[Team] Williams: Do they have a spare tub?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Kubica is saying he is only 20% ready for the first race. Not what the team need at this time

With just under 2 weeks to go before Melbourne, that's not good timing.

[Aysedasi]

Hardly surprising though.....

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by bella

that’s his job, isn’t it? taking the fall for managing a shambles? i mean that literally rather than casually. if a head of department can’t look at his people, figure out the issues and change things then that’s on his head. if his predecessor hired a bunch of clowns then he has to work the hr paths to get them out and get new people in.

and from management perspective they’re either empowering him to change things or they aren’t. if they aren’t, and if i was him, i’d have legged it long ago when it became apparent.

So in general that is how it is supposed to work and in the end it broadly does (or at least those are the reasons people leave or are pushed out).

But I can tell you that as you work your way up through the management chain you find that it isn't quite that simple. Especially at an organization that is struggling. There are always a series of complexities that are outside your control. Those can range from non-public issues that may be hidden from the larger staff that create roadblocks to success (this can happen even in healthy organizations), to the more common problem of resource limitations. Lack of money, lack of ability to staff correctly/quickly even if you have money, etc.

I expect Paddy is empowered but with a number of constraints. And while it's easy to say "If I am not given free reign, I walk", I view that as generally unrealistic in an organization that is struggling.

In the end, likely only those inside will know how many of their current issues are due to Paddy not executing to the potential of the position and how much is due to the wider issues at Williams (years of poor performance, funding struggles, etc.) I personally think it would be hard for anyone to step into Williams right now and knock it out of the park. Not saying it's impossible, but its likely a huge challenge. Unlikely to be done in a season. Question is... you want to waste little time going down a dead management path. You don't want to be three years into a re-org of how you work to find out that the plan sucked all along. Lets see how well 2019 progresses.

Note... My comments are not from being inside the motorsports industry, but rather commentary that I think is broadly universal. Especially in a fast paced creative design/engineering/manufacturing perspective.

Richard

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Kubica is saying he is only 20% ready for the first race. Not what the team need at this time

Exactly what they need- a reality check - thank goodness there is at least one straight talker with a grip on reality ...

[Moneyseeker]

Some reports floating around the interweb over the alleged legality of the mirrors and some element of the front suspension on the Williams cars. It may be that this is just the FIA looking at protests from other teams, nothing official yet that I have seen.

[Aysedasi]

It never rains, as they say.....

[LC2guy]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

Some reports floating around the interweb over the alleged legality of the mirrors and some element of the front suspension on the Williams cars. It may be that this is just the FIA looking at protests from other teams, nothing official yet that I have seen.

Knowing how Williams are recently, putting less preffered Mirrors & front suspension on may find them half a second improvement .....

[ScotsBrutesFan]

I wonder whether the mirror issue relates to the fact that the support that comes out from the cockpit shapes around the inboard side and then over the mirror, which together with a support coming from the below completes the assembly.

The other teams that use a support from the cockpit side, join the mirror structure at its lower inboard corner, and have a further support from below.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

Exactly what they need- a reality check - thank goodness there is at least one straight talker with a grip on reality ...

Not good though if their experienced driver is not 100% ready for the first race

[E.B]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Not good though if their experienced driver is not 100% ready for the first race

You could put him in a Mercedes and he wouldnt be 100% ready. His experience is relative, based on not having been involved in F1 full time since 2011. Im not convinced of his merits tbh, but that is just my opinion. Nice story and he brings money but.....

Im quite happy for my opinion to turn out wrong.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by E.B

You could put him in a Mercedes and he wouldnt be 100% ready. His experience is relative, based on not having been involved in F1 full time since 2011. Im not convinced of his merits tbh, but that is just my opinion. Nice story and he brings money but.....

Im quite happy for my opinion to turn out wrong.

Having had an injury like that will he ever be 100% ready? At the time, I was surprised Williams signed him and thought it a bold but possibly fruitless move but as you say, I'm happy to be wrong.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

To clarify, the 20% relates to his preparedness for the Aussie GP, not his condition in general.

“Coming back after eight years, probably I know 20 percent of the things that I should know before going to Australia.

“The rest is unknown. I haven't done longer than 15 laps long run.

“There is a lot of question marks. But that's the reality, we cannot change it.”

Source

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

To clarify, the 20% relates to his preparedness for the Aussie GP, not his condition in general.



Source

I think the fact he hasn't done a race distance in an F1 car since... before his accident is the larger concern for me. He clearly missed the chance to do that during testing.

Richard

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Not good though if their experienced driver is not 100% ready for the first race

Experienced in the distant past - in F1 terms.....

[S griffin]

Yeah, but they need him to be on it if they are going to get anything out of this season

[gert]

As per Autosport, Lowe takes 'leave' from troubled Williams team

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/14...-williams-team

... one week before the F1 season begins in Australia, it has emerged that Lowe has stepped away from his role.
...

[Greem]

Originally Posted by gert

As per Autosport, Lowe takes 'leave' from troubled Williams team

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/14...-williams-team

... one week before the F1 season begins in Australia, it has emerged that Lowe has stepped away from his role.
...

Well, spring has arrived early, so there's a lot of gardening to do...

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by Greem

Well, spring has arrived early, so there's a lot of gardening to do...

Tough to think of a top notch replacement - time to eat humble pie and get Pat Symonds back

[S griffin]

Well no surprise there, obviously didn’t like giving him anymore chances. But would Pat want to come back though?

[Richard C]

Well, I hope for their sake that Lowe is the problem and not just a scapegoat. I expect given their recent history, they may have a problem recruiting top names. Basically who wants to be next in line in a likely high risk, low reward situation.

If the earlier posted rumors of car legality issues are true, could that be the last straw? The team is stuggling to perform, let alone address rule problems.

Richard

[Greem]

I had a conversation with a fellow F1 fan recently who is more than a little informed; they mentioned that it's all very well being shot of the TD, except that there are tiers of design managers, engineers vand aerodynamicists between the TD and the car - and few of them have changed in recent years.

Sounds like a structural problem to me.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Greem

I had a conversation with a fellow F1 fan recently who is more than a little informed; they mentioned that it's all very well being shot of the TD, except that there are tiers of design managers, engineers vand aerodynamicists between the TD and the car - and few of them have changed in recent years.

Sounds like a structural problem to me.

It's a hierarchy/management problem.

What happens when there is an much trumpeted yet ineffectual TD and a line of ineffectual line managers including some who might have been well regarded in previous employment but are not right and are simply job guarding him?

[Moneyseeker]

Originally Posted by gert

As per Autosport, Lowe takes 'leave' from troubled Williams team

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/14...-williams-team

... one week before the F1 season begins in Australia, it has emerged that Lowe has stepped away from his role.
...

As I posted earlier, without improvement I didn't expect him to last the season, however I did expect him to make the start!

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[F1Pete]

Will Williams even make it to the starting line in Melbourne?

[Moneyseeker]

According to Autosport Williams are modifying the suspension and mirrors to 'ensure legality' so they don't encounter any problems in Melbourne.

This may have been the final straw for PL at Williams after the other accumulated issues?

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