2018 Williams F1 Racing - Mercedes

[Francesc]

They tested them in the pre-season. I know different track conditions and all, but they have all the data.

[bill shoe]

Resurfaced track, thinner tyres that will run colder....not a bad gamble to make to be honest.

Yes, Spain is the most predictable track for performance and it's decided on straight aero. Also, traditionally low crashes/collisions/etc. So Williams need to be aggressive and take risks or else they are locking in a non-points finish.

[netoperek]

Some say that 10 SS sets are chosen for Sergey's car because of Robert testing in FP. Williams had problems with softer compounds, so they want Robert to test the hell out of them to solve it. Lance should be following the footsteps of setup evolution, to determine where is the line of usability for them. When Lance no longer can keep up, Robert should backtrack and focus on driveability. Just rumours though.

[adrianjordan]

It's getting painful to watch Williams this season. Does anyone have any doubts that Robert would be getting better results than Sirotkin is?

[marvin78]

Yes. There is no reason why he should get better results. So doubts are in place.

[santos]

It's getting painful to watch Williams this season. Does anyone have any doubts that Robert would be getting better results than Sirotkin is?

I think the biggest problem is the car. Stroll is making progress, even though many people talk about him like if he was another Maldonado, even when there's a huge star making errors at every race. Sirotkin is an unknown... maybe Kubica had better results, but wouldn't be very different.

[Raleigh]

Stroll is at least a solid driver at this point, he has some race craft, always seems to do well on the first lap and generally gets the results the car deserves.

Sirotkin meanwhile hasn’t really shown anything, though to be fair he hasn’t had much of a chance.

[Zynerji]

Stroll is at least a solid driver at this point, he has some race craft, always seems to do well on the first lap and generally gets the results the car deserves.

Sirotkin meanwhile hasn’t really shown anything, though to be fair he hasn’t had much of a chance.

Stroll is actually impressive for how he takes care of his car during the race. Paddy Lowe actually commented about it in an interview last weekend.

[netoperek]

Yes. There is no reason why he should get better results. So doubts are in place.

Oh FFS, it has been covered in this and other threads numerous times already. Sirotkin has not beaten Robert on raw pace. Not once. Only argument about SS superiority, has been concluded on an extrapolation, that Robert has not been faster by a larger margin on hypersofts in Abu. Having a huge number of 2 attempts on them. 2. Which was all the time he had to learn that tricky compound in cold conditions. One lap he had traffic, the other one he blew a bit. That's it. That's the base for an excuse that has been used later on to justify Sirotkin instead of Kubica. We know now that Williams, even with all the updates up to date, has not yet managed to extract softer compounds full potential, which shows even more how artificial those "performance based" arguments were.
In fact, the only time when SS and RK had a proper shootout has been in Valencia in '12 Renault, which Sergey knew quite well then. Robert has been 0.4s faster driving for the first time not just '12 Renault, but essentialy any F1 car in 6 years.
That said, who on earth really believes that a rookie paydriver, with not so impressive record, could deliver a better overall performance than a veteran, who succeded in not just track racing, but also in rally and GT, who has always been considered a huge talent? And all this based on a rather convinient manipulation of facts? Especially when even Clair addmited that their very existance has relied on how much cash they can muster. The only question mark has been Robert physical ability, which later on has been declared as no problem at all.
Renault has been saying that main reason for not hiring Kubica has been a lack of certainty that his limitations won't collide with a full season rather than a lack of pace. Which was a much more clever PR move back when they decided that Sainz plus McLaren engine deal is worth more than Kubica. Even though many fans were angry at them, after all they got hype and free publicity for months on Roberts history, they still did him a favour, giving some track time and opportunity to bring his name back to the sport. With Williams it has been pure seat price negotiations all along the way. Then a rather poor cover up and afterwards ironically a plead for Robert to stay with them with a healthy paycheck in place to have at least one experienced driver on hand, and who knows, maybe as a backup plan as well.

Sorry for bringing it up again, but I guess that reminding the context of SS "pace superiority" from time to time will provoke some thoghts rather than taking Williams media statesments for granted.
To mods: if it shouldn't be brought back or is improper in any way, feel free to delete this post

[Manjhi]

Four races into 2018 season and people start expecting Sirotkin, a rookie, to score a point in a slow Williams car.

Let him grow for this season first of all. Don't expect him to show performance like Ocon or Max, he will take his own time, plus he has no driving/coaching support like the RB or Mercedes junior drivers have.

[Manoah2u]

Four races into 2018 season and people start expecting Sirotkin, a rookie, to score a point in a slow Williams car.

nah man, i wouldn't expect sirotkin to score a single point even after 5 full seasons in a AMG Mercedes car.

but don't worry, neither does williams, theyre just happy to take the money he throws at them for the paycheck of Claire's silk baby diapers.

[Sevach]

https://www.racefans.net/2018/05/03/str ... -mercedes/

There have been some discussion about Mercedes doing "a Haas" with one of their clients recently (Merc said they are open to it).

Claire has said she is against it, with apparently Lawrence Stroll pushing for it.

[Raleigh]

https://www.racefans.net/2018/05/03/str ... -mercedes/

There have been some discussion about Mercedes doing "a Haas" with one of their clients recently (Merc said they are open to it).

Claire has said she is against it, with apparently Lawrence Stroll pushing for it.

Honestly at this point that might be a good option at least for the next couple of years. Williams could work with and gain from Mercedes for the next few years, then go a more independent route if budget caps are introduced in 2021.

So long as the team preserves their knowledge base and workforce there is really nothing to lose by working with Mercedes.

[bill shoe]

So long as the team preserves their knowledge base and workforce there is really nothing to lose by working with Mercedes.

But that's the whole problem, they would lose their broad and comprehensive technical capability which would cost them their true independence and their ability to control their future. Williams, for all their current challenges, have maintained themselves as a viable/independent/full-car constructor. For example, Williams make their own gearboxes. Haas doesn't, Force India doesn't, Toro Rosso doesn't, and I think Sauber doesn't.

In the short-term it would probably be more cost effective to buy transmissions from Merc. The tradeoff is that once you become a transmission-buying B-team, you quickly lose the expertise to make your own transmissions and it never comes back. It never comes back. There are probably many other examples as well. Becoming a Haas-type B-team would fundamentally hobble them in a way that Frank, Claire, et al have put huge amounts of effort into avoiding.

I can root for them as a true independent racing team, through good times and hard.

[Sevach]

It is hard to come back after you spend a couple of years buying everything.