2019 Williams F1 Team - Mercedes

[Big Tea]

Expected but quite sad, I don´t know if Robert's car had something different but its clear that he has been costantly slower(much slower) than a his rookie teanmate. Anyway, his comeback should be a great example of a person overcoming huge difficulties. He will have my eternal admiration because of this.

Hope Kubica takes pride in the fact that when Williams had a chance to score in the wet-ish German GP, he was the Williams driver that had the focus and experience to stay on track and lead the team home to the Championship point. In the long run Russell will be huge, but Kubica beat him when it mattered.

Being able to return to F1 is more than enough to be extremely proud.

This.
I feel he is no longer good enough to be in a top car, but he has fought his way back to the top shelf and power to him.
No one should dis him for it, he has made the top 20 in the world and that is for the second time after a huge setback.

I hope no one loses sight of this when criticizing him.

[bill shoe]

Kubica keeps the championship point, it's a done deal.

https://racer.com/2019/09/24/kubica-kee ... eal-fails/

[Manoah2u]

Hope Kubica takes pride in the fact that when Williams had a chance to score in the wet-ish German GP, he was the Williams driver that had the focus and experience to stay on track and lead the team home to the Championship point. In the long run Russell will be huge, but Kubica beat him when it mattered.

Being able to return to F1 is more than enough to be extremely proud.

This.
I feel he is no longer good enough to be in a top car,

i actually feel there is not enough evidence to remotely support that claim.
Kubica might have raised one to Williams by announcing his departure so early,
or he was 'forced' to leave. But as for Williams, that's a sad bunch of hicks nowadays.
I can't take this team remotely serious by any means.

What i hope to see is Kubica signed to another team where there's more honesty.
Whether that will be Alfa Romeo remains to be seen. Haas is now shut tight.
But i think chances for a 2020 seat for Kubica are very slim.

He might turn up in 2021 somewhere, i'm positive that's where he's aiming at.
That then can be in a variety of places.
Alfa Romeo, AlphaTauri (ToroRosso), Haas, RacingPoint, Panthera F1, there's plenty to go to.
There's goods and bads with all.
Personally i think Haas would be the best choice really. Guaranteed good chassis and parts,
guaranteed decent feedback, and a non-political no bullshit team. I think he'd fit the team well.

Alfa Romeo have my doubts, as they have Kimi and surely will go for a younger gun for the 2nd seat.
AlphaTauri has a question mark because of RB's normal conduct with junior programmes, but they might
start changing that. I don't think Kubica fits that team though.
Racing Point would be interesting but i think would not be all too different from Wiliams in some levels,
so possibly best to avoid unless Stroll no longer is a driver there.
Panthera F1 would be interesting, his expertise would be valuable, he would be able to shape his own 'world',
and it would be a fresh start. Still has it's risks being a new team with possibly not too much financial room.

Panthera with Renault engines - perhaps even branded as Nissan or Infinity - would be interesting and an indirect 'return' to Kubica's Renault ties. That would furhter positively influence Kubica's chances.
It stands to reason that Panthera would be some sort of Renault B-team, using the Haas concept as announced, but instead of Ferrari parts using Renault parts. Would be a cheap solution and a decent base.

But i'm steering quite off from the Williams team.

[321apex]

Expected but quite sad, I don´t know if Robert's car had something different but its clear that he has been costantly slower(much slower) than a his rookie teanmate. Anyway, his comeback should be a great example of a person overcoming huge difficulties. He will have my eternal admiration because of this.

Hope Kubica takes pride in the fact that when Williams had a chance to score in the wet-ish German GP, he was the Williams driver that had the focus and experience to stay on track and lead the team home to the Championship point. In the long run Russell will be huge, but Kubica beat him when it mattered.

Precisely, and his Singapore drive was a major effort on his part in a car that has to be driven at 9.5 tenths to stay 4 seconds behind.

[Scorpaguy]

Painful race today. GR actually had some pace...but then car breaks. Kub pits super early...then pits again??? Then Kub is told to retire the car to save on spares!!! Yikes. Is the race now to see which team folds first...Williams or Alfa?

[Webber2011]

Painful race today. GR actually had some pace...but then car breaks. Kub pits super early...then pits again??? Then Kub is told to retire the car to save on spares!!! Yikes. Is the race now to see which team folds first...Williams or Alfa?

It pains me greatly to see my favourite team in such a dire state.

I've been supporting them since 1978, when at the ripe old age of 10 my Dad introduced me to F1.

