PRE-SEASON INTERVIEW WITH PATRICK HEAD
The team seems to have faired well in winter testing. What
are your expectations for the season ahead?
We want to continue our progress back, from a very low point
of 2006, to being a leading team, always in a position to
challenge for race wins and the Championship.
The media are speculating that Williams could be the leading
team behind Ferrari and McLaren this year, is this realistic?
It is too early to say where we will be in the pecking order.
It looks as if Ferrari and McLaren have made strong progress
from 2007, BMW have a car that seems quick and Renault have
made progress, I am sure some of which is coming from the
cockpit with Alonso back at the helm. Red Bull are beginning
to look stronger and Toro Rosso are making the best of a car
that they are familiar with, they certainly cannot be dismissed.
We have certainly made progress, but we will not see where
we stand until after the season starts.
What improvements have been brought to the FW30 over the
FW29 and how is it technically different to its predecessor?
The FW30 is a progression along the theme of the FW29, although
the cooling installations are quite different. Obviously it
has benefited from nearly nine months’ of aero development
from the original FW29, although some of the changes have
been applied during the FW29’s development through 2007.
The team finished last year’s Championship in fourth
place, a major step up from 2006. Could a fight for the Championship
be on the cards in two or three seasons’ time?
We never design a new car to be fourth! Obviously we are
always designing for the highest possible position, so the
result depends upon our relative capability at the time. Although
Nico will be starting his third season in F1, Kazuki will
be starting his first, so the driver line up will not be as
experienced as might be expected for a team competing for
a Championship. However, we intend to be regular podium visitors
in 2008. The reliability of current Formula One cars means
that this can only be achieved with a car that is close to
front running performance.
Nico enters his third season as a race driver for the team
and Kazuki is making his debut. Are they working well together?
Yes, they are. Kazuki is steadily increasing his speed, particularly
with qualifying simulation of a single lap on new tyres. We
expect Nico to be our lead driver, but Kazuki will give a
good account of himself.
2008 is a celebratory year for Williams in which 500 GPs
and 50,000 racing laps will be reached. Did you foresee such
longevity when you started the team?
I don’t think either Frank or I thought about it. Formula
One teams in those days tended to come and go. In our first
five years or so it was a financial struggle to survive, but
luckily we started winning races and then Championships quite
early, so this made the financial side stronger.
What has been the biggest change in Formula One you’ve
witnessed during your tenure?
The scale of the activity has changed enormously with the
level of coverage. Now some teams have well above 100 personnel
that they take to each race, many of whom have no operational
connection to the running of the cars, but are from marketing
or the logistics-support side.
Your relationship with Frank has endured for over 30 years.
What is the key to its success?
Fundamentally, Frank and I have a similar view about the
joys of motor racing and we both look after different parts
of the challenge; myself on the technical side and Frank on
marketing and finance, as well as relationships with our senior
partners, so we do not trip over each other too much.
Did you envisage you would achieve 16 World Championships
when you set up Williams F1?
No, not at all, but we both wanted to achieve as much as
possible. If you could pinpoint one overriding element to
the team’s success, what would it be?
Consistent guidance from the top, an understanding that F1
is essentially a technical and organisational problem as well
as an appreciation of how much we rely upon the skills and
enthusiasm of our employees.
Out of 500 races, which has been your most satisfying?
Winning races is satisfying, but it is what we set out to
do, so not winning is failing in that task. Once the race
is over, both Frank and I tend to be thinking about the future.
And lastly, what are your predictions for the 2008 season
as a whole?
That the races will be contested mostly between Ferrari and
McLaren, as in 2007, that at least one race will be won by
a third team and that Williams will make progress from 2007.
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