Roberts: Williams won’t sacrifice 2021 F1 hopes

Williams is not going to regard the 2021 Formula 1 season as a write-off, according to its acting Team Principal Simon Roberts, in spite of the impending overhaul of F1’s technical regulations for the 2022 campaign.

After enduring a difficult season in 2019 stuck solely at the back of the F1 grid, Williams made a step forward in 2020, but still finds itself fighting towards the rear of the field.

It is so far the only team without a championship point on the board this season and the Grove-based outfit currently sits 10th and last in the Constructors’ standings.

With new regulations aimed at shaking up the grid being enforced in 2022, Roberts asserts that Williams is targeting another season of progress in 2021 before greeting the new rules.

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“What we don’t want to do is give up on 2021,” Roberts stated. “I think it’s really important to keep the team alive and active and competing.

“We’re trying to create a short-term plan and, if we could, repeat the step that the team made this year, going from 2019 into 2020.

“If we can do something like that, then it puts us in a good position for next year.

“What we don’t want to do obviously is sacrifice efforts towards 2022 because there’s new rules, the new financial regulations will start to bite, so we don’t want to lose that opportunity.

“So, I don’t want to go into any specifics but we’re basically looking at all of it and prioritising across a long time frame.”

Roberts took on the role of Team Principal after the Williams family stepped down from managing the team last month.

The team’s new owners, USA-based investment firm Dorilton Capital, are scoping out a long-term plan to bring the outfit back into front-running contention.

“They’re just trying to right now understand everything they can about the business,” Roberts said.

“They’re super-smart and really nice and easy people to work with, so it’s great having them around.

‘They just come and get involved in everything they can. They obviously were in Mugello, which was great for them and we’re just in that budget setting, looking at investment plans, trying to figure out effectively what’s the first thing to do.

“We don’t want to make mistakes but everything we do is focussed on improving our performance in the long term.”