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Williams was a solid upper-midfield team at the start of the current regs, 2014, with Massa/Bottas. They were usually in between best-of-the-rest & fighting with the top 3 teams. Seems like they got out-developed by a long shot.
Porsche's former World Endurance Championship LMP1 team boss Andreas Seidl is set to move into Formula 1 in a senior role at a team.
Although his departure from Porsche has not been confirmed and it is not yet known which F1 team he is heading for, 42-year-old Seidl has an extremely strong CV that would make him well-qualified for a team principal role.
He made his name working for the BMW Sauber F1 team until 2009, then led BMW's return to the DTM as head of operations.
That programme resulted in title victory for Bruno Spengler at the first attempt in 2012.
He subsequently joined Porsche, heading up the LMP1 programme from its first season in 2014, and overseeing three WEC championship doubles in 2015-17 as well as Le Mans 24 Hours successes in all three seasons.
Porsche publicity material described how it viewed Seidl: "as an engineer with a perfectionist streak responsible for the technical performance of the cars; as race manager he's responsible for the organisational aspects of a world championship race.
"To the squad of LMP1 drivers he is akin to a national coach; he heads up business relations as a manager and ambassador; and as chief of strategy he makes crucial decisions together with the race engineers."
After the closing of the Porsche LMP1 programme at the end of 2017 Seidl was given the role of setting up the Formula E operation.
But with Porsche unable to make a commitment to return to F1 – despite being represented in meetings about future engine rules – he has clearly decided to move on.
There are no obvious current high-level vacancies at F1 teams.
One suggestion is that Seidl could have a future at Ferrari, and he knows its driver Sebastian Vettel well from their time together at BMW Sauber - where Vettel was a junior driver and made his F1 debut.
But a Ferrari spokesperson denied that any team management changes are in the pipeline.
Williams and McLaren are both in the process of rebuilding, but neither has an opening at the top level.
Wherever Seidl goes there remains the possibility that having gained valuable F1 experience he could one day return to Porsche should it ever decide to return to grand prix racing.
I don't agree entirely with that statement F-C. Williams first had Honda, then later Renault engines; both manufacturers defected from them to other teams. I think the last Williams victory was with a BMW engine (Maldonado?) in Spain years ago. McLaren ended up with MBZ engines which were pretty damn fast (Hakkinen/Coulthard) but lost those when MBZ went elsewhere. It's a given both constructors have shit for a chassis and it's been that way for far too long but losing key (good) engine partners wrecked each constructor's fortunes.
McLaren was way over confident in their own abilities, where they thought they had the best chassis for so long that they never moved forward. And we now know that they probably have one of the worst chassis in the field.
Williams insisted to stay independent, so as the rest of the field grew, they stayed stagnant. And rather than bringing in experienced outside professionals, they promoted Claire.
Williams was a solid upper-midfield team at the start of the current regs, 2014, with Massa/Bottas. They were usually in between best-of-the-rest & fighting with the top 3 teams. Seems like they got out-developed by a long shot.
Williams benefited greatly by having Mercedes engines at the start of the new regs. Now as Mercedes's power advantage have diminished, their flaws are exposed.
Daniel Ricciardo has won the 'Action of the Year' award from the FIA for his famous overtake on Valtteri Bottas in China which gave him the lead, with the Aussie sending it down the inside of an unexpecting Bottas for the lead of the race.
Ricciardo won 35% of the votes. Check out all the nominated actions in this video below. Congrats, Daniel!
Williams’ colourful Head of Vehicle Performance Rob Smedley recently announced that he would be leaving his post with the British team at the end of the year to seek pastures new. But it appears those pastures will at least be confined to the Formula 1 paddock, with Smedley insisting recently that, once he’s returned from a spot of gardening leave, F1 is still the series he wants to work in.
Smedley began his F1 career with Stewart Grand Prix in 1999, having previously worked with Renault’s Williams-run British Touring Car Championship squad. After a three-year stint with Jordan, Smedley moved to Ferrari in 2004, going on to become Felipe Massa’s race engineer. He and Massa moved to Williams in 2014, both enjoying an initial period of success as the team finished third in the constructors’ championship in 2014 and 2015, before harder times arrived, with the team currently sitting 10th and last in the 2018 standings.
“It’s kind of time for a new challenge for me now, I think,” said Smedley. “Williams has got its own challenge in front of it to come from where it is at the minute. I’m going to go away and take another challenge somewhere else.
