If they haven't figured out last year's problem(s), it can be anybody's guess.
Ralf Schumacher made a damning statement about Williams.
http://www.grandprix.com/news/williams- ... acher.html
Williams being run with fear and terror says Ralf Schumacher
Ralf Schumacher, who won all six of his F1 victories with the British team, thinks the problem at Williams could be its management.
He told Germany's motorsport-total.com that the struggling Oxfordshire based outfit currently is being is run with "fear and terror". Schumacher, 43, said it was the same as when Sir Frank Williams ran the team alone in the 70s.
"Williams has a very special leadership style. As long as Patrick Head was there it was balanced," he said.
"It's a style of leadership from the 70s and 80s, a bit of a reign of fear and terror. It's a shame, because I think people need to be motivated."
Head, though, has long retired, and the team is now run by Sir Frank's daughter Claire.
"With the current structure, Williams cannot get the best out of its employees, because there is no team cohesion," Schumacher said. "The engineers are working against each other more than with each other.
"Unfortunately, Claire has kept her father's habits, and she should certainly wonder if that is the right job for her. Perhaps Williams' team management needs to be restructured," he added.
"A man (Paddy Lowe) who has just been fired was very successful at other teams, and even he failed to put Williams back on track. That's enough to start asking questions," said Ralf.
on gpupdate.net
Ralf Schumacher lashes out: "Williams is not open to criticism at all"
If it is up to the brother of record F1 champion Michael Schumacher, former Formula 1 driver and himself six-time Grand Prix winner Ralf Schumacher, then the Williams team would change course as quickly as possible. The German, now 43 years old, drove for the Williams stable in the past and noticed the crew struggling.
According to Schumi II , Williams' demise has to do with the way they work. Schumacher believes team boss Claire Williams would do better to pursue a different approach.
"Williams' leadership style dates back to the 1970s, 1980s. For them, it is purely about power. Fear reigns. and that's unbelievably unfortunate. They don't seem to notice that people perform better if they are motivated, so they get the chance to develop ", Schumacher says in the podcast of Formel1.de .
"At Williams, employees have to work hard day-in, day-out. They don't get the time to have fun, and it's out of the question to question the leadership of the bosses. At some point, you just end up on a dead track."
Schumacher cites the recently departed Paddy Lowe as an example. "Paddy was incredibly successful in another system," he refers to his time as Mercedes technical director. Schumacher does not know whether Claire Williams should pack her bags. "She has to decide for herself. Maybe a new approach needs to be introduced within the team."
Ralf Schumacher slamming in some wisdom on the table and bringing in a good point regarding Lowe.
I have zero doubt that that's the truth. All the inside news from Williams, morale on rock bottom, HRM a joke, targets being missed, thinking they can fix things with 2 changes, and then starting a blame culture and blaming everything with a lowblow to Paddy Lowe, goes hand in hand
exactly with what Schumacher is saying here. Williams (leadership) is one of arrogance. They think they're better and know better. I remember well what happened with Hill back when he won the championship with them, and also with Villeneuve.
People in the past mentioned Ferrari is ruthless in that regard - remember Prost being fired for calling the car a 'tractor'. But to be honest, i think Williams might be far, far worse. Atleast Ferrari has their heritage and being Ferrari to 'boast'. What does Williams have but failure in the past decades?
BTW on totally another point though, i see the Rokit site finally is up and running.
Matter of fact, i think i might order a phone from them and see what's up.
Looks like pretty decent deal, and i'm curious on how it compares to the usual giants in the industry.
Paddy should have dug them out prior to try to change/improve it all. That's waht you can blame on Paddy.
sorry for the caps; copy/paste from the Williams website...)