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McLaren, Williams, admit need for change

Published on 19 Jul 2018 09:01
8
By: Jeroen Jonkers

An anonymous engineer says struggling once-great F1 teams Williams and McLaren need to make sweeping changes.

Both British teams have enjoyed the highs of the pinnacle of motor racing, but both are now struggling notably in 2018.

One engineer who worked for both teams told Auto Motor und Sport: "Both are mature teams with loyal employees.

"But many people at McLaren and Williams have never known anything else. They don't know how formula one has evolved or what other teams look like.

"If you tell them how the other teams have evolved, they don't believe you. They live in their own world and the great heritage of their racing teams."

Both teams, however, acknowledge the need for change.

Claire Williams is thought to be considering her role at the Grove based team, while McLaren boss Zak Brown says things must change at Woking too.

"We have to change our structure," he said.

"We have many good people who cannot show their talent. Decision making process are too long and communication is not good enough internally. And we need expertise from outside to understand new ways of thinking," said Brown.

At Williams, it is believed that many Force India staff will be snapped up if the Silverstone based team folds.

Another possibility is that Williams simply becomes a Mercedes 'B team'.

"It's a very similar story going on at Williams as is going on at McLaren," said Claire Williams.

"We're undertaking a full evaluation of our internal structures and processes at the moment. We haven't completed that work yet, so we don't have any news to announce."

F1 News McLaren Force India Mercedes Williams

Replies (8)

talktohenry

Posts: 362
Crazy budgets are killing the independents, not their fault it's F1 budgets.
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- Jul 19 2018 - 09:46
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  I say.... no? Yeah I say no, because even if the sums F1 teams currently spend are sky high, Sauber has gone from zero to mid midfield and STR has done better with an inferior PU. Sauber, STR, Haas, Force India, they all have a way lower budget, and do ever do much better. There is just no excuse for why McLiaren and Williams are where they are.
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  Jul 19 2018 - 14:17
- Hombibi
  
  Posts: 137
  What about Sauber, or Force India?!? Look how Sauber have turned around in two years time. Pretty amazing given their position only recently. Or Force India: with a fraction of the budget beautiful fourth last two years. No, I think it has more to do with these teams themselves. I am sure it is not easy, but no one ever said it should be.
  
  As the budgets are concerned: A cap of nr of employees would be the only way to reduce/control budgets. Everything else is difficult to track and easy to circumvent. The only loophole in that case, outsourcing, can simply be closed to state that whatever is outsourced needs to be communicated openly and must be available to all teams in the same form and at the same price.
  
  I am just imagining what such a rule would do with the return of multiple tire manufacturers again. May the best manufacturer win! Or maybe it would introduce independent front wing suppliers. And what to think of the engine manufacturers in such an approach
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  Jul 19 2018 - 14:26
- mcbhargav
  
  Posts: 1,332
  Really? Why is McLaren with better budget, better facilities is performing poorer than ForceF1 and Haas?
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  Jul 19 2018 - 15:30
talktohenry

Posts: 362
It's about long term sustainability of teams, and their business model, the budgets are just crazy and how are an indi ever going to compete with a manufacturer.
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- Jul 19 2018 - 17:05
- mcbhargav
  
  Posts: 1,332
  Its almost impossible now to be a champ without being the factory team. Yet, you could be the 4th/5th best ( if TR-Honda is a thing). Mclaren is 7th, and RedBull which is a non-factory team is 3rd. That's a problem.
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  Jul 19 2018 - 17:53
Ram Samartha

Posts: 1,172
They need to take a page out of Haas' playbook. With McLaren a bit more difficult because they want to be a car manufacturer as well as race team/engine buyer.
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- Jul 19 2018 - 22:47
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  Thats all very well, but whom should they get the parts from? Ferrari, Merc' and Red Bull would all deny them, as would Renault (lets be real, they'd hate it if another Renault team were to beat them, as we saw in 2017 with STR). And the rest are really not worth buying parts from. Really, the only ones that could probably do what Haas did is Sauber, Williams and Force India, and the last two Im not all that sure of.
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  Jul 20 2018 - 17:43