Yesterday was a very important day for Williams. First the presentation of the new livery, then the first laps on the track of the FW44, at Silverstone, with Nicholas Latifi at the wheel who took advantage of the 100 kilometers made available to the teams for the filming days.
On the sidelines of the presentation and the shakedown of the FW44, Williams team principal Jost Capito took stock of the situation on the last 12 months, that is, since he came to manage the Grove team accompanied by François-Xavier Demaison, technical director.
“Compared to the top teams we are still lacking and we hadn’t made any investments in recent years. And now since last year we are limited in our investments by the budget cap. But you know, everyone started from scratch with these cars and it is very difficult to say where we start this season. So for us the progress will be how we can improve on the competition during the season, in whatever position we can start the season. “
“I arrived at Williams in February 2021 and have only been here for a year. So the development of the new car had already started. And François-Xavier Demaison arrived in April or May. By now a quarter of the development of the 2022 car had already taken place. done. So we could only have made some adjustments that we did. “
“But you know, I take full responsibility, of course, for this year’s car and for the team in general. To get the team back to the top of F1, looking at where we started in 2020, will be a very long road. Not it’s something that can be fixed in just one year. So there’s a lot more to do than what’s already been done. “
Williams FW44
Photo by: Williams
Capito then talked about his approach once he joined Williams and the philosophy he adopted to rebuild the team, a team with very high ambitions. Discipline, team spirit, pride, respect, communication, behavior. All values that Capito wanted to underline and make further important for a single goal: to bring Williams back to the top after too many years as a supporting actor.
“I think when it comes here there has to be a great deal of respect. This is a team with a huge heritage, they have had enormous successes in the past. To come here is a great honor and to get Williams back to the front is a pressure on our shoulders.”
“We have made a lot of changes, some of these critical. I think this has helped a lot to improve the team spirit and to give pride. We are not where we want to be. We are in F1 and we no longer accept being last, we want to get back into the race. grid and we work hard to do it and we need a great spirit and to enjoy this journey. “
“We want to try to get to the points often. Last year’s podium at Spa strengthened the whole company. You know that we have developed different structures, improved communication, developed objectives, but also the behaviors we want to have in the company. So I think that we have gone from being a family business to a well-structured engineering company, “concluded Capito.
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