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Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
TerraNova19 17 March, 2017 12:39
Quote:
Gunk
Quote:
Duffer
Ricciardo will not go to williams. I honestly believe unless there are strong budget caps enforced, p4 is a championship win for williams. Nobody driving for a top 3 team will go ther unless they are a dejected no. 2. Then williams will not want them, or shouldn't anyway.
Sainz is the man you guys need.

Sainz is the guy in demand. Renault . . . and especially Prost . . . are pushing for him. But as Carlos himself says, you're only as good as your last race. A resurgent Kvyat might be someone to watch also. These two were very close in their junior careers.

What happens if Lance is a disaster? Smedley says he is going to reserve judgement until half season.

FWIW, Marko doesn't think Bottas is as close to Ham as Rosberg and they will finish 'with a few cars inbetween.'

Marko is playing mind games!!!

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
Stu69 17 March, 2017 12:45
If Maca dump Honda at the end of 2017 and Honda are still motivated to do F1 then I would say snap them up, recon half their issues was Ron being a megalomaniac!

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
Gunk 17 March, 2017 13:21
Quote:
Stu69
If Maca dump Honda at the end of 2017 and Honda are still motivated to do F1 then I would say snap them up, recon half their issues was Ron being a megalomaniac!

Ron was very supportive of Honda. But reading between the lines there are a lot of issues. Starting up from scratch was probably not the best idea. (They should have bought Cosworth or similar.) Being based outside the UK doesn't help, never mind the cultural divide. Even Renault admit this brings logistical problems. And the original nano concept didn't work, which has put them back where they started.

Williams would have to take a couple of years pain at least. That's on top of the 'challenging' year we already face with a depleted driving strength. Sorry, I don't see it.

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
crusty_bread 17 March, 2017 15:14
I agree. Honda would have to make major personnel changes first before they could be considered as a viable part of a championship winning package. You can only make so many mistakes so often before your potential it written off and considered unlikely ever to be fulfilled. Just ask Maldonado. They now represent more of a risk of failure than an opportunity for success.

I know it would be satisfying to see McLaren flounder in the lower midfield with a customer engine, poor budget and mediocre staff as Williams have done. It would be even sweeter for Williams to snap up Honda off McLaren after McLaren has gone through all this development pain and win with them in a magnificent retribution and act of karma after precisely the reverse happened in the 1980's, but I think it's unlikely Honda will find a silver bullet after 26 years being a nonentity. It's low percentage stuff.


It's not the easiest path to walk, but right now, Williams' most likely path to success is to do a Brawn or RedBull, and win as a customer team by doing a better job than the manufacturer / works team. RedBull have Newey, Brawn had...Brawn, Williams have Lowe. and Mercedes don't. If Williams can take on the top teams, top drivers will come calling, and prize money and sponsorship will increase, enabling Lowe to eventually mount a championship challenge. If Brawn can do something about balancing revenue for the teams, then Williams really wont need to risk strapping a lame engine in the back in a few years time in order to be able to mount a challenge.

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
erratic 17 March, 2017 16:50
I think Honda will come good this season. Sure it's a poor test but they are allowed to fix it throughout the season now. They may not match other teams for power initially, but they will get it right, so maybe, next year would be a good time to be getting a Honda engine and maybe some cash input, if Mc decide to break ties.

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
Gunk 17 March, 2017 18:16
Did you notice that McLaren have just signed Hakkinen as an ambassador?

Quote:
Pitpass
McLaren has announced that two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen will take up the position of Partner Ambassador with immediate effect, in a multi-year deal.

It's my guess he will replace Alonso after the DNF in Oz. After all, anyone can drive 11 laps slowly. But McLaren can still claim the same contractual fee from Honda for employing a World Champion. Cool.

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
Ozzy Osbone 17 March, 2017 21:03
I think Eddie Irvine has fallen upwards and has made a good go of life. Certainly no failure. Almost lucked in the World Championship which he would not have deserved. I like the bloke myself.

HAM will not leave F1 yet. No way. He wants more titles for sure.

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
andy si 17 March, 2017 21:24
thumbs down :-)

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
Gunk 17 March, 2017 21:51
Quote:
Ozzy Osbone
I think Eddie Irvine has fallen upwards and has made a good go of life. Certainly no failure. Almost lucked in the World Championship which he would not have deserved. I like the bloke myself.

Eddie Irvine was seriously funny. Shocked America when it was discovered he was Ford's highest paid employee. (Eddie Who?) Got up Lauda's nose. Arrested for driving a scooter through Hyde Park without insurance. Famously punched Senna once. Occasionally reported for punching other people in pubs, but never as a GP legend.

English press often portrays him as a kind of George Best/Alex Higgins type, but nothing could be further from the truth. Very shrewd businessman and probably in the top 5 of ex-F1 drivers net worth.

