Led By The Nose

An interesting Q & A with Frank Williams is published here on Autosport. Frank Williams have indicated that the Williams team have been expelled (and not even temporarily) from FOTA, despite headlines claiming that the suspension was temporary.

But more interesting is the fact that Williams admits that he'd rather be in a series organised by the FIA and Bernie than anything else anyone else comes up with. And of course, its all about the money admits Williams. Money from Bernie. And also not forgetting money for designing Max Mosley's new Formula 2 championship.

Strange. First this pre-supposes that only Bernie can bring the money. I am certain the FOTA folks could do a pretty damned good job of it as well. Second, he forgets that teams combined gets only 50% of the money. The rest are raped out of the sport by CVC. Assuming that someone else makes a good job at organising a championship, Williams would get more out of it then sticking with the leeches.

And lastly, I hate to say it yet again but here is the man who, along with Ron Dennis and Ken Tyrell, found himself ripped off out of their fair share of the F1 commercial revenues by none other than Bernie Ecclestone. And yet by his own admission would follow Bernie wherever he now went.

The sad fact of the matter is that Williams Grand Prix Engineering are no longer the force on the track that they once were. So pathetic have they become they have to resort to low fuel flash laps in practice to get any attention. They have not won a race since 2004 and judging by things they won't be winning anything unless half the teams don't finish the race. They are a firm mid-fielder and sometime bottom feeder. It is no surprise that the other bottom feeder (but extermely wannabe) team have also followed them into Max and Bernie's arms.

How does Willaims feel about competing in a Formula 1 championship devoid of the best teams? His reply is simply : "That's tough shit. We've made our choice" Well I guess the temptation to go back to the top whilst all the big boys are away was just too much for Williams. Its rather like Ferrari at Indianapolis in 2005. They finished first across the line. But it was a most hollow of victories.

Years ago the word piranha was being thrown about to describe some of the Formula 1 team bosses. Increasingly I feel this label belongs firmly with Frank Williams. I wish him the all the worst.