Q+A Patrick Head

Earlier this week, the AT&T Williams F1 Team presented their 2008 livery. It will be a very special season for the team as it celebrates its 30th anniversary. Here follows an interview with Patrick Head about his expectations for the upcoming season.

"We want to continue our progress back, from a very low point of 2006, to being a leading team, always in a position to challenge for race wins and the Championship."

"It is too early to say where we will be in the pecking order. It looks as if Ferrari and McLaren have made strong progress from 2007, BMW have a car that seems quick and Renault have made progress, I am sure some of which is coming from the cockpit with Alonso back at the helm. Red Bull are beginning to look stronger and Toro Rosso are making the best of a car that they are familiar with, they certainly cannot be dismissed. We have certainly made progress, but we will not see where we stand until after the season starts."

"The FW30 is a progression along the theme of the FW29, although the cooling installations are quite different. Obviously it has benefited from nearly nine months’ of aero development from the original FW29, although some of the changes have been applied during the FW29’s development through 2007."

"We never design a new car to be fourth! Obviously we are always designing for the highest possible position, so the result depends upon our relative capability at the time. Although Nico will be starting his third season in F1, Kazuki will be starting his first, so the driver line up will not be as experienced as might be expected for a team competing for a Championship. However, we intend to be regular podium visitors in 2008. The reliability of current Formula One cars means that this can only be achieved with a car that is close to front running performance."

"Yes, they are. Kazuki is steadily increasing his speed, particularly with qualifying simulation of a single lap on new tyres. We expect Nico to be our lead driver, but Kazuki will give a good account of himself."

"I don’t think either Frank or I thought about it. Formula One teams in those days tended to come and go. In our first five years or so it was a financial struggle to survive, but luckily we started winning races and then Championships quite early, so this made the financial side stronger."

"The scale of the activity has changed enormously with the level of coverage. Now some teams have well above 100 personnel that they take to each race, many of whom have no operational connection to the running of the cars, but are from marketing or the logistics-support side."

"Fundamentally, Frank and I have a similar view about the joys of motor racing and we both look after different parts of the challenge; myself on the technical side and Frank on marketing and finance, as well as relationships with our senior partners, so we do not trip over each other too much."

"No, not at all, but we both wanted to achieve as much as possible."

"Consistent guidance from the top, an understanding that F1 is essentially a technical and organisational problem as well as an appreciation of how much we rely upon the skills and enthusiasm of our employees."

"Winning races is satisfying, but it is what we set out to do, so not winning is failing in that task. Once the race is over, both Frank and I tend to be thinking about the future."

"That the races will be contested mostly between Ferrari and McLaren, as in 2007, that at least one race will be won by a third team and that Williams will make progress from 2007."