Williams ‘made too little progress over winter’

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Williams slipped to fifth in the constructors championship because they didn’t make enough progress with their car over the winter, the team admits.

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Should Felipe Massa scrap his retirement plans?

I think a Massa return would be a shame and a mistake, for two reasons.

Firstly, Massa had a stunning end to his career and he himself knows full well, as will Williams, that coming back will make him appear well past it and would ruin what was a great ending. Some say he retired too late, others say it was the right moment, but it’s fair to say most think that he doesn’t have much more left to give than what he’s already done.

The other reason is simply that two champions and one runner-up retired, so isn’t it right to give the space to new or hardly used talent?
@Strontium

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On this day in F1

On this day 20 years ago Bernie Ecclestone made headlines by talking up the possibility of a comeback for Nigel Mansell following the 1992 world champion’s recent test for Jordan.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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25 comments on “Williams ‘made too little progress over winter’”

  1. Yep, I am ready to say goodbye to Massa and Button.

  2. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
    17th December 2016, 0:37

    Massa returning would be a shame but if he ends up smashing Stroll, it will be hilarious.

  3. ColdFly F1 (@)
    17th December 2016, 0:58

    Has anybody mentioned/suggested Maldonado as a Bottas replacement?

    1. Williams can’t afford the replacement parts anymore.

      1. But with daddy Stroll things could be different ;)

    2. Come on… do you really think Williams would have him back after he trash-talked them on his way out? I’m sure he burned bridges. Plus he was backed by Venezuela oil money – that market, and Venezuela – hasn’t been doing well lately.

    3. Claire Williams is quoted as saying “If we did allow Valtteri to leave, we would only do this if an experienced, credible alternative was available, such as someone like Felipe Massa, for example”, which seems to preclude Maldonado. As he has already raced with Williams they will be well aware of his capabilities.
      When you think about it, whoever is good enough to race as the experienced driver at Williams would be good enough to race as the “next to Hamilton on the podium” at Mercedes, so why can’t Mercedes do their own negotiating with Massa or Maldonado?

  4. Maldo probable doesnt have enough sponsorship money to jump again in a Williams, his main sponsor was the Venezuelan state oil company and the whole country is having really hard times to put any money on him.

  5. Please Felipe dont come back. Once youve said good bye, coming back is a not a good idea. Same for Jenson.

    I think its more or less settled that Bottas is headed for Merc, but I’d doubt Werleihn will go the other way. We’ve been reading that Martini aren’t too impressed with the prospect of two drivers either side of 20 marketing their product, so they’d be pushing for an experienced hand…the question is who?

    In many ways, its actually more interesting to speculate who would fill the Bottas’ seat at Williams. I’d count Felipe Massa and Jenson out (but hey, stranger things have happened).

    Is there an experienced hand currently in F1 they can snag? Its pretty slim pickings, there isnt a whole load of choice in the current crop is there? I’d count out the likes of Felipe Nasr and Este Gutierez, simply because they arent good enough.

    I cant think of anybody other than JEV that may fit the bill. He’s experienced, heavily involved with Ferrari, so he’s “still in the loop”, and more importantly, he’s raced this formula before. Its either this or they go to lure a former F1 driver back to the sport? Seb Buemi perhaps?

    Having said all this, Im pretty sure Williams will be looking to persuade Massa or Jenson back.

    1. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
      17th December 2016, 8:41

      My only other thought was Paul Di Resta, right age, experience, already works with team and Merc connections. Plus I always felt he had something about him that was untapped. He would be my choice looking at the limited options.

      1. Agree, however I think Paul’s attitude didn’t always help him (much as Wehrlein it would seem) but he certainly had speed.

      2. According to trustworthy sources Williams are not to keen on Di Resta because of his funny Scottish accent.

  6. Now there are rumors of Vettel going to Mercedes, but not until 2018. Makes sense since Ferrari will not want to let him out of his contract for 2017 and would be a good plan for Mercedes not really knowing what Hamilton will do after his contract runs out.

