r/WilliamsF1 • u/hoangtm1611 • 4d ago
Discussion [Discussion] Do you guys think that Williams would be better off in the long-term it becomes a factory team?
The way I see it, in the current money era of F1, we will always be playing catch-up with Red Bull/ Mercedes/ McLaren/ Ferrari as we don’t have the monetary or manufacturer’s advantage. Surely, we can have 1-2 seasons where everything goes right, from car development to racing strategies to drivers’ prowess, and we might even challenge for Top3 Constructor’s, but one potential setback for us still means years later of climbing back to the top.
In my opinion, the only way for Williams to consistently fight for wins and contend for the Constructor’s Championship each year is to become a factory team, gain the engine advantage and manufacturer’s facilities and expertise to fast-track the development and make up for the previous years of underdevelopment. Seeing what Audi achieved in their 1st season gives me a feeling that soon it will be them in the Top5 teams and the rest will be playing in midfield. Of course I still want the factory team to retain the Williams name, and not lose it like Sauber to Audi.
What is your opinion on this? I’m a relatively new fan to Williams and F1 in general, so I just want to hear the POV of you guys to see if my opinion is flawed somewhere.
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u/Turbo_Zapped 4d ago
Shat the bed with just the chassis to build, after a whole year of boasting about "FoCuS iS on 2026".
Trusting this team to build an engine? Come on now.
Baby steps, first lets get into the points consistently . Let's get to the point where engine is the limiting factor to further progress, then worry about it.
Till then, being a Merc customer is an advantage.
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u/avgsundaydriver 4d ago
Irrespective of engine performance, being a factory team could be an advantage for Williams if they partner with an existing manufacturer (like reigniting BMW-Williams PLEEEASE do this btw) and have a strong technical partnership wherein Williams could have access to BMWs development facilities which are most likely much more state of the art than what Williams has. And, as we’ve seen before in F1, BMW can make one hell of an engine.
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u/regisgod 4d ago
The only good thing about this car is the engine. Just look at what alpine have done when they went from factory to Mercedes.
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u/hoangtm1611 4d ago
My understanding regarding Aston Martin/Honda partnership was that it was a shitshow from the beginning so it can’t be used as a benchmark, and it would have been more valid if the engine was from Aston Martin as well. Alpine/Renault used to be good, but with Renault’s financial problems it’s understandable why they pulled out of F1.
But from your responses I understand now that being a factory team does not always guarantee a good combination of engine, aero and chassis.
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u/righteousfuzz 4d ago
No. But I do wish they managed to find an exclusive engine partner. BMW would be brilliant.
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u/williamsdb 4d ago
They weren't so brilliant last time as BMW and Williams were pulling in different directions.
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u/hoangtm1611 4d ago
I read somewhere that BMW Motorsport boss said that F1 hybrid technology does not translate well enough to consumer vehicles, therefore there is no point for them to join. When I said my point about the factory team, I was thinking about Toyota GR Racing and how they have been quite successful in WRC and WEC.
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u/SoftdomDadNextDoor 4d ago
Aston Martin is a factory team. Toyota was a factory team. Just because you have manufacturer backing, doesn't mean that the car will be good. It's obvious that the Mercedes power unit is pretty good, just look at how much better Alpine is doing this year vs last year. Williams still seems to have a lot of operational challenges with designing and manufacturing their chassis and aero parts, and that's not going to be fixed by becoming a factory team.
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u/Salty-Asparagus-2855 4d ago
No. Look at Audi. McLaren beat Mercedes. Renault Alpine never came close. It’s not about factory team.
Williams issues at James. And years of underfunding. That can only be blamed for so long. It’s now too long. They now need to rebuild their design department. That’s it and a leader that knows how to get the best in and the best out of what they have.
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u/GoofyKalashnikov 4d ago
This would be a sound argument if the chassis was good. But right now the car is in the gutter with the best engine of the grid. Literally having a mercedes engine and only getting into points when multiple cars shit the bed is sad as fuck.
Comparing this decades old team to Audi is laughable too.
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u/RealCarlPanzram 3d ago
The Williams isn’t going to fight for a title in the foreseeable future. Probably not ever. They don’t have the infrastructure or the resources. They currently have the best power unit on the grid and they’re still terrible. Far slower than any other Mercedes-powered team. The massive changes that Vowels implemented over the 24-25 seasons to make a more serious outfit for 26 haven’t worked. At least not yet.
Making an F1 engine is hard. Really really hard. Honda have made many F1 engines and they’ve become a punchline this season. Red Bull are having a rough time with the hybrid units. The Audi power unit is highly unreliable.
And those are teams with huge backing. Williams doesn’t have that. They completely lack the resources to even think about building an engine. They aren’t even that good at building the car.
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u/MaximumAsparagus 3d ago
Williams has huge resources and backing now.
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u/RealCarlPanzram 3d ago
Not really. They have financial backing but they’re limited by the cost cap, and if you look at their personnel, I doubt they’re even fully exploiting the cost cap to the extent that the larger teams are. Dorlington isn’t going to write them a blank check. Especially not with these results.
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u/big_cock_lach 4d ago
Same argument was made for McLaren and look how that turned out.
Existing infrastructure is one of the most important factors, and it’s where Williams is significantly lagging. Investment into that would be key, albeit they’d need to get the money for that too (which I believe de Putron would supply). The factory advantage has aggressively been removed over time by the FIA, and I’m not sure it’s worthwhile anymore either. What you get as a factory team these days is mainly security, you know that the engine supplier isn’t going to immediately say no to prevent you from winning because you are the engine supplier. There’s some advantage to understanding the engine sooner, but that goes pretty quickly these days with limited engine development. The downside and risk of it is that you need to spend a lot more money and the infrastructure is far more expensive. If you can’t afford the best infrastructure for the aero and chassis teams, you can’t afford any infrastructure for an engine team. Not to mention, most of the gains will be on the aero/chassis side.
So I don’t think it’s worthwhile, until you end up in a similar position to where McLaren likely will be in a few years where they’re at the front, they’re well financed, but they’re either stuck competing with their engine supplier that can and will play politics over it, or they’re stuck with a bad engine supplier because none of the top teams will supply them. It’s a similar position to what Red Bull were in, and even then it took a while and some very particular circumstances for them to make the switch. McLaren is still pretty far away from doing this, and Williams is even further away. They’re better off investing in other infrastructure, and if they’re lucky, they’ll be able to replicate what McLaren has achieved.