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By sagi58
#436654
Lawrence Barretto wrote:">Massa and Bottas admit Williams has become F1's third-best team

Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas accept that Williams has now fallen back to being Formula 1's third-fastest team.

The Chinese Grand Prix was the second consecutive race in which the two Williams finished behind a quartet of Mercedes and Ferraris in distant fifth and sixth places.

Although Massa and Bottas ran comfortably clear of Romain Grosjean's Lotus in seventh before the safety car came out, they were more than 40 seconds adrift of race winner Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes.

"To be honest, we finished where we are for the moment," said Massa. "We are the third team for the moment, we finished fifth and sixth.

"Definitely it would be nice to finish in front of Ferrari but also closer to Mercedes as we're always looking forward, but it's not the case."

Bottas added: "It looks now quite clearly that we are the third-quickest team.

"We have a good margin from the rear so we just need to try to do anything we can to move forward."

Massa said Williams's advantage over the teams behind at least gave it a comfort zone while trying to get back on terms with Mercedes and Ferrari - having been clearly ahead of the Italian team and sometimes challenging the champion squad in 2014.

"We need to push to improve but we can say it is also not so negative because we are third in the championship and we are building good points compared to the guys behind which is positive," he insisted.

"We need to work, we need to make the car better to catch these guys in front, which is not easy."
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By 1Lemon
#436667
At least having a team in between the two front runners doesn't make it look like they're quite so far ahead... Of course they should be swapped with Ferrari but that's a different story.
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By sagi58
#436669
As much as I am over-the-moon happy with Ferrari's performance, thusfar,
and as much as I believe and have faith in their development, I won't be
taking anything for granted. Any more than I believe the team is!

As the saying goes, "never say never"!!
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By sagi58
#436677
James Allen wrote:">Williams F1 team records £34m loss, but claims the future looks brighter

Williams Grand Prix Holdings, the parent group of the Williams F1 team, today announced its financial results for the year end 2014 with a whopping £34.3m loss. It is likely to be the nadir in the group’s financial situation, as a combination of factors combined to cause the results; the huge escalation in 2014 costs from the hybrid turbo engines at the same time as poor track performances in the preceding years.

The results do not reflect Williams’ renaissance last season, the effects of which will appear in next year’s accounts as prize money from 2014 is payable in 2015 and the team has seen a significant increase in sponsor interest with Unilever and Avenade among new sponsors joining the roster.

Also turnover was down in 2014 compared to 2013 by almost £40 million, (£130m to £90m) half of which was due to a one-off payment from Pastor Maldonado’s sponsor PDVSA being posted in the 2013 accounts.

Unlike most F1 teams Williams is obliged to make public its accounts as it is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange...

more...
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By sagi58
#438159
If Wiliams is getting the same engine as the Mercedes duo, they are proof that it's not just about having a good car.
Still, you can't blame them for not being happy about the possibility!!

 wrote:">Lewis Hamilton urges Mercedes not to provide Red Bull engines

Double Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has warned his employers Mercedes that it would be a mistake to supply rivals Red Bull with engines if that team's partnership with Renault comes to an end.

The possibility has been mooted should Renault withdraw from the sport or acquire Lotus as their favoured works team.

The French manufacturer is currently assessing its options, with a decision expected soon...

...The Williams team, who have Mercedes engines and are currently third and ahead of Red Bull in the championship, also voiced understandable opposition to any deal that gave their nearest and better-funded rivals an advantage.

"How do I feel about it? Not great, to be honest," said deputy principal Claire Williams when asked about the prospect. "it doesn't fill me with much joy.

"At the moment obviously we are ahead of Red Bull but Red Bull are never going to be down for too long and we need to make sure if they do get an engine, then fair enough and we have to deal with it.

"But that is a conversation between Red Bull and Mercedes that we have no influence on whatsoever. We therefore will just have to produce a better chassis ... I don't believe a Red Bull powered by Mercedes would absolutely jump ahead of us."

Williams said they had no preferential terms with Mercedes, who treated all their customer teams with parity.
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By 1Lemon
#438200
They didn't get the same engines this race...
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By sagi58
#439246
 wrote:">
Sir Frank and Claire Williams tell the story of the history of the Williams team, from its first F1 season in 1978, through 16 world titles, to the current day Williams Martini Racing

[youtube]WQd_yziHc74[/youtube]
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By sagi58
#439360
 wrote:">Williams reveals FW38

Image

The Williams F1 team revealed their 2016 formula one chassis the FW38 today, with a similar look to the previous chassis.

Team Principal Sir Frank Williams, said, "Williams has started to cement our position back amongst the front running teams after finishing third in the Championship in the past two seasons. This has been a great achievement given the resources of those around us. Staying where we are will be a challenge in itself, but we are determined to keep improving because only winning will ever be good enough."

"We have a very stable team going into 2016, with Felipe and Valtteri teaming up for a third successive season. They work well together and both have the ideal blend of speed and consistency. Our technical team has also remained very consistent which will be to our advantage and we have some of the best engineering minds on the grid at our disposal."

"We have a busy couple of weeks of testing coming up to learn more about our package and to refine the car ahead of the first race. We will have to wait until Melbourne to find out exactly where we stand in the pecking order but I'm confident that our hard work over the winter will stand us in good stead."

Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams said, "2016 promises to be a very competitive year in Formula One and there will be a number of strong teams who have us in their sights. We are confident that we have made a step forward over the winter and that the FW38 will build on the strengths of the FW37 and address some of its weaknesses. We started design work on the car earlier than normal and hopefully this extra development time will stand us in good stead."

"The car we are launching today is by no means the final product. We are already planning updates for Melbourne and will be pushing for constant improvements over the course of the season. Williams enters 2016 in a strong place. We have a great team of people and over the past two years we have started to regain our competitive edge. Now we need to build on that and take this team back to where we all want it to be."

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By sagi58
#439398
 wrote:">Formula 1: A closer look at the drivers' cars for the 2016 season

Formula 1 constructors have revealed the designs of their new cars for the 2016 campaign.

But what should we be looking out for ahead of pre-season testing? BBC Sport highlights a selection of key features...

...Williams

Image

The FW38 sports the same colours from the past two seasons and team principal Sir Frank Williams says it will be a "challenge" to retain their position in the top three teams.

Key feature: The bulge where the sidepod meets the engine's covers has grown in size which indicates a change to internal packaging.

Expert view from chief technical operator Pat Symonds: "The FW37 was a pretty effective car and so we concentrated on understanding the areas where we could improve it without losing the attributes which made it effective."

Image

...
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By sagi58
#439417
Nate Saunders wrote:">The biggest issue facing each F1 team in 2016

Williams

Avoiding recent mistakes and weaknesses

It's a measure of how good Williams' 2014 campaign was that it could be disappointed by the 2015 season and the team's failure to take the fight to Mercedes or Ferrari. It ended 2014 the best of the rest behind Mercedes but finished last season fending off the likes of Red Bull as the two lead manufacturers opened up a gap to the chasing pack. Ron Dennis justified McLaren's switch to Honda by saying a customer team could never win a world championship. The tweaked rules for 2016 prevent factory outfits giving a lower-spec engine to its customers, so Williams will have no excuse this coming year as it did in the final races of 2015 that it is not receiving the same package as Mercedes. But other things need to change. Williams has produced successive cars which struggled in low speed corners and have been poor on tyre management. Conservative calls from the pit wall have hurt Williams in recent times; its decision not to implement team orders when Valtteri Bottas was quickest during last year's British Grand Prix saw them fail to seize initiative at a vital part of the race. It may not have had any bearing on a race eventually settled by a late rain storm, but demonstrated a mindset on the pitwall which cannot continue into 2016 if it wants to return to the top step.

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By myownalias
#442165
Paddy Lowe has gone full circle and rejoined Williams as CTO. Can Williams turn it around and become a world title winning team once again?

Paddy Lowe, the former Mercedes technical boss, has finally been confirmed at Williams as their new chief technical officer.

After being placed on gardening leave by Mercedes in January after deciding to leave the world champions, Lowe starts work at Williams immediately and will take on "overall management responsibility for the engineering operation".

Lowe has also taken a shareholding in the Williams Group and joins the board of directors. Deputy team boss Claire Williams has described his arrival as a "game changer" for the outfit.

"I've always had a deep respect for Williams - my first team in Formula 1," said Lowe, who previously worked for the team from 1987 to 1993.

"It is a huge honour to return in this leadership position and to have the opportunity to become a shareholder. I am extremely motivated to play my part in bringing success back to the team.

The vision for the future set out by the Williams board is powerful and has compelled me to join an organisation committed to building on its unique legacy and to reaching the pinnacle of Formula 1 once again.

"I'm looking forward to this exciting new phase to my career working with Claire, Mike and Nick and with the rest of this great team - especially Frank himself, who is one of the most committed "racers" I know!"

Lowe succeeds Pat Symonds, now a Sky Sports F1 analyst, as Williams' chief technical officer, and Claire Williams expects him to play a key role in helping the former champions move forwards through the grid.

"I am delighted that the team is welcoming Paddy back to Williams in the role of chief technical officer," said the deputy team principal.

"Having someone of Paddy's calibre and engineering competence is not only a morale boost for everyone at Williams, but I know it will also significantly support our efforts to return this team back to the front of the grid.

"Our ambitions at Williams are unwavering, we want to win races and championships, but to do that you need the best talent in the business. In Paddy we believe we have just that as well as a leader who will drive change. This is a game changer for us and once again makes us extremely excited about this team's future."

Source: http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/ ... hareholder
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By darwin dali
#443147
ESPNF1:

[...]
Williams options away from Massa appear to be limited. Rumours linger about a possible swoop for Fernando Alonso but that deal remains highly unlikely.

One complication for Williams revolves around its contract with title sponsor Martini and the youth of 18-year-old Stroll -- meaning the team's second driver must be above the age of 25 for advertising purposes. Massa agrees his chances look good but he wants to get another deal because the team wants him there, not just because he's the only option.

"I feel the same. I feel in exactly the same position. But it's not just because of that. As I said, I want to have everything I want in the way that I believe is correct for me."


Yeah, never thought of that complication (Stroll - Martini).
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By overboost
#443148
Kubica is now rumoured to be an option for Williams.
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