Page 1 of 1

Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 5:48 pm
by owenmahamilton
This doesn't sound good, reading the article it sounds like someone really screwed up somewhere, I'd be very surprised if they don't finish last this season.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/will ... f-1043334/

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 6:05 pm
by sandman1347
It's the correct move. You could put that Merc engine in a Civic and it would score as many points as they have.

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 6:17 pm
by moby
With the people who have left, do you think it looks like someone 'high up' will not take advice?

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 7:26 pm
by spiritone
i like kubica's quote "Often unfortunately now we are in a position that we are going around the track and we are not driving the car, and this is not enjoyable. This is hard work" kinda says it all. Will paddy be next?

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 7:43 pm
by Exediron
Have to say I agree with it. Their car is a shocker this year.

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 11:45 pm
by dompclarke
spiritone wrote:i like kubica's quote "Often unfortunately now we are in a position that we are going around the track and we are not driving the car, and this is not enjoyable. This is hard work" kinda says it all. Will paddy be next?
Unlikely as he owns shares in the team, but not impossible

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 12:11 am
by pokerman
dompclarke wrote:
spiritone wrote:i like kubica's quote "Often unfortunately now we are in a position that we are going around the track and we are not driving the car, and this is not enjoyable. This is hard work" kinda says it all. Will paddy be next?
Unlikely as he owns shares in the team, but not impossible
I'm in a quandary to what exactly Paddy Lowe does, my understanding is that he's an electronics engineer?

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 1:18 am
by Glasnost
Jesus.... this isn't good news for Williams.
The car is arguably the worst on the grid.
Paddy Lowe's first fully designed car has been a disaster.
I wonder if the new parts that were meant to fix the issues the car has didn't show good numbers in the wind tunnel or were a total failure ... so Beer resigned.
Paddy coming from Merc with a Mercedes design philosophy and Beer from Ferrari with Ferrari aerodynamic philosophy. I cant help but wonder if the two philosophies for the car didn't mesh and there were problems creatively or at least practically trying to get the car in order.

It doesn't help that Stroll seems to have no idea whats wrong with the car other then "a little bit of everything"

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 1:46 am
by Toby.
Glasnost wrote:Jesus.... this isn't good news for Williams.
The car is arguably the worst on the grid.
I don't think there's much to argue about it, Williams looks to have the worst car. It doesn't help that they have Stroll, who I don't rate at all, and Sirotkin who at worst seems to be a little better than Lance.

Like too much of my fishing tackle Williams have been on a long trip to the bottom for some time.

I don't put their position entirely down to their driver choice, though it doesn't help them to have a guy who probably shouldn't be in F1 as the lead driver to a guy in his rookie season. Unfortunately having di Resta or Kubica probably wouldn't have changed their fortunes too much - thought they might be a touch close to Sauber.

I like to see Williams do well, but their consistent incompetence over the last decade-and-a-bit has tired me.

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 2:16 am
by UnlikeUday
Glasnost wrote:Jesus.... this isn't good news for Williams.
The car is arguably the worst on the grid.
Paddy Lowe's first fully designed car has been a disaster.
I wonder if the new parts that were meant to fix the issues the car has didn't show good numbers in the wind tunnel or were a total failure ... so Beer resigned.
Paddy coming from Merc with a Mercedes design philosophy and Beer from Ferrari with Ferrari aerodynamic philosophy. I cant help but wonder if the two philosophies for the car didn't mesh and there were problems creatively or at least practically trying to get the car in order.

It doesn't help that Stroll seems to have no idea whats wrong with the car other then "a little bit of everything"
Actually unarguably. Sauber is a much better car than Williams & You can see the improvement between bot the teams. Sauber has made improvements whereas Williams is just stagnant, inspite of Paddy Lowe putting more effort in this year's car!

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 6:01 am
by Glasnost
Ok guys... I'll remember to be more definitive when referring to Williams being the worst on the grid.

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 6:38 am
by Covalent
I really like Clair but I wonder if she's the ma--- woman for the job?

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 8:14 am
by Exediron
Covalent wrote:I really like Clair but I wonder if she's the ma--- woman for the job?
Because they were so good before she took over?

I don't think it's her fault. She's just a manager; her job is to put the right people where they can do their jobs. Getting Lowe from Mercedes should have been a coup - I know plenty of people were talking about how he'd be able to return them to the sharp end (of the midfield, at least). I'm honestly surprised the first car he's fully worked on is such a dog.

There is a possibility that the drivers are costing them more than is obvious, but a philosophy that drivers are lower priority than the car is part of the Williams DNA, not anything to do with Claire specifically. And even with Massa driving it I'd struggle to see this year's car as a points-scorer.

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 9:42 am
by Covalent
Exediron wrote:
Covalent wrote:I really like Clair but I wonder if she's the ma--- woman for the job?
Because they were so good before she took over?

