[Team] Williams: Do they have a spare tub?

[Armco Bender]

They are probably still waiting for the cars to finish the last race of last season.

[Richard C]

So testing times are usually not a good indicator of things unless you are always at the back. But, Williams is showing some good signs from testing this morning.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/14...-than-2019-car

Richard

[chillibowl]

a trouble free day with a lot of laps...encouraging first day.

[S griffin]

The only way is up. If they can get through the rest of the testing with minimal delay and with as little problems as possible, then they have plenty of chances to keep improving the pace of the car, which would give them a bit more encouragement for the season ahead

[P38 in workshop]

Just by having a car that runs reliably at the first test is a good indication of progress.Now they can spend a bit of time understanding it and deciding which development strategy to follow.Who knows,they may have the luxury of beginning to think about next year's car instead of constant firefighting all season.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by P38 in workshop

Just by having a car that runs reliably at the first test is a good indication of progress.Now they can spend a bit of time understanding it and deciding which development strategy to follow.Who knows,they may have the luxury of beginning to think about next year's car instead of constant firefighting all season.

I am curious how much has changed to the car from end of last season. If not a great deal, then they should just pickup right where they left off (for the most part). So it should not be a surprise that they were ready to go.

But based upon the article (either in this thread or the 2020 testing thread) it did mention they had a list of areas to focus on and that included (my words, not those of the article) "polish" various aspects of the car that might have not gotten proper attention last year.

So the more they changed the more it is a "2020" vs "2019" car. Which would mean more chance for something new to create potential issues. Either way, I am glad they were first out on track, putting in the laps and at least showing some increased speed over last year. Something has gone in the right direction.

Richard

[billy bleach]

Claire Williams quoted as saying the criticism of her running of the team is because she is a woman. If a man had run the team into the ground as she has done I suspect he would be long gone. For me it's got nothing to do with gender - although her obsession to get Susie Wolfe in a car didnt help - it's all about ability....

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

Claire Williams quoted as saying the criticism of her running of the team is because she is a woman. If a man had run the team into the ground as she has done I suspect he would be long gone. For me it's got nothing to do with gender - although her obsession to get Susie Wolfe in a car didnt help - it's all about ability....

Absolutely. She may think it’s because she’s a woman. Everyone else knows it’s about not having a clue.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by peebee2

Absolutely. She may think it’s because she’s a woman. Everyone else knows it’s about not having a clue.

I watched the documentary about Frank Williams and her brother Jonathan got passed over by Frank and she got the job as Team Principal. Jacques Villeneuve thinks that was a mistake.

https://www.grandprix247.com/2018/07...a-big-mistake/

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

I watched the documentary about Frank Williams and her brother Jonathan got passed over by Frank and she got the job as Team Principal. Jacques Villeneuve thinks that was a mistake.

https://www.grandprix247.com/2018/07...a-big-mistake/

Jacques thinks a lot of things, and quite often lets everyone else know them!

On this occasion he's 50% right. I like Johnny, lovely chap massive enthusiast but even he might have had to think long and hard about whether he was right for the top job at the time?

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Jacques thinks a lot of things, and quite often lets everyone else know them!

On this occasion he's 50% right. I like Johnny, lovely chap massive enthusiast but even he might have had to think long and hard about whether he was right for the top job at the time?

Exactly that on both parts. Jacques has rarely kept an opinion to himself, but he often at least has a bit of sense in his opinions. Not always but often there's a nugget, but he keeps going and the good bit gets lost in the crazy.

And Jonathan seems to be killing it on the heritage side but would he have been in a good place to take over the F1 side when Claire did? And how much more pressure is on the F1 side than Heritage? Not much development, but attention to detail is just as important, not trying to crush a man who excels at what he does. And I know I couldn't do either job

[peebee2]

Jonny had a chance but was passed over for specific reasons.

Sadly neither likely up to the job.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by peebee2

Jonny had a chance but was passed over for specific reasons.

Sadly neither likely up to the job.

What specific reasons?

[chillibowl]

is gender really the issue here or is it nepotism?

anyways, they seemed to do well in testing and the problems they did experience came from the Merc PUs and an not in house issues so, for me, its a bit early to rule out improvement and to give credit to Claire.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

What specific reasons?

Yes, I'd be interested to know too....

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

is gender really the issue here or is it nepotism?

anyways, they seemed to do well in testing and the problems they did experience came from the Merc PUs and an not in house issues so, for me, its a bit early to rule out improvement and to give credit to Claire.

Or Patrick Head for coming in and getting a grip....

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

Or Patrick Head for coming in and getting a grip....

I though Head had already been brought in, however in a temporary capacity. Does anyone know if he is still helping on a regular basis or has his involvement ramped back down again?

Regarding Head, I suspect he doesn't want to come back full time and frankly the team needs to install someone who can run things long term vs. looking to past resources that are unlikely to stay for a long time.

Richard

EDIT: Sorry, after re-reading the quote above, I misunderstood the intent of his post. It was not to get Head back, but to potentially attribute credit to Head for his temporary return. Either way, if Claire was in charge while bringing Head back. She should get credit for that. She should own both the bad and good.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

...Either way, if Claire was in charge while bringing Head back. She should get credit for that. She should own both the bad and good.

[billy bleach]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/w...-sale/4779255/

So the Family silver has been sold. Interesting that a listed Company can enter such a deal.

[Moneyseeker]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/w...-sale/4779255/



So the Family silver has been sold. Interesting that a listed Company can enter such a deal.

Allegedly Williams lost 20m pounds in the first 6 months of 2019 alone, if that was repeated in the second half, that would show why they needed an alleged 50m loan.

Latifi has the loan secured on a wide range of Williams assets from the freehold factory site to a large number of heritage cars and apparently their F1 entry.

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[Casper]

I wonder how they intend to service the loan obligations such as interest and simply paying it back? I suppose they could declare bankruptcy, has that been tried by an F1 team before?

[Armco Bender]

The companies effectively been sold reading that.$50m will soon disappear down a big black hole.

[midgetman]

Everywhere talks about "restructuring". Normally that means they already had substantial debt, and the "restructuring" has allowed them to stop those creditors banging on the door while giving them a bit of working capital.

I doubt very much this is more than breathing space.

"Racers" are notorious for being bad with money. It's also well known that the only way to make a small fortune from racing is to start with a very big one. I fear this "restructuring" is the end game for Williams as we know it.


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[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by midgetman

Everywhere talks about "restructuring". Normally that means they already had substantial debt, and the "restructuring" has allowed them to stop those creditors banging on the door while giving them a bit of working capital.

I doubt very much this is more than breathing space.

"Racers" are notorious for being bad with money. It's also well known that the only way to make a small fortune from racing is to start with a very big one. I fear this "restructuring" is the end game for Williams as we know it.


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Ironically I do believe that comment was once made by Patrick Head...

[S griffin]

It might have been Rob Walker actually