Tag: Williams

After a disastrous 2019, can Williams Russell something better up in 2020?

Well if we’re judging car performance off the livery, things are certainly looking better in 2020. It’s not perfect, for sure, but hey it’s no gradient disaster-class like last year, and they embraced their toothpaste meme potential. The red is a welcome addition and breaks up the car nicely, unlike the blue mush of its predecessor. If they kept the colours clean with no grid lines all over the car, and a bit more blue on the engine cover I’d be happy with that. Seriously, the faint lines at the back of the car make it look like a colour blind world map. Don’t even get me started on the driver numbers either. They’d be more clear if they were written in Japanese… in white. I honestly can barely tell the difference between Latifi and Russell. Yes it doesn’t help they’re 6 and 63 respectively but they need to tidy that up for sure, especially for the fans trackside.

From one reason of optimism to another; there were no mumblings of crash tests being failed or struggling to build the necessary parts for just one car to go testing. Having two fewer days full stop was always going to compress the running, but missing the start sets you back weeks, if not months. Williams weren’t as tragic towards the end of last season. Imagine if they got to testing on time, they might’ve had faster race pace than Haas come Abu Dhabi. It’s not as if they went pointless in 2019 either, yes Germany was a race of a generation, but you’ve still got to keep it on the road, and have good reliability. Sad that it was the only silver lining for Kubica in a heartbreaking season, but hey he seems to be happier despite only testing the Alfa for a couple of days. I still think he’s fast, but he’s lost his edge be it through age or limited use of his left hand. Probably Polish press bias but there were things being said about unequal equipment at Williams, so who knows. But I digress.

Who knows what’s going on internally too at Williams. The early departure of Paddy Lowe raised a few eyebrows to say the least, but a couple of seasons of being backmarkers after hiring someone who was supposedly a key role in making Mercedes into the dominant force of 2014 to 2016. He was no doubt on high wages and must’ve been a key role in overseeing part production, hence their late arrival to 2019. But the fact they’ve replaced them with relative nobodies could be a cause for concern. Is it a sign of the dire finances Williams have at the moment? Or is it, more worryingly, a sign that one of F1’s biggest names can’t recruit key figures anymore? Who knows, the humility of these appointments might well be just what they need, just like when McLaren were force fed those concrete mixer sized portions of humble pie in 2018. The buck might not even stop there. Just how unsackable is Claire Williams? I mean she’s led the team through the relatively good periods of 2014 and 2015, but she hasn’t made them kick on like they should’ve. Is that down to dinosaur appointments that held development back? And if so, is that her fault? Don’t get me wrong I love to see women in high ranking jobs in F1, but are they the right person for the job? It’s good that Williams stays a family business, but perhaps she should stay on to advise and not lead? The once great Williams name is being tarnished, and while that is not Claire’s fault entirely, Williams have been midfield for well over a decade now, they need to find someone who can bring the greatness back into this team.

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As far as the fan is concerned the jury is still out on Russell. I’m not doubting he’s fast, but did a below par Kubica paint him in too good of a light? Mercedes know how fast he is, and if they do decide to pull him into a better seat then we’ll find out I guess. I won’t lie I was a Russell sceptic coming into 2019. I’m wary the F2 title can sometimes not be the best gauge, I know Vandoorne got a little screwed over by McLaren, but in 2018 it just never looked like it was going to work much longer. Jolyon Palmer also has a GP2 title to his name but we all know how that turned out. I just thought Russell was a little boring, but how wrong I was. He can dish out the banter just as well as anyone, and that powerpoint he did on that Rookie of the Year video is GOLD. I’ll bite my tongue on how far he can go until we see how he stacks up against a known quantity in a decent car as teammate.

I dont’t know what we’ll see from Latifi, truth be told I’ve not followed his career that closely. What I won’t be doing, however, is writing him off before we even see him turn a wheel in anger. That’s not fair. He is an unknown quantity for sure, but it’s not like Williams picked him out of the F2 field by doing an ‘eeny meeny miny moe’, he has tested for both Renault and Force India as it was at the time, so it’s not like he hasn’t impressed. He seems like a nice enough chap too, and he was hitting it off with the testing commentators. If he can give Russell food for thought across the season, that’s a success for sure. I know he was forgotten at the back for a lot of last season, but Russell has a full F1 season under his built, arguably already having the team built around him. If Latifi can question even on occasion, he’s shown to enough to say he’s there on merit. Look at Giovinazzi last season, started slowly but had some stellar performances in the second half of the season, including an outstanding race in Italy. Wait and see with Latifi.

Can Williams be genuine midfield in 2020? Unlikely. Can Williams be better than last year? For sure. They may still finish last in the constructors in 2020, but that won’t tell the full story. Staying with the pack and pulling off the odd legitimate point scoring race would be an incredible achievement considering where they were last season.

