planetf1.com

What's maybe even more impressive than their fastest pitstop time of 1.9s it's that apparently their slowest pitstop this year is 2.4s.

Just why are Williams so weak in the wet? I don't believe that Bottas and Massa are both drivers that suddenly become much weaker in the wet. I feel it must be to do with their lack of down force. Probably something else too. It seems such a shame considering how competitive I expected them to be here. Last year, I felt like they might have had a double podium at the British GP if it wasn't for the rain. As the rain started that race, both Bottas's and Massa's lap times started dropping more than many other of the teams.

Does anyone else know why Williams seem to really struggle in these conditions?

It's the issue with the car. Massa did very well in defending against others, Bottas just fell down in succession, and than, Massa got new tyres which still did not help him getting back in the points. Looks like a story of Renault, STR or Sauber not the mighty Williams team. Force India is breathing on their necks.

I think the lack in downforce results in them not being able to heat up the tyres properly.

My friends and I have a running joke that everytime a Williams is shown on the screen it's either because it's being passed or making a pit stop. It's ridiculous how often this is true.

It has been a while since this thread last got a post! I just thought I would bump this to discuss our expectations on how they may perform this season. I was amazed at how many people seem to think that Williams will finish 9th or last in the championship. I know the driver line up is weaker than it was but I don't think the car is going backwards like many seem to be expecting. Nor do I think quite as many teams will be better than them as others are thinking. Before testing began, I thought that Williams should certainly finish no lower than 8th. I actually predicted 7th and I even think 6th would be possible. By the look of it in testing, the car has been rather strong so far. Lets just hope Stroll turns out to be good and that Massa gets is early 2016 form back. He achieved something no other driver did which was to score points in all of the 1st 6 races. I also don't like the way people have been judging Stroll just for crashes in testing. It is just testing and it isn't where you score points. Somebody at the time obviously thought he was bad enough to make a http://www.hasstrollcrashed.today web page! Some may find it funny but I think it is just silly. People didn't criticize Verstappen that much for crashing 3 times during an actual race weekend when he'd had well over a year's experience in F1. Just give Stroll a chance before we decide how good he is in F1. I'm just hoping all the teams are more closely matched so that may mean that Massa could have a chance to have another podium which would be great to see. I'm hoping for to much here but I would love Massa to win again. That will be some gap between his last win!

Looks like they are the solid leaders of the midfield right now or the 4th fastest team. Not sure how they did it, it's not like Lowe had any input on this years car, or has he? But it is still going to be a tough season to maximize constructors championship points with Maldonado JR in one of their cars.

The massive performance boost has to have something to do with the deal they made with Merc to release Bottas. Has to. They must have got cash and some tech advice or parts etc.
Im hoping Williams can gain momentum from here, sign a great driver next year and enter the Top 3.

hotbmw wrote:The massive performance boost has to have something to do with the deal they made with Merc to release Bottas. Has to. They must have got cash and some tech advice or parts etc.
Im hoping Williams can gain momentum from here, sign a great driver next year and enter the Top 3.

Maybe Mercedes agreed to supply them with their latest ECU software? Wouldn't cost a thing to Mercedes but would be very beneficial to Williams.

Covalent wrote:

hotbmw wrote:The massive performance boost has to have something to do with the deal they made with Merc to release Bottas. Has to. They must have got cash and some tech advice or parts etc.
Im hoping Williams can gain momentum from here, sign a great driver next year and enter the Top 3.

Maybe Mercedes agreed to supply them with their latest ECU software? Wouldn't cost a thing to Mercedes but would be very beneficial to Williams.

After all, very clever of Williams. If true.

I'm guessing it'll all come out in the wash... but I think whoever suggested Williams deal with merc supplying them the latest engine upgrades is probably on the mark.
Considering the Williams chassis this season doesn't seem to be running as many high down force bits and pieces as other teams I can only assume engine performance is responsible for the jump in time relative to the rest of the mid field.

