Credits: Imago
The 2024 Constructors’ Title race is heating up, with Mercedes’ latest developments making them a part of the same conversation as Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren. Off the track too, they are squabbling, with digs taken at each other, particularly towards the Red Bull camp. At the same time, Williams, a team on the back end of the grid, comes up to deal a huge blow to them.
At the Canadian GP earlier this month, Team Principal James Vowles revealed that Williams signed 26 engineers from different teams over the last few months. Some of the big names are Matt Harman, Fabrice Moncade, Juan Molina, Steve Winstanley, and Richard Frith.
Harman worked for Alpine before leaving the Enstone-based team earlier this year. He has 24 years of experience in the sport and was a part of Mercedes previously. Moncade, on the other hand, joins Williams as Chief Engineer, having been Ferrari’s Head of Performance Analytics in the past. Winstanley meanwhile, was part of Red Bull for 14 years. He joins as the Chief Engineer of Composites and Structures.
Even though inter-team shuffles are common in F1, such a huge number of appointments in a short span is unusual. For Vowles and Williams, however, this is a statement.
The big teams have now turned their attention to the Grove-based outfit, which have also made significant investments in their infrastructure. With big names now working behind the scenes, the expectation from Williams will be to make tremendous strides in the upcoming campaign, in their hopes of breaking into the midfield, and eventually to the top step of the podium.
Williams looks to sign top driver next
Logan Sargeant‘s F1 career with Williams never really took off, and the British team will let go of him next season. One of the drivers they have been most heavily linked to is Carlos Sainz. However, there is another team interested in signing the Spaniard.
Earlier this year, Esteban Ocon’s Alpine departure was confirmed. He will leave in 2025, and the French outfit has to search for a new driver. However, when Flavio Briatore made his return to Enstone, Sainz became his number-one target. He has worked with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso in the past and knows what it takes to be a Championship winning group. Hence, Sainz choosing Alpine over Williams wouldn’t be the biggest surprise.
For Sainz, options are running out. Alpine, Williams, and Audi remain his only realistic choices, and neither are top teams at the moment. As such, he will have to choose a project which he feels is ambitious and realistic at the same time.
Considering the advancements Williams has made, Grove won’t be too bad a destination for the Madrid-born driver. Together with Alex Albon, he could help Williams field a formidable driver-lineup.
