Tag: williams f1 team

F1 2018: Williams and Martini Split Ways

It has been announced that the Williams F1 team will split ways with main sponsor Martini at the end of the 2018 season.

Martini first came on board the Williams team in 2018 which saw a return of the famed red, white, and blue colour scheme to the world’s most elite racing series. While Williams were open to extending the sponsorship agreement the Bacardi Group, which owns the Martini brand, has stated their intention to withdraw all of their interest from Formula 1.

“We have discussed extending beyond 2018,” says Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams. “While we would both like to do so, the Bacardi Group have told us that they will step away entirely from Formula 1 when our contract expires at the end of this year. They have many brands to support and obviously their strategic priorities evolve over time.”

While Williams will have received a financial boost from Sergey Sirotkin’s SMP Racing sponsorship the loss of Martini will be a blow to the team.

February 27, 2018
Review: Williams Documentary

In 2017 the Williams team celebrated four decades in Formula 1 with the release of a documentary that tells the most incredible story of one of the sport’s most successful teams.

Often sports documentaries have a tendency to be predictable but the perspective from which the Williams story is told is simultaneously unexpected and profound. The film is mainly based on the 1991 book, A Different Kind of Life, written by Lady Virginia Williams, late wife of Sir Frank Williams. As a result the film is infused with the sort of extraordinary authenticity that elevates it well above the average sports documentary.

There is marvelous input from co-founder and designer extraordinaire Sir Patrick Head who minded the store between 1991 and 1997 during which the team won 59 races and four drivers’ titles. It also charts the tumultuous and highly successful time of teammates Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet in 1986-7.

But mostly it is about the seemingly unstoppable Sir Frank Williams and his legacy. With nothing but a single-minded obsession with speed Frank Williams created one of the world’s most successful and enduring F1 teams. Despite nearly losing his life in a 1986 car accident, which left him a tetraplegic, his unconquerable resolve and spirit endures to this day. Though the film charts not only the history of the team it also provides a compassionate portrait of not only Sir Frank Williams’ survival against the odds but his voracious passion.

At 75 years old he remains, technically, as team principal but the duties and responsibilities have, since 2013, fallen to his daughter Claire Williams. Despite more than holding her own as deputy team principal she maintains that she never expected “to be given the keys to the shop”. Sir Frank’s faith in Claire is easily one of the most touching aspects of the film. Further, it is Claire’s presence in the film, her openness when questioned about personal matters, and her poignant readings of excerpts from her mother’s book that create the human connection and shows its sensitivity.

This film is guaranteed to leave you with a deeper and perhaps even emotional appreciation for Williams and what it means to the sport. What’s more, it if wasn’t there before, it will probably leave you with an insightful reverence for the team. And it will leave you with the unmistakable realization that Williams will never stop fighting, never stop working, and never stop racing.

February 7, 2018
Williams: Bottas to Mercedes announcement expected this week

Williams’ deputy principal Claire Williams says Valtteri Bottas an announcement regarding the Finn replacing Nico Rosberg at Mercedes is expected this week.

Rosberg retired shortly after winning the F1 world championship title last year, leaving Mercedes looking for a team mate for Lewis Hamilton for the 2017 season.

When Williams was asked whether it was a question of “dotting the Is and crossing the Ts,” she replied: “It is exactly that.”

Williams has been seeking significant remuneration for releasing Bottas from his 2017 contract and it would seem that a deal will be confirmed this week.

“It has been dragging on and I think everyone wants to know, probably more who is going to be Lewis’ teammate next year, and of course when Nico made his announcement we knew the call was probably going to come from Toto,” Williams said. “It is a great opportunity for Valtteri and he has given a lot to Williams. We’ve always said if we can make this happen on terms that are positive for Williams then it is probably the right thing to do.”

Everyone is expecting Felipe Massa to come out of retirement to replace Bottas alongside F1 rookie Lance Stroll but no confirmation has been made yet.

“We are nearly there, we are at the tail end of it and hopefully we’ll be able to make an announcement this coming week,” Williams said at the Autosport International Show.

“But it has to be right for Williams, whatever we do will always be the right decision for Williams no matter what other people’s opinions might be.”

Williams has no doubt about Massa’s motivation to succeed in Formula One and seems pretty certain that the Brazilian is the first (and possibly only) option to fill the gap that Bottas will leave at the Williams team.

