2019 Williams F1 Team - Mercedes

[marmer]

Awful. How can a team that started developing this car at least half way into last year not be ready to run something.

Could they not even run last year's car at least get a day of data on the new tyres that would be better than not turning up at all.

[garygph]

I am not jumping to any negative conclusion as to why they are not going to be on time as I am sure they really wanted to be. I am going to hope that it may be that they have possibly had a late brainwave and it has delayed everything but for great benefits during the season.

[taperoo2k]

While missing the first day of preseason testing is unfortunate, we don't know what the performance of the car will be like
so it's too early to be getting upset or calling Claire Williams names (I notice no anger directed at Paddy Lowe). There is absolutely no point running a car if it's not
100% ready and safe to drive. Given the scale of the task for Williams, I'm not that surprised at them for missing the first day of
preseason testing. They've always cut it close to the wire truth be told.

[proteus]

Note. Abusive content removed.

A bit harsh judgement, dont you think? What is the point of testing if the car is not ready? Plus, you dont know what went wrong right at the end, there could be manufacturing problems, problems with suppliers, and problems with build alone.

I stopped counting how many times i thought at my job, how simply i will finish the working order (i hope the translate didnt mess this up), but found myself frustrated due to the unforseen consequences which happened and delayed my work, failing to do it in the time i have predicted it would be finished.

Last year, they were 4th team by the mileage and we all saw where were they on track. If the car is decent and if it will be reliable, they wont even feel that one lost day.

[ScottB]

https://medium.com/@jonrowlandson/desig ... 15931be026

That was an thoroughly enjoyable read, thanks.

Containing a gem on how decisions are taken in large organizations with huge marketing departments that hire a guy just to work 24/7 in the image of the team:

The concept for the final livery came directly from Gene Haas.

Absolutely. I’ve had it myself, backing up decisions with research, evidence, testing, and some boss just dismisses the lot because they want their own idea.

Frustrating, to say the least!

[ScottB]

I’m not sure you can blame Claire Williams for a bad Williams car any more than you could do the same for Zak Brown at Mclaren.

She’s put the pieces in place, but it’s for the technical team to deliver. You could make a case that she hasn’t put the right team together, but that’s about it.

As for testing, seems a piecemeal admission, first the filming day was in doubt, then the first day of the test. Are they just running late, or did they know this all along? I’d lean towards the latter, but who knows.

It’s not great either way.

[Giblet]

People should remember: In 2014 Red Bull showed up, mated the chassis and engine for pretty much for the first time, were drilling holes everywhere and getting barely any laps through all of testing.

The won 3 races that year.

All the teams push the envelope, and Williams with a smaller budget has arguably a larger problem to fix based on their car last year.

I give them a break.

[marmer]

People should remember: In 2014 Red Bull showed up, mated the chassis and engine for pretty much for the first time, were drilling holes everywhere and getting barely any laps through all of testing.

The won 3 races that year.

All the teams push the envelope, and Williams with a smaller budget has arguably a larger problem to fix based on their car last year.

I give them a break.

People should also remember that that year was the first of the new rules and most teams where in an awful state apart from mercedes powered teams.

This year all Williams had to do was alter the aero. Very little else has changed it's not even like they have swapped engine so most of that will be exactly the same

[Lotus102]

Abusive and insulting comment removed

I don’t think that kind of language should be acceptable

[Lotus102]

Here's quite an interesting read from the guy who worked on Haas' original livery that sheds some light on the restrictions and competing views that I would imagine are common:

https://medium.com/@jonrowlandson/desig ... 15931be026

Great read and very enlightening, thanks for posting

[Lotus102]

People should also remember that that year was the first of the new rules and most teams where in an awful state apart from mercedes powered teams.

This year all Williams had to do was alter the aero. Very little else has changed it's not even like they have swapped engine so most of that will be exactly the same

This is also the first year of new rules. The 2014 regs weren’t that big a change in chassis terms compared with e.g. 2009. The 2019 regs have arguably huge implications due to the limit to outwash. Considering Williams had more to do than all the other teams to figure out why its wind tunnel and CFD data didn’t match real life and figure out why the 2018 car wasn’t performing as advertised before they could do much work on this year, not to mention reorganising its technical department, I can’t say it comes as a huge surprise that they’re a day or two late. I don’t understand why people are reading such doom and gloom into it. It might presage another bad year but equally it might not. Let’s wait and see.

(And do I see a McLaren style rear suspension design with the pullrod mounted to the wishbone somewhat inboard of the upright? That would be a non-aero change. I’d say there’s been at least a fairly significant rearrangement of the cooling within the sidepods as well, which OK, is internal aero but with implications in many other areas too.)

[SimonFW11b]

When a car is late, it's always about money.

[Giblet]

People should remember: In 2014 Red Bull showed up, mated the chassis and engine for pretty much for the first time, were drilling holes everywhere and getting barely any laps through all of testing.

The won 3 races that year.

All the teams push the envelope, and Williams with a smaller budget has arguably a larger problem to fix based on their car last year.

I give them a break.

People should also remember that that year was the first of the new rules and most teams where in an awful state apart from mercedes powered teams.

This year all Williams had to do was alter the aero. Very little else has changed it's not even like they have swapped engine so most of that will be exactly the same

Very good point. But what Williams is dealing with is a fraction of the budget of Red Bull and an entirely new car from what I understand.

[Thunder]

AMuS reports in their Live Ticker the Car will not be ready before Wednesday. Apparently some Parts are not rady yet.

[bauc]

AMuS reports in their Live Ticker the Car will not be ready before Wednesday. Apparently some Parts are not rady yet.

Skysports reports the same

Williams set to spend longer on Testing sidelines
The news doesn't get any better for the Grove team, with a first sighting of the FW42 not looking likely until Day Three at best...

Claire Williams: "It is looking more likely than not that we will now not be in a position to run on track until Wednesday at the earliest. This is obviously extremely disappointing, but it is unfortunately the situation we are in.

"We will be getting the FW42 on track as soon as we are able."