“I’m going to spend some time with my family, who have supported me for a long time. I’ve got to do that, I have no choice in that. But I’m very, very grateful that I can do that and spend some time being a normal husband, a normal dad and not going away every two weeks and not working until nine or 10 in the office every night. So I’ll enjoy that to begin with and then we’ll go from there.”
Having worked with some of the biggest names in motorsport, Smedley confirmed that he was ‘in a really fortunate, lucky position that people want to talk to me’ – but he insisted that his preference would be to remain in F1 rather than taking up a role in another championship.
“I definitely want to stay in Formula 1 – Formula 1 is my passion,” he said. “All my working life, I’ve been in Formula 1 and it’s still the pinnacle of motorsport. There are other series that are snapping at its heels, but it’s still got a lot to offer. Formula 1, we’re working on it all the time, it’s not the complete package. It has so much more potential than what you actually see. So yeah, I do want to stay in Formula 1 on the technical side.”
Where Smedley would end up was less clear, with the Briton understandably coy about the conversations that he was currently engaged in with Williams’ rivals.
“I would say at this moment in time I’m not closing off any options,” he said. “There’s absolutely no avenues closed off. What I actually need to do is, at some point towards the start of next year, get all the options on the table and, after having spent a little bit of time away from it and being able to look at things with a clearer head, slightly less fatigued, then I will make a decision. But until that point, I will see what the options are as they come in and go from there.”
Smedley leaves behind him a Williams squad that’s currently enduring one of its most fallow periods since its creation in 1977. The team’s drivers Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll have netted just seven points this season, over half of those coming in just one race, when Stroll took eighth place in Azerbaijan. But although he was heading for the exit, did Smedley have a view on how Williams could pull themselves out of the mire?
“There’s never one magic bullet, is there? I think in all areas really, you can never stop learning and improving. I think it would be a mistake to pinpoint one area and say that has to be the sole concentration or that’s the sole problem – it’s not.
“They need a recovery plan and that has to attack all areas of the business. It has to be technical, but it has to be all the support structure of the business as well.
“There are areas that need modernisation, there are areas that need change and there are areas you should recognise that are strong compared to other Formula 1 teams, but are not supported in other ways. It’s a long road.
“They’re a talented bunch there,” he added. “There are some really good technical people, some really good engineers and a good management group. The trick now is they have to pull together and start to go in one direction.”
Robert Kubica will be announced as Williams' second driver for 2019, according to reports coming out of Kubica's native Poland, with the former driver being the team's current reserve driver.
Abu Dhabi was actually the last Grand Prix Kubica has driven to date back in 2010. The Pole was one of the biggest talents on the grid at that time, which is why his rallying accident in 2011 was all the more devastating.
After a multiple-year recovery from that accident, the 33-year-old was assigned as Williams' reserve driver for 2018. As the team struggled so much for points this season (they have seven after 20 races) people started crying out for Kubica to step into either Sergey Sirotkin or Lance Stroll's seat.
In 2019, there is still one free seat at the team, with rookie George Russell already being confirmed as a driver.
Polish journalist Cezary Gutowski tweeted out that Kubica will indeed be Russell's teammate rather than either Sirotkin or Esteban Ocon. Williams have offered the Pole a seat as he can bring a strong financial backing with him, something which is needed at the team after title sponsor Martini's departure.
Formula 1 is “very interested” in building on the interest surrounding Max Verstappen by bringing the Dutch Grand Prix back to the calendar.
Officials at the Zandvoort circuit that hosted the Dutch GP sporadically from 1952 until its last appearance in 1985 have suggested talks are ongoing about holding a race there again in future, but as yet there has been no final deal agreed. F1’s commercial managing director Sean Bratches admits it is a country the sport would like to return to, especially amid the support currently being enjoyed by Verstappen.
“We are very interested in racing in Holland,” Bratches told Reuters. “We are having productive conversations there and I am cautiously optimistic we can do something to surprise and delight fans in that territory and take advantage of the Max factor.”
Dutch broadcaster Ziggo recently extended its contract to show F1 in the Netherlands for a further three years, with Red Bull’s Verstappen enjoying a large following of fans at a number of European races. Bratches says the interest in reviving the Dutch Grand Prix shows Liberty Media’s commitment to protecting F1 in more traditional venues following confirmation of a grand prix in Vietnam in 2020 and plans for a street race in Miami.
“We’re in an extraordinary favorable position I think, in the pole position if you will, in terms of Formula 1 being an attractive product for countries around the world. From a brand standpoint, from a history standpoint our intention is to renew the heritage circuits. We think it’s an important part of Formula 1.
