2016 Williams Martini Racing F1 Team - Mercedes

[Samraj_official]

Williams Formula 1 team posts profit in first half of 2016

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.ph ... lf-of-2016

More to the point these are losses but Ecclestone's money for nothing is bailing them out . Replace it with a decade of -10 (or whatever) million and let's see these profits.

Impact of getting BS bonuses despite results is bigger than linear. Just like McLaren (lesser impact of course) they can afford poor seasons the other teams would not survive. Force India has to skip tests, Sauber the same plus losing staff, drivers etc.

Well seeing as how Bernie money js contractually guaranteed, your little mental exercises without it are pointless. Do you think that without Bernie money, Williams would've spent the same amount? I don't. The numbers are the numbers and Williams was in the green.

well he was saying, without Bernie Bonuses....williams would have been in Life line....money could have been better spent @ Force India

[Pierce89]

I know what he meant, but his "logic" always seems to be thrown way off by his biases.

[Samraj_official]

I know what he meant, but his "logic" always seems to be thrown way off by his biases.

Well everyone has their bias for the loyalty they have towards their team, simply just dont throw out opinions just because it comes from a biased person, you may be wrong at times.

[LookBackTime]

[LookBackTime]

SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX PRACTICE

16 SEP 2016
Marina Bay Circuit, Singapore
5.06 km / 3.14 miles

FP1
Weather: Warm and Dry
Air & Track Temperatures: 30-32°C / 36-37°C
F Massa, FW38-02, PU106C Hybrid, 1:48.044 (9th)
V Bottas, FW38-03, PU106C Hybrid, 1:48.453 (14th)
Quickest time: M. Verstappen 1:45.823

FP2
Weather: Warm and dry
Air & Track Temperatures: 29-30°C / 32-34°C
F Massa, FW38-02, PU106C Hybrid, 1:46.856 (14th)
V Bottas, FW38-03, PU106C Hybrid, 1:46.960 (15th)
Quickest time: N. Rosberg 1:44.152

Objectives: Aero evaluations, set-up and tyre work.



Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: It was a fairly normal Friday for us and we didn’t have any big issues. We tested different suspension settings and geometries this afternoon. We also tested some aero upgrades and they seem to have worked well, so that’s a boost for this stage of the season. But, apart from that, it was just about trying to get the tyres ready for the first timed lap and trying to make them last for the longer runs. This is a low-speed street circuit so that first timed lap is really tricky and that’s what we need to work on. Looking at our high-fuel pace, I would say it’s reasonable for a circuit like this, so the low fuel pace will definitely be our priority tonight to ensure we understand the set-up of the car and the tyre management for optimising the first timed lap.

Felipe Massa: It’s always tricky to understand Friday in Singapore. You always need to work hard to understand the tyres here. We have a lot to do to improve the car for the short runs, especially with the new tyres. The long run had a better feeling, I think we were quite competitive but we don’t know the fuel of any other cars. It’s difficult to overtake here, so for both tomorrow and for the race the most important thing now is for us to have a better understanding of the tyres.

Valtteri Bottas: It was a tricky day today. We really struggled with the car balance all day and we didn’t finish today happy with it. We’ve been doing different kinds of tests and set-up changes to try and get the car to work well, but it’s been difficult.

[lio007]

Quite a different view from Engineer and Drivers

Engineer: "It was a fairly normal Friday for us and we didn’t have any big issues"
Driver: "We have a lot to do to improve the car for the short runs, especially with the new tyres"
Driver: "It was a tricky day today. We really struggled with the car balance all day and we didn’t finish today happy with it"

[LookBackTime]

SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING

17 SEP 2016
Marina Bay Circuit, Singapore
5.06 km / 3.14 miles

Qualifying Notes
•Valtteri Bottas qualified 11th and Felipe Massa 12th for the Singapore Grand Prix
•Both cars progressed from Q1 into Q2 after opening runs on the ultrasoft tyre, with Felipe advancing in P13 and Valtteri P15
•Both drivers used new ultrasofts twice in Q2 and were inside the top 10 after their first runs. But their second runs were hampered by double waved yellow flags in sectors two and three
•Felipe and Valtteri backed off under the yellows, but others improved their times which dropped both outside the top 10, unable to make it through to Q3. The stewards are investigating Perez for failing to slow for double waved yellow flags in Turns 9 and 10

Weather: Hot and humid
Temperature: Air 29-30°C Track 32-34°C

Q1
V. Bottas: 1:46.086 (15th)
F. Massa: 1:46.056 (13th)
Quickest time: D. Ricciardo 1:44.255

