‘Mario Kart’ Formula 1 cars need more time, says Williams
Former Williams Racing boss Claire Williams believes Formula 1 should give drivers more time to adjust to new rules, but concedes that the sport’s chiefs often struggle to sit back and do nothing criticism.
The most radical overhaul to regulations in F1 history ahead of this season has caused more overtaking during the opening two Grands Prix, but drivers have criticised the racing’s authenticity due to the emphasis on electrical energy and battery harvesting.
Williams, who ran the Formula 1 team founded by her late father Frank Williams until the family sold up in 2020, said it was too early to change the rules.
“In my experience,” she told City PM, “when we’ve had such major upheaval in the regulations, there is always quite a lot of noise about the racing that those new regulations have produced. And that’s what has happened here.
“It probably has affected the drivers more than anybody else and they’re getting to grips with it. We’ve got to give it a bit more time to understand where this will all come out because from experience, there’s always a lot of noise and then a few races in and everyone quietens down.
“In these circumstances there will be quite a few conversations going on behind the scenes. When I was a team principal we had a strategy group and we met pretty much every Grand Prix.
“I think they’ve got to temper everything and just see how things settle down and then the sport as a whole might look at it and see if they do need to make any adjustments.”
Williams on new Formula 1 rules
Formula 1 stays in Asia for the third race of the season, travelling to Japan at the end of the month. But due to the conflict in Iran there will then be a break until the Miami Grand Prix in May, with races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia postponed.
It leaves Formula 1 with four weeks in which to fiddle, and Williams said that’s not uncommon.
“People in Formula 1 aren’t very good at just sitting back, particularly when they had expected to be going to two races in between now and [Miami],” she added.
“Maybe it does provide a window for the teams and the sport and the governing body to get together and sit down and have a look at the impact of these rules.