Rubens Barrichello says that the Williams team is going to have to improve significantly if he is going to stay on for another year.
“Williams must improve a lot for us to reach an agreement for next year,” he said. “Things are standing still. It’s not worth going on this way. I’m at the top of my game and I’m quite happy with that. Having said that, I need the team to start to shake up and I need to see differences. We need a leader. Right now, it is almost like we have too many, but not enough. A lot of people are trying to say something, but in the end that is not the point. They need to focus on what they are doing.”
The team has failed to win a race since 2004 and in recent seasons has been forced to use drivers who come with sponsorship (or engines) as part of the deal. Patrick Head, who has long been the driving force on the technical side of the team, has sold much of his shareholding in the business and is now concentrating his efforts on the team’s hybrid subsidiary. Such a thing would have been unthinkable five years ago.
Sir Frank Williams remains the figurehead, but the day-to-day management of the company has been handed over to others. They have expanded the team into other areas, to create a more stable basis as a business, but the key to success in F1 is not empire-building. It is about focus and leadership; about knowing how to inspire others to share your dream and finding the right people to build the fastest possible racing cars and not letting anything stand in the way of that process. If a team is winning, the rest will follow. Diversifying into new businesses, as McLaren has shown, is all well and good – once there is success on which to build.
Considering Barrichello’s supposedly spent much of last year assisting the development of this year’s car, maybe they should have kept Hulkenberg after all.
ed24f1,
I guess Hulkenberg will be glad he isn’t involved with Williams any longer, considering its poor form. He has more options now than ever before.
Joe,
I’ve always wondered how a team with the success of Williams could afford to be without winning or even scoring consistent points for so many seasons. Can one imagine the other illustrious British outfit McLaren ever carrying on like this? If the team from Woking isn’t on form one season or for a few races, it will shake heaven and earth to be back in contention the next season. The same can be said of Ferrari.
Williams, on the other hand, since they lost Montoya at the end of 2004 have become non-winners, then non-points scorers and have drifted farther and farther away to the periphery. I wonder whether Sir Frank and Patrick Head have lost interest in Grand Prix racing altogether. The recent staff reshuffling should suggest otherwise. Let’s hope it works.
All teams fail, even the great ones, if they are not run properly. There was a time when it was inconceivable that Lotus would ever disappear. Tyrrell was once a great team. Where is it now? Brabham, BRM etc etc etc… Every team must win and win again if it is remain viable. Getting out of a slide is tough (as McLaren and Ferrari showed in the 1990s) but it is not impossible. It just needs the right people.
ed24f1, given that in-season testing is banned, that’s an unfair comment to make. If the correction between wind tunnel, CFD and on-track is not accurate then the car will not perform as expected. Barrichello is a driver, not an engineer, and the only time he would have been able to confirm the team’s design philosophy was at the start of pre-season testing; he can’t be blamed if the on-track performance figures don’t correlate with those from the wind tunnel and CFD, which has been intimated.
Mart,
I agree with you.
Thanks Rubenio,
We relish listening to your wisdom in all matters. Your ability to express all your feelings to us about everything will be cherished as we respect you so much for your ability to dutifully subordinate your competitiveness for the sake of duty. Others may not have the privledge to now follow your role of past as dutiful peasant. They must now give all of themselves to make you great. Please let the door hit you on your way out. Time for new blood, time to depart, actually, it is time for you to follow M.S. as you have done so well in the past as you both depart the scene and fade away. Hey, I have an idea! You could take the lead and be first for once.
I take this as Rubens telegraphing to the other teams down the pitlane that his services are available for 2012.
This, in turn, likely means that he’s been told that Williams is unlikely to give him a cockpit for 2012, which could could be postive or negative for the team, depending on who they decide to replace Rubens with.
Maybe their marketing team found a well-backed youngling to pair with Pastor? That would be great for Williams’ bottom line, and that’s what they’ve been concentrating on lately.
Anyway, it’s nice of Williams to tell Rubens early on, so he can go ’round and offer his services before all contracts are closed, a courtesy that IIRC wasn’t afforded to Nico last year.
Well said Chip-Rubinho is rubbish and should have gone years ago.
I want Schuey to carry on as his stock as a ‘Great’ is falling with every GP he takes part in..Senna still No.1 for me.
onyx,
People who are rubbish do not finish runner-up in the World Championship.
Every great team but one has fallen away, or been rescued by a merger.
Even that one team’s parent company had to be rescued by a takeover.
Does Rubens hold the record for watching his team mate win most championships?
Is Barrichello really going to race another season? surely he is now pushing the upper limits of age. Schumacher has shown that racing drivers have about as much in common with fine wines as many people thought; and that even the greats suffer adverse effects of age. I know Barrichello was good, but maybe williams need a new experienced driver to help them in the same way that they need new blood in the engineering department. Personally in my fairytale vision I would love to see Webber leave to Williams, who suddenly get their car into the front runners for 2010, and winning races again. Preferably ahead of vettel!
Williams recently published their first financial results since going public. It seems to me that they could easily have afforded to take Hulkenburg on as a driver and paid him. Presumably they pay Rubens.
Rubens has never been a “great”, I place him along with Coultard as a good number two in a team, but feel that he should consider retiring voluntarily before he finds himself at HRT.
Rubens is a long way away from “being at the top of his game,” and even then it wasn’t world beating.
Chip Wilhide – Hey, I have an idea! You could take the lead and be first for once.
>>
@Chip Wilhide – Knowing Michael, he will enforce team orders and ask Rubens to pull over 200 meters from checkered flag and cross the line first
@ Onyx -
Yes indeed Senna is #1 and role model for every driver in F1 after him has emulated him in developing Big Fat Egos and Extreme sense of entitlement, that has thrown spirit of sportmanship out of F1.
One key factor that has taken F1 out of the era of sports and into era of ruthlessness.
Reubens has shown recently that with a good car he can score lots of points and gather silverware.
I get the impression that his comments are displays of frustration that the infrastructure of the team isn’t developing as he feels it should.
He obviously has no doubts about his skill behind the wheel but with the current car he knows he cannot show it; at this stage of his career there’s little point in saying things like “I could win if the car was quicker…” as we know this is possibly the case.
This leaves him with one option, to try and motivate Williams into getting their act together in the hope they’ll react and start to evolve their organisation.
It also serves to advertise the fact that a very experienced driver with recognised development skills could also be available very soon.
I wonder if Williams will react?
joesaward
onyx,
“People who are rubbish do not finish runner-up in the World Championship.”
Joe, rubbish is extreme, perhaps, but sure
fits when you view the role Ruben played as
willing subordinate. I do commend him for finally leaving Ferrari. However, it would have been much better had he just kicked Schumachers butt a few times and forced Ferrari to fire him. Would also have been so much classier of him. Then, you have to wonder how many other drivers might have been able to drive the second Ferrari during M.S’s glory days to an equal or possibly better level than Ruben, and perhaps even Michael. I always wondered how HHF would have done had his Year old Ferrari engines not been always blowing up while Michaels and Ruben’s never had such problems. I recall an early pre-season where Frentzen was showing great times in his Ferrari powered cars only to have them constantly break down during the racing season. I always felt Frentzen would have been faster than Ruben in the second Ferrari. I also would have paid $3000 to watch HHF and M.S. flip a coin and the winner select their choice of the two Ferrari cars. The have a head-to-head race in the same equipment, alternating in each car for a total of four head-to-head races. I think in the best case scenerio MS might have won two, but my money would have been that Frentzen would have won atleast two.