Q2
V. Bottas: 1:44.740 (11th)
F. Massa: 1:44.991 (12th)
Quickest time: N. Rosberg 1:43.020

Q3
V. Bottas: -
F. Massa: -
Quickest time: N. Rosberg 1:42.584

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: There are positives and negatives for us. We were never going to be happy with 11th and 12th, but we’ve acquitted ourselves quite well at a circuit that doesn’t play to the strengths of our car, especially in qualifying. We did a lot of work overnight and, although the end result isn’t stunning, the team has done a good job to find our feet. We had the same pace as Force India during the qualifying sessions that we were both in. Given that this was never going to be our best circuit, we were happy with the pace up to that point. We could have had both cars in the top 10 if it weren’t for the yellow flags, where Perez got through when everyone else aborted. It also looks like he’s overtaken under a yellow flag in a separate incident. The stewards are investigating so depending on the outcome, that could move us a little higher up the grid. Our pace on Friday was encouraging. We can definitely race from where we are and get some points tomorrow to keep pushing forward in the championship.

Valtteri Bottas: We managed to make little improvements from practice to qualifying but this weekend seems to be a little bit tricky for us. It was tight out there - it’s very close with Force India. I felt like I had another very good lap in Q2 but because of the yellow flag I had to slow down a little bit, that’s why Perez is ahead of us, but he’s under investigation so we’ll see what happens. The race pace is looking better than what we’ve seen over one lap here, so we will fight with Force India tomorrow and also try to get ahead of Toro Rosso. That’s a good target for us.

Felipe Massa: It wasn’t a great qualifying in the end. I was improving on my final lap, but I couldn’t finish it because I had to slow down for the yellow flags. Maybe some other cars didn’t slow down. Looking ahead, the race is tomorrow and we need to be ready for anything in Singapore.

[LookBackTime]

SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX

18 SEP 2016
Marina Bay Circuit, Singapore
5.06 km / 3.14 miles

Weather: Warm and humid
Temperature: Air 30-31C, Track 35-36C

Race Notes:
•Felipe Massa finished 12th in the Singapore Grand Prix while Valtteri Bottas was forced to retire
•Valtteri was hit by a McLaren at the start which gave him a puncture and forced him to pit on lap two and rejoin at the back of the field
•Felipe started 11th and gained two positions at the start before the safety car was deployed
•Valtteri was hampered by damage from the first lap and was eventually forced to retire on lap 35 with mechanical issues
•Felipe ran as high as seventh but lost track position as the pitstops unfolded and was 12th for the final stint of the race
•Both drivers retain their position in the Drivers’ Championship with Valtteri seventh and Felipe ninth. The team is now fifth in the Constructors’ Championship with 111 points, one point behind Force India

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: It was a difficult race, starting from 10th and 11th. Valtteri’s race was almost done on that first lap when he got a puncture and dropped to the back. We suspected he had mechanical damage after his last pitstop, so the best thing to do was retire the car. For Felipe, we chose to go on a three-stop strategy to give us a bigger tyre delta at the end, but throughout the pitstops and through the traffic we just seemed to be on the back foot. Coming out behind Gutierrez after that final stop cost us because we might have been able to get onto the back of that Perez train at the end, on a better tyre, but that’s racing. For a circuit like this, and in terms of where we are in the championship, the damage has been limited. The teams around us didn’t get the points they could have done so we’ve been quite lucky.

Felipe Massa: It was definitely a tough race. I’m not happy with everything that happened. The race was going well in the beginning, but with the strategy and being stuck in traffic things changed a little bit. Anyway, that’s the way it was. We now need to concentrate on the next race and try to score more points with both cars because today it wasn’t good.

Valtteri Bottas: It was really bad today. It all went wrong before Turn 1. Someone touched my rear and I got a puncture, so we came into the pits. We went back out again but we saw that there was some damage on the car, so the pace was really poor. The car was sliding a lot and we didn’t really have the speed. We tried to do everything that we could but then had a mechanical problem so we had to retire.

[Sevach]

Felipe was right behind the Alonso train, "clever" strategy put him out of the points.

[LookBackTime]

Lance Stroll has signed a contract to make his F1 debut for Williams in 2017.

That is the clear claim of the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat, adding that the probability that the teenage Canadian’s teammate will be Valtteri Bottas is "high".

The report said Stroll, the European F3 leader whose father is the fashion mogul Lawrence Stroll, is bringing no less than $35 million a year to the Grove team.

Meanwhile, Speed Week reports that Williams is hoping its signing of Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso’s former Ferrari engineer Antonio Spagnolo will help in the crucial area of tyre performance.

