Williams has secured a long-term engine deal with Renault, reviving the most successful chassis-engine partnership of the 1990s. Renault, which already supplies Red Bull, Lotus Renault GP and Team Lotus, will supply Williams with V8s from 2012 to 2013, with a view to continuing the deal when V6 turbos are introduced in 2014. Williams is currently supplied by Cosworth and will continue use the same engines for the rest of the 2011 season. "We are delighted and excited by our new partnership with Renault," Sir Frank Williams said. "This reunites the F1 team with a leading car manufacturer and complements our new relationship with Jaguar. At the same time, we are grateful to Cosworth: they have been a fair and reliable partner both on and off the track for the past two years and we look forward to working with them across our business in the future. "Our previous relationship with Renault was one of the most successful in Williams' history but we will not allow ourselves to dwell too much on the past. We must look to the future and continue to re-build our on-track reputation, which I am hopeful that today's announcement will help us to do." Renault engine boss Bernard Rey added: "Renault remains in Formula One to achieve success in a cost efficient way and the partnership with Williams has great potential to add to the results we have notched up over recent years with our other partner teams. Williams has recently taken several important steps, both commercially and technically, to update its operations and we feel that this partnership is another important step in its rigorous plan. It reiterates how determined the team is to achieve results, which matches perfectly with our own objectives. "From 2012 onwards the fact that we will have four partners puts us ahead of other engine manufacturers in terms of market share, but off track it will also enable us to further use Formula One as a marketing platform for our parent company, Renault, to try to bring a bit of this association to our fans and our customers worldwide. "Of course there's also a great pride in reviving the Williams-Renault name. Together, we produced racing cars that are recognised for their technical innovation and it is still Renault's most successful period in F1 to date. It's a hugely exciting opportunity for both Renault and Williams." Renault powered Williams to four drivers' titles and five constructors' championships between 1992 and 1997.
Now all they need to do is pry Adrian Newey away from Red Bull, Geoff Willis from HRT, and get a really quick up and coming driver!
Even know that they need more than just Renault power, it is nice to see them together again. Maybe this will be the start of Williams becoming competitive once again. With that said, I do wonder if Frank William is still an asset or more of a liability at this point.
Are you speaking about Hulkenberg? William's mistakes started with their divorce with BMW back in 2005.
I think that had more to do with BMW wanting to split with Williams instead of the other way around. IIRC, BMW wanted more control than what FW was willing to give up. Thus resulted in BMW buying Sauber thinking that they will be able to replicate the same success they had with Williams.
I think they're making all the right steps. Mike Coughlan is a tier 1 technical guy and they shot themselves in the foot with both Toyota and Cosworth engines. Both engines are/were the worst on the grid by a good bit. Moving to Renault, if not Mercedes, is a good move.
What happened to "Cosworth is going to make us world champions!" ??? What happened to "Cosworth is the best engine manufacturer ever" ??!!!
Maybe scumbag Mike Coughlan has blueprints of the RedBull chassis ! FWIW, is the engine supply really the problem at Williams ?
In frank's eyes, desperate times require desperate measures. However, the hiring of that **** stain coughlan and now renault in an attempt to re-live the glorious past is not the way I would do it but its not my team.....
Right! These are not the DFV days are they! What an engine, what a sound. I believe the Renault motor does not have quite the power output of the MB unit, but the torque curve and programmability of the motor must be very good.
That is not what Williams were saying when they selected cosworth crap as their engine supplier a few years ago. Moseley and the British nepotism that exists in F1 is the reason why ridiculous teams like HRT were forced to have Cosworth crap engines.
You do know that Cosworth have won more Grands Prix than anyone else, right? [RANT] This guy is driving me away from this site.[/RANT] Cheers, Ian
In all fairness I believe they had a couple very successful motors namely the DFV which most all teams were running for quite some time in the late 60s early 70s. Lots of GPs won indeed but many were running that one motor.
They did. The engine was not the problem, the cars were. As for drivers, Frank's view is the same as Enzo's. Both believe that it is a privilage for a driver to drive for them, and both treated their drivers poorly. IIRC, it was the refusal of FW to re-sign Mansell and then Hill that caused Newy to leave the team to McLaren.
Its going to take a lot more than engines for Williams to get back on track. Sometimes I wish frank would just sell out with the right to stick a "Williams" decal here and there.
Yepper FW has always treated his drivers as disposable property regardless of their success as he only cares about the WCC and that imho is 90+% of their problems since he fired Damon Hill.
Indeed. IIRC, it was almost a decade in which *everyone* outside of Ferrari used the DFV. [The Old Man *hated* it with a passion!] But, my point was that Cosworth build some great engines. Calling them "crap" is just plain ignorant & wrong. Cheers, Ian