“Felipe’s heart has always been in our sport,” she said. “Everyone said that about him when he joined us, ‘surely his time in F1 is over, he petered out at the end of his years at Ferrari’, but he came to Williams and it seemed to be a great culture for him and he was a new driver.

“I don’t think he necessarily wanted to leave the sport and he did say he wanted to continue racing. These guys have been racing since they were six years old and it is in their DNA, that is what they do.”

Williams also refuted claims that any deal to release Bottas was connected to the engine supply from Mercedes. There has been much speculation around Williams seeking significant discounts for their engines in return for releasing Bottas but Williams stated that this was in no way the case.

“Just because we’re a customer of Mercedes, doesn’t mean Toto can pick up the phone to me and I go ‘alright then’,” she said. “Anyone that knows me knows that I don’t just go, ‘alright then,’ just because someone says they want something.

“We pay for our engines,” she continued, “we pay on time and therefore they don’t have any right to come to us and say, ‘you need to release this driver for us’. If I decided not to release Valtteri, then Mercedes would be fine and say ‘no problem, thank you for thinking about it’.”

January 16, 2017
Watch: Felipe Massa’s retirement message

After 15 years in Formula One Grand Prix racing, Felipe Massa has announced that he will retire from the sport at the end of the 2016 season. Mobil 1 The Grid spoke to the Brazilian as he reflects on an illustrious career in F1 which saw him win 11 races with Scuderia Ferrari after making his debut with Sauber, and which will end with Williams Martini Racing.

September 5, 2016
Hamilton claims Italian GP pole by nearly half a second

Lewis Hamilton stamped his authority all over the Italian GP weekend by claiming the pole position by nearly half a second over his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton was fastest in Q1 and Q2 and fastest in both Q3 runs. Hamilton already had the edge over his team mate with the fastest first Q3 run but blasted his way to pole with a 1:21.135. This is Hamilton’s fifth Italian Grand Prix pole and with it, which equals the record held by Ayrton Senna and Juan Manuel Fangio.

A lock up in Q2 added a small flat spot on his race tyre but Lewis did not seem too concerned about it saying that he could hardly feel it and doubted that it would have much of an effect on his race tomorrow.

What did become very apparent was the absolute advantage that Mercedes has over its rivals this week. Sebastian Vettel finished three tenths down on Rosberg for Ferrari, with Kimi Raikkonen locking out the second row of the grid with his team mate.

Valterri Bottas staked his claim on an impressive fifth place for Williams – finished just 0.001s ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen claimed the eighth grid spot ahead of the Force India duo of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg.

The Haas F1 team were very impressive and made their first appearance in Q3. Esteban Gutierrez took up the 10th place, 0.3s behind the Force Indias.

Felipe Massa who recently announced his retirement from Formula One failed to impress, failing to make it through to Q3. He had to settle for 11th place but gets a free choice of which tyres he’ll start on tomorrow.

Romain Grosjean qualified 12th but a five place grid penalty for a gearbox change after FP3 will push him back to 17th place on the Italian GP grid. Fernando Alonso complained of a loss of power on his final run and finished only 13th fastest. Pascal Wehrlein put in a good show to split the McLarens and Carlos Sainz rounded out the Q2 runners.

Daniil Kvyat was not able to make it through to Q2 and set off the bleeper with a string of expletives after his run, questioning his Toro Rosso team about what had gone wrong. Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson will take up the next two spots ahead of the Renaults who had a very tough qualifying session. Jolyon Palmer qualified 20th with Kevin Magnussen behind him after KMag had to run across the grass at the exit of Ascari on his final lap.

Esteban Ocon’s qualifying session was over before it even started really. He was forced to park his Force India at Turn 1 as he started his flying lap. He will need to ask the stewards for permission to race, since he has no qualifying time but his practices were within the 107% mark so there should be no reason not to allow him to race.

We’re not expecting much strategy-wise for tomorrow’s Italian GP. For most, it’ll be a quick, 1 stop race. It’ll all be about the start tomorrow and both Hamilton and Rosberg are likely to have their mirrors full of Red Ferrari off the the line. Hamilton has every chance of cruising to a victory if he makes a faultless start and given his current form, and the absolutely dominant performance of his Mercedes, it’s hard to think that he will not make it so.

Join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for live commentary and chat throughout the Italian GP.

Here is the final Italian GP Qualifying time sheet.

September 3, 2016
Verstappen labels Bottas’ qualifying behaviour ‘dangerous’

Max Verstappen was more than a little frustrated with Valtteri Bottas following the first ever qualifying session at the Baku International Circuit on Saturday.

