Williams Racing have announced that they will use Mercedes components from the 2022 season, alongside the current engine agreement that the team has.
Former Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams denied the idea of recently, going as far as it wouldn’t happen, “over my dead body”. But times are changing under the new ownership and they need to act fast to close the gap to the midfield.
Williams is currently in a league of their own, with HAAS currently the only team that Williams is within reaching distance off, and that’s still a push.
The new ownership is making changes and keeping George Russell for another season is a massive boost for the team.
Mercedes have been at the front of the grid for the past seven years, winning both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships in each season to date.
Williams really needs help in order to keep the team on the grid and while they have been very reluctant to allow Mercedes’ help so far, it’s needs must for the team.
The team will benefit from having Mercedes gearboxes and the accompanying technical components and while I’m not an expert in this field myself, using the same parts as a Championship winning team doesn’t seem a half-bad idea.
This may open up the opportunity for Williams to negotiate a future deal for Russell to Mercedes, helping the team financially in the long term. He is too good for the slowest car on the grid, and his performance in Sakhir proved this.
Williams might allow him to be released for a full-time race seat in return for free engines or gearboxes and this saves the team so much money.
There is also the fact that they won’t have to pay for all the research and development and funding can then be used elsewhere to improve the car.
The new budget cap is going to help the team close the gap on the cars in front that will have to make adjustments to their spending in order to meet that new resection. Williams might actually be able to fund the entire budget cap and with the new appointments bringing experience it could be a case of writing off 2021 and turning your full focus on 2022.
It won’t make Williams a title fighting car immediately, but with the right guidance, slowly but surely they can rise up the grid again. They are one of the most historic teams on the grid and to see them struggling down the back of the field is quite sad. Hopefully the progress I expect them to make will mean they can be fighting for points again within the next few seasons.