Williams F1

[thegreenhell]

But with hindsight it wasn't a bad decision for Williams to reject BMW. BMW didn't hang around for long in F1, and their sudden withdrawal almost wiped Sauber out completely.

[anonymous-user]

groomi said:

RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:

sparta6 said:

The writing was already on the wall for British independent racing teams when Todt & co began taking the manufacturers Euros.

Kudos to Williams for lasting this long. David v Goliath it's certainly been

Is that Williams, previously BMW Williams?

Yep, Williams who refused to sell out to BMW, whereas Peter Sauber was happy to.

The obvious point being that Williams have been happy to work with and be works entries for large manufacturers. They haven't been put at a disadvantage by manufacturers entering F1. They pretty much entirely failed to capitalise on it, however that's not the fault of the FIA for trying to entice manufacturers, or the manufacturers themselves for entering.

[TheDeuce]

RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:

groomi said:

RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:

sparta6 said:

The writing was already on the wall for British independent racing teams when Todt & co began taking the manufacturers Euros.

Kudos to Williams for lasting this long. David v Goliath it's certainly been

Is that Williams, previously BMW Williams?

Yep, Williams who refused to sell out to BMW, whereas Peter Sauber was happy to.

The obvious point being that Williams have been happy to work with and be works entries for large manufacturers. They haven't been put at a disadvantage by manufacturers entering F1. They pretty much entirely failed to capitalise on it, however that's not the fault of the FIA for trying to entice manufacturers, or the manufacturers themselves for entering.

There is a significant difference between working with a manufacturer - essentially an affordable BMW engine deal in return for adding their name to their team title (essentially sponsorship) and no doubt some useful data exchange compared to a manufacturer buying all/most of a team and taking control. Or, becoming a b-team to further a mainstream manufacturers interests. The only thing that could have turned Williams fortunes around 3 years ago was to either become a b-team, or sell control of their team in order to bring in team-saving levels of investment. Or just possibly partner with Honda in return for some proper financial support, no doubt at the price of having Honda approve certain aspects of the car they would have built to match the engine, gearbox etc. Williams weren't open to any form of outside influence though.

As it is, now they have to sell anyway - just what they have to sell they have devalued significantly.

[sparta6]

RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:

groomi said:

RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:

sparta6 said:

The writing was already on the wall for British independent racing teams when Todt & co began taking the manufacturers Euros.

Kudos to Williams for lasting this long. David v Goliath it's certainly been

Is that Williams, previously BMW Williams?

Yep, Williams who refused to sell out to BMW, whereas Peter Sauber was happy to.

The obvious point being that Williams have been happy to work with and be works entries for large manufacturers. They haven't been put at a disadvantage by manufacturers entering F1. They pretty much entirely failed to capitalise on it, however that's not the fault of the FIA for trying to entice manufacturers, or the manufacturers themselves for entering.

Unless you have Billionaire owners, an independent racing team simply cannot compete in this Manufacturers era.

[anonymous-user]

sparta6 said:

Unless you have Billionaire owners, an independent racing team simply cannot compete in this Manufacturers era.

Ah. So now you can compete if you're not a manufacturer. It's now all about how rich your owner is.

I won't bother shooting any more, as your goalposts, like everything else, move faster than a Williams.

[carl_w]

Rokit to Mercedes https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-rokit-...

[TheDeuce]

carl_w said:

Rokit to Mercedes https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-rokit-...

Wonder how much space Rokit can afford on the Mercedes car?? Maybe a postage stamp sized logo on the underside of the rear wing...

Whatever though, if they have space for Rokit and Rokit can pay... why not?

[skwdenyer]

TheDeuce said:

carl_w said:

Rokit to Mercedes https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-rokit-...

Wonder how much space Rokit can afford on the Mercedes car?? Maybe a postage stamp sized logo on the underside of the rear wing...

Whatever though, if they have space for Rokit and Rokit can pay... why not?

AIUI Williams terminated Rokit for non-payment.

[Piginapoke]

skwdenyer said:

TheDeuce said:

carl_w said:

Rokit to Mercedes https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-rokit-...

Wonder how much space Rokit can afford on the Mercedes car?? Maybe a postage stamp sized logo on the underside of the rear wing...

Whatever though, if they have space for Rokit and Rokit can pay... why not?

AIUI Williams terminated Rokit for non-payment.

I understand they were up to date, which makes the decision to terminate even stranger

[anonymous-user]

I doubt Mercedes would entertain Rokit if it knew it had unlawfully defaulted on previous sponsorship commitments.

[andburg]

RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:

I doubt Mercedes would entertain Rokit if it knew it had unlawfully defaulted on previous sponsorship commitments.

certainly an odd scenario unless there was some dispute over what was owed or Rokit were working on the merc deal and merc forced them to pay Williams??!!

[Chrisgr31]

andburg said:

certainly an odd scenario unless there was some dispute over what was owed or Rokit were working on the merc deal and merc forced them to pay Williams??!!

My assumption was Williams terminated the deal as it allows them to be sold to someone that can then be the headline sponsor, almost like Haas.

However fairly sure there was talk about money being owed. There were also questions in this thread weren’t there as to how Rokit could be the sponsor as where was the money coming from? Don’t they also sponsor Formula E?

All seems odd

[anonymous-user]

If you look into the people behind Rokit there is plenty of money there, but they do tend to get involved with sponsorship deals that dont run the full term.

The main UK guy behind it has very old links to UK motorsport, he was the initial importer of Yokohama tyres to the UK and organised their sponsorship deals in motorsport.

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 24th June 16:16

[ajprice]

Chrisgr31 said:

Don’t they also sponsor Formula E?

All seems odd

W Series


They might be in FE too, but they'll be on all the W Series cars.

[Chrisgr31]

Ah yes W series

[Kraken]

They also sponsor Nic Hamilton in BTCC.

[skwdenyer]

Re Rokit:



That is from WGPE’s accounts made up to 31 Dec 2019 & signed-off in May.

[anonymous-user]

skwdenyer said:

Re Rokit:



That is from WGPE’s accounts made up to 31 Dec 2019 & signed-off in May.

Doesn't that talk about the position at the balance sheet date, i.e. 31st Dec, rather than May this year?

[skwdenyer]

RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:

skwdenyer said:

Re Rokit:



That is from WGPE’s accounts made up to 31 Dec 2019 & signed-off in May.

Doesn't that talk about the position at the balance sheet date, i.e. 31st Dec, rather than May this year?

It does. And I presented it without comment as it is somewhat ambiguous

[skwdenyer]

RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:

skwdenyer said:

Re Rokit:



That is from WGPE’s accounts made up to 31 Dec 2019 & signed-off in May.

Doesn't that talk about the position at the balance sheet date, i.e. 31st Dec, rather than May this year?

Worth also considering this:



from https://www.racefans.net/2020/06/24/williams-rokit...