When it looked certain to be last in the Constructors’ Championship in 2022, WilliamsF1 chose not to extend development and switched its focus to its 2023 F1 car.
After finishing ninth in the league last year, Williams have dropped to tenth after struggling to match the form of the midfield side all season.
Alexander Albon, Nicholas Latifi and Nick de Vries who started in one race all scored points, but Williams F1 finished on 35 points, with just eight points overall9 A big difference was made for Alpha Tauri of the standings.
Joest Kapito, who stepped down as Williams F1 team principal early last year, said in an interview conducted before his departure that Williams had “progressed in the way we wanted” through 2022, but would be in able to reach only rival teams. He said he’s made the decision not to continue pursuing updates to the FW44 car, recognizing the lack of development speed.
Jost Kapito felt Williams F1’s major upgrade package at Silverstone had ‘worked’ but it wasn’t enough to move up one position in the championship and the pursuit of even bigger developments has nothing to offer He explained there is none there have been many.
“In that sense, the gap between 9th and 8th place is too big, so it doesn’t make sense to put much effort into this year’s car,” said Jost Kapito.
“I would have stayed 10th and wouldn’t have been able to focus on next year’s car.
“It was a decision we made right after the big update at Silverstone.”
WilliamsF1 continues to recover from a difficult period which saw them finish bottom of the Constructors’ Championship for the third consecutive year from 2018 to 2020 after suffering major financial difficulties.
The team was acquired by American firm Dorilton Capital in the summer of 2020, allowing them to try to rebuild and recapture some of what had been lost from the rest of the F1 field.
Jost Capito says Williams F1 needs to take a “step forward” in 2023 after finishing development earlier this year.
“We’re not where the others are yet,” said Jost Kapito.
“That’s why we really need a long-term view until we get that balance right. You might say, ‘We all have the same money now, so we should all be on the same level.’ No, the teams are on different levels The cost limit has been reached at
“Before the budget cap was introduced, Williams had invested very little for years, so they fell behind.”
“It’s not just about throwing money to reach the same amount of money that everyone has right now.”
Williams F1 announced in mid-December that CEO and team principal Joost Capito and technical director François-Xavier Doumaison would leave the team as part of a managerial restructuring.
