Williams - the inexorable slide...

[Slyboogy]

Think their big mistake was letting Hulkenberg go...convinced he was a good driver at least he would have at least some points on the board, I don't think either driver they currently have is getting the best out of their car. Looks as if they flatter it in qualifying and then are just ahead of the Lotus's during the race.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Or how about one promising young driver and one proven winner; Paul di Resta and Lewis Hamilton?

Di Resta perhaps, but there's no way Hamilton would move to Williams, he's already unhappy at driving the 2nd/3rd best car.

 

[Andyoak]

I would like to see Nico hulkenberg back in the Williams alongside someone other than Rubens. However, with such a major shake-up going on behind the scenes I wouldn't be surprised to see both Rubens and Pastor back next year as the one strand of consistency.

Pastor hasn't had the best of luck this year but he hasn't been off the pace or disgraced himself.

If Hulkenberg (or Di Resta) can bring development skills to the team then great; bring him in instead of Rubens.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Betwee the two drivers I think if Williams had to keep 1 it should be Maldonado, he brings money to the team and in the last 5 races or so has been driving to the same standard as Barrichello or better. Had he not been unfortunate in Monaco he would be outscoring Barrichello aswell. While I think Rubens is still good enough for F1 he really needs to put in a special performance before the year is out to emphasise this, a top 5 result should do it.

 

[FB]

I was just dreaming really;
A pair of Blue and Yellow Williams Renaults with a Scot and an Englishman behind the wheel...

How about Webber and Buemi - an Aussie and a Swiss viva 1979

 

[Slyboogy]

You know FB that is an interesting one, I wonder if a non-Red Bull team even considers drivers from Toro Rosso as they are more likely to be Red Bull bound.

That's an intriguing question...one must ponder

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

How about Webber and Buemi - an Aussie and a Swiss viva 1979

I had a 1979 Viva once.
Well actually, it was a Firenza SL 1800 circa 1972, the coupé version with twin headlights, in white with a black vinyl roof and Rostyle wheels.

I loved that car.

 

[Galahad]

With the car the way it is at the moment it doesn't matter a fig who's in the cockpit. Rubens has driven a fair few dogs in his time, he might be useful at this point, though clearly not indefinitely.

The Renault deal is pleasing, but won't make much difference in competitiveness I suspect.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93107

Well Coughlan's former NASCAR team suing him and Williams for breach of contract isn't going to help.

 

[Andyoak]

http://crashnet.cars.msn.co.uk/feature_view.asp?cid=11&id=171236&pid=0

An interesting interview with Adam Parr and the state of Williams and the commercial direction of the sport.

 

[Road of Bones]

Interesting, and some fair points made - I just wish Williams were being run by a racer instead of a money man...

 

[Andyoak]

Kind of agree but at the present time they need the money to race.

I'm sure they are all incredibly competetive and want to win again.

So long as Adam's work to raise cash doesn't impede on the development work then all should be fine. From what we can see from the outside it appears that they are focusing the cash on restructuring the right areas with, hopefully, the right quality of fresh blood. I'm not overly concerned that they're just throwing the cash away.

What interested me was that they weren't using or developing EBD because they had been consistantly told it was illegal by Charlie Whiting. With that being the case then their current performance is understandable. Let us hope that they are able to play catch up in other areas in time for next season.

As for drivers... well I don't get the feeling they're looking for new blood here next year. I'm in two minds as to whether that is good or bad at the moment. I guess I feel that Rubens is getting stale (or more likely I'm just bored of seeing him after all these years ) but I do understand the arguements that he can contribute more than anyone else available on development feedback from a drivers point of view.

The comments about Rubens' Twitter followers and the attraction to advertisers was something that I hadn't really thought about before and that will also go in Ruby's favour.

Finally, I remember FW saying many years ago that there is always plenty of sponsorship out there but not always in the obvious places. It may mean lots of smaller sponsors rather than a big international headline name; but they are there to be had.

 

[Slyboogy]

What interested me was that they weren't using or developing EBD because they had been consistantly told it was illegal by Charlie Whiting. With that being the case then their current performance is understandable. Let us hope that they are able to play catch up in other areas in time for next season.

I thought the EBD was used mainly for qualifying? Their qualifying positions seemed to much better than their final positions...

 

[Brogan]

I can't see Williams lasting in F1 much longer if they carry on as they are.

They're on just 4 WCC points, just above the 3 new teams.
Toro Rosso, Force India and Sauber are all well ahead of them on all fronts.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Should have partnered with BMW, that's the origin of the problems they find themselves in today. But Frank wouldn't have it.

 

[Andyoak]

I remember reports at the time they split that BMW were very, very difficult to work with and not as supportive as one might imagine. I got the feeling that it was never going to be a long term partnership.

Unfortunately the last decade was dominated by unlimited manufacturer money and it destroyed nearly all the independents; Williams were lucky to hang on as well as they did. However, in just hanging on they appear not to have been able to invest at anything like the levels required to maintain a high mid-table position... they can't attract the best because they can't compete on wages.

To hold onto a glimmer of hope... at least Williams recognise there are problems and are restructuring / employing talented people and having a go at turning things around. But it is a big challenge that none of us will see the results of until the end of 2012 at the earliest. The question is can they last that long?

For all Max's faults he was right in trying to control team spending; I just wish it wasn't through restrictive legislation / stock spec cars.

 

[Galahad]

Continuing the thread...with Adam Parr's recent pronouncements I'm increasingly worried for the long-term future of the team. They don't seem to have had much cohesion in the design department since Geoff Willis left - off the top of my head I can think of Gavin Fisher, Antonia Terzi, Loic Bigois, Jorg Zander and Jon Tomlinson...Sam Michael has been co-ordinating them, but it can't have been easy. Certainly nothing much seems to have worked. Coughlan may be able to inject something, but methods used at McLaren may not be applicable to a team on such reduced means. Perhaps his experience at Arrows will count for as much...

 

[Andrea_Moda_Rules]

http://cliptheapex.com/threads/what-now-for-cosworth.3180/#post-62575

Can i just say. I really don't think this is true. It was what was anounnced on the BBC when the deal came out. But Redbull Corrected them and said its a sponsorship deal in return for free engines, and egines were still going to be badged Renaults.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Apparantly Raikkonen and Sutil made a visit to Williams' HQ in Grove before the Italian GP. While Barrichello may be replaced, Maldonado's seat is safe as he brings a lot of cash that Williams can't afford to lose. The only difference with Raikkonen and Sutil is that Sutil brings money aswell whereas Kimi doesn't, but then again Kimi was an ace and has experience of winning races.

 

[Slyboogy]

Why would either of those two drivers go to Williams when they are better off where they currently are...as for the Raikkonen thing seems to me his name gets associated with every team by the media these days, Renault tried to use his name last year..