No idea about performance but I have known a lot of the old hands there since the 1970s. I was told at a retirement do a few months ago that several key foremen were dismissed for bullying following an anonymous questionnaire to staff. The production manager who I know well absolutely didn’t know how he could possibly build the parts in time, and the drawings were the latest ever. Sad.
It seems the ones complaining didn’t like being encouraged to work long hours to get the parts made.
Now a lot of key experienced manufacturing guys have gone.
I find it a bit strange but the ethos of Williams now is not like it was when I was there, back then Patrick would have been the first to go using that criterion…
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Actually Andrew is wrong IMO McLaren was the slowest last year, unless you judge Stroll to be as quick as Alonso…
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Williams had the worst aero and equal best powerplant in 2018.
This year it looks like the gap between the powerplants has reduced a bit more. So the Williams advantage vs 1/3rd of the grip has reduced. Meanwhile have they managed to improve on their aero from last year (including the negative effect of the front wing changes)?
Barcelona T1, Day 1: McLaren and Haas both pumped out the fuel and put soft tyres on later in the day when the track had gripped up to set their faster times today.
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If Williams are that slow then they will very quickly be a lap down. Difficult to believe that they could be that slow.
I have said this before and will say it again. Williams have been the most conservative team on the grid for many years and because of this, their gradual decline to the back of the grid was inevitable (to me at least), unless they were prepared to change.
Breaking that culture, which you have to do when everyone else has found better ways to do things, is very difficult and time consuming.
Paddy understands that you have to do this, but I am not sure he knows how to change the Williams culture in that area.
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Frank,
Did you watch your TV appearances in: Williams: Formula 1 in the Blood? Was on BBC2 at the weekend.
You came across very well and had a lot of interesting things to say.
Overall the program was very good.
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Yeah, but those Coogi jumpers 
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Really interesting to hear your insights, thanks.
As a fan I just hope things improve for them.
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Ditto 
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The Ice(cream) Man?
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Thanks for the Williams insight, Frank & Ian
They have made a lot of changes both in methodology and personnel.
We will see if they improve because of that. In the middleish of last year he asked me to look into what they were doing and advise. There was one critical aspect being done very badly. I have no idea under which technical management it started but had been going on for years, apparently. They are fixing it but it may well take a very long time.
In the end it is the quality of the ideas that matters and correct application. I am not sure about the former but the latter was miles out.
I have a DVD of the Williams film and went to the premier where everybody else who were in it were happy I had told the truth about Nigel without it being them that did it…
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I have heard various bits of information concerning the drawing release system and the timing resulting in an impossible task for the production team.
Meanwhile the press continues to talk about Paddy being a technical genius and being responsible for the Mercedes success. Which reminds me that the press do not have a clue as he had nothing to do with the success at Merc!
Now the press is talking about an internal mutiny and wanting Paddy out. Which could be a good thing if they can get the right leader in. Williams need change, unless they want to keep on repeating the same old stuff which has brought them to their knees. But Paddy will be trying to enforce change in the areas that he thinks need to change, so pushing him out could be a mistake.
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Was Nigel there? 
I really enjoyed that documentary, quite revealing, and no holds barred seemingly.
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Well they made it on to the track.
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He’s back…
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No Nigel wasn’t there, he would have been too expensive, never does owt for nowt our Nige!
He was a complete arse over the interview they did do and they gave up trying to do more, I was told.
Lots of other drivers were though.
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Testing has been interesting.
Williams are effectively one test behind as they missed out the shakedown test and they must have missed any chassis dyno test to prove the engine and all the systems work together.
Mercedes did a race distance but looked much slower than last year.
The Honda is running reliably in the back of the RBR and STR.
The midfield is very tight and is closer to the front of the grid at the moment. This is unusual when there has been a rule change. So I am wondering if the limit with this front wing is lower and that has reduced the top teams advantage. That would be surprising as they voted for this so they must have expected to get an advantage from it.
Mercedes did a good job of getting others to vote for it as their front wing had reached the end of the development path. And so wanted everyone to start again. RBR were really annoyed about that as their front wing etc had more development potential and hence did not want to start again.
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