Glasnost wrote:I'm guessing it'll all come out in the wash... but I think whoever suggested Williams deal with merc supplying them the latest engine upgrades is probably on the mark.
Considering the Williams chassis this season doesn't seem to be running as many high down force bits and pieces as other teams I can only assume engine performance is responsible for the jump in time relative to the rest of the mid field.

It's not like we can see everything they have done. They may have changed quite a few things that are very hard for us to detect in the pictures. I don't think it will just be the engine boost that is making them better than we expected.

TheGiantHogweed wrote:

Glasnost wrote:I'm guessing it'll all come out in the wash... but I think whoever suggested Williams deal with merc supplying them the latest engine upgrades is probably on the mark.
Considering the Williams chassis this season doesn't seem to be running as many high down force bits and pieces as other teams I can only assume engine performance is responsible for the jump in time relative to the rest of the mid field.

It's not like we can see everything they have done. They may have changed quite a few things that are very hard for us to detect in the pictures. I don't think it will just be the engine boost that is making them better than we expected.

Yeah you are correct, We can't see everything they've done. I like your optimism.
I said on another thread when the car was launched that the 2017 Williams looked clean and sleek. All most as if they had gone back to basics with their 2014/2015 design philosophy of low drag "slippery" cars. Last year they stated they were working on developing their low/mid speed down force and it didn't really work for them.
But it looks to me with this car (and Im probably wrong) that Williams went back a looked at what they could do well and really built on it.

However I can't discount the engine performance for Bottas theory to me it makes sense.
But like I said it'll all come out in the wash.

In the end its kinda irrelevant... as long as they perform well I'll be happy.

It could not have been easy for Williams to negotiate losing Bottas, but good for them being tough and getting a tech advantage from Mercedes. I was surprised that Williams did not do better last year with Pat Symonds on board, but perhaps he was to late to have much effect on the car design? Let's hope the team do well in 2017.

Glasnost wrote:

TheGiantHogweed wrote:

Glasnost wrote:I'm guessing it'll all come out in the wash... but I think whoever suggested Williams deal with merc supplying them the latest engine upgrades is probably on the mark.
Considering the Williams chassis this season doesn't seem to be running as many high down force bits and pieces as other teams I can only assume engine performance is responsible for the jump in time relative to the rest of the mid field.

It's not like we can see everything they have done. They may have changed quite a few things that are very hard for us to detect in the pictures. I don't think it will just be the engine boost that is making them better than we expected.

Yeah you are correct, We can't see everything they've done. I like your optimism.
I said on another thread when the car was launched that the 2017 Williams looked clean and sleek. All most as if they had gone back to basics with their 2014/2015 design philosophy of low drag "slippery" cars. Last year they stated they were working on developing their low/mid speed down force and it didn't really work for them.
But it looks to me with this car (and Im probably wrong) that Williams went back a looked at what they could do well and really built on it.

However I can't discount the engine performance for Bottas theory to me it makes sense.
But like I said it'll all come out in the wash.

In the end its kinda irrelevant... as long as they perform well I'll be happy.

Another thing we all can be hopeful about is for their brilliant pit stop performance to continue. They either tied or beat the fastest pit stop time by Red Bull last season. It was on Massa and it looked so impressive. They had by far the most fastest pit stops last year. Lets hope they continue. Maybe I'm being a bit optimistic here, but if Stroll's performance turns out to be better then we expected and Massa has a decent season too, I think Williams could well manage 4th in the constructors championship. Their pace looked very strong in testing. I hope there will be several races where the car will be pretty much the 2nd best out there. That is if there is a team that is clearly the most dominant.

It seems to be the case at several circuits over the past few years especially, some suit the Williams car really well and they can take advantage of their low drag set up. This really seems to help them at circuits like Russia, Silverstone, Mexico, Canada and several others. I'm wanting Williams to give us another really exciting start like they did in Silverstone 2015. I think that was the most exciting start to a race out of any in the last 2 seasons. If, Williams do turn out to be very strong, I really hope Massa will manage a podium or 2. Maybe even a win if he gets lucky!