I don't think it's her fault. She's just a manager; her job is to put the right people where they can do their jobs. Getting Lowe from Mercedes should have been a coup - I know plenty of people were talking about how he'd be able to return them to the sharp end (of the midfield, at least). I'm honestly surprised the first car he's fully worked on is such a dog.

There is a possibility that the drivers are costing them more than is obvious, but a philosophy that drivers are lower priority than the car is part of the Williams DNA, not anything to do with Claire specifically. And even with Massa driving it I'd struggle to see this year's car as a points-scorer.
I'm not saying she's the worst. Just seems to me that they have issues in the big picture stuff which is where the manager comes in.

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 12:32 pm
by pokerman
Glasnost wrote:Jesus.... this isn't good news for Williams.
The car is arguably the worst on the grid.
Paddy Lowe's first fully designed car has been a disaster.
I wonder if the new parts that were meant to fix the issues the car has didn't show good numbers in the wind tunnel or were a total failure ... so Beer resigned.
Paddy coming from Merc with a Mercedes design philosophy and Beer from Ferrari with Ferrari aerodynamic philosophy. I cant help but wonder if the two philosophies for the car didn't mesh and there were problems creatively or at least practically trying to get the car in order.

It doesn't help that Stroll seems to have no idea whats wrong with the car other then "a little bit of everything"
Is Paddy Lowe a car designer?

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 12:48 pm
by dompclarke
Exediron wrote:
Covalent wrote:I really like Clair but I wonder if she's the ma--- woman for the job?
Because they were so good before she took over?

I don't think it's her fault. She's just a manager; her job is to put the right people where they can do their jobs. Getting Lowe from Mercedes should have been a coup - I know plenty of people were talking about how he'd be able to return them to the sharp end (of the midfield, at least). I'm honestly surprised the first car he's fully worked on is such a dog.

There is a possibility that the drivers are costing them more than is obvious, but a philosophy that drivers are lower priority than the car is part of the Williams DNA, not anything to do with Claire specifically. And even with Massa driving it I'd struggle to see this year's car as a points-scorer.
From things I've read (though can't remember where) they've been having similar issues before, but the change of philosophy has exaggerated these problems. If this is true they have issues with their software/wind tunnel correlation etc, so the problem isn't the people working on the car but the tools they have.
Hopefully they've discovered the problem and sorted it so correlation is good and the upcoming updates fix the issues with the stall at the rear.

Only issue I've got is if this is the case then staff shouldn't have left before the updates to overcome this have hit the track...

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 1:35 pm
by Glasnost
pokerman wrote:
Glasnost wrote:Jesus.... this isn't good news for Williams.
The car is arguably the worst on the grid.
Paddy Lowe's first fully designed car has been a disaster.
I wonder if the new parts that were meant to fix the issues the car has didn't show good numbers in the wind tunnel or were a total failure ... so Beer resigned.
Paddy coming from Merc with a Mercedes design philosophy and Beer from Ferrari with Ferrari aerodynamic philosophy. I cant help but wonder if the two philosophies for the car didn't mesh and there were problems creatively or at least practically trying to get the car in order.

It doesn't help that Stroll seems to have no idea whats wrong with the car other then "a little bit of everything"
Is Paddy Lowe a car designer?
TBH.... I don't think so. But pretty much every Article regarding the 2018 car places him responsible for the design of it as he is the technical director.

"Images of Williams's 2018 F1 challenger, the first designed under the complete influence of ex-Mercedes man Lowe, were revealed on Thursday night." -Autosport

"Images of Williams' 2018 F1 car were revealed on Thursday night, with the car being the first that has been designed under the complete influence of Lowe since he joined last year"- motorsport.com

Etc etc.
While I doubt he's an Adrian Newy sketching and what not.... he'd probably have a pretty good idea having vome from Merc on how to design a car.

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 2:40 pm
by Zoue
Glasnost wrote:
pokerman wrote:
Glasnost wrote:Jesus.... this isn't good news for Williams.
The car is arguably the worst on the grid.
Paddy Lowe's first fully designed car has been a disaster.
I wonder if the new parts that were meant to fix the issues the car has didn't show good numbers in the wind tunnel or were a total failure ... so Beer resigned.
Paddy coming from Merc with a Mercedes design philosophy and Beer from Ferrari with Ferrari aerodynamic philosophy. I cant help but wonder if the two philosophies for the car didn't mesh and there were problems creatively or at least practically trying to get the car in order.

It doesn't help that Stroll seems to have no idea whats wrong with the car other then "a little bit of everything"
Is Paddy Lowe a car designer?
TBH.... I don't think so. But pretty much every Article regarding the 2018 car places him responsible for the design of it as he is the technical director.