    So, if this scenario were to play out, who should get a one year contract with Mercedes for 2017?
    Someone who could replace Hamilton if he does leave Mercedes after 2017 and Vettel does come in for 2018.
    Bottas would not likely leave Williams for a one year contract. He could stay at Williams and the somewhat not ideal plan of Massa hanging on for one more season would not be needed.
    Wehrlein could be given a one year chance to prove himself as an understudy to Hamilton with a performance clause option to stay on if Vettel arrives and Hamilton leaves.
    Or, Ocon, or JEV or JPM (sorry, couldn’t help myself), or Button, or…_______?

    1. Hamilton’s contract runs until the end of 2018 Obviously that doesn’t mean much given Rosberg was also contracted to the end of 2018 but at least on paper if Vettel came in to Merc in 2018 it would be as Hamilton’s team mate.

  7. Keith Crossley
    17th December 2016, 2:31

    Glad to see I’m not the only one thinking JEV.

    1. Me too, JacquEs Villeneuve has been away way too long ;)

  8. I haven’t seen any Martini adverts apart from Bottas and Massa advocating ‘dont drink and drive’ by driving with martini plastered on their cars.
    Surely it doesn’t matter what age the driver is with that stupidity …

    In all seriouness, Williams not being interested in the discount on engines for taking Werhlein is stupid. Werhlein has shown he’s a solid driver and is more exciting than Massa. At least he has ‘cracked’ early in his career in that he showed his ‘silver spoon’ affected his attitude. It looks like Merc want him to adapt and become a better driver without being thrust into the spotlight.

    1. Reganamer, who said that Mercedes wanted to place Pascal over at Williams? There don’t seem to have been any reports that Mercedes are interested in moving Wehrlein to Williams as part of the proposed deal – the discount that Mercedes offered to Williams on their engines was reportedly just to buy Bottas out of his contract, with Wehrlein being completely out of the picture.

      1. Read that he could potentially be part of a deal but Williams have made clear they want an experienced marker such as Massa.

    2. Just because you haven’t seen the marketing, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist and if Williams’ contract with Martini for title sponsorship states ‘you must run at least one driver over 25’ then their hands are pretty tied, unless Merc can supply them enough money/engine discount to counter Martini potentially being forced to pull out of their title sponsorship deal.

      Lots of plates are spinning here…

    3. petebaldwin (@)
      19th December 2016, 10:44

      If I was Martini, I’d rather have a young, exciting, quick driver rather than an old, past-it driver who is coming out of retirement because there is no-one else available to drive the car….

  9. @ anon. Re-read the headline link of a couple of days back.

    1. @coldfly, are you were referring to the BBC’s article on the 16th December? Wehrlein’s name isn’t mentioned in that article on the BBC website when Williams discussed the possibility that they might release Bottas if they could find a suitably experienced driver (where Claire Williams talked about rehiring Massa).

      Perhaps you are thinking of the article on the 12th December by Benson (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38282791)? If so, then – and this may just be how I’ve interpreted the article – I would disagree with the conclusion that Mercedes were putting Wehrlein’s name forward.

      What Benson says in that article is, to quote:
      “Wolff has approached Williams with a proposal that he gives them a major reduction in their engine bill – said to be in the region of €10m euros (£8.4m); more than half the total fee – in return for releasing Bottas.”

      The comment that he then makes about Wehrlein in the next paragraph (the option of hiring Wehrlein as a replacement) appears to be separate to that offer of discounted engines. I might be wrong, but my interpretation was that Benson was the one who was suggesting that Wehrlein could be signed by Williams as a replacement to Bottas, not Mercedes.

      1. It’s the 2nd as linked by me.
        You were looking for a ‘report’ not a quote. Just wanted to help you out

        PS – I’m not an admirer of Benson; and personally don’t put too much value in his non-quoted comments.
        PPS – but it is more than likely that Williams will demand a full solution from Mercedes if they are to release Bottas.

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