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
TerraNova19 18 March, 2017 09:34

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
Stu69 18 March, 2017 09:46
Quote:
Gunk
Quote:
Stu69
If Maca dump Honda at the end of 2017 and Honda are still motivated to do F1 then I would say snap them up, recon half their issues was Ron being a megalomaniac!

Ron was very supportive of Honda. But reading between the lines there are a lot of issues. Starting up from scratch was probably not the best idea. (They should have bought Cosworth or similar.) Being based outside the UK doesn't help, never mind the cultural divide. Even Renault admit this brings logistical problems. And the original nano concept didn't work, which has put them back where they started.

Williams would have to take a couple of years pain at least. That's on top of the 'challenging' year we already face with a depleted driving strength. Sorry, I don't see it.

But don't you think most of Hondas troubles in the first few years were to do with being set an impossible design brief by Ron?? Totally overly ambitious in terms of packaging. If they had been more conservative the result would have been better immediately, they could then used this solid platform to build a more aggressive position. A big strategic error from Maca , Ron and Honda. They under estimated the design brief.

So we are told the new engine is more "normal" in terms of design. But they ran out of time. This year they are doing what they should have done in the first year. Later this year or even next year the Honda will be more right than wrong. IMO. Perfect for another to pick up on the pain endured by Maca.

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
crusty_bread 18 March, 2017 13:09
I'd like to hear Gunks views. but if all this was Ron's fault (a theory I love BTW) then it's a pretty big coincidence that they messed up that engine, and failed to produce a new engine that worked in time for testing- provoking the ire of McLaren. If they didn't have enough time to switch, they should have known and said something. Clearly, Honda have caught themselves out. I think the reason that design didn't work wasn't because of impossible design parameters but because Honda - currently- aren't very good at doing F1 engines compared to the other three Engine manufacturers. They had a distinctly mediocre engine in the 2000's, and since then, they have just fallen further behind in terms of expertise, R&D and general competence at the highest level.

I just don't see why such a consistently mediocre job year on year engenders such blind faith that they will become competitive. It would be very convenient for Williams to secure a competitive engine and manufacturer funding, but it's wishful thinking on both scores.

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
Gunk 18 March, 2017 16:46
Quote:
crusty_bread
I'd like to hear Gunks views. but if all this was Ron's fault (a theory I love BTW) then it's a pretty big coincidence that they messed up that engine, and failed to produce a new engine that worked in time for testing.
I just don't see why such a consistently mediocre job year on year engenders such blind faith that they will become competitive.

You read so many accounts, who knows.

Perhaps the word 'mediocre' is a little strong. The fact is, Mercedes and Ferrari keep raising the bar. Honda may meet their target, but it's out of date by the time it's executed. This is I believe what happened to the nano concept. It couldn't develop enough to deliver the power that Mercedes were finding.

I read today that Merc and their customers will have the latest spec PU in Australia. Again, more power than even in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago. Without rubbishing Honda, I do think they'll be playing eternal catch up. Ferrari has been finding new materials, piston designs, injection techniques . . . it is rocket science. They're just so far behind the learning curve.

It's fundamentally why I disagree with Alan Jones. I think unfreezing engine development only puts Honda further behind. The vibration problem Honda experienced in testing sounded rather like the issues Renault were experiencing two years ago. Something about harmonic resonances. Honda will sort it, but by this time Renault will have moved on again. One imagines that only the new regulations will level the playing field.

In Renault's darkest hour, RBR brought in Mario Ilien and he was working in parallel with Renault Sport. I now learn that Zak Brown is a director of Cosworth. Seems like an option to me.

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
Polemik 18 March, 2017 19:39

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
Polemik 22 March, 2017 14:01
Paddy looks pretty good in Williams-Martini jacket smiling smiley :

https://imgr2.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Rob-Smedley-Paddy-Lowe-Williams-Formel-1-GP-Australien-Melbourne-22-Maerz-2017-fotoshowBig-e014251-1059751.jpg

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
MartiniSalad 22 March, 2017 14:16
Now that's uplifting. Gives a feeling of progress.



You can only get over your fears if you attack them head on - Mika Hakkinen

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
GPL 22 March, 2017 15:03
It sure does.

Onwards and upwards we hope.

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
williams4284 22 March, 2017 15:52
thumbs down

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
Polemik 23 March, 2017 08:21
he looks happy so far (Sm133)

https://imgr1.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Paddy-Lowe-Willams-Formel-1-GP-Australien-Melbourne-23-Maerz-2017-fotoshowBig-8c1b7a34-1060640.jpg

Re: Williams appoints Lowe as Chief Technical Officer
GPL 23 March, 2017 08:33
He looks like a man that does not like to hang about and put off tomorrow what he can do today.

I expect to see quick changes to the car and team.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 23/03/2017 09:07 by gpl.

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