Off the back of a strong season when compared to recent years, Williams Racing say they are being ‘more cautious than normal’ with their design of its 2021 machine whilst planning for the new era 2022 cars.
Their aim is to maximise the time they devote to the revolutionary 2022 cars without sacrificing development for this year’s machinery so as to make a welcomed return to the points and eventually, the podium.
The new rules, which were initially planned for 2021 but postponed due to the coronavirus crisis, are set to bring forth the biggest shakeup in Formula 1’s history, with budget caps and race-weekend restructures to be implemented alongside the new regulations- all with the aim of generating a more thrilling spectacle for fans.
“It’s a great opportunity for all the teams, but it’s a great risk as well,” explained Williams’ team principal Simon Roberts is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com when asked about the rule change.
“The thing we’re focused on is that there’s zero carry over from ’21 to 22. So you can’t be late with anything. The simplest part, which stops you racing, will stop you racing. So we’re being more cautious than normal with our programme.“
Roberts disclosed that the team would take its time to carefully outline which key areas of design would be prioritised to map out its resource allocation effectively, and that a ‘crossover point’ between work on the 2021 car and work on the 2022 car would be necessary.
“There will be a crossover point. If you said: ‘When is the crossover point?’ I don’t know. But it’s not going to be August – we’ll be well into the 100 percent 2022 [development] before August. But it’s not the end of January either. Somewhere in that range, we’ll cross over.”
“We’re working backwards from the first race in 2022, looking at what we need to have in place, what we need for the winter test, and then taking that all the way back through the development programme to figure out how much space and capacity we have.“
The historic marque has a hefty amount of work to complete in preparation for the next two crucial seasons, as it fights to make a comeback to the level of glory it once experienced in the 80s and 90s.
Only time will tell if the team can master their car development, but fans from all eras will no doubt be cheering the Grove-based team on during their road to recovery.