Now Martini says the drivers under 25 isn't the reason, they're just leaving F1. Seems like we've heard nothing but "must have a 25 year old" for a few years. Oh well, we'll see how the youngsters do anyway.
Wow that's really bad news for them. You got McLaren out there also looking for a major sponsor so there's more competition to try to find another. Sauber picked up Alfa and it's made a huge difference for them. Maybe Stroll's dad's company can fill in. IMO, Williams will be purchased by Merc at the end of the year.
Evidently is is just the end of their 5 year contract..Claire is not overly concerned ..so i guess they have someone else in the wings waiting to come on board.
APRIL 3, 2018 Sirotkin denies Kubica sabotage claims Sergey Sirotkin has played down claims Robert Kubica could campaign to derail his formula one career. Recently, 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve warned that as he advances his campaign to return to the grid, Kubica may as reserve driver deliberately sabotage the developmental direction of Williams' 2018 car. "His dream is to race the car, not to be the third driver, and so I do not underestimate this point. In his situation I would do exactly the same," he said. Russian Sirotkin, though, played down the likelihood. "Technically it's possible," he told Sport FM. "But I know Robert and he's a good guy, so just as a person he would not do it. "Plus, in your work you are trying to improve the car, not just improve it for yourself. So even if he wanted to, I think physically it would not be so easy. "The team will think ten times about why the car needs this or that change to give an improvement in performance," Sirotkin added.
Kubica not teacher for Williams drivers APRIL 4, 2018 Robert Kubica insists he does not see himself as a "teacher" at Williams. The British team has come under fire for its heavily sponsored and notably young and inexperienced lineup of Lance Stroll alongside Sergey Sirotkin. But Kubica, the experienced former BMW and Renault driver, is the official reserve. "I would not say that I'm a teacher and they're my students," he told TVP Sport. "But they do have little experience -- like anybody when they start. F1 is a complicated sport," Kubica added. "Lance and Sergey come to me with questions, more so Stroll than Sirotkin. It's nothing personal with Sergey -- perhaps Lance just has some experience already and so he knows what to ask." Russian Sirotkin told the Russian media ahead of this weekend's Bahrain grand prix that his and Williams' performance in Australia was disappointing. "We expected more when we went to Melbourne," he admitted. "In particular, I expected more from myself. But it's not as terrible as it looked in qualifying, so we have high hopes that we can progress in the near future. "Our goal is to gain a foothold in the middle group, which means getting into the second segment of qualifying, fighting to get into the final one, and fighting for points," said Sirotkin. "Yes, we were pretty far from that in Australia, but I really hope that it was just one of those failures that is always lying in wait for you during a season."
The history of Williams, and Sir Frank Williams makes it very difficult to read these kinds of words, but I guess that's where the team is this year, and money seems to be the big factor driving performance. "Our goal is to gain a foothold in the middle group, which means getting into the second segment of qualifying, fighting to get into the final one, and fighting for points," said Sirotkin.
Who ever grades how Claire Williams is doing her job? I swear if it wasn't for it being daddy's team, she would have been sacked years ago.
Only Williams voted to tweak cars for overtaking APRIL 8, 2018 An emergency meeting in Bahrain to improve the overtaking situation in formula one broke on Saturday without a solution being agreed. Technical directors got together at the Sakhir circuit to discuss measures to make it easier for one car to pass another, following the unexciting Australian grand prix. "They were unable to agree to any new rules" for 2019, Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reports. There were moves to make alterations to the front and rear wings, including a wider DRS slot that would have increased the speed boost from 20 to 25kph. "Another suggestion was to allow DRS everywhere on the track," the report added. But it emerges that every team except struggling Williams voted against making any short-term changes. Auto Motor und Sport said: "There is still a small chance that teams will find solutions in the strategy group."
