“There is scope for collaboration” – Williams Team Principal Simon Roberts has spoken out on focusing on being more collaborative with Mercedes while retaining their status as an ‘independent’ team.
Williams is one of the most successful teams in F1 history, with 9 Constructors Championships. But they are yet to win one this century and find themselves at the bottom of the pile. This played a role in the Williams family leaving the administration, after the acquisition by Dorilton Capital. Now we have Simon Roberts at the helm of affairs, as the full-time team principal.
Williams prides themselves in being an ‘independent’ team, making their own gearboxes, instead of procuring them from Mercedes. But Roberts suggests things could change on this front, as they desperately seek to return to the top half of the table in the next few years, where they feel they belong, and they do, historically speaking.
“We are independent, we’re going to remain independent but there is scope for collaboration. We can see advantages [of a partnership] but we don’t want to become a B-team, so we want to retain our independence but we want to be more competitive.”
“For us, looking forward, we’re open to extending a relationship but the specification of that would 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 buy that from whoever’s got it available and under the cost-cap. You can’t afford to be inefficient and that’s what we’re focusing on. We need to make sure that if we’re making chassis, we’re really good at making our chassis and we apply that to everything in the car.”
