Quote:
Originally Posted by S griffin
I think it was more letting Adrian Newey go. He wanted a bigger stake in the company, but they refused, so their loss was McLaren's gain and now Red Bull's
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I can't argue with that. I suspect there has been a number of key moments in which the team could have tracked in a positive vs. negative direction. I would say doing Newey wrong (my read from his Motorsport interview) is one big one.
I also wonder if Toto Wolff leaving in 2013 was another. Not that things were good when he was there, but in hindsight, I wonder if he was doing good given what he had to work with. I don't think his exit was as much as Williams pushing him to leave (in classic Williams style) than him realizing he could do so much more at Mercedes than he ever could at Williams (probably a question of the quantity resources available to him.) I think he had (and may still have) a good relationship with Williams that went beyond him having ownership stake during that period.
I attribute his management skills as being a significant factor in allowing Mercedes F1 to execute. Mercedes could have tossed money at F1 and have been another Toyota, but instead they made it work and crushed everyone.
Then again, who knows. I think Williams have said they have identified the point in time (decisions?) that turned them south. I think most assume that was recent with that reflecting on the current cars, but maybe they are looking way back to someone like Toto and saying he screwed things up before he left and gave Claire a mess.
I actually say that jokingly because I think I have seen interviews with Claire and Toto separately and I think they have good things to say to about each other today. If I remember correctly, I "think" Toto was involved in the process of putting Claire into her current position as part of his departure.
Richard