How does Williams survive?

to be fair he is a lot better than Stroll or Sirotkin

 

Where is Stroll going? I know daddy bought into Force India, but I hadn't heard what baby Stroll was doing.

It would be a great shame to see them go...I would first down the M4 to queue up for the sale of assets!

 

Kubica would be a huge risk. He would bring some attention back to the team and some sponsorship but if he doesn't deliver (and it could happen: too much time away from F1, concerns about his arm), the interest would fade away in three races and they'd end up with an old, rusty driver.

Can they afford the risk? Well, at this point they don't have much to loose.

 

So is Sir Stirling Moss...but does that mean one has to ask him coming back from his retirement?

 

Kubica is less risk than the two morons driving for Williams now.

 

Williams is not going anywhere this season. If Stroll makes a mid-season switch to Force India there are good reasons to put Kubica is his seat.

1. Kubica knows the team and the car. He can step into it and get the most out of it without any learning curve.

2. It will cost the team nothing to use him and he can even bring in a small amount of sponsorship money.

3. It will generate good publicity for the team and if Kubica succeeds, the team is a hero. If he fails the team is still a hero for giving him a chance.

4. As for Kubica's age...Fangio was 40 when he began his F1 career.

5. As for Kubica's stamina, he has already, on multiple occasions, driven the equivalent of full GP races.

6. There are no other active F1 drivers who would waste their time driving for Williams except the two they currently have.

 

The 2 morons driving for Williams bring money and partly finance the team; Kubica doesn't .
Have you considered that ?

 

Yes, for this year as a replacement as he is the official replacement driver...but for next year???
Kubica does not help the team in any way, neither bringing enough money nore being attractive enough for sponsors...And one might question whether he is as fast as he was 7 years ago. We always talk about young talented drivers who might deserve a seat in F1 and do not get one because of pay drivers, and then they should come around with Kubica? Sorry, I do not get that...

 

1. Perhaps, but no certain.

2. No, they will lose Stroll or Sirotkin's money. Kubica has no sponsor.

3. No. It will show the team is desperate, and scare potential sponsors.

4. This is 2018, not 1950. Teenagers get into F1 now and you are burn-out in your mid-30s. Kubica is too old.

5. Test miles cannot be compared to the intensity of racing. Kubica hasn't fought on the track for almost 10 years1

6. Williams could ask Toto Wolff if he is interested to put Wehrlein in a car?

 

Who would bail out Williams if they go into administration?

They do also have a commercial Williams Engineering division that sells actual automotive product and engineering services right? I wonder how much they make there...or how much they make from every 1.8M Singer Porsche DSL sold

 

6. Williams could ask Toto Wolff if he is interested to put Wehrlein in a car?[/QUOTE]

Not a bad idea.

 

William. Our conversation was regarding their driving only. Have you considered that?

 

The question is: is Kubica better in a car developed with 10 million $ or is Stroll better in a car developed with 100 million? Nobody knows but if Williams can´t afford the engines and the wind tunnel anymore Kubica might need to pedal and although his legs are more healthy than his hand I doubt he would get that far

 

OK, but what fuels the team? Money ?

Who brings money at Williams? Lawrence Stroll and SMP to see theirs drivers Lance Stroll and Sirotkin in the cars!

What money Kubica brings? You have your answer.

Would you buy a ride for your kid at the funfair, only to give it to someone else's kid?

 

He has already proved he has the pace. Do you follow any testing?

 

yeah Williams is crushing it with this new model of 2 pay drivers they have. having a banner year.

 

Oh, come on, testing! Ferrari has been World Champion at testing many times too.

Have you seen him driving? In many corners he can only use one hand. Now imagine him trying to avoid a Grosjean dive bomb with only one hand.

 

....And after the match you set it alight and roasted a pig over it.

 

Awww. We weren’t that bad.... we left it there on the pitch for him to find.! We were only kids, not gangbangers!

 

Sadly, I fear it is only a matter of time before we see a thread titled "How Did Williams Last As Long As They Did?"