If its going to be either Alpha or Williams to fold first, I regretfully suspect it won't be Alpha

[Manoah2u]

Painful race today. GR actually had some pace...but then car breaks. Kub pits super early...then pits again??? Then Kub is told to retire the car to save on spares!!! Yikes. Is the race now to see which team folds first...Williams or Alfa?

Russell was far from impressive, and then the brakes fail.
Kubica did much better -relatively- but was called into the pits early due to issues at the start and then the team decided to pit him again to get his tires out of the way.

if the brakes weren't a thing or if they didn't violate Kubica every race especially now that he's leaving, then he would have had a decent finish. No points, but still.

Yes, Williams is a sad bunch and i'm starting to wonder again whether they still will fold by the end of the year and they'll pull the plug from this dying horse. Perhaps that is actually why Kubica leaves.

Alfa won't fold at all. Don't know how you got to that conclusion, Alfa is doing just fine and will keep to do fine especially since i'm sure they're putting their eggs in the 2021 basket.

Williams does not have the money nor the resources to go for development on both a 2020 competitor and a 2021 competitor. Since 2021 is quite the 'renewal' then it makes zero sence to aim for fixing their problems with this car for a better 2020 car as that goes into the bin quite fast. Unfortunately, that means they will have to do with this season's piece of dung and find ways to improve that base for 2020. Which there really isn't, so, they'll be at the back of the grid for 2020 too. And since they're in such dire financial situation already, i really wonder whether they are even remotely able to bring in something resembling worth to participate in 2021 with.

RoKit is not really bringing immense big bucks to the table, and it was their second choice, they aimed for Rich Energy -which is why they didn't concider their 2019 livery as it should have been black and gold. Instead, they needed to settle with RoKit. Just as unknown but clearly less shady.

The question mark though is will Rokit stay with Williams for 2020 or beyond?
I think Rich energy is out of the question for 2020 with Williams, after the lousy comments on performance from their CEO with HAAS.

Rich thinks and wants to be a RedBull beater. For that, they need to atleast sponsor a top team like for example Mclaren. So i really doubt they'd be going for embarassment Williams. Then again, ive seen more surprising deals.
Williams sure can do with their money, and they're no stranger from doing deals with shady people.

If i'm not mistaken they have renewed their deal with Mercedes, so atleast that's some indication that they're intending on staying alive. Still, that can very much be a thing coming mostly from Mercedes so that Mercedes has a team to place their development driver in the form of George Russell.

[Manoah2u]

BTW,

confirmation Williams once again is rear ending Kubica

https://youtu.be/LG3E5SEK9Vg?t=1446

just look at this interview and look at the body language.

- why are you out of the race?

RK: "yeah." "i can only talk for what i know. SO i don't know

- Oh? did team pull you in call you in? cause we saw the brake failure of Russell

RK: "I don't know you have to ask the team" "this is the answer i.... dont know"

- so they didnt give you a reason?

RK: "No I, ehh, well eh....I assume there is a reason but eh.. yeah."
"IT'S BEST TO TELL YOU YOU ASK THE TEAM, I MIGHT SAY SOMETHING WRONG"
"iT'S BETTER I DON'T ..EH .. SAY"

yeah, it's absolutely clear something really fishy is going on at Williams.

[bill shoe]

Williams parked Robert Kubica to save parts-

https://www.motorsportweek.com/news/id/24651

[marmer]

unless it rains at the remaining gp they might as well not turn up at all.

[Manoah2u]

more on the Sochi GP

Kubica criticizes Williams after Russian Grand Prix

Kubica criticized his team after Williams decided to retire him to conserve parts of the car at Sunday's Formula One Russian Grand Prix.

"I don't understand that decision. My goal was to finish all the races," said the Polish driver quoted by Eleven Sports TV.

Williams decided to retire Kubica, informing that they "wanted to conserve parts of the car." In consequence, Kubica failed to finish a race for the first time this season.

"I could say something but it might be wrong, so better not to say anything," said Kubica right after the race.

The Pole criticized his team. "I don't understand the decision, I could stay on the track. It's my worst weekend in F1. Finishing all races was my main goal. Unfortunately, I won't achieve it," complained the driver.

Kubica added that "on Friday he informed Williams engineers that the car didn't work well, but then the team did nothing".

Before the Russian Grand Prix, the Pole confirmed he will leave Williams at the end of the season. "Now it's time to go home and think about the future to draw some conclusions," said Kubica.

In another interview:"

Robert Kubica has criticised Williams, saying he just needs “a tool which is working” after retiring from the Russian GP to conserve parts

The team revealed that there was nothing wrong with the car, rather it was a ‘team decision to conserve parts ahead of the upcoming races’.

