Customer Chassis and 2008 Regulations
Written by George Katinger · January 30, 2007
Frank Williams has taken an outspoken position on customer chassis for the 2007 season. His comments on the same issue for 2008 has aroused a response.
f1.automoto365.com: Customer cars are permitted in 2008 says Richards
sport.guardian.co.uk: Prodrive hit out at Williams over use of customer cars
sport.guardian.co.uk: Williams ready to take rival teams to task over car sharing
I have found Frank’s rather strenuous objections to Toro Rosso and Super Aguri using customer chassis this year as misguided. Why? Because I have been laboring under the impression that customer chassis will be allowed in 2008, so why get into a twist over 2007? Williams is also under the impression that the 2008 regulations allowing customer cars have not been adopted and formalized as yet. Sayeth Mr. Williams:
Williams also sent a warning to David Richards, the head of Prodrive which intends to enter formula one next year using a car built by an existing team, that it is not yet clear that the rules will allow him to do so. “In the presently issued rules for 2008, customer cars are not yet a done deal,” he said
Apparently Richards is operating under a different reality. Customer cars are the basis of his entering F1 in 2008, and he has openly proclaimed his negotiations with several teams over who to buy from. Sayeth Mr. Richards:
“There is absolutely no question about it, customer cars are permitted in 2008,” he said in the Guardian. “Williams have entered the 2008 world championship accepting that condition. It all seems absolutely clear to me.”
If a man as astute as Richards is investing the millions required to become the sports 12th team in 2008, is there any chance that he could have misconstrued the regulations? Or is Frank Williams fighting a rear guard action in an attempt to avoid the back of the pack this year?
Williams as a team are a season or two away from following Eddie Jordan into the pantheon of former great teams now extinct. But Williams were titans in the sport with driver and constructor’s titles to their credit. Unless they can return to top three team performances, and soon, they will start to loose the money sponsorship that is the life blood of the business.
It all seems bizzare to me, but this is Formula One, why should anyone be surprised by the politics of the business. For Frank Williams it’s not about sporting regulations, it’s about survival.
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This is the sort of bitching I expect from Ron Dennis, not Sir Frank Williams, worse it is a little hypocritical. In regard to technology sharing between teams, Toyota’s seamless shift gear box is completely a Williams box & design. They can hide behind terms like “developed in conjunction with” but it does not change the reality.
Considering Frank’s budget & resources, if a Toyota powered Williams cant take the fight to a TR or AS customer programme then maybe the team should consider moving on or changing hands. Williams last year made the biggest profit of any F1 team (a reported double digit million dollar figure) owing to the payout for breech of contract for early exit by former engine supplier BMW.
If Williams had not had the fall out with the good barons of Munich, don’t tell me that one of the potentials on Dave Richards shopping list of 08 cars would not have been a Williams/BMW & that Frank would not take a Prodrive cheque.