 

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
1. BASIS OF PREPARATION
These consolidated and separate financial statements
have been prepared in compliance with United Kingdom
accounting standards, including FRS 102 and the
Companies Act 2006, and under the historical cost
convention modified to include the revaluation of heritage
assets and the recognition of certain financial assets and
liabilities measured at fair value. The financial statements
are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency
of the Group.
BASIS OF CONSOLIDATION
As a consolidated statement of comprehensive income
is published, a separate profit and loss account for the
parent is omitted from the Group consolidated financial
statements by virtue of section 408 of the Companies
Act 2006. The Company had no cash flows in the period,
and therefore a separate statement of cash flows for the
parent has also been omitted.
A subsidiary is an entity controlled by the Group. Control
is the power to govern the financial and operating policies
of an entity so as to obtain benefits from its activities.
GOING CONCERN
The Directors believe that the Group retains its position
as a leader in high performance engineering. The Group’s
global profile, together with its ability to innovate and
diversify, provide it with firm foundations for ongoing
success, even in an adverse economic climate.
The Group's profit for the year was £14.1 million (2016:
£5.9 million). As at 31 December 2017 the Group had
net assets of £46.6 million (2016: £31.5 million) and net
current liabilities of £7.3 million (2016: £25.0 million).
The Group’s revenue from its Formula One activities
is derived from sponsorship and commercial rights
income. This means that in common with all other
Formula One racing teams, the timing and amount
of significant elements of the Group's cash flows can
be variable and difficult to predict accurately. This
unpredictability increases the longer the time period
considered. Historically, sponsorship contract activity
was complete before the start of the race season,
however the increasing profile of both Williams
Martini Racing and Formula One in general means
that there remains scope for further sponsorship
contracts to be agreed throughout the year.
Revenue is also earned through the Group’s Williams
Advanced Engineering ("WAE") activities which represents
the Group's commercial exploitation of its brand and
intellectual property. WAE seeks to build on the existing
customer base by securing additional contracts for goods
and consultancy services with blue chip partners and is
making positive progress in this regard.
The Group has prepared and the Board has reviewed
cash flow forecasts for a period of twelve months from the
date of approval of these financial statements and also
considered whether significant matters are expected to
arise thereafter. These forecasts only include sponsorship
revenue which is already contracted, estimates of other
income and expenses and cash outflows due to loan
repayments due within the forecast period. The Directors
have reviewed the Group’s plans to meet obligations as
they fall due and are satisfied at the current time that
these plans are appropriate and adequate. The Group
has considerable other assets which could be sold or used
as security for other fundraising should the need arise.
Based on the above analysis, the Directors believe that
the Group’s borrowing facilities with HSBC Bank PLC
and anticipated future cash inflows from operations will
provide adequate funding for the next twelve months, that
the Group will remain in compliance with the covenant
conditions in relation to the Group’s borrowings and that
the Group will be able to meet its scheduled repayment of
borrowings due during the assessment period as detailed
in notes 21 and 22. The Directors are also satisfied that
specific actions can be taken if required, including but
not limited to the sale of assets already earmarked for
disposal or the renegotiation of the Group’s borrowings
in order to ensure that the Group’s obligations are met as
they fall due.
The Group is well placed to manage business risk effectively
and the Board reviews the Group’s performance against
budgets and forecasts on a regular basis and is satisfied
that the Group is performing in line with expectations.
The Directors therefore have a reasonable expectation
that the Group has adequate resources to continue in
operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus they
continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting
in the preparation of accounts.

 

In other words, all the money bar the prize money goes to Williams Group, and the F1 team itself could be unattached and sold or closed, with no consequences to the group save the loss of any profits from prize money (not this year!). Williams themselves are doing very well thank you, so at least the family won’t see the whole thing fall apart around them. That’s where their diversification into engineering for other partners etc has paid off, and I suppose, to the same extent, McLaren’s road cars and other projects are intended to lead their finances eventually.

Force India and other that have gone recently are/were entirely a f1 team, they produced nor sold anything whatsoever, so if they don’t get sponsorship, the whole thing falls apart.

 

Drivers are important, but cars are more important. The Williams chassis and aero package is utter garbage. They need to fix that first or they will die. Even replacing Stroll (who’s off anyway next season) won’t help them now.

