Since the takeover of Williams Racing three months ago by Dorilton Capital there has been no real apparent evidence of the impact of this takeover. The new owners have kept it very low key with only a few appearances of Directors Matthew Savage, James Matthews and Darren Fultzat at the track with the team.

But despite this Acting Team Principal Simon Roberts has made it clear in interviews that the team is working on a long-term strategy that will combine certain aspects identified by former boss Claire Williams with new investments coming from new owners Dorilton Capital.

Robert's has outlined how Dorilton's strategy is to focus on long-term performance ensuring that the team is ready for the arrival of the new technical regulations in 2022. Combined with this has been an examination of now to best assist the team in resolving issues through newly available cash coming from Dorilton's investment.

The initial phases of Dorilton's investment saw an initial cash injection of £42.5million to clear Williams' debts but beyond this they have started the next phase of their long-term plan. In November a further £5m was injected into the company for working capital purposes.

Asked about the direction Claire Williams had laid out and those areas where Dorilton wanted to make change Roberts said: “From the cultural fit with the team, there’s a lot of synergy between the roadmap that Claire had laid out. And we’re staying very true to that.

“We want to be a great place to work. We want to make sure we’re caring and kind to all the people that work for us, and we want to just do all the right things.

“In terms of the technology though, we now have the opportunity to invest and that’s what we’re doing. That’s started already.

“There’s not much impact of that on the car we’re racing now but we’ll start to see that next year.

“This is part of a long-term strategy, and that will build slowly over the next five years.

“The main thing is we want to invest wisely. We don’t want to make mistakes.

“We want to play for the long game, and that’s what we’re doing."

After the disappointments of 2018 followed by the even more disastrous 2019 season the team under Claire Williams had started to make a significant number of changes to the culture of the team focusing on planning and production processes with the aim of turning Williams Racing into a competitive Formula One team. With Dorilton’s arrival these changes are been backed up by increased investment coming from Dorilton.

But despite these processes taking place within the company Williams has been very quite in terms of outlining Dorilton's investments not going any further than admitting that new funding is now available within the team. But even with this there has not been any real tangible evidence of Dorilton’s investment with the 2020 car. So from an outsiders perspective it seems like little has changed but that is far from the truth. Doing things like improving the factory is more about the long-term benefits that bring with it rewards from improvements in its design and production processes in regard to 2021 aerodynamic development followed by further gains for 2022.

One aspect that has been under consideration has been the efficiencies that can be gained by becoming involved in the supply and development of parts for the Williams car. But the team has spoken of how it is reluctant to go down the B Team path but it is expected that under the Dorilton investment it will see building everything in-house becoming an easier process.

Roberts spoke of this area by saying: “We can see advantages, but we don’t want to become a B team.”

“So, we want to retain independence, but we want to be more competitive.

“We’re open to extending our relationship but the specification of that will depend on what we think we’re strong at internally, and where we think we need help and support.

“In simple terms, if we’re good at something, and we can do it quicker to the market, quicker to the track, we should focus on that.

“If there’s something we can’t do very well, then we should be prepared to go and buy that from whoever’s got it available.

“Under the cost cap you can’t afford to be inefficient and that’s what we’re focusing on.

“We need to make sure, if we’re making chassis, we’re really good at making our chassis. And we apply that to everything in the car.

“We are an independent, we’re going to remain independent, but there is scope for collaboration.”