The long overdue departure from Martini liveries has finally come, but does a revitalised look help to revitalise form?

Cheers son’s crying nice one. You had the chance to rock(it?) our worlds, instead you left us with good but not Carling. There’s hope with this livery, that’s for sure, I just think it’s just a halfway house. It’s neither a white livery with hints of blue nor a blue livery with hints of white. That baby blue looks really nice, I hope Williams adopt this for seasons to come. The car from the front view actually looks decent. It’s just those awful fades between blue and white around the sidepod that really get on my nerves. Who is the person that thought putting black or navy on a blue background would make sponsors pop to the audience who will generally see this car at speeds in excess of 150mph? The concept for a good livery is there, it just doesn’t feel developed enough to me.

However, thinking of amendments to the livery, there are simple and clear directions Williams can take their designs in the future. Either they paint the entire car baby blue, using flashes of white for the sponsors, and they’d have a unique shade of blue and a simple yet effective design, or they can remove the black from this year’s car and have a much nicer aesthetic around the engine cover and rear wing, maybe even sharpen the fades too. Ironically enough, that halfway house is where I’d rank it out of the liveries we’ve had so far. Better than Haas, worse than Toro Rosso.

I really hope it looks nice on track, I feel like a right connoisseur reviewing these liveries, just criticising for criticising’s sake, and that’s not what this blog is about. I’d really like to write about stuff bigging up teams, and I feel like those who’ve got new partners or are operating under new guises have the perfect chance to be bold. It’s what I said for Haas, be bold, don’t miss your chance. That’s why it’s disappointing when you’re looking forward to a clean design and colour scheme, especially from Williams who more often than not do this. Williams was one of the teams I was hyped to see this Winter, because it probably was going to be a return to red like the Winfield liveries, or that deep blue from post BMW Williams in the noughties. This new baby blue is actually a brilliant departure from that, but the execution is a little underwhelming.

I said on twitter (cheeky plug) that this livery was refreshing. The Martini livery had so many opportunities and for the team to only use one design was a big shame, and ended up like last week’s loaf of bread, left to one side and gone all stale. The branding for the garage and hospitality was better actually. There was this ribbon motif where the Martini stripes were more free flowing. I would’ve loved to see this given a go on the car, it would be an ode to Stewart GP for sure, but change would’ve been welcomed with open arms and a nice cup of tea by us folks online. Even another stripe on the car somewhere, or using the Martini colours as a scheme in itself without the white. Ok maybe that last one was going a bit far, but the point stands – Williams you should’ve changed changed it up you eejits!

Two rants in two days, I need to get out more.

Poles Apart

Back in ye olden days when the year was 2010, there was a young boy who would keep an eye out for a certain yellow car, which had his favourite livery adorned on it. There was a particular man who this young boy used to love watch pilot this yellow car. His name? Robert Kubica. The little boy’s name? He was me! :p

I probably supported him more because the Renault looked nice that year but looking back in retrospect, I really begin to see that I loved the driver too. He was always bloody fast and had a wickedly dry sense of humour. You’ll want to check out the response to being asked if he remembered his crash in Canada 2007, for those who aren’t aware.

I really hope Robert can find that pace that was so electric. He would be world champion if not for his horrific crash in 2011. One piece of commentary that has always been stuck in my mind was from Martin Brundle at the end of the 2011 Australian GP. Vitaly Petrov drove his Lotus-Renault to a third place finish which was seriously impressive at the time. It was during the cool down lap where Brundle asked “Where would Robert Kubica have finished if he was in that car?” Possibly winning. It wouldn’t have made that much of a difference; that Lotus-Renault was a dog of a car if my memory serves me correct.

If Robert is as fast now as he was then, Russell has his work cut out. He is one hot prospect that’s for sure, but we’ve said the same of Stoffel Vandoorne. Russell’s made it to Formula 1, now he has to work hard and show why he’s highly regarded by Mercedes and journalists alike. It is thought that Kubica will struggle around the tight circuits like Melbourne and Monaco because of his defect. These are rounds early on that George has to take convincingly if he wants to show he is Britain’s next hope.

It’s difficult to read this battle, but I have no doubt that Russell’s every move will be scrutinised A) because he’ll have the British press eyeing him as the next Lewis and B) because he’s going up against a race winning rookie in Robert Kubica. Robert’s been away for so long we don’t know how he’s going to perfom, so the best benchmark is always the team mate in this case George. I really hope that both can succeed, but it’s a dog eat dog world in F1.

Williams are also difficult read as a package this year. We could possibly see a 2014 style season where despite recent struggles, they’ve produce a quick package capable of major points, possibly pushing Renault, Haas, McLaren, Racing Point for the increasingly coveted 4^th place. It’s also equally possible that we see their struggles continue, which if they are down a development hole will happen. They’re so hard to read I’m actually going to refrain from predictions for this team, because no doubt I’ll look like a right eejit.