Williams have made some positive steps to improve their fortunes, but improving significantly on last year’s disastrous season will still prove tough.
The Grove outfit have restructured their technical department with three key new signings. They have switched from Cosworth to Renault engines and the blown diffuser ban could also prove an advantage.
However on the negative side, an inexperienced driver line-up could prove to be a critical error. Furthermore F1’s midfield is currently extremely strong with the likes of Force India and Toro Rosso looking good in testing.
The ban on blown diffusers should benefit Williams as it was one of the teams that gained from the one-race ban seen at the British GP. Overall the top teams were able to gain around seven tenths from the concept, which is a huge chunk of time in F1. That advantage has now been removed from the equation.
Marussia’s consultant Pat Symonds agrees that the blown diffuser ban will help the smaller teams. At January’s Autosport Show he said: “For small teams like ours that is not a bad thing. It was difficult to understand and make work, and the new regulations make things a little bit easier.”
Although the current engine freeze make F1 power plants less of a performance differential than before, the move to Renault still brings benefits for Williams.
The successful partnership makes a return (© Williams F1).
Pastor Maldonado told Sky Sports: “It’s a big difference between the Renault and the engine we had last year – Not only in terms of power but in terms of maps and things to do.”
He added: “It is still very early to say but it feels compact in the car.”
The Renault engine also has the best fuel consumption in the pit lane. In the race that can make a huge difference. If you can afford to start the race with a lighter car than your rivals then the advantage is significant.
Renault F1 director Jean Francois Caubet told AS: “As far as drivability and fuel economy go, the Renault engine is out in front as we need less gas.”
When talking about Red Bull he added: “[They] can start races with 15 or 18 litres less fuel in the tank than their competition – and that makes the difference.”
A restructuring of the team has seen technical director Sam Michael leave with Mike Coughlan, formally of McLaren, replacing him. Mark Gillan has joined as chief operations engineer. Jason Somerville has also joined from Renault [now Lotus] to become head of aerodynamics.
This restructuring of the team has long been overdue. Patrick Head has been quoted as saying that William’s problem isn’t financial but a lack of brain power. You can see some truth in that comment. The last time Williams were winning titles the designer was a certain Mr Adrian Newey.
Many say BMW’s departure from the team at the end of 2005 was what really started Williams downward spiral. However the process started whilst BMW were still part of the team in 2004.
Qualifying at the 2003 Brazilian GP (© Williams F1).
In 2003 the team had been title contenders, and finished second in the constructor’s championship. In 2004 they had slipped to fourth, and in 2005 slipped to fifth.
In May 2004 Michael was made technical director, replacing Patrick Head who previously held the role. After that, the decline in performance continued.
Although Michael had proved his immense talent in other roles including race engineer back in his days at Jordan, and as Senior Operations Manager in his first few years with Williams, the role of technical director didn’t suit his strengths.
He was also very over-stretched and ended up with a bigger workload than he could manage. He did the best he could in the circumstances, particularly with decreasing finances compared to the top guns.
Rubens Barrichello told ITV-F1: “I was happy to reunite with him at Williams, [but] he’s doing five or six jobs. He’s overloaded, and at the end of the day it’s too much for a single human being and he ends up doing half of his capability on his own job because he is doing other things.”
He added: “He just needs to be put back working properly on the things he likes to work on.”
His new role at McLaren as Sporting Director won’t see him overseeing the design and manufacturing of the cars. It’s a role that will suit his strengths and how Williams should have utilised him.
Sam Michael left Williams for McLaren in late-2011 (© McLaren).
Coughlan may be most famous for his role in the spygate scandal of 2007, but there is no denying his talent and ability. He will bring a huge amount of knowledge and expertise to the team.
Gillan is a very talented aerodynamicist who worked at McLaren during their successful period in the late 90s/early 2000s as well as stints at Jaguar and Toyota.
Somerville has worked at Williams in the past (1997-2003) so already knows his way around. He also worked on cars which won the team races.
Not only have these new appointments been made but changes have been applied throughout the whole team.
Maldonado recently stated: “Everything is looking very different to last year.
“This is Formula 1 – you can always improve – but we are more concentrated, we have new people and the team is working very well. It’s completely different.”
Coughlan told the team’s e-magazine: “The facilities here are absolutely first-rate, and the only thing we haven’t done is utilised them correctly.
“There has been a forensic look at what we’ve been doing wrong and where we need to improve, and we’ve come to the conclusion that some strategic errors were made in the past.
“We’ve identified the key elements we need to put in place, not just for next season but forever, to make a successful car every year.”
All these improvements and changes will no doubt make Williams a better and stronger team than they were last year.
However their young driver line-up of Maldonado and Bruno Senna may prove to be a mistake. Firstly it should be said that this isn’t a criticism of either driver. Both deserve to have a place in F1.
Although Maldonado was at times a bit wild and made mistakes he did regularly out-qualify Barrichello. There is no doubting his pace whatsoever, plus he had some great races, including his drives at Monaco and Spa.
Most would agree that Senna deserves a full season in a decent car to show how good a driver he is. At HRT he had a dreadful car, and at Lotus-Renault he was given a handful of races out of the blue at the end of the season.
There have been a few sparks such as his qualifying at Spa last year, which suggests he could become a great driver.
However the mistake Williams have made is hiring both of them in the same line-up. It’s a bit like putting sugar and salt together.
For Williams to improve their championship position they need drivers that are consistently going to score points, and not make too many mistakes.
In the midfield battle attritional races can often have a big impact on how the championship finishes. Therefore the drivers need to make sure they make most of those opportunities when they arise.
Bruno Senna joins Pastor Maldonado at Williams (© Williams F1).
Whilst both drivers are capable of strong performances, both are liable to inconsistency and making mistakes. The team could lose points opportunities as a result.
For example whilst Senna did that brilliant qualifying in Spa last year, he ruined his chances of converting it into a strong result by misjudging the first corner. It’s these types of incidents that experienced drivers avoid. The other issue is which driver is going to lead the team?
The ideal combination for Williams would have been Senna or Maldonado (most likely Pastor due to significant sponsorship) plus Barrichello or Adrian Sutil.
The other big problem for Williams is the grid is just so strong these days. In years gone by there were two or three top teams at the most. Now there are five top teams, personnel, resource and finance wise: Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, and Mercedes.
Not only that but F1 has great strength in depth in the midfield too with Force India, Sauber and Toro Rosso who are very capable teams. Sauber in particular have the facilities to match a top team even if they don’t have the budget to match.
Toro Rosso and Force India don’t have mega budgets and facilities but do a brilliant and efficient job with what they have. The F1 grid has never been so strong and will continue to get tighter.
We also have to remember that the loss of Patrick Head is going to hurt Williams. He is one of the legends of the sport who made a huge contribution to all the championships that the team won.
It’s no surprise that as his role has got lesser and lesser over the years that the fortunes of the team have dwindled. He is irreplaceable.
It needs to be considered too that the new look Williams team is going to need a while to bed in. The full benefit of the changes won’t be felt immediately.
There is no doubt that Williams will improve in 2012. Once the new look team gels it’s feasible to see Williams leapfrogging the likes of Sauber and Force India to be at the front of the midfield. A few tenths worth of advances can leap you ahead of two or three teams in the tight midfield battle.
However it’s going to take a lot more to see Williams troubling the top five teams in the near future.
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