Red Flags ruined Verstappen’s best qualifying effort for the session and subsequent efforts were also ruined while he fought with Bottas for track position.

Here’s what young Verstappen had to say to reporters …

Q: Max, what was that thing going on between you and Valtteri Bottas in qualifying?

Max Verstappen: I think it was just not clever from him. I was preparing for my timed lap and I understand that he wanted a tow – but there was not one point for him being able to overtake me – and brake – under normal conditions. The result was he ruined my lap and destroyed his lap as well. If that happens once, okay, forget about it – but if you do the same thing again in Q3, that’s not smart.

Q: Did you see him after qualifying and have a word with him?

MV: No! Because I don’t need to be the person to go to him – he should come to me!

Q: Do you expect him to get a penalty?

MV: I don’t know about a penalty – but it was dangerous what he was doing. It was dangerous and unnecessary – and not clever!

Q: For you it had pretty grave consequences. Your lap was destroyed and any hope for a good grid position gone…

MV: Yes. That was the consequence!

Q: And the incident before, where you went wide in Turn 1?

MV: Yes, same story…

Q: You went wide because of him?

MV: Because he was locking up and I was afraid that he would hit my side so I thought that it is better to go wide. But I’d lost my set (of tyres) – I had to come in and had only one run in Q2. So that was all not really pleasant!

Q: That all sounds as if the two of you will never be best buddies…

MV: Ha, in Formula One you can never be best buddies – no matter what. The moment we speak I am over it and hopefully he learns from it.

Q: You said you have not spoken with him but aren’t you interested what was going through his head?

MV: My guess is nothing was going through his head that very moment!

Q: Without all these incidents what would have been your chances?

MV: If I check all the data before the red flag I could have challenged for P2. So it is a massive frustration, as we know that the speed is there. I know there are chances for overtaking in the race, but I prefer to start from row one than P9 – that is for sure.

Q: The first GP2 race in Baku was pretty chaotic with a first corner incident taking out four cars. There was also a lot of slipstreaming. Do you expect that to happen also tomorrow?

MV: I think so. But let’s hope we don’t lose four cars on the first lap. And never forget GP2 cars all have similar engines – and that will be the biggest difference to the F1 race.

Q: The Bottas incident aside, how would you sum up your driving on this track? Are you satisfied?

MV: Yes, actually very happy. I built it up very differently to what I did in Monaco – and it worked super well. I was improving with every session. And finally I arrived in Q3 and would have had a good lap. I am satisfied with myself, the car and the team – we all did a great job to improve the car compared to yesterday, so it is really annoying not to have the result that we would have deserved.

Q: You ran very little downforce…

MV: …yes, we’ve been slower than our competitors on the straights! You’ve probably seen that our rear wing is pretty tiny. We probably lose a bit of downforce through the low speed corners – but I think we’ve found a good compromise. But there is no magic stick that gives you more horsepower suddenly on the straights! (laughs)

Q: You been running now for two days on this new track: what is the hairiest part for you?

MV: I think it is sector two – corners eight to twelve. It is difficult and tricky to get to the limit. If you lock up going into the corner it is game over. In Q1 and Q2 you are trying to build up – to get it right in Q3.

Q: When you just said that you’ve learned from Monaco – what does that exactly mean?

MV: Well, it is basically about understanding the car more. We have a great car so there is no need to go on the limit straight away as you have margins to improve. So in Q1 you don’t need to be at one hundred or ninety-nine per cent – you will also make it into Q2 with ninety-two per cent. And then step it up for Q3.

Q: Isn’t it also a different psychological approach to a race having a car that is eligible for front rows?

MV: Yes, it is of course – and you probably need some weekends to grow into that!

Q: After the red flag and only a bit over two minutes left of qualifying all the cars lined up at the pit lane exit. Your teammate Daniel (Ricciardo) was at the front: wouldn’t it also have helped you being more at the front of that queue?

MV: Maybe. We can speak in the team about it. But in the end that is not the main reason why my qualifying was not as it should have been.

Photo Credits:

Max Verstappen – Red Bull Racing

Verstappen vs Bottas – FIA screengrab

June 18, 2016
Rosberg beats Ricciardo to Chinese GP pole, Hamilton last

Nico Rosberg resisted what seemed to be a mighty threat from Ferrari to claim the pole position in what turned out to be an action packed qualifying session ahead of the Chinese GP.