WILLIAMS RACING IS ACQUIRED BY DORILTON CAPITAL
Let's hope this is as good as they make it sound.
https://www.williamsf1.com/news/2020/08 ... on-capital

Anything that keeps that team in business and safeguards a few hundred jobs has got to be good news, especially in the current economic climate. Let’s hope they have the finance to at least be competitive in the middle somewhere.

I wonder if they’d sell the naming rights to a major manufacturer, like RP have with Aston or Genii did with Lotus.

A sad day indeed. Inevitable but even I didn't expect it quite that soon - before even the seasons finished.

Now the Williams family have announced they're stepping down from their role after the Italian Gp.

Covalent wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 03, 2020 12:35 pm

Now the Williams family have announced they're stepping down from their role after the Italian Gp.

Sorry, yes my post was reflecting that rather than the acquisition.

I

The Italian GP will be very much the end of an era: the final Grand Prix with an independently owned and operated team on the grid. I think it's safe to say there will never be another true privateer like them -- at most we'll see more 'technical partnerships' like Haas.

Exediron wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 03, 2020 7:25 pm

The Italian GP will be very much the end of an era: the final Grand Prix with an independently owned and operated team on the grid. I think it's safe to say there will never be another true privateer like them -- at most we'll see more 'technical partnerships' like Haas.

That's a good point, I'd missed that and it's a shame. Despite the the history you get with manufacturer teams and the idea you can associate the brand with your road car, I think privateer teams always engender more loyal support from fans.

i guess its true.....all good things come to an end

I often wonder how Williams would have fared if they appointed someone approaching the caliber of Wolff or Brawn back in 2013.

No disrespect to Claire Williams but she never came across as having a winning mentality.

The clip of Claire Williams signalling the cars out of the garage for the last time.... Have to confess I got a bit emotional at that.

Good to see that George has been retained by Williams for next season.

Asphalt_World wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 30, 2020 12:50 pm

Good to see that George has been retained by Williams for next season.

Yes

Disappointing to see, again, a large amount of hot air and a bigger number of electrons wasted over yet more fake news...

On principle I object to the tendency for ever increasing legislation but one new law I would support is that of the journalist (not his employer) being personally financially responsible for the accuracy of content appearing under his byline, no more illiterate innumerate illconsidered muck spreading.

As well as reducing fake news it would have the unintended consequence of putting tabloid news outlets out of business

Battle Far wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 30, 2020 2:31 pm

Disappointing to see, again, a large amount of hot air and a bigger number of electrons wasted over yet more fake news...

On principle I object to the tendency for ever increasing legislation but one new law I would support is that of the journalist (not his employer) being personally financially responsible for the accuracy of content appearing under his byline, no more illiterate innumerate illconsidered muck spreading.

As well as reducing fake news it would have the unintended consequence of putting tabloid news outlets out of business

How do we know the reports weren’t true and Williams were considering taking Perez for next year? They might have been considering and decided against it. This wasn’t necessarily fake news.

Dan Ticktum dropped from Williams with immediate effect. Williams denies that it's to do with a comment he made about Latifi on social media and says the decision was made before the Hungarian GP weekend. The media aren't so sure.......

If you don't know, Tictum was on Twitch and someone made a comment that, unlike Ticktum, Latifi had made it into F1. Ticktum replied that it was because he paid for it.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer chap!

Asphalt_World wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 03, 2021 4:16 pm

Dan Ticktum dropped from Williams with immediate effect. Williams denies that it's to do with a comment he made about Latifi on social media and says the decision was made before the Hungarian GP weekend. The media aren't so sure.......

If you don't know, Tictum was on Twitch and someone made a comment that, unlike Ticktum, Latifi had made it into F1. Ticktum replied that it was because he paid for it.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer chap!

Read this today. He apparently was singing that Latifi is poo, in the theme of Scooby Doo!

What a way to destroy all the hard work he'd done to redeem himself. The guy just won't learn

Well, Williams "young" driver roster now consists of:
- Aitken, a F2 midfielder (to be nice) who was on Latifi's level in Sakhir 2020 (which says more about Latifi than about Aitken).
- Nissany, a pay driver of even less talent than Latifi.
- Chadwick.

