Twelve minutes intoFridaypractice in Baku,
disaster strikes. A loose draincover destroys the
floor ofGeorge Russell’s Williams. The misery is
compoundedwhen thecrane on the flatbedtruck
returning thecar to the pit s hits a bridge, causing
hydraulic fluid to leak all over thecar. “It never
rains, butit pour s at Williamsthisyear,”sighs
deputy team principal Claire Williams.
The team missed the first days of testing back
in February because the 2019car wasn’tread y
in time. Itwas blamed on a “manufacturing
backlog,”and shortlyafte rwards chief technical
officer Paddy Lowe took a leave of absence. Hisdepa rture from the team wasfinally confirmed
just after theFrenchGrand Prix.
This year Williamsheads to ev ery rac e
knowing it will be theslowest in the field. Atthe
time of writingit is bottom in theconstructors’
championshipwith not a single point onthe
board. It’s asad state of affairsbut, fe ar not,
the idea thisis the beginningof the end is
wrong. There isa pl an un der wayto restore
Williamsto the glory days.
The roots of thecurrent problems have been
poor technical leadership and driver choice,
combined with anout-dated codeof engineeringpractice.This hasn’t happenedovernight – it’s
been anissue fora number of seasons.But hitting
rock bottom hashighlightedweaknesses that
were not immediately obvious.
Rewind five years to the start of thehybrid
era andWilliams was thirdin the constructors’
championshipfor twocons ecutiveseasons. With
a prestigious title sponsor (Martini), thebest
power unitavailable (Mercedes), andtwo quick
drivers(Felip e Massa andValtteri Bottas), this
was theteam ’sb est resultsince 2003.
There fo llowed twofifth places, untillast year’s
dramaticfall from grace. Tenth andlast overall80 F1 RACING AUGUST 2019PICTURES:CARLBINGHAM;GLENNDUNBAR;JERRYANDRE;JOEPORTLOCK;GARETHHARFORD“WEPERHAPSNEEDED TO HITROCKBOTTOM
TO WORKOUTWHATTHEISSUESWERE.
BUTWEHAVE ACLEARACTIONPLANWHICH
ISIN FORCEANDWILLCOMEOUT OVERTHE
NEXTSIXMONTHS”