Williams FW41 Speculation Thread

[roon]

As does the non-spaceship, which hasn't been the case lately for Williams.

[krisfx]

Problem is Paddy Lowe is a very "inconsistent" technical guy - in my view.

At McLaren, he was up and down from year to year. Always trying to create a "spaceship" to race with.

I'm sure at the time Mclaren used to alternate who designed each car. One year it was Paddy, then was is Goss who was in charge of the following years car then so on? Could have been the reason.

Sometimes, people forget to realize that, there are around 500 people that work for each of the top teams. More than half of them involve in designing a car. A core team of that group involve in core design of the car, both on aero and mechanical front. Each section of a large office, consisting of various granular departments design pieces of car in isolation and then all of that has to come together for the integration phase.

People like team principals & technical directors are only going to put a seal on what is presented to them from the leaders of each of those small units. The designs would have been worked on and solidified from lead designer (aero & mechanical) to the manager of engineering to the director of engineering to Chief Designer to then the technical director.

So, it's not like someone of the capacity of Paddy Lowe would be conducting daily stand-ups from Chief Designer to the junior most engineer to get a design right. There are people like Chief Designer, Chief Aerodynamicist who would present the final design, along with all the expected performance statistics to the team principal and technical director to then get their approval.

In modern age, the car design is such a complex process and it would be foolish to imagine if there is one individual who can conceive the entire design and that too, someone at the top of the stack. If anything, the highest authority would only hold the accountability of the outcomes, for which, either he is lauded or crucified, based on the outcome.

Finally someone mentioned this. It's crazy how many people pin the design on the top guys.

[mclaren111]

I'm sure at the time Mclaren used to alternate who designed each car. One year it was Paddy, then was is Goss who was in charge of the following years car then so on? Could have been the reason.

Sometimes, people forget to realize that, there are around 500 people that work for each of the top teams. More than half of them involve in designing a car. A core team of that group involve in core design of the car, both on aero and mechanical front. Each section of a large office, consisting of various granular departments design pieces of car in isolation and then all of that has to come together for the integration phase.

People like team principals & technical directors are only going to put a seal on what is presented to them from the leaders of each of those small units. The designs would have been worked on and solidified from lead designer (aero & mechanical) to the manager of engineering to the director of engineering to Chief Designer to then the technical director.

So, it's not like someone of the capacity of Paddy Lowe would be conducting daily stand-ups from Chief Designer to the junior most engineer to get a design right. There are people like Chief Designer, Chief Aerodynamicist who would present the final design, along with all the expected performance statistics to the team principal and technical director to then get their approval.

In modern age, the car design is such a complex process and it would be foolish to imagine if there is one individual who can conceive the entire design and that too, someone at the top of the stack. If anything, the highest authority would only hold the accountability of the outcomes, for which, either he is lauded or crucified, based on the outcome.

Finally someone mentioned this. It's crazy how many people pin the design on the top guys.

That's how it works. His biggest responsibility is to have the right resources, procedures and processes in place to ensure this is achieved. His "Design Team" follows his lead and direction.

How come Adrian Newey and his Design Team can be so successful so often ??

[krisfx]

Sometimes, people forget to realize that, there are around 500 people that work for each of the top teams. More than half of them involve in designing a car. A core team of that group involve in core design of the car, both on aero and mechanical front. Each section of a large office, consisting of various granular departments design pieces of car in isolation and then all of that has to come together for the integration phase.

People like team principals & technical directors are only going to put a seal on what is presented to them from the leaders of each of those small units. The designs would have been worked on and solidified from lead designer (aero & mechanical) to the manager of engineering to the director of engineering to Chief Designer to then the technical director.

So, it's not like someone of the capacity of Paddy Lowe would be conducting daily stand-ups from Chief Designer to the junior most engineer to get a design right. There are people like Chief Designer, Chief Aerodynamicist who would present the final design, along with all the expected performance statistics to the team principal and technical director to then get their approval.

In modern age, the car design is such a complex process and it would be foolish to imagine if there is one individual who can conceive the entire design and that too, someone at the top of the stack. If anything, the highest authority would only hold the accountability of the outcomes, for which, either he is lauded or crucified, based on the outcome.

Finally someone mentioned this. It's crazy how many people pin the design on the top guys.

That's how it works. His biggest responsibility is to have the right resources, procedures and processes in place to ensure this is achieved. His "Design Team" follows his lead and direction.

How come Adrian Newey and his Design Team can be so successful so often ??

It just a bit misinformed to say something along the lines of: "Paddy's influence on the FW40 is already clear with new parts" as so many people on here did throughout 2017. I think as a technical community, we should understand these things take a full team and are not just the product of single individuals. I get that they're the figurehead, though.

[dren]

That's how it works. His biggest responsibility is to have the right resources, procedures and processes in place to ensure this is achieved. His "Design Team" follows his lead and direction.

How come Adrian Newey and his Design Team can be so successful so often ??

Some TDs are more hands-on with the design and others are more manager like, sitting back and putting people in place to do the job. Newey seems to be more the hands-on guy. I'm not sure how Paddy is. Aren't his roots in controls?

[PlatinumZealot]

The spaceship has to work though. Paddy had just too many misses for my liking

Really though? Paddy's McLarens have always been the better ones.

[Raleigh]

The role of a technical director is to select the design concepts that will be pursued and shape the development of the overall car.

Paddy is not going to be doing detail work on components, but he does bring a huge amount of information about what Mercedes have been doing and more importantly why they do it.

[Lucky]

Williams in delay: will the FW41 be ready for the tests of Barcelona?
https://it.motorsport.com/f1/news/willi ... na-998899/

[FrukostScones]

Williams in delay: will the FW41 be ready for the tests of Barcelona?
https://it.motorsport.com/f1/news/willi ... na-998899/

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So are they allowed with old car and retrofiitwd Halo. ; )

[Mr Brooksy]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/will ... te-999339/

So they must have passed crash tests then? Or will we be greeted by more CGIs like last year?

[GM7]

[tomazy]

The display is on the steering wheel in FW41 (streight(ish) upper side), not like in previous Williams cars where it was on the chassis.

FW40 for reference:

[scarbs]

I think the steering wheel is upside down

[NathanOlder]

Indeed. Car set up for australia already

[tomazy]

I think the steering wheel is upside down

Could be, I feel a bit stupid now