No prospect whatsoever; talent-wise a waste.

Asphalt_World wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 03, 2021 4:16 pm

Dan Ticktum...

Born To Whinge.

Paolo_Lasardi wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 04, 2021 5:44 pm

Well, Williams "young" driver roster now consists of:
- Aitken, a F2 midfielder (to be nice) who was on Latifi's level in Sakhir 2020 (which says more about Latifi than about Aitken).
- Nissany, a pay driver of even less talent than Latifi.
- Chadwick.

No prospect whatsoever; talent-wise a waste.

Yeah, was discussing this the other day. If money isn't so much of an issue under the new ownership, I would hope they are looking to get some real driver talent on the books. Not seeing it in that list and that's a shame as there's definitely better prospects in F3/F2.

DOLOMITE wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 05, 2021 11:09 am

Paolo_Lasardi wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 04, 2021 5:44 pm

Well, Williams "young" driver roster now consists of:
- Aitken, a F2 midfielder (to be nice) who was on Latifi's level in Sakhir 2020 (which says more about Latifi than about Aitken).
- Nissany, a pay driver of even less talent than Latifi.
- Chadwick.

No prospect whatsoever; talent-wise a waste.

Yeah, was discussing this the other day. If money isn't so much of an issue under the new ownership, I would hope they are looking to get some real driver talent on the books. Not seeing it in that list and that's a shame as there's definitely better prospects in F3/F2.

“I think we at Williams, we are in the position that we solely decide on the drivers,” said CEO and team principal Jost Capito, as quoted by Motorsport.com.

“We are not dependent like in the past on somebody, a driver who brings money"

DOLOMITE wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 06, 2021 2:20 pm

DOLOMITE wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 05, 2021 11:09 am

Paolo_Lasardi wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 04, 2021 5:44 pm

Well, Williams "young" driver roster now consists of:
- Aitken, a F2 midfielder (to be nice) who was on Latifi's level in Sakhir 2020 (which says more about Latifi than about Aitken).
- Nissany, a pay driver of even less talent than Latifi.
- Chadwick.

No prospect whatsoever; talent-wise a waste.

Yeah, was discussing this the other day. If money isn't so much of an issue under the new ownership, I would hope they are looking to get some real driver talent on the books. Not seeing it in that list and that's a shame as there's definitely better prospects in F3/F2.

“I think we at Williams, we are in the position that we solely decide on the drivers,” said CEO and team principal Jost Capito, as quoted by Motorsport.com.

“We are not dependent like in the past on somebody, a driver who brings money"

So, then get rid of Latifi, Nissany and co and hire some drivers based on talent!

My question is... Just how good is the Williams? If Albon can get it into the top 5 and Albon used to qualify 5 places behind Max, is the Williams a potential pole winning car in the right hands? Not belittling Albon, just making the point.

Also, Sargeant has to really step up to earn a second year, the gap to Albon is too big to carry and literally the difference between some points and no points .

DOLOMITE wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 02, 2023 4:24 pm

My question is... Just how good is the Williams? If Albon can get it into the top 5 and Albon used to qualify 5 places behind Max, is the Williams a potential pole winning car in the right hands? Not belittling Albon, just making the point.

Also, Sargeant has to really step up to earn a second year, the gap to Albon is too big to carry and literally the difference between some points and no points .

I'd love to see what an A+ driver could do in that Williams. They've been fast for a while now. I think they have sneaked into the Merc/McLaren/Aston/Ferrari mix behind Red Bull.

I definitely think Albon has stepped up since joining the team, but for Williams to be fighting for top six at this stage of the season also shows that they are keeping on track with development. We only have to look at how Aston has slipped back down the order to see how quickly it can change.

Can they keep up this momentum into '24? I hope so. It's certainly an improvement on their last few seasons.

I'd love to see what at A+ driver could do in that Williams. I think it's up there now with the cars in the fight behind Red Bull. At least in qualifying.

Vowles is doing a superb job. I'm blown away by how good a communicator he is whenever I hear him speak.