Williams in 2010

They have officially confirmed Cosworth engines now, with a driver announcement due on Monday. [www.autosport.com]


With Barrichello and Hulkenberg (as expected), they will have obviously a great mix between youth and experience. Hulkenberg, who seems to be a great talent, will obviously learn an amazing amount from Rubens, and Rubens will also be able to develop the car very well, probably better than Rosberg and Nakajima have been able to.

However, I can't see them really making any progress next year. With few rule changes, the big four teams from the end of this year (McLaren/Ferrari/Red Bull/Brawn) should theoretically be the fastest cars at the start of next year, and possibly Renault as well, especially if the rumours about Glock joining Kubica are true. As much as it would be great to see Williams making it into this top group, I can't really see them being able to do it - as I also think Rubens might fade off during the season. Added to this, I still have some doubts over the Cosworth engine, but obviously Frank Willians is no stupid man.

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X (@ed24f1)

People still doubt the Toyota engine, so I'm sure they know what they're doing. Assuming the Cosworth is comparatively weak (though the rumours suggest the opposite), surely 2 strong drivers would outweigh the slightly weak engine. Clearly they wouldn't have had Nakajima if they could have avoided it.

Williams still know how to make a fast car. This year they'd have been seen as much stronger if they had a 2nd decent driver to cover Rosberg's poor showing (not that he had many in my opinion). 2006 I think it was they were deceptively strong too. They can't make a title-challenging car any more, but they should be around the pace of Renault next year, sitting behind the 4 teams you mentioned. Shame they've lost Rosberg, but it'll be nice to see him in another car, up against a title winner.

Do we know anymore about RBS sponsorship with Williams? Back when the bank went bust I think they were going to pull out for 2010 so will there be a new title sponsor?

Abit of a risky move but it could be the right one. Cosworth will be the only engine that is being developed, while the others have to put up with the engine freeze rules. It will be good to have a strong driver line up as well, which has been lacking for a few seasons now.

The RBS deal is till the end of 2010, and it always has been despite the "recession" label to hype up its decision.

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Kirk, the Cosworth was still under FIA regulations I thought. The actual engine was still homologated and still under the same constraints as the others. So as far as I know its not like they could simply have developed a brandnew engine to run for 3 races at 18,000rpm. The intention was to always come back to F1 in the very short future and so the engine stayed under the same regs.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

brunoboi Wrote:
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> Do we know anymore about RBS sponsorship with
> Williams? Back when the bank went bust I think
> they were going to pull out for 2010 so will there
> be a new title sponsor?

Williams' title sponsor is actually AT&T, despite their minimal on-car signage.


Yes, RBS is sponsoring Williams until the end of 2010, but they are stopping their track-side advertising as of this race.
[en.f1-live.com]

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X (@ed24f1)

But the question is whether they can improve on this season? I've yet to see Hulkenberg race and if he is better than Nakajima, then the lineup promises results later in the season with Cossie development.

The beginning of the season maybe difficult.

Incident 2k9 Wrote:
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> if he is better than Nakajima

If you compare their careers on the road to F1, it looks like Hulkenberg should definitely be a better prospect than Kazuki:

Nakajima: [en.wikipedia.org]
Hulkenberg: [en.wikipedia.org]

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X (@ed24f1)