Kimi Raikkonen threatened to claim the pole with Rosberg trailing him after the initial Q3 runs but going too deep into the penultimate corner, and a perfect 1:35.402 lap from Rosberg handed the German the pole.

Team mate Lewis Hamilton, who already headed into qualifying with a five place grid drop for a gearbox change, will start from the back of the grid tomorrow.

Mercedes are still trying to fix the problem with Hamilton’s ERS but seem confident that they will be able to solve the problem in time for the race. Hamilton has won the last four Chinese grands prix – he’ll have to really earn his pounds tomorrow if he wants to make it five in a row.

Rosberg cruised his way through Q2 on Pirelli’s soft tyres, meaning that he will be starting the race on the soft compound rather than the super softs which are expected to only last only a few laps.

Ricciardo stormed through his final lap to start on the front row for Red Bull, finishing second – just over half a second down on Rosberg’s Chinese GP pole time.

Raikkonen managed to salvage third – the Finn very disappointed in his result after making the mistake into the penultimate corner.

After having his fans at the edges of their seats with the hopes that the Iceman would claim his first pole position since 2008, the disappointment was more than obvious.

Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel opted to go for only a single run in Q3 in a likely effort to save an extra set of tyres for the race but rand deep at the hairpin and finished only fourth.

Valtteri Bottas finished 5th for Williams with Daniil Kvyat, Sergio Perez and the Toro Rosso drivers behind him.

Nico Hulkenberg had made it through to the Top 10 Chinese GP pole shootout but could take no part in it after his front left tyre simply slipped off at a thankfully low speed during the final minutes of Q2 which brought out the second red flag of the session.

Interestingly there was no word of any investigation from the stewards into the incident.

Felipe Massa only just missed out on a slot in Q3 after being caught out by the red flag.

McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button also felt they had a chance of getting through before the red flag came out, with Alonso repeating a good few ARGH’s over his team radio after being told he wouldn’t be able to have a go at it. Button, just as frustrated responded with a, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

The McLaren Honda team looks to have made some good progress. Both drivers never got to show their true pace but they will however have a free choice of tyres for the race start tomorrow which could help them make out the deficit suffered today.

Romain Grosjean was 14th for the Haas F1 team with Felipe Nasr behind him.

Renault drivers Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer finished 17th and 19th with Esteban Gutierrez splitting the pair in 18th place. Rio Haryanto finished in 20th place.

Pascal Wehrlein took part in only five minutes of Q1 after he lost control on a bump along the main straight and brought out the first red flag of the session. The delay lasted for 20 minutes as marshalls spent time drying wet patches of water.

Many fans took to Twitter to voice their frustration that such action was being taken for what really amounted to puddles considering the fact that these – the best drivers in the world – do have wet and intermediate tyres available. Wehrlein was running on slicks at the time.

Will Lewis Hamilton be able to fight his way through the pack and pose any sort of a threat up front tomorrow? One thing is for sure – this is definitely going to hurt his title prospects. Rosberg has the Chinese GP pole in his pocket, but not the race victory just yet … Perhaps the Ferrari team could unsettle things at the top a little further with both Raikkonen and Vettel hungry for a win. And, with Daniel Ricciardo in the mix up front, we could just be in for a proper cracker of a race tomorrow. Join us for live commentary, banter and opinions on Twitter @F1_Madness before, throughout, and after the Chinese GP.

Photo Credits: Screengrabs as broadcast by FOM

April 16, 2016
Meet Williams’ 2016 Challenger – the FW38

The Williams F1 team have unveiled their 2016 Formula One season challenger, releasing images of their Mercedes-powered FW38, ahead of the first pre-season test in Spain next week.

The team had promised that the 2016 car would be “significantly different”. The FW38 still sports a very familiar nose and the livery is also mostly unchanged but the sidepods and rear do appear to have had some facelifting. More updates are scheduled to come ahead of the first race in Melbourne with Deputy team principal Claire Williams insisting that the FW38 launched today is “by no means the final product”.

Valtteri Bottas will debut the car in the pit lane at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya at the pre-season test, before handing over to team-mate Felipe Massa in the second half of the week.

The FW38 will once again be powered by a Mercedes engine – a significant factor in the team’s two third-place finishes in the Formula One Constructors’ Championship over the last two years. The FW38 will retain its Martini sponsorship. The team are confident that the FW38 can deliver what it takes to challenge the front running teams.

