Williams Racing acting team principal Simon Roberts has suggested patience might be needed in the team’s quest for an improvement in fortunes, following its sale to US investment firm Dorilton Capital in August.
Williams F1 Team, founded in 1977 by Sir Frank Williams and Sir Patrick Head, was family owned until last month when, in the wake of a number of trying seasons and increasing financial pressures it was sold to Dorilton Capital for a sum thought to be in the region of £130m.
But while its new owners may have the financial clout to invest heavily in the team, an injection of cash isn’t necessarily enough to cure all the team’s woes straight away.
“This isn’t a quick fix, you don’t just come in and wave your magic wand around” Roberts is quoted as saying on gpfans.com
“They’re really keen on working with us and establishing what are the right things to do. So very early days. We’ve just gotten the first plans in place.”
And although Williams’ new board members Matthew Savage, Darren Fultz and James Matthews have little F1 experience, Roberts says the similarities between the finance world and the world of Formula 1 should benefit them enormously.
“All the things that we think we’re great at in Formula 1 they have quite an insight into. There’s quite a lot of synergy there.”
“The competitiveness in the financial world…and the translation in thinking and strategy and risk and stuff like that.”
Roberts also added that he thinks Williams’ already limited budget will give them an advantage over F1’s big spenders when it comes to preparing for the budget cap in 2022.
“Obviously, we operate under the cost cap, so we’ve got a bit more flexibility than other teams. We just want to do the right things and they’re talking really seriously about it.”
Whether or not this will all amount to a more successful Williams Team in future remains to be seen.
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