Re: Sir Frank Williams announced his decision to step down from the Board.
03 March, 2012 08:34
Very sad and distressed at this news, and time for a little more soul searching.
I fell in love with this team due to the people at the helm; Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head. They both instilled a confident, ruthless, pure racing, no nonsense ethos into the team, blended with old-school integrity which I loved and admired.
Over the years, with the handing over of Technical duties to first Sam Michael, then Coughlan, and the sharing/handing over of principal responsibilities to Parr, the picture has seemed very complex, with people (eg Parr/Head) falling out, and decisions taking a lot longer than one would expect.
At least now, with SFW/PH no longer having a say, we know with absolute certainty now that this is Parr's show- no ambiguity. He is not a racer, he has...stretched the truth on a couple of occasions, undermining Head's retirement and being rather ambiguous in his handling of Michael's dismissal, however, Ecclestone was alluding the fact that change was required at the top at Williams, and I really hope this was the change he had in mind.
So who am I supporting? Who are we supporting? I have no emotional connections to Gillan, Somerville, Coughlan, Parr, Senna, Maldonado. Indeed how CAN I develop an emotional connection to a technical director the team are ashamed to show in public? (although I like Maldonado's spirit on track) Is it the factory? Is it the concept of a formula one team that isn't trying to shift cars, or soft drinks, but to just go racing, with an owner who has no ulterior motive other than to win? Is it their lateral thinking when it comes to the flywheel? Is it outdated loyalty? Is it because they are british underdogs and have a nice livery? Is there now no reason other than the fact that there is no better reason to support another team, and I have too much emotionally invested in this...whatever this is?
Hmmmmmmm.....I hope with time we see things we like in the new order, and start to build confidence in what they are doing and how they do it (looking at you Parr). This is what I want. They don't have this confidence by default- they need to earn it, all of them, so I suppose this year is a pretty important one for me.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2012 08:45 by crusty_bread.