“Williams has started to cement our position back amongst the front running teams after finishing third in the Championship in the past two seasons,” said Williams Team Principal Sir Frank Williams.

“This has been a great achievement given the resources of those around us. Staying where we are will be a challenge in itself, but we are determined to keep improving because only winning will ever be good enough.

“We have a very stable team going into 2016, with Felipe [Massa] and Valtteri [Bottas] teaming up for a third successive season. They work well together and both have the ideal blend of speed and consistency. Our technical team has also remained very consistent which will be to our advantage and we have some of the best engineering minds on the grid at our disposal.

“We have a busy couple of weeks of testing coming up to learn more about our package and to refine the car ahead of the first race. We will have to wait until Melbourne to find out exactly where we stand in the pecking order but I’m confident that our hard work over the winter will stand us in good stead.”

Deputy team principal Claire Williams added: “2016 promises to be a very competitive year in Formula One and there will be a number of strong teams who have us in their sights. We are confident that we have made a step forward over the winter and that the FW38 will build on the strengths of the FW37 and address some of its weaknesses. We started design work on the car earlier than normal and hopefully this extra development time will stand us in good stead.

“The car we are launching today is by no means the final product. We are already planning updates for Melbourne and will be pushing for constant improvements over the course of the season. Williams enters 2016 in a strong place. We have a great team of people and over the past two years we have started to regain our competitive edge. Now we need to build on that and take this team back to where we all want it to be.”

Photo Credits: FW38 images courtesy of Williams Martini Racing

February 19, 2016
New Williams car ‘hitting targets’ early on

Williams Martini Racing are happy with the early performance of their car for the 2016 Formula One season which is currently in development.

Williams head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley says that the target for the upcoming season is to “get back to the front,” and that the Williams F1 team are definitely hitting targets.

“The 2016 car we have in the wind tunnel and the 2015 car are significantly different, so there’s nothing we could do from an aerodynamic point of view. Other parts of research and development and the mechanical design we are trialing all the time,” Smedley said.

“We think that everything we are seeing at the minute is good. We’re hitting targets. We are always looking, not just at numbers, but in other areas aerodynamic development as well, other significant areas.

“It’s a process of getting us back towards the front. At the moment, we are reasonably happy with what we are seeing.

“Of course, it’s all relative. Williams could have a stellar development and Ferrari and Red Bull could have an, even more, stellar one.

“But everything we are seeing at the minute is good, we are hitting targets. We are always looking not just at headline numbers but in other areas of aero development, other important areas.

Smedley described the 2015 season as “lackluster” despite finishing third in the Constructors’ Championship and said constant development had been the reason for the stronger showing in 2014.

December 14, 2015
Williams F1 Team Abu Dhabi GP Preview Quotes

Abu Dhabi GP Preview Quotes from the Williams F1 Team

Valtteri Bottas – Williams F1

“I really like Abu Dhabi as a place. The weather is guaranteed to be good and the facilities are great. It’s the track where I had my first official Formula One test, so I have good memories there.

It’s the season finale, so it would be very nice to end the season with a strong result with both of our cars like we did last season. We have good memories from last year, everyone in the Williams F1 team was so happy, it was a really special feeling after such a difficult season in 2013 to confirm third in the constructors’ and my fourth place in the drivers’ championship.

Hopefully we can make more great memories this time.”

Felipe Massa

“Abu Dhabi last season, I think this was the best race I’ve had in my time at the Williams F1 Team. To be able to fight for the victory was amazing, there have been two races we were really fighting for the victory, one was Silverstone this year and the other was Abu Dhabi. We got very close to winning the race, it was the best result for the Williams F1 team with both cars on the podium.

The race starts in the day time and finishes in the evening, it’s almost like two separate races.

I really hope we can have a similar performance as we had last year there because the car was really very strong.”

Rob Smedley, head of Williams F1 Team performance engineering

“The Williams F1 Team have already secured third in the constructors’ championship which is a great achievement for the team and takes any pressure off, other than that that we put on ourselves. We aim to have a really strong race and finish the season on a high.

The circuit should be suited to the characteristics of our car and we delivered a great performance last year so hope to replicate that. Abu Dhabi is always somewhat of a challenge as half of the practices are in the midday sunlight, but the important sessions are during the twilight hours.

We have to divide our programme up to utilise this time efficiently and not get carried away with car handling data we obtain during the day. It is a great facility with a very international fan base and a great way to finish the season, they put on an outstanding event.”

November 26, 2015