ringo wrote:Theoretically if the engineers are worth their weight in gold, the monetary resources should not be a deciding factor.
All it takes is a few good iterations of a design to determine who's at the front of the grid.
There is no direct link with a good design and the amount of money a team has. It's not proportional at all.
You can make a great car with poor resources, but you can't make a great car with poor engineers.
There is nothing preventing Williams from being the best car on the grid. All they need is enough resources to run the basic programs and keep up a basic pace of development. Excessive resources doesn't make a great concept.
Looking at the FW33 it doesn't have a stumbling block on it's body. It has a "free" potential for development. If they aren't the fastest they can easily copy and upgrade any section of the car to get there. With that gearbox, anything is possible in the rear.
The ability to mimic certain shapes in certain areas is the only thing stopping one car from equaling another, since the main differences are aerodynamic.
Suspension is the only other question, but i guess experienced enough teams know all about developing that aspect.
What you say is all true but money makes it much easier even if it tends to lead to a more wasteful attitude at times. Having the backing of a manufacturer or a major source of funds has always proven to be beneficial in formula 1. Yes the engineers play a major role but just think of how much money redbull have thrown at adrian newey in order to develop their car or how much money ferrari threw at ross brawn in the early 2000s.
There have been obviously a few heroes from time to time who manage on budgets which are below average but I think they are few and far between generally with quite some luck as well. e.g. Brawn gp.
Taking the Williams example, whenever the car was backed by a major manufacturer it has done well, e.g. Honda, Renault and BMW. The extra resources that brings for R&D is invaluable and also the ability to spend the money which you would use to buy engines on other development instead.
I continue to believe that until they find such backing it will be very difficult for them to recover and move back towards the front of the grid.
I hope they prove me completely wrong somehow.