Kubica was not impressed.

and another more revealing

Days after the Pole announced he is leaving Williams at the end of the season, his father Artur told a Polish newspaper that the team's "financial situation is bad. Williams is definitely looking for money to survive."

Kubica told reporters: "For some things, it's better not to go into details or try to understand them. I understand to an extent."

in another quote some interesting conclusions can be made

After George’s DNF, the team decided to stop my car, to take care of the parts that we have on the car. We are not in an easy situation and Japan is around the corner."

With five races still remaining in the 2019 season and resources likely being dedicated to their 2020 car moving forward, Williams felt it would be best to conserve their current pool of parts to ensure they can complete the current campaign.

the simple conclusion from this is to realize that once again, Kubica is getting shafted by Williams by DNF's his car so that RUSSELL will have parts available since George went through some crashes and such there are few parts left. that means Williams retired Kubica so they can give stuff to Russell
That imho is exactly the conclusion to draw, especially in light of Kubica's comments that he decides to 'not say' stuff.

Add in to that this report

Williams Grand Prix Holdings, the public entity and holding of the Williams group of companies, endured a financial loss of £18.8m in the first six months of 2019, mainly as a result of its dismal 2018 season

and realize that this loss is about the 2018 season, which was glorious compared to the 2019 season, and you can realize the loss they must be facing for the 2019 season.

The tiniest bit of respect i had left for this outfit is really gone.
I still, for the love of pete's, have NO IDEA on how on EARTH Claire is still in charge.
She single handedly destructed the entire team into oblivion and keeps doing so.

[ENGINE TUNER]

...

Williams' action in Sochi makes perfect sense. KUB was stopped because there was a possible safety issue on his car which already manifested on RUS car. KUB has crashed much more than RUS and has nobody to blame than himself for the lack of parts. RUS crashes have been mainly not his fault (Baku, Sochi) whereas KUB has put it in the wall several times .

Williams are correct to focus on 2020 and 2021 and the survival of the team, rather than KUB's desire to finish(last) every race.

[Manoah2u]

...

Williams' action in Sochi makes perfect sense. KUB was stopped because there was a possible safety issue on his car which already manifested on RUS car.

you should really read the news articles, as this is not true to the reason they stopped.
they wanted to spare parts for the upcoming races overseas. the latter part is telling,
as shipping overseas is costlier, so they're simply saving on financial grounds, nothing more.

KUB has crashed much more than RUS

not true at all, this is his first DNF. you're talking absolute garbage.

Williams are correct to focus on 2020 and 2021 and the survival of the team, rather than KUB's desire to finish(last) every race.

again, read the news articles.

[marmer]

...

Williams' action in Sochi makes perfect sense. KUB was stopped because there was a possible safety issue on his car which already manifested on RUS car. KUB has crashed much more than RUS and has nobody to blame than himself for the lack of parts. RUS crashes have been mainly not his fault (Baku, Sochi) whereas KUB has put it in the wall several times .

Williams are correct to focus on 2020 and 2021 and the survival of the team, rather than KUB's desire to finish(last) every race.

they didn't stop him for saftey the team line is to save parts thats not the same thing at all. kubica might have crashed a few times in practice but he has not dnf a race yet until the team forced him to stop.
none of these parts are going to be used in 2020(hopefully otherwise they might be overtaken by f3 cars)
this situation is purley about saving kuicas parts to use on russels car. which is unfair to a driver who has paid for his seat more so than russell and has by luck got the team there only point of the season which might not change.

if the team is struggling that much someone should take them out back and shoot them.

assuming robert finished the race as normal the only parts that would have been made worse would have been brakes and engine and transmission parts. everything else should be reuseable. if your telling me they can't afford some of those then they want kicking out of the sport for being a sham

[ENGINE TUNER]

...

Williams' action in Sochi makes perfect sense. KUB was stopped because there was a possible safety issue on his car which already manifested on RUS car.

you should really read the news articles, as this is not true to the reason they stopped.
they wanted to spare parts for the upcoming races overseas. the latter part is telling,
as shipping overseas is costlier, so they're simply saving on financial grounds, nothing more.

KUB has crashed much more than RUS

not true at all, this is his first DNF. you're talking absolute garbage.

Williams are correct to focus on 2020 and 2021 and the survival of the team, rather than KUB's desire to finish(last) every race.

again, read the news articles.

They didn't want KUB'S brakes to fail and put him, his car and it's parts to break, what is so hard to understand?

KUB has absolutely crashed more than RUS, this is not in question and has nothing to do with DNF. Crashes happen in practice, but they still destroy parts.