Pastor Maldonado in his Williams FW33 Cosworth in 18th position
Cast your mind back to the 2004 Formula One world championship. It was the year Ferrari dominated like no other, winning fifteen of the eighteen grands prix.
Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen were the young guns gunning for Michael Schumacher, who had wrapped up his seventh championship by the end of August.
Meanwhile, BMW-Williams’ radical ‘walrus nose’ had been replaced mid-year, and they had suffered various problems with their two fractious drivers – Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya. Both would be leaving at the end of the year.
When Montoya won the final round, Williams thought they had turned a corner after a difficult season. Little did they realise over six years later that that Brazilian Grand Prix victory (their 113th as a constructor) would remain their last.
Williams are enduring the worst start to a season since joining the championship. The disappointment is especially bitter because the team was buoyant after winter testing, where the FW33 completed nearly 5000kms of running. Rubens Barrichello in particular was expecting to make it into Q3 in qualifying and score points during the season opener.
As it was, the Brazilian had a shocker of a race, spinning in qualifying and then running into Nico Rosberg in the race. Pastor Maldonado was out after ten laps and with a dual retirement in Malaysia (hydraulics for Barrichello, engine for Maldonado); the team had not got a car to the finish in four attempts.
China brought a double finish, but in 13th and 18th positions, and that was from qualifying positions of 15th and 17th.
Williams, one of the great teams of Formula One, is having a dire season thus far. But is this a terminal decline, or will we see the team with nine constructors’ and seven drivers’ titles to their credit return toward the front of the grid?
Despite the poor start, Williams’ technical director Sam Michael is optimistic, with a host of new parts for the car at this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix.
“Things can change very quickly in this sport,” Michael told Autosport. “You would never have thought at the last Barcelona test that McLaren were going to win a grand prix in the next month, and they have done. It is because there has been a big change of rules, and there are a lot of different designs out there in terms of exhaust systems and rear wings. As they gravitate towards each other over the next couple of races, it will make a difference. So I am pretty hopeful.”
After finishing eight, seventh and sixth in the last three seasons, Williams had fully expected to be making a play for fifth position. But an extremely competitive midfield has seen the team pushed down the order.
A newly invigorated Sauber, Toro Rosso and Force India have been consistently beating Williams, snatching those top 10 positions that Barrichello was hoping for preseason.
Indeed, at this stage in the championship Williams sit below Lotus in the standings, courtesy of their inferior finishing record.
Despite new front and rear wings and brake ducts for Turkey, there is still some confusion about what has gone wrong at Grove. Plenty of soul-searching and an intention to make some major structural changes to the team are now in the pipeline.
“I am not happy with the job that we have done as a group,” Michael said. “So, we are currently reviewing that inside Williams – I am contributing to that and I am happy to do what the team wants me to do to an extent.”
Adam Parr, CEO of Williams, is of a similar view.
“My goal was to make progress,” said Parr. “We come here to win, everyone does, but we’ve finished eighth, seventh and sixth in the last three years and I wanted to take another step. So fifth, minimum would be good. We are only three races in, this is a long season and it’s not game over yet.”
He added: “I would love to see more progress. The things that we are bringing are not developing so much. The morale in the team is not as high as it should be because we were expecting greater things and it’s the same for me. I’m here to drive fast and to motivate people, but I would like to see the team perform better.”
There are still sixteen rounds left in this championship, more than enough time to turn a season around. Williams will introduce their new diffuser in time for the Spanish Grand Prix; tests in Malaysia gave the team reason to think it would bring a decent performance boost.
Whether this will enable them to leap-frog the teams ahead of them remains to be seen.
Structural change of a team is a slow process, and this is what both Sam Michael and Adam Parr are hinting at. Battles in the midfield are always hard fought, and the team isn’t even at that point yet. Certainly Williams have the depth and character to arrest their decline this season.
The next few grands prix will be crucial.
Mick Leyden
Guest
Hey Mark, It was the FW14B that made me a fan of them, also Senna joining in 1994. I'm still a McLaren man at heart but ever since watching the technical brilliance of that car I've had a soft spot for Williams. I think you are right about Michael, its a shame because being an Aussie, I always wanted him to succeed. I imagine he'll find another job somewhere in the pit lane next year. Coughlan has got a decent CV (except for his Epic Brain fail in 2007) so hopefully he can provide some positive influence, but I think the key will be who they find to head up aerodynamics. That person will be vital to getting back on track next year - and you never know, they got progressively stronger last year so they may move up the grid as the season wears on.
Mark Young
Roar Guru
Gday Mick, Great article Jem, it reads very easily. You are spot on, I remember watching Montoya win in Interlagos and thinking to myself how strong Williams were but really, they fell off a cliff soon after. And sadly, it really appears to be all about Sam Michael, the decline coincides to his promtion to chief engineer. I would like to see them do well again, but only for sentimental reasons. They have always let their two men fight it out at the front which is very admirable in this "Fernando is faster then you" age. I can't see them getting strong again unless Mike Coughlan has some new tricks up his sleeves.
Mick Leyden
Guest
They have been the real disappointment of the season so far, I had high hopes that we might see Williams fighting Mercedes and Renault for best of the rest honours, as it stands the best they can hope for is to catch Sauber, Torro Ross and Force India, and hold off Team Lotus. In fact the whole story has just got even more interesting with last night's announcement that Sam Michael has fallen on his sword as has chief aerodynamicist Jon Thomlinson, both will leave the team at the end of the year. They have also brought in the Mike Coughlan as Chief Engineer, Coughlan was they key protagonist in the spygate saga at McLaren in 2007. You have to wonder how it is all going to pan out. Clearly after such a long time between drinks major changes were needed, I just hope they are moving in the right direction.