Discussion
With regard to the 3 above posts, I do appreciate that the setup at Williams is not the same as the others in the same revenue bracket. To an extent I'm comparing apples and pears. On the other hand, there is still the reality that despite the different business models, the teams compared are all broadly running from a similar budget and the Williams result last year was very poor, and this year has all the hallmarks of being at least as poor compared to the others.
I do agree that 'more money' would help any team. I just harbour a strong suspicion that if all teams were on a truly level playing field, that in their current state, Williams would still struggle to be competitive. I think more money would simply compensate for the issues they have, it wouldn't solve them.
I do agree that 'more money' would help any team. I just harbour a strong suspicion that if all teams were on a truly level playing field, that in their current state, Williams would still struggle to be competitive. I think more money would simply compensate for the issues they have, it wouldn't solve them.
I think most managers of SMEs would agree that 90% of problems they have are people problems. Finance become less of a problem the more successful you are at managing the people problems.
An F1 team is really a big technical design consultancy, a small procurement and manufacturing arm with a mobile logistics and implementation team. The trick is to get them all singing from the same hymn sheet, and be confident in your delegation of tasks.
I suspect every aspect of that is broken at Williams, but at Racing Point, Otmar Szafnauer and Bob Fernley were able to keep everyone focused and motivated, even though the staff were not being paid properly.
Leadership is so important, and right now, Williams GP looks like a rudderless ship.
An F1 team is really a big technical design consultancy, a small procurement and manufacturing arm with a mobile logistics and implementation team. The trick is to get them all singing from the same hymn sheet, and be confident in your delegation of tasks.
I suspect every aspect of that is broken at Williams, but at Racing Point, Otmar Szafnauer and Bob Fernley were able to keep everyone focused and motivated, even though the staff were not being paid properly.
Leadership is so important, and right now, Williams GP looks like a rudderless ship.
rdjohn said:
I think most managers of SMEs would agree that 90% of problems they have are people problems. Finance become less of a problem the more successful you are at managing the people problems.
An F1 team is really a big technical design consultancy, a small procurement and manufacturing arm with a mobile logistics and implementation team. The trick is to get them all singing from the same hymn sheet, and be confident in your delegation of tasks.
I suspect every aspect of that is broken at Williams, but at Racing Point, Otmar Szafnauer and Bob Fernley were able to keep everyone focused and motivated, even though the staff were not being paid properly.
Leadership is so important, and right now, Williams GP looks like a rudderless ship.
Agreed on all that. I suspect the private jet for Frank, the large houses for the Williams family, the flashy HQ, the large board of Directors are all factors in hindering progress - if the Williams family are running it as a profitable business, the staff will be much less inclined to dig in than in a more "scrappy" operation like FI (where it was clear that VJM was putting money in, not taking money out).An F1 team is really a big technical design consultancy, a small procurement and manufacturing arm with a mobile logistics and implementation team. The trick is to get them all singing from the same hymn sheet, and be confident in your delegation of tasks.
I suspect every aspect of that is broken at Williams, but at Racing Point, Otmar Szafnauer and Bob Fernley were able to keep everyone focused and motivated, even though the staff were not being paid properly.
Leadership is so important, and right now, Williams GP looks like a rudderless ship.
I'm not sure that CW see that.
rdjohn said:
I think most managers of SMEs would agree that 90% of problems they have are people problems. Finance become less of a problem the more successful you are at managing the people problems.
An F1 team is really a big technical design consultancy, a small procurement and manufacturing arm with a mobile logistics and implementation team. The trick is to get them all singing from the same hymn sheet, and be confident in your delegation of tasks.
I suspect every aspect of that is broken at Williams, but at Racing Point, Otmar Szafnauer and Bob Fernley were able to keep everyone focused and motivated, even though the staff were not being paid properly.
Leadership is so important, and right now, Williams GP looks like a rudderless ship.
Couldn't agree more. That's exactly what I see. The staff certainly looked less than convinced with Claire's motivational speech in the Netflix docu.An F1 team is really a big technical design consultancy, a small procurement and manufacturing arm with a mobile logistics and implementation team. The trick is to get them all singing from the same hymn sheet, and be confident in your delegation of tasks.
I suspect every aspect of that is broken at Williams, but at Racing Point, Otmar Szafnauer and Bob Fernley were able to keep everyone focused and motivated, even though the staff were not being paid properly.
Leadership is so important, and right now, Williams GP looks like a rudderless ship.
Markhendy said:
Well that table of F1 finances is wrong. HAAS ran an F1 team on a budget of 6 and a bit million. I don't think so. It's not possible to run an F1 team for less than £85m/season!
Well you don't know what deal they have with Ferrari. Their sponsor HAAS might give HAAS F1 machinery which they then use in a swap deal with Ferarri for a 90% complete F1 car. HustleRussell said:
I have a horrible feeling that Williams' appearance in Melborne could be worse than merely 'bad'. What if one or both of their cars don't make it out of the garage at all.
I think they'll run, just that over the course of the race they'll be slow compared to everyone else. They had no problems as such getting their car out (once it arrived) in Barcelona, it was just incomplete for testing purposes... I don't imagine a huge amount has changed since then other than it now bring complete, and probably performs marginally worse if those illegal aero tweaks were actually effective. They will do the Aus f1 weekend and no doubt finish near the back with no points. One of 5 teams and 10 drivers to do so.
Spending £100 million more would probably still mean no points.
You can see a longer term plan at work to still be around when the new rules are written.
Cant really see any reason to get on their case unless you are a disgruntled employee of super fan festooned in garments from their golden age.
Spending £100 million more would probably still mean no points.
You can see a longer term plan at work to still be around when the new rules are written.
Cant really see any reason to get on their case unless you are a disgruntled employee of super fan festooned in garments from their golden age.
sgtBerbatov said:
Fundoreen said:
I held off getting one of those jackets in the sell off they did of martini gear as it was too white. That was another poor design choice by williams and their sponsor.
I bought one, it's been alright actually. Helps if you don't do anything dirty in it.Petrus1983 said:
This.
I’m so disappointed with what’s happened with Williams - I guess I grew up in their might - but this is just a calamity at the moment. Genuinely hoping they’ll prove me wrong come Sunday.
I genuinely 'wish' they would prove me wrong, but 'hope', that's kinda deserted me for them this season!!I’m so disappointed with what’s happened with Williams - I guess I grew up in their might - but this is just a calamity at the moment. Genuinely hoping they’ll prove me wrong come Sunday.
I was more of a casual fan during their heights, but I remembered their capability when I got back into the sport in a big way around 2005 which is where they started to go downhill in a pretty big way. Then 2014/15 they showed some return to form, only to then fall down again and this time sink as low as it's possible to get. I would have said last year that 7 points was about as low as you can get but I hadn't anticipated that this season they'd turn up to testing with no car and then progress to Melbourne with a car that is essentially untested.
Leave alone some bits that were so clearly at odds with the regs that whatever they did get done in testing is now going to be different anyway. I can't believe when they chose to try and stretch the rules they didn't at the same time produce alternative components that were definitely legal, so that they could have swapped to testing with those once it was obvious the FIA were going to force them to lose the trickery. You kinda need to develop a plan b at the start if your preferred design could potentially be disallowed.
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