2018 Williams F1 Racing - Mercedes

[Mr Brooksy]

I'm not sure it has much to do with pay drivers so much as Williams under delivered for the past 2 years. Falling further and further back into the midfield. If I were a large multinational forking out huge sums of cash each year to be humiliated by Force India (who has less income and doesn't even produce the entirety of its car) last year, I too would be questioning my investment. Kubica in one of the seats 'may' have made an impact on the ongoing talks, but let's face it the team hardly got much screen time in 17!

The bad taste in my mouth (no pun intended) is that they are saying they are pulling out of F1 yet are in talks with other teams... If the press is to be believed.

Being that big sponsors are few and far between at the moment... Who could fill this hole in Williams budget? Is Rothmans owners doing a nicotine free product by any chance? On a serious note, would we see more of Daddy Strolls companies step up and fill the void? Or maybe a Russian multinational?

[Sevach]

Very interesting turn of events.

I wonder if Williams would have ended up better off financially if they'd have put Kubica in the race seat ?
I mean, if the age limit thing is true, then he would have fit the bill perfectly.

I have no idea how much the Martini money compares to Surotkin's bag of cash, but it does make me wonder ?

If the decision is coming out now it's probable that Williams has known about it for a few months, maybe even before the shootout at Abu Dhabi.

Which might have led to Williams ignoring Martini's preference for older drivers (and made money an even bigger factor).

[Restomaniac]

Hahaha !

And as per usual, there's a few forum members thinking the same way and beat me to the punch

[Manoah2u]

I am thinking we'll see Martini with Alfa Romeo Sauber next year (but investing much less money),
or with Force India - which stated they need to change their name for a 'huge' sponsor next year.

[Mr Brooksy]

Interesting article about Martini leaving F1 and Williams.

Seems Williams is totally certain that Martini is leaving F1 and not switching teams.

https://www.racefans.net/2018/02/27/mar ... -williams/

[shotzski]

Interesting article about Martini leaving F1 and Williams.

Seems Williams is totally certain that Martini is leaving F1 and not switching teams.

https://www.racefans.net/2018/02/27/mar ... -williams/

Maybe so far as Martini brand is concerned. They may still switch to other teams using different brand. Just like what Diageo did at Mclaren, Switching JW for Chandon.

[RonDennis]

15 million bucks certainly won't make them a title sponsor at McLaren, not sure is Diageo would like it as well.

[Manoah2u]

So adios Williams back to the backmarker area, again, with 2 talentless drivers.

Im gonna miss that Martini livery thats' for sure.
Only 'positive' is that Williams will return to their old blue livery, me thinks.
OR, if BWT leaves Force India after the 'new' name hauls in a 'big' title sponsor as they say which could mean no more BWT, that BWT will go to Williams and we'll have pink Williams-es.

anyway - which other deep pockets are left unrobbed and not mined yet by the williams bloodsucker/golddigger gang?
KFC Indonesia Galeal is still up for grabs i'm sure?! Red-yellow Williams (ala Winfield era) with a nice BWT pink to it ?



so they've lost Randstad, Hackett and Martini.

[Sevach]

[media]https://twitter.com/WilliamsRacing/stat ... 2571138049[/media]

Practice report.

[sprint car76]

Starting to get really worried about williams race engineers. Last year they weren't very consistent and today paddy is saying they lost their way on setup. Having kubica as a test driver was supposed to help williams f1 with a veteran setup driver. So what happened today? Not looking good.

[bosyber]

It doesn't say anything about setup, they had electrical problems in the morning and afternoon.

[sprint car76]

Go to Williams F1 site and read paddy loews report for march 8. "We lost our way with setup"

[netoperek]

It's pretty simple IMO. Their main drivers can't keep up with test driver (as expected), so excuse making process has begun. Kubica was suppossed to test today as well, but Williams changed it's mind to give their race drivers chance to catch up on the timesheets. It shouldn't be too important at this point, but I think they want to avoid further mocking of their "purely performance based driver choices"

[marvin78]

And you have facts to show that Kubica is really faster? Don't say "the times". Then I only would laugh out loud.

[zonk]

Claire: "It was Robert's idea to give drivers more time after earlier weather problems. His experience and maturity are valuable. Sergei is doing long journeys today, Lance will check the qualifying pace in the afternoon. "
Source:@SokolimOkiem

"Robert is very generous. Neither team nor Lance asked him to give in today. He decided that race drivers need more mileage behind the wheel before they go to Melbourne. "
Source:@CezaryGutowski