"We have not had many people in the area of tyres," said Bottas, "but now we have someone only concentrating on tyres.

"It helps now but it will help even more in the future," he added.

[TwanV]

Lance Stroll has signed a contract to make his F1 debut for Williams in 2017.

That is the clear claim of the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat, adding that the probability that the teenage Canadian’s teammate will be Valtteri Bottas is "high".

The report said Stroll, the European F3 leader whose father is the fashion mogul Lawrence Stroll, is bringing no less than $35 million a year to the Grove team.

Meanwhile, Speed Week reports that Williams is hoping its signing of Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso’s former Ferrari engineer Antonio Spagnolo will help in the crucial area of tyre performance.

"We have not had many people in the area of tyres," said Bottas, "but now we have someone only concentrating on tyres.

"It helps now but it will help even more in the future," he added.

Sorry couldn't help myself : ) So many better drivers out there at the moment to lift Williams up a bit, but money is also thing sadly.. Let's hope he proves me wrong.

[LookBackTime]

Lance Stroll has signed a contract to make his F1 debut for Williams in 2017.

... .

...

Sorry couldn't help myself : ) So many better drivers out there at the moment to lift Williams up a bit, but money is also thing sadly.. Let's hope he proves me wrong.

You could be very well right. I will re-publish this info from 2010!


Ferrari's 11-year-old wunderkind beats F1 driver in karting competition

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/23/ferr ... ting-comp/

[LookBackTime]

STROLL SET FOR WILLIAMS IN 2017 AND STARTS HUGE TEST PROGRAMME

http://www.grandprix247.com/2016/09/21/ ... programme/

Reports have emerged all but confirming that Lance Stroll has signed a deal to race for Williams in 2017 alongside Valtteri Bottas and already, the son of billionaire Lawrence Stroll, is testing a Formula 1 car at grand prix venues.

Respected F1 journalist Joe Saward writes that the Stroll family has invested $20 million to prepare teenager Lance for his F1 debut next year using a 2014 Williams for an intense test programme.

Saward adds: “[Stroll] now has the points required for a super licence and his 18th birthday is coming up shortly. Between now and the end of the year he will do around 8,000 miles [12,800 kms equivalent to about 42 grand prix races] of testing at a string of circuits around the world, driving an unbranded 2014 Williams-Mercedes.”

“The car, which is being set up for Stroll at each circuit by Gary Paffett, was spotted at the Hungaroring last week and this week will be in Austria.”

“The schedule includes tracks all over the world and so one can speculate that he will be seen in action in Austin, Interlagos, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Malaysia and Suzuka,” adds Saward.

When asked recently if he felt ready to tackle Formula 1, the seventeen year old replied, “Yes, absolutely. I think Formula 3 is at a very high level and only one step below GP2. Our cars have a lot of downforce but of course not as much power as F1, but the competition level is very high.”

He added, “It is good for motorsport and Formula 1 that young drivers are able to show what they can do. But I don’t want to compare myself with anyone, because each situation is different.

“However, if you are well prepared and have the necessary talent then I see no problem about starting even at a very early age.”

Williams have not yet indicated who any of their drivers will be for 2017, in contrast to last season when they were among the first teams to confirm their drives for this season.

[LookBackTime]

Stroll begins F1 runs with Williams

By: Darshan Chokhani, Editor, India
34 minutes ago

Williams has confirmed that Lance Stroll has started with his Formula 1 runs with the team, in between the European Formula 3 season.

Stroll is believed to be on pole position to land a racing drive with the team next year.

The Canadian drove the 2014-spec Williams FW36 to gain experience of the much more powerful car, continuing his development programme with the Grove-based team.

"It wasn't a test," Williams spokesperson clarified to Motorsport.com. "Lance has spent time in the Williams simulator configured to an F3 car designed to help him with the Euro F3 season.

"Stroll has also now moved into some work experiencing an older spec F1 car, a Williams FW36 in between his F3 racing."

Further to this, Stroll's spokesperson added: "Part of the work [Williams development programme] includes giving him some time in an old F1 car to prepare him for the differing performance a Formula 1 car gives.

"However, Lance remains fully committed to his F3 programme and ultimately on winning the title, hopefully therefore any track days have been designed to fit around this."

The Williams development driver currently leads the F3 standings with nine wins to his name, leading Prema teammate Maximilian Gunther by 68 points with two rounds remaining.

[Sevach]

Money talks, this tests are probably not being funded by Williams.
That makes me sure he will be on the car next year.