 

Trouble is though, it looks as if the whole package is at fault, there’s no part of the package in isolation they an focus on and sort out. It takes almost a year to get these cars right, generally getting them to track in January with six months already gone, and the next six months of practices and racing to get them absolutely right. They haven’t got time for a new car design which is the thing they really need, and with the prospect of less money to use with sponsors leaving and no one coming in to replace them, what business can justify the immense expense of starting that process now, they have to write the year off really and get started on next years car with their financial limitations..... very awkward position to be in. If they could guarantee a new design would get them more points and improve their prize money or new sponsors, it would be different, but they haven’t got time to reap any results if they did it.

It’s a real shame. If F1 lost force India, or toro Rosso, I wouldn’t be so upset as they haven’t a long pedigree, but Williams has been a championship winner, the number one team, in the past, and for them to fall so far is really quite disappointing. Same goes for McLaren....... I hated them while they were fighting us for championships (but loved them when Ayrton was in his MP4), but I wouldn’t wish their current predicament on them. It was funny at first watching whitmarsh blunder his way about and torture Ron Dennis with his incompetent management, but it’s gone too far when they are racing with rubbish at the back. The rubbish at the back is always there, never moves, no one expects results from them, and no one really cares. Every year, those guys seem to want to run up just to make up the numbers and celebrate when they finish a race. McLaren should not be there, and neither should Williams, they should be up towards the front in the mix for points at the very least.

F1 doesn’t need cost cutting, it doesn’t need budget caps. It needs racing to be simpler, to be about the design and the drivers, it should not be about KERS and MGUH and the rest. Most fans are petrolheads - the name gives Liberty a clue - they aren’t electricity heads, or spark heads.

Leave the development of electric cars to those firm in the market, let them test their road cars, and if they want to run something on the cars, make allowances for it to happen if you want bit for God’s sake, f1 should be racing. These fuel limited cars, with tech even the cleverest fans get a headache understanding, doesn’t make for good racing. We get lift and coast, grid penalties, reliability issues, these things do not make racing exciting - fast cars and loud engines do, wheel to wheel tussles, not cars being relaxed allowing passes because they are on a harvest strategy, or cooling the tyres, or only able to finish if they turn down to 80% or less.

Keep v6 turbo if you want too (I don’t want the average hot hatch having a better sounding engine than F1, but do what you like) but give engineers free rein to push their engines and designs to the absolute limit, allow them to use more or less fuel as suits them (the weight of the fuel differing car to car would help make some racing happen) and simplify the aero so cars can run closer for longer. If a team wants to use ten engines a season, as long as they can afford it, do it! If the back marker teams can only afford three, big deal. I don’t have an F1 team because I can’t afford to run one..... if I could, I’d be in there like a shot. If you go into f1 without enough cash, do you really go in expecting to compete at the front? I doubt it, and if you do, you need your bumps read!

There is no reason to ‘level the playing field’. Firstly, it will never happen properly, there will always be ways to avoid the regulations, or to simply cheat (a la Mercedes and strat 2 etc) Secondly, what real fans want to see all the cars artificially hobbled so that the all run the same speed? None of us, we want racing, we want the best drivers duelling week in week out, and if ther engine blows, all the better, thy must be trying hard enough, and the next week they are 1-2 and duelling again, we don’t have a title challenger having to start at the back or in the pits because a spark plug was dirty or his gearbox blew a gasket..... that’s pathetic.

Instead of increasing the amount of artificial ******** into races supposedly to enhance it, just stop meddling, stamp down hard on the bad practices, but for ****s sake, let them race and let them develop

 

Originally a second-hand car dealer in North London ( just like Bernie Ecclestone was one in South London), Frank Williams and family have amassed over the years a multi millions fortune in motor racing if you are to believe some journalists. I think it was mentioned on a UK Forbes list a while ago.
So, I won't feel sorry if his team folds up.
It may be OK to acquire wealth on the back of a thriving enterprise when everything is rosy, but if you aren't ready to make personal sacrifices and put some personal money to prop up your company when things aren't so good, you wont't get sympathy, IMO.
I think that's what happens at Williams F1, with the children divided about investing the family heirloom back in the team.
As we know, F1 is ultimately about money; it's a championship of bank balances.