sinking fast??

[Code Monkey]

Williams are on the back foot again it seems with another title sponsor pulling out.

http://uk.sports.yahoo.com//f1/index.html

whats next for poor frank, missing engine, driver and money. anything else he needs lose to make next year a development year?

[rubystone]

For them to exit early, there must be a performance clause in the contract. Latest rumours are that BAR have done a deal with Williams - circa £20m for Button with Heidfeld staying for 1 year before his BMW option kicks in.

I reckon they ought to also contract Rosberg. In fact, this would be a good time to get him in the racecar - unlikely that Williams will challenge for the championship next year, so mhy not minimise costs and give Rosberg a low key debut?

Oh and surely Allianz will follow BMW to Sauber?

[anniesdad]

They've already got a quick man with Webber. Would they not be better off sticking with their existing line up? Why take the chance on Rosberg?

[rubystone]

anniesdad said:

They've already got a quick man with Webber. Would they not be better off sticking with their existing line up? Why take the chance on Rosberg?

Because he's cheap and still available - Heidfeld is a one year bet only and I think Webber's contract expires at the end of next season. I would put money on Williams signing Rosbeerg on an up to 5 year deal.

[nightdriver]

Or even Piquet Jnr, he has some good links with williams. From what I understand he got a test before Rosberg.

[Eric Mc]

Williams recently did a deal with UK technology company QinetiQ.

[GarrettMacD]

Code Monkey said:

whats next for poor frank, missing engine, driver and money. anything else he needs lose to make next year a development year?

HP were pulling out due to poor performance (as a company) in the last couple of years. They are making a lot of redundancies, and to continue spending £XX million with Williams would leave them open to abuse from their redundant employees, and probably the shareholders too!

On the money front, things are actually looking very GOOD for Williams. They'll sell Button's contract for at least $25 million, plus they have new sponsors to replace HP, plus they have a Cosworth V8 - IIRC Cosworth have made the most successful race engine in the history of F1, and it was a... V8!!!

Selling Button's contract is the best bit of business he's done in a long time, the idiots at Honda seem to think Button is worth building a team around...

My money is on Webber and Fisichella at Williams next year, BTW!

[telecat]

The orginal contract was with Compaq as well. HP took them over and hence the reluctance to continue