Williams / Jordan the rocky road

[darcym]

It can't be me who has noticed (and indeed been alarmed with) the almost mirror like situation of Willams and Jordan.

Granted Williams has been around for many more years and has MANY more years experience, and to be honest shows more interest in the racing than the "fun" of F1.

But take a look at it, 1999 Jordan where winning the odd race on merit, had top line drivers and people wanted to be there. It got into a Driver wrangle with HHF which damaged it badly, It gained an lost a works engine deal, (it even took on the engine suppliers national driver sato/heidfield to keein in favour) it lost its works engine deal, it bought customer ford/cosworth engines....now look at it.


Now "Williams vows team fightback" in the same way Jordan did.

I have little doubt in my mind in all seriousness that Williams will go the way of Jordan, but the parallels are quite similar.

[climb]

I do hope they'll find a quick replacement for BMW; it shouldn't be impossible given their high brand profile

[darcym]

yes some good sponsors on board, if they want to keep them they need an engine deal.

[Menelaos]

I still can't believe how Jordan screwed their team up so badly. It takes talent to destroy the third best team in just one year. Hopefully (and to be honest, I can't believe it would go any other way) Williams will not follow their example.

[davebreen]

I think Jordan's main problem was being successful in 1999 (because of other team's failure) and then spending too much in 2000 thinking that the success would continue.
William's will never fall into that trap and should always be able to get good sponsorship and drivers

[Aysedasi]

Too much skill and experience in Williams for them to go the same way, IMO. Frank didn't get where he is today (shades of "CJ" ) without knowing the business. I know its changed an awful lot, but I reckon they'll bounce back.

[f1manoz]

Losing BMW will be a big hiccup with no manufacturer replacement, but if they get the Cossie, that will be more than adequate as a replacement.

[Gerben24]

But then again, Williams have been here before. In 87 they won both championships but still lost the all conquering Honda engine and had to drive with Judd in 88.

They signed Alesi in 91 and still he went to Ferrari! Is that situation going to repeat itself again this year? Franks F1 cars collection might grow even more, several of his own cars, a Ferrari and maybe a BAR. A shame F1 goes V8, he could steel the Honda engine otherwise

[Xpunk75]

I think Frank knows what he is doing. He has been doing this for a very long time. They have been down before and have rised again to win and they will be competitive again in a year or two.

Jordan simply ran out cash and engines. They lost their Honda engines, then they lost their drivers, then they lost respect, then they became another minardi and then Eddie Jordan gave up and sold the team.

Jordan now is not really Jordan, and next year were going to have to get use to calling them Midland, And it will be interesting to see how Midland does in the next few years trying move up on the grid. Right now their more far behind then when Eddie Jordan last year running the team so they have alot work cut out for them selves.

Plus unlike williams who has to fantastice expereinced drivers, they have two guys who are both in their first year and I feel are not that great when Albers can out qualify them in the minardi.

[BootsOntheSide]

Jordan had good and bad runs before their apparent terminal decline as well though - living off inferior Yamaha engines in 1992, and not scoring in the first half of 1998 for example. The really crucial thing for Williams is finding a new engine partner - and who is there who would give them priority backing (and don't say Audi - it'll never happen)? I'm not convinced that they won't decline in exactly the same way, evne thoguhthey have a proud heritage. My pre-season prediction of them failing to finish top 5 in the CC (which was widely ridiculed) may yet come true.

[chillibowl]

maybe its true that one bad year is enough to destroy a privateer team, but one has to believe that williams are in a better situation than jordan was simple on the merit of the facilities at their disposal and its position in the british psyche. the fact that last years chassis disaster ended with a excellent win for JPM is sufficient example for me the team can bounce back quickly.

[kdr]

i worry for williams when some people say an engine deal with hyundai would be a good option. imho of course.

[Super Tourer]

Williams have a strong foundation and resources and will rebound - as I have posted before - the likely 'new' regs in F1 reducing aero and increasing emphasis on pure engineering should suit them more.

However, I believe they need to take a look at all their key personnel and ask why they found themselves in this position - and not for the first time.

[GTRMagic]

So why cant Williams take the Cosworth V10 and run that next year, rather than taking on the potential reliability issues of the V8 on startup??

[Menelaos]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

My pre-season prediction of them failing to finish top 5 in the CC (which was widely ridiculed) may yet come true.

Well, I can't help it, I really need to ask: why did you believe that? I mean, yes, it's probably going to be this way, but HOW did you "guess" it?

[FPV GTHO]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

So why cant Williams take the Cosworth V10 and run that next year, rather than taking on the potential reliability issues of the V8 on startup??

Then they run the risk of being severly underpowered compared to the rest of the top teams. At least with a powerful, yet maybe unreliable engine, you can set fastest laps, pole positions and win the odd race.

[foreversideways]

If a team like Williams go to the wall F1 has a real problem.

[Knowlesy]

Williams' situation isn't even slightly comparable to Jordans.

Jordan had a strong 1999, whilst teams like Williams, BAR etc....were not so wonderful, there were less manufacturer teams etc....

For 2000, all you heard from the yellow camp was "we will challenge for titles from here on in". But to do that, they had to get to Ferrari/McLaren level first, teams who had much bigger budgets. Jordan overspent and blew it. That is what led to their problems, and also the events of September 11th had a bad knock on effect for them commercially.

Williams have struggled before and come out on top again. They will not overspend to reach the top I'm sure. They will build slowly and they will get back where they belong.