The entire Williams-Excel thing smells like fake news blown out of a smidgen of truth. It’s hard to believe that with any company with a budget like Williams wouldn’t have a decent MRP system operational decades ago. Implementing an MRP system is relatively simple but does take people away from their regular jobs and there is a transition period. Also, the right MRP systems has to be selected.
If the truth is there was no MRP system at Williams then Claire/Frank Williams were at fault.
Adrian Newey works in conceptual ideas and relays to the engineering staff what he thinks will work. The engineering staff then takes then his concept and builds a engineering model in the computer to validate his thinking.
Well Frank was older than dirt and I feel like he was a true old-school racer so I doubt he felt the need to update the system, and Claire kind of helmed the team while it descended to the bottom of the order, so I’m not sure she understood what the team’s needs were either.
Based on Vowles comments, it seems like the team was treading water and was so focused on the actual performance of the car, they weren’t zoomed out enough to see the facilities were out of date and the way they were running the team behind the scenes was not how it needed to be done in the modern era.
… and no, Williams should not go to make space for them IMO. Idealist in me wants to see both on the grid.
Sidenote: Yesterday I learned of an emergency fund that Ecclestone had for teams that were struggling to ensure they could get to the grid. I had no idea TBH.
Exactly! Excuses to not let Andretti in are weak and make no sense. It seems like they have done everything right. How can they prove they would competitive without getting a chance to see what they can do I would love to see more cars on the grid.
Idk man, James has some very valid frustrations based on this interview:
The bit about emails going back and forth between departments trying to track down missing information is all too familiar, being a Powertrain Production Engineer. I couldn’t tell you how many times one of my projects fell behind schedule because I get ghosted from someone in a different department who says stuff like “good question, let me investigate this and I will follow-up with you” and then it never gets done Lol.
Anyways, on the Andretti announcement … That makes me wonder what kinds of conversations they’ve had with F1 in the background that we don’t know about. It’s bizarre how their rejection was the news for like, a day, and then its crickets until this big announcement. I feel like this is a HUGE investment for a team to do without having some sort of commitment from the F1 side.
Here is what’s gonna happen for this season mercato :
Mercedes and Toto are gonna get cold feet about promoting Antonelli, due to him not dominating F2 (despite new car and poor adaptation from the team).
Mercedes is going to try to snatch Carlos on his way out of Ferrari
Carlos probabilities (sourced out of my ass) :
60% to Mercedes
30% to RB
10% to Sauber/Audi
Ricciardo out, Lawson in after China.
RB is going to snatch Antonelli from Mercedes, putting him into VCARB alongside Yuki/Lawson for 2025 and in RB for 2026, if he performs well, basically repeating history and doing the same as with Verstappen.
I dont see Ricciardo out this early. Maybe by summer break if things dont improve.
Does Mercedes think George is better for having spent a few years in a Williams or should he have jumped straight to Mercedes, cause this will play into the decision of placing him in a back marker vs Mercedes. But everything can easily change as he gets more seat time in the practice sessions thru the year.
No one knows yet. Crofty just mentioned on the sprint broadcast that Red Bull can’t match Audi’s offer to Sainz, so it seems Red Bull is a long shot. Audi surely won’t be super competitive immediately so it would be a shame for Sainz to waste his best years in the midfield building a new team.
I’ve kind of been enjoying this period of racing. A lot of the casuals are getting out of the sport, and we are witnessing the most dominant performance in the history of the sport. It’s just insane to watch. 0 mistakes. just utter domination every single race. Although I will be happy when we get back to a 2 or 3 car championship fight
It might be enjoyable if you are a Max fan, but for neutrals it is just boring to know the winner from the start. The only way someone else wins is if RB have issues.
I guess I’ve just leaned into the reality that Max is on another planet for now and the interest is seeing how long he can do it for. I can’t think of a time where there wasn’t some team dominating. Williams in early 90’s were close to unbeatable… Although again… Max and RBR are on another planet right now.
If neutral fans were an important demographic kart circuits would be turning people away at the turnstiles (if they had them)
I do think F1’s regulatory structure which locks in car performance more than ever isn’t good. I am not anti-domination, but I am anti-prescriptive regs. We also have far too many races.
Having said that, what is happening right now is putting into place a future championship battle that will go down in history when Max finally is challenged. His domination now will make that future battle very much more meaningful. All those fair weather fans will come back in droves. The F1 narrative unfold over years.
Though it’s pure fantasy, Max would be such a more interesting kart racer. What he did in 2013 was amazing, and it wouldn’t been great to see how he would have developed had he stayed in karts, as unlikely as that idea would be. We see it to some extent with his sim stuff.
I doubt there will be a battle, to be honest. Whatever the other teams do, RB is always one step ahead, not just with the car but also operationally as a team. Ever since 2010, Newey’s cars have had the best aero on the grid, and if the engine remains good I don’t see any other team challenging them even with the regulation changes in 2026. Speaking of which, Verstappen will probably retire if the new cars are actually as bad as he said.
There is also the question of which driver can fight him. Russell, Sainz and Norris are just not good enough, Leclerc has many off-days, Piastri is somewhat unproven so far and Hamilton seems to be checking out of F1. Maybe Alonso can, but the Aston will never realistically be at the same level as the Red Bull. The only real battle will be for 2nd in the next few years unless Newey leaves the team.
I would love to see more cars on the grid.
