2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

[edu2703]

Someone who thinks that Williams will get good results this year is a blind man, or an idiot. Besides the car being crap on a wet track, it is driven by two mediocre drivers. Williams will not go anywhere with them.

Mark my words. P6 in the constructors' championship is the most optimistic prediction for Williams this year. Only a true miracle will prevent Williams from spending another season at the back of the grid struggling to reach the Top 10. All teams have at least 1 talented driver. Williams is the only team that has no talented drivers. A retired driver and a paydriver. Can it get any worse than that?

[Schuttelberg]

Someone who thinks that Williams will get good results this year is a blind man, or an idiot. Besides the car being crap on a wet track, it is driven by two mediocre drivers. Williams will not go anywhere with them.

Mark my words. P6 in the constructors' championship is the most optimistic prediction for Williams this year. Only a true miracle will prevent Williams from spending another season at the back of the grid struggling to reach the Top 10. All teams have at least 1 talented driver. Williams is the only team that has no talented drivers. A retired driver and a paydriver. Can it get any worse than that?

I think you're way too harsh. I really dislike this sort of maligning of someone. Alonso who's widely regarded as the best driver on the grid himself has pay attached to him. And, Massa might be an old man but Alonso is as old as him and driving at a really high level. Ultimately, it's all about performance and confidence. I do understand your frustration as I also feel that Williams has the weakest line up of all, but it's not as atrocious as it seems. I think to be honest, they've really lost the 'racing' mentality that is most hurtful.

I'm not saying Williams should go after Alonso and try hire him, but they can do better than hiring someone who checked out last year and a rookie who's clearly very very raw and under prepared.

[LookBackTime]

CHINESE GRAND PRIX
09 APR 2017

Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai
5.451kms / 3.387 miles

Race Notes

• Felipe Massa finished 14th whilst Lance Stroll’s first ever Chinese Grand Prix was cut short after contact from Perez on the opening lap put him into a spin at Turn 10
• It was a chaotic start with the vast majority of the grid starting the 56-lap race on Pirelli’s intermediate tyres after a wet start to the day
• The drying track meant Felipe soon switched onto the soft compound, taking the opportunity under the virtual safety car due to Lance’s incident
• Unfortunately, Felipe struggled to get enough grip to maintain position and soon lost positions in the race
• A disappointing day for the team leaves Felipe eighth in the Drivers’ Championship whilst WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING moves down to sixth in the Constructors’ Championship

Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: It was a tough day for us. It was always going to be a difficult and long afternoon in these mixed conditions. Unfortunately, Lance’s race ended very quickly after being hit from behind at Turn 10, which was a shame after his strong qualifying result yesterday. On Felipe’s side, it was an incredibly painful afternoon and he was lacking in grip throughout. There are lots of things we would have done differently with hindsight. I think everyone was planning on a one-stop race with dry tyres but almost the entire field needed to do an extra stop. Unfortunately, we just weren’t able to show the real pace of the car today, so there’s a lot of work and analysis we need to do back at base in order to come back stronger in future. These are the days where we need to convert our disappointment into constructive development.

Felipe Massa: I’m really disappointed today as everything went wrong for us. I had too much wheelspin at the start, and then behind the safety car we had five slow laps on the dry tyres, so they were completely cold. I wasn’t able to drive in the proper way because it felt like I was driving on ice. That was the worst part; we lost so much time and so many positions. Then we tried to risk stopping before the others to see if we could pass people and keep up the pace, but I couldn’t. We need to carry on trying to do what we did in the first race in Australia and qualifying here. Now we will look forward and concentrate on Bahrain.

Lance Stroll: I was hit from the rear at Turn 10 and that was the end of my race. I was in front, knew the corner was mine and had to turn in eventually. It was just unfortunate as that was my race over. I got hit and then the car was broken, most likely with a puncture and damaged suspension. While today was difficult, we have some positives to take out of this weekend, as the qualifying was good even if the race was not what we wanted. But it is still early days and there are a lot more opportunities. I am now looking forward to Bahrain next weekend and that is what I am concentrating on now.

.

[LookBackTime]

A little bit to smile!

[LookBackTime]

https://twitter.com/MassaFelipe19/statu ... 8650255362

[Stalker1]

Someone who thinks that Williams will get good results this year is a blind man, or an idiot. Besides the car being crap on a wet track, it is driven by two mediocre drivers. Williams will not go anywhere with them.

Mark my words. P6 in the constructors' championship is the most optimistic prediction for Williams this year. Only a true miracle will prevent Williams from spending another season at the back of the grid struggling to reach the Top 10. All teams have at least 1 talented driver. Williams is the only team that has no talented drivers. A retired driver and a paydriver. Can it get any worse than that?

I think that Williams results are going to depend on the pace and efficiency of their in-season development program relative to their closest rivals (Haas, Force India, Toro Rosso and later also Renault and McLaren) and on the perfomance improvements of Lance Stroll. I wouldnt say now that fans should already write off this year. Too early!

I agree with you on the cars continous lack of pace in damp conditions. They never managed to cure it on the FW-36 family and now Fw-40 shows the same characteristics.

About the drivers... Massa is not a top driver, he is rather solid driver, but not mediocre. With right car and right conditions he could achieve podiums. Stroll is immature and unexeperienced, but clearly has potential as Australia and China today have showed. If he manages to improve his qualifing pace and calm down, he could suprise in this season, I hope!

Although, it is no secret that Williams have hitted harder than expected during last three seasons and to improve further they needed to find more money to speed up the in-season development and hire new guys like Lowe.

[Stalker1]

I'm not saying Williams should go after Alonso and try hire him, but they can do better than hiring someone who checked out last year and a rookie who's clearly very very raw and under prepared.

