vettel with a 1.18.1