"Images of Williams's 2018 F1 challenger, the first designed under the complete influence of ex-Mercedes man Lowe, were revealed on Thursday night." -Autosport

"Images of Williams' 2018 F1 car were revealed on Thursday night, with the car being the first that has been designed under the complete influence of Lowe since he joined last year"- motorsport.com

Etc etc.
While I doubt he's an Adrian Newy sketching and what not.... he'd probably have a pretty good idea having vome from Merc on how to design a car.
Not saying they're wrong, but those are effectively the same article as Motorsport.com and Autosport.com are sister publications and often have near-identical articles. In any event, they use/are the same source

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 10:01 pm
by moby
Glasnost wrote:
pokerman wrote:
Glasnost wrote:Jesus.... this isn't good news for Williams.
The car is arguably the worst on the grid.
Paddy Lowe's first fully designed car has been a disaster.
I wonder if the new parts that were meant to fix the issues the car has didn't show good numbers in the wind tunnel or were a total failure ... so Beer resigned.
Paddy coming from Merc with a Mercedes design philosophy and Beer from Ferrari with Ferrari aerodynamic philosophy. I cant help but wonder if the two philosophies for the car didn't mesh and there were problems creatively or at least practically trying to get the car in order.

It doesn't help that Stroll seems to have no idea whats wrong with the car other then "a little bit of everything"
Is Paddy Lowe a car designer?
TBH.... I don't think so. But pretty much every Article regarding the 2018 car places him responsible for the design of it as he is the technical director.

"Images of Williams's 2018 F1 challenger, the first designed under the complete influence of ex-Mercedes man Lowe, were revealed on Thursday night." -Autosport

"Images of Williams' 2018 F1 car were revealed on Thursday night, with the car being the first that has been designed under the complete influence of Lowe since he joined last year"- motorsport.com

Etc etc.
While I doubt he's an Adrian Newy sketching and what not.... he'd probably have a pretty good idea having vome from Merc on how to design a car.

His job title is = chief technical officer.
His background on linkedin is quite unspecific but always high end engineering management.

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 11:35 am
by Sutton
Toby. wrote:
Glasnost wrote:Jesus.... this isn't good news for Williams.
The car is arguably the worst on the grid.
I don't think there's much to argue about it, Williams looks to have the worst car. It doesn't help that they have Stroll, who I don't rate at all, and Sirotkin who at worst seems to be a little better than Lance.

Like too much of my fishing tackle Williams have been on a long trip to the bottom for some time.

I don't put their position entirely down to their driver choice, though it doesn't help them to have a guy who probably shouldn't be in F1 as the lead driver to a guy in his rookie season. Unfortunately having di Resta or Kubica probably wouldn't have changed their fortunes too much - thought they might be a touch close to Sauber.

I like to see Williams do well, but their consistent incompetence over the last decade-and-a-bit has tired me.
Very good post. My thoughts exactly.

They started the hybrid era in 2014 well, but with each passing season, they have managed to build a worse and worse car until now they are rock bottom.

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 3:58 pm
by ReservoirDog
Sutton wrote:Very good post. My thoughts exactly.

They started the hybrid era in 2014 well, but with each passing season, they have managed to build a worse and worse car until now they are rock bottom.
They lucked into a good car in 2014 and totally squandered. I think it was Austria 2014 where they had a slim chance at victory with a braver strategy. I remember Williams saying that they settled for 2nd (or what it 3rd) since they're looking at building the team long-term. That's the most WTF statement I have heard. Mario Thiessen giving up on a season after a win totally pales in comparison to what Williams did. Even worse was their justification. I am only surprised they still had a decent car in 2015.

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 3:02 am
by UnlikeUday
Williams are in such a mess. They are dead last when it comes to paying their bills by the due date. On an average, they pay their outstanding dues 20 days past the due date. It's surprising that Mercedes & Renault even pay their bills after the due date whereas smaller teams like Force India & Sauber pay their bills on time.

http://paddocktalk.com/news/html/story-321212.html

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 10:33 am
by Zoue
UnlikeUday wrote:Williams are in such a mess. They are dead last when it comes to paying their bills by the due date. On an average, they pay their outstanding dues 20 days past the due date. It's surprising that Mercedes & Renault even pay their bills after the due date whereas smaller teams like Force India & Sauber pay their bills on time.

http://paddocktalk.com/news/html/story-321212.html
Not so surprising. In my experience the larger the company, the more likely they are to pay late. A combination of arrogance that they are bigger than their suppliers, and complicated invoicing systems that cause delays in the process for even the smallest errors

Re: Williams splits with aero chief

Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 8:27 am
by Siao7
Zoue wrote:
UnlikeUday wrote:Williams are in such a mess. They are dead last when it comes to paying their bills by the due date. On an average, they pay their outstanding dues 20 days past the due date. It's surprising that Mercedes & Renault even pay their bills after the due date whereas smaller teams like Force India & Sauber pay their bills on time.

http://paddocktalk.com/news/html/story-321212.html
Not so surprising. In my experience the larger the company, the more likely they are to pay late. A combination of arrogance that they are bigger than their suppliers, and complicated invoicing systems that cause delays in the process for even the smallest errors
SO VERY TRUE!!!

I'm glad it's not only in the industry I work for. This is such a pain, you spend a year on a project and then another 6 months chasing payments!!!