Why are Williams f1 so bad? Paddy Lowe design disaster | Kubica back….. Why are Williams F1 so bad? With the dawn of the 2014 Hybrid era, Williams shot back to the sharp end, fuelled by the dominant Mercedes Power Unit, but since then the team have slowly returned to the midfield, and finally for 2018, the back of the grid. Image Unavailable, Please Login In an attempt to arrest this backward trend, Williams agreed to let go Bottas to Mercedes in return for Mercedes technical man, Paddy Lowe. Bottas fulfilled a requirement for Mercedes who needed to replace Hamilton’s team mate Nico Rosberg after his shock retirement. Thereby, giving Williams a technical director who had a hand in the dominant Mercedes setup. The 2018 Williams FW41 car is the first fully Lowe design and commenters noted how radically different it was to any previous Williams car. Could Lowe and the car design be the reason why are Williams F1 so bad in 2018? The short; yes. Why are Williams F1 so bad in 2018? After two races, Williams are the only team with zero constructors points, and consider they managed to finish 5th last year, it would be safe to say that Lowe’s car is a disaster. Australia and Bahrain the car overheated hugely, a result of a mixed aero concept of Ferrari and Mercedes. The Ferrari style radiators and sidepods have not worked well with the Mercedes Power unit cooling requirements and the team have had to flare out the Williams bodywork at the rear to try and extract as much heat as possible. Image Unavailable, Please Login The Williams management are very angry at the results (or lack of) with Paddy Lowes’ FW41, and rather than flying out to China, Paddy has return to Grove in the UK to analyse the data in an effort to arrest the performance drop. Even Lawrence Stroll, father of Lance, who strongly wanted Lowe to the technical management of the team has many doubts about the technical direction of the team. Rumours have been heard that upper management of Williams are already considering bring Robert Kubica into FP1 for China in an effort to give some reliable data to Lowe back at base. The next couple of days will be critical for Paddy Lowe and Williams with the Chinese Grand Prix just around the corner. https://thejudge13.com/f1/why-are-williams-f1-so-bad-paddy-lowe-design-disaster-kubica-back...../
Well if it is overheating as suggested they mare fare better once we have a cold event in China. What I gathered from Stroll's comments was that the car had driveability issues which is a different story altogether. That all being said, a radical departure from previous designs may lead to taking some time in getting the car to perform properly. Obviously, experienced drivers would help. The current situation is surely embarrasing but I will let some races pass before judging that Paddy Lowe stuffed up. I rate his ability rather highly.
Well as Paddy is a shareholder and also a member of the Board of Directors, he will have to give himself a bit of a bollocking Ohh and Spygate is still in the back of peoples minds i guess.
Williams car slowest in 2018 says Stroll APRIL 11, 2018 Mika Salo has backed Williams to significantly improve its car. It has been a nightmare start to the 2018 season for the once-great British team. First, critics blasted Williams' decision to pair young pay-drivers Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin, and then it emerged that the new car is among the very slowest on the grid. "I was happy with my race," Stroll said after Bahrain. "Obviously I wanted a better result." The 19-year-old finished just ahead of his Russian teammate Sirotkin, who was dead last. Stroll told Le Journal de Montreal: "We currently have the slowest car, and I am confident I have made the most of it. In the current situation, it's the best I could do. "My consolation is to have beaten my teammate," he added. Technical boss Paddy Lowe, having earlier been spotted in a tense meeting with Stroll's father and backer Lawrence Stroll, admitted Williams has problems. "We did not have the pace to do other than fight amongst ourselves," he said. "We need to do an examination and find solutions, even if we have little time." Former F1 driver Salo, who works closely with Sirotkin and his backers at SMP Racing, said: "On paper and in aerodynamic numbers, the car looks pretty good. Much better than last year." The Finn told the broadcaster C More that a big problem for Williams is making the softer tyres work. "Yes, the team needs to find something to improve," Salo admitted. "Luckily they have good engineers like Paddy Lowe and Rob Smedley. "If they can't find the solutions, no one can."