I wonder, who is going to replace Massa next year? He has a one year contract, hasnt he?

[LookBackTime]

I'm not saying Williams should go after Alonso and try hire him, but they can do better than hiring someone who checked out last year and a rookie who's clearly very very raw and under prepared.

I wonder, who is going to replace Massa next year? He has a one year contract, hasnt he?

Martin Brundle - direct from Chinese Grand Prix : Ferrari is trying to sign Ricciardo!
This is a little strange. If you are Ferrari why not hire Verstappen?

If this is true then Carlos Sainz (my favorite driver to come to Williams) will go to Red Bull.

I expect Bottas to keep his drive at Mercedes.

Alonso, in my opinion, will not be hired by Mercedes.
Bad blood between him and the big guns from Stuttgart.
Can McLaren get a Mercedes engine?
He can stay with McLaren or if he wants a Mercedes engine he can choose Williams.

Kimi can be an option for Williams. But his retainer is very high

Others good drivers anyone ?

[Stalker1]

Thats the way it is, isnt it? At first glance you think that how the hell a team like Williams ended up with already retired Massa and inexperienced but eager to prove himself Stroll? Then you realise that they did not have any other options. To be honest, I cannot see how Williams could attract the top level drivers during this season!?

Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen, Ricciardo - impossible!
Alonso would rather retire than spend a year or two fightning for podiums and in Top6 with Williams. (With Fw-40-s current pace, probably even his maximum results)
Raikkonen - this will probably be his last year in Ferrari and F1. Why he should join Williams for reduced pay and perfomance? But, never say never!

Other good drivers...
Grosjean - although it is obvious he wants a seat in Ferrari, this is not going to happen probably. From the other hand, would Williams be a upgrade from Haas?
Perez - He seems happy with FI. And FI could be quicker in the end of the season than Williams.
Antonia Giovinazzi - Although he crashed two days in row, his pace was pretty promising, I think.

Someone outside of current F1 drivers?

[edu2703]

Someone outside of current F1 drivers?

Felipe Nasr maybe...

[edu2703]

I'm not saying Williams should go after Alonso and try hire him, but they can do better than hiring someone who checked out last year and a rookie who's clearly very very raw and under prepared.

I wonder, who is going to replace Massa next year? He has a one year contract, hasnt he?

Well, Alonso is practically out of the question. He is the highest-paid driver on the grid and Williams can not afford to pay his salary.

The midfield teams are very close to each other. Any driver of these teams if they go to Williams, it will not change much. So, it's best to stay where they are.

About the McLaren and Sauber drivers: Alonso, I already told you. Vandoorne already has a contract for next year. Ericsson is not talented enough. Giovinazzi is fast but inexperienced like Stroll. Wehrlein,errr? About Di Resta, i think he is in the same level of Massa.

To make matters worse, Martini forces Williams to hire older drivers (Over 25). So they can be used in advertisements around the world. I'm afraid Williams will be forced to renew Massa's contract for lack of option.

Well, if I could choose a driver, I would choose Felipe Nasr. He is a cheap and safe option since he was test driver for Williams, so the team has his data. I don't know if he drove well on the tests but I believe he did.

[Sevach]

Someone outside of F1 i think Buemi merits a look, Gasly and Giovinazzi are talented but it would be a 2 rookies line up.

Inside, there's Grosjean, Perez and Kvyat, only possible choices i see.

[Mr Brooksy]

Buemi would definably be worth a look considering how he is doing in FE. He did rather well I thought in his brief F1 foray with Torro Rosso. Just not good enough, but most insiders have said a few times that he was too young.

If I could choose from the current guys though, it would be between Alonso and Grosjean (& Sainz depending on age). But as has been said, would Williams be an attractive move for them? I highly doubt McLaren will dig themselves out of this mess in the next few years. They really are doing a Williams of the early 2010s and if Alonso wants a team who can finish in the top 10 and nipping at the heals of the top 6 cars then I'd want to go to Williams. Even with their current inherent low speed and wet issues. Grosjean... Wants Ferrari. Not sure he will ever get there, but I'm guessing he'll keep going and chipping away at it like Hulk did.

Otherwise Sainz would be great, is Sainz over 25? If so go after this guy I say!

The reason I think Williams is a more attractive option than some of the teams in the upper mid field is because they are the fastest of the midfield even with their current line up. They have signed some good engineering talent that will boost the team significantly and if the rumours are still true, they will be getting even more good quality people into engineering positions that they desperately need!

Once the current new team settles in, the car will only get quicker no matter who drives it this year.

Optimistic, yes. Head in the clouds, maybe. But I'm not going to condemn them to the position Sauber is in simply because the current drivers are not multiple world champs.

[Sevach]

The only place i can see Alonso going is back to Renault honestly, Renault is already in the midfield group right now and has potential to progress.
Sainz is a very good prospect, but according what was said he's going to be picked up by Red Bull, with Ricciardo replacing Kimi...
I think Grosjean gives up on his Ferrari dreams if he sees that Ric got the job.

As for Buemi he was good at STR, everybody agreed that the axing was harsh, sadly he didn't find a second home in F1, and he's been doing great both in FE and Toyota WEC as of late.

[Schuttelberg]

I'm not saying Williams should go after Alonso and try hire him, but they can do better than hiring someone who checked out last year and a rookie who's clearly very very raw and under prepared.

I wonder, who is going to replace Massa next year? He has a one year contract, hasnt he?

Massa might not be replaced. Pretty clear he doesn't want to retire. My gut feeling is that if Bottas can't dance with Hamilton, he might be back here.