Sir Frank Williams admits he made a mistake in refusing to give Adrian Newey shares in the team, in return for the designers services.
The renowned designer contributed to five of Williams titles’ between 1992 and 1997, before leaving the company after demanding a stake in the team.
Williams turned down the deal, which saw Newey head to McLaren, where his latest design at the time, the MP4/13, won the 1998 Constructors’ and Drivers’ championships. He later joined Red Bull and has helped the team to win both titles consecutively for the past two seasons – making him the most successful designer in the sports history.
The 69-year-old admits he made a regrettable error, which has slowly seen the team drift out of title contention. They finished ninth in their most recent season.
“He [Newey] wanted some shares that I didn’t want to give to him at the time,” he told F1 Racing magazine, “which was arguably, with hindsight, a mistake.
“Adrian is quite a remarkable individual,” he added.
Looking back at 2011, Williams admits the FW33 was a terrible car, but with changes afoot at the Grove based team, he’s hoping things will improve.
“I’m not an engineer but I’ve seen lots of good cars and lots of bad cars – and ours wasn’t quick enough,” he explained. “It was deficient in most of the areas that matter. But we were completely lacking in the most important one of all, which is aero. And probably a bit of horsepower. It just wasn’t a quick car.
“The Renault engine gives us hope. We have three new technical people – one is our technical director, one is chief of aero and one is running the cars. They have different backgrounds coming from three different teams.”
However, he couldn’t help but identify one detail which the outfit lacks: “There’s still a problem. It’s called Adrian Newey. There’s only one of him.”