“But at the same time we’re a publicly traded company, we’re a business, we have obligations to our partners and the teams to maximize the investment that they are making into the sport and we’re going to try to balance that with the complexities of some of these negotiations.”
One such negotiation is taking place with the Silverstone circuit after a break clause was activated, meaning next year’s British Grand Prix is the last of the current contract. Bratches reiterated he wants to see the race remain at Silverstone but warned it will not be protected at any cost.
“We’ve said time and again our intention is to race in Silverstone for the next 68 years. But at the same time we are running a business and we are going to make prudent decisions as it relates to running the business and that includes keeping a keen eye on fans’ views and perspectives.”
Sergey Sirotkin admits the latest rumors surrounding the identity of Williams' second driver for 2019 have ruffled his feathers, and the Russian now wants clarity on his future.
Reports have emerged that on Thursday, Williams will announce the sensational return to Grand Prix racing in 2019 of Robert Kubica, the 33-year-old Pole filling the Grove-based outfit's second seat alongside George Russell.
That prospect has unsettled Sirotkin who is hoping to build on the hard work he undertook this year with the hope of securing a second year with Williams.
"Right now, sitting here, I want clarity," he told the Russian publication Sport-Express.
"It is very unpleasant to read the latest news. But in Abu Dhabi I will get behind the wheel and all of the problems disappear."
Sirotkin, who has outperformed team mate Lance Stroll in qualifying this season, insists he would not be interested in a testing role next year, should Kubica's nomination come to pass.
"Of course I'm not ready for that," said the 23-year-old.
"I have said repeatedly that I invested much more in this season than people see, and the last thing I want is for the results of my work to go to someone else.
"It is clear that this year we worked for the future, with the results coming next season. If I lose what I worked on, it will be a big disappointment."
As Williams' reserve and development driver, Robert Kubica will make his final FP1 outing of the season in Abu Dhabi.
McLaren has unveiled a one-off livery that Fernando Alonso will use in this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, his last Formula 1 outing for the foreseeable future.
It would make the cars quicker to identify if they had more driver-focused liveries. Apart from the black/yellow T-bar & their number, a bit of extra differentiation would be interesting.
First clear picture I've seen of Kubica's right arm since the accident. It'll be great to see him racing again next year, I just hope Williams can deliver a car he can actually fight for position with.
I've told you guys the story of how me and West were in the grandstands in Canada next to a large contingency of Polish fans that went bonkers when Robert won the GP-it was so cool to see how proud those men were of Kubica, gave me goose bumps considering a couple years prior he had that huge crash down in the Epingle Hairpin.
Formula 1 world champions Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have swapped crash helmets to show their respect for each other at the end of the 2018 season.
The Mercedes and Ferrari drivers have battled for the last two world titles, with Hamilton coming out on top both times.
Following the Abu Dhabi F1 season finale on Sunday Hamilton and Vettel met up to exchange helmets, which Hamilton compared to when players swap shirts in other sports.
"This is kind of an honorary thing that drivers so, this is the highest regard of respect that we can have as drivers," said Hamilton.
"This is like our jerseys. So here's one of mine, great job this year, and it's a real pleasure racing against you."
Vettel said he had been "really looking forward" to making the swap with Hamilton for the first time in their careers.
"Well done to you," he added. "Five championships, that is a great achievement. I hope I stop you from any more!"
Hamilton then joked that he will "never be able to actually use it" because Vettel has "got a small head".
Between them, Hamilton and Vettel have won eight of the last nine F1 world championships.
Always enjoy the F1 Best Team Radio video's
The Daniel and RB dialog was good.
Max/race engineer conversation was very terse
Also liked the donut requests to Hamilton and from Romain
Yeah I don't understand that Albon choice either. Is the Red Bull program bringing drivers up too quickly only to find out initially they're not good enough to be sent back to the Minors to be groomed further to be brought back up again?
Weird factoid, for 2018 drivers in the WDC the bottom 13 drivers earned 407 points, 1 less than Hamilton's 408.
Hoping the 2019 aero rules and tire compound changes make the racing more competitive
Hoping the 2019 aero rules and tire compound changes make the racing more competitive
I seem to recall one of the commentators mentioning that computer sims for 2019 aero were already reaching 2018 downforce levels.
Hopefully we have a good 2019 season ahead of us. 108 days to FP1 in Australia.
11-15-2018, 10:02 AM
Williams was a solid upper-midfield team at the start of the current regs, 2014, with Massa/Bottas. They were usually in between best-of-the-rest & fighting with the top 3 teams. Seems like they got out-developed by a long shot.
on Williams and McLaren decline later
