Livery is too bad..what a crap!
I must say that I have a most uneasy feeling about this new title sponsor ROKIT. Doing some quick research it looks like a pre-revenue brand and jumping into a title sponsorship in the most expensive sport in the world seems fishy to me at best. Of course desperate times has one look for any port in a storm but I for one am skeptical of this companies ability to meet their financial obligations over the course of the season.
Do we even know what those obligations are. Is there a minimum that a 'title' sponsor must contribute?
Rokit is a new John-Paul DeJoria brand - I don't think there's much to worry about. I suspect this is quite a coup for Williams.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_DeJoria Incidentally they're also sponsoring Nic Hamilton's BTCC car Image Unavailable, Please Login
No doubt that John-Paul DeJoria adds credibility but who knows what his involvement is like and the company ROKiT has some pretty ambitious and diversified claims for a company that really has not yet launched. I certainly hope that I am wrong but it has all the hallmarks of a sponsorship train wreck.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/141461/williams-calls-off-shakedown-due-to-build-delays Williams has abandoned plans to give its 2019 Formula 1 car a shakedown in Spain this weekend because it is running late with its build plans. The team had been scheduled to use up one of its filming days to give its new FW42 a short run before the start of pre-season testing at Barcelona next Monday. But with Williams running behind its original schedule, it has elected to scrap the shakedown run so it can ensure it is fully ready for proper testing. Deputy team principal Claire Williams said: "As anyone would expect, we have had an extremely aggressive engineering programme over the winter. "As such, we have taken the decision not to run our car during our filming day this weekend in order to allow the team to maximise the time at the factory before we head to Barcelona for the first day of the test on February 18." Williams is not the only team whose car build schedule is running late, with Renault admitting on Tuesday that it could also be forced to abandon a shakedown it hoped to do in Spain on Saturday.
They could have done something with that day...let the reserve driver get his track time there and leave the testing days for the real drivers.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/141560/williams-to-miss-first-day-of-preseason-testing Williams will miss the start of 2019 Formula 1 pre-season testing at Barcelona on Monday because the build of its car is still running late. The team had already been forced to scrap plans for a weekend shakedown, and now it has announced it will be a day late in starting official running. Claire Williams, deputy team principal, said: "Unfortunately, we have had to delay the start of our pre-season Barcelona test to Tuesday morning.
Not a great start to 2019.So they bring in another pay reserve driver Latifi. Paps is even 'bigger' than Stroll.It's tragic seeing this happen to one of the iconic teams .
Ms Williams does not want or like Jr teams. So they will not be 1 for Mercedes?? How much longer do you pour funding down the drain. A possible sale of the team? They appear to have few options on the surface. I would not buy an F1 team unless the new formula is apparent. Sooner or later one team will fold. I could see Williams first going.
Yep a sale looks to be the favourite option .Paps Lafiti is probably already trying to round up some investors following in Stroll's footsteps right now.He could probably easily manage it alone, even after dropping $200K into Mclaren. Just wait until Kubica drops out of the team,and voila Lafiti Jnr gets the drive in Paps new team.If that doesn't happen then the next up is the boy ending up at Mclaren .Either way he WILL end up with an F1 drive .Money talks.
Sad but probably true. I wish the best for Robert but I am skeptical that he will complete the season, hopefully I'm wrong. Williams milks several million out of his backers to keep the lights on and his return generates some publicity for the team. I can't see how he will be competitive at Monaco.
He's a second faster than the drivers they had last year, so there's that. My concern is how much carbon fiber he will liberate from the car this year; the guy loves to crash.
Williams has a defective atmosphere that existed long before Claire was put in charge. She didn't make steps to (or was not allowed to) change their ways. They still have cash left over at the end of the season, but that's not saying much. Another season or two at the ass end of the grid will be mighty unkind to their finances.
Oh dear... https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/williams-testing-setback-day-two/4339697/ “It is looking more likely than not that we will now not be in a position to run on track until Wednesday at the earliest." -Claire Williams. We've not even started yet and Williams are already in serious trouble. How can they not be ready to test? What have they been doing all winter? All the best, Andrew.
I bet it's money related and not time. They probably finished the design process long ago as they had no shot of anything in 2018 so the 2019 car was likely far along the process design-wise. Making it a reality and building it of course takes more money...
Next team to fold. Won't be at testing tomorrow. Car is rumoured to be 2 seconds slower than their car last year...which was the slowest. Claire is completely inept. As is whoever is designing that car. Team morale is gone before the season has even started.