The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Williams is fighting for underdogs
CLA IRE WILLIA MS is hoping to strike a blow for Formula One’s minnows this season by proving not all teams can buy their way to world title glory.
Williams’ glory days are a thing of the past as it is 17 years since they won the last of their nine constructors’ titles.
The team helped create many a great drivers’ champion, such as A lain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, A lan Jones and Nelson Piquet.
But since the late 1990s the once great marque has been on a slow, steady decline, reaching their nadir last season when they endured the worst campaign in their history.
Behind the scenes, however, a revolution has been taking place as a host of new technical faces have been appointed, sponsors acquired, while in signing Felipe Massa they have a driver as determined as the team themselves to prove they are not over the hill.
A nd by design, the team head into the new season with the must-have power unit partner in Mercedes after ditching Renault.
If pre-season testing is anything to go by then the results of all their hard work could be spectacular.
A lthough Williams’ budget is by no means meagre, it is dwarfed by the likes of Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren, with the prospect all three could find themselves trailing the Grove-based marque.
“It (money) is always a concern for a team like Williams,” said the deputy team principal.
“We’re independent so budget is always a concern for us, but we’ve done a really good job over the winter in bringing in a new title partner and three new sponsors.
“We’re pretty pleased with that, but you can never have enough money in Formula One.
“I personally don’t believe you need a massive budget in order to win.
“I’d love to be able to prove you don’t need that in order to win a championship in Formula One.
“Right now we are in a position where we can go racing, and go racing competitively, and we just need to keep working to make sure we are able to achieve that.
“We are conscious of the development race and plans are in place to make sure if we are in a position where we are competing at the top of the grid that we can keep the development going in the background.
“That’s not a situation anyone wants to be in when you are doing well — to run out of money to keep developing your car.”
A fter years in the doldrums, with 2013 particularly wretched as they collected a paltry five points, Williams is hopeful the effort that has been put in will pay dividends.
She added: “Last year was a nightmare for everyone in the team so we needed to make a lot of changes, which we’ve done.
“We are coming into this season in a completely different place and I really hope all the changes we have made have an impact.
“No one’s in any way complacent as to where we are.
“We had a great pre-season test, did everything we wanted to do, achieved what we wanted to achieve, and the car looks like it might be competitive.
“I don’t think anyone in the team wants to say where we might be — we have to wait until Sunday — but it would be great if the work we have done reaps some kind of reward for everybody because we’ve all worked hard and endured some difficult seasons.”
Williams acknowledges the switch to Mercedes has been significant as the German manufacturer’s unit has comfortably outperformed Renault and Ferrari.
The arrival of the new 1.6-litreV6 turbocharged power unit has turned the grid on its head to some extent, as will be witnessed come qualifying at Melbourne’s A lbert Park on Saturday.
Williams is eager, though, to play down public expectations, adding: “People are expecting a lot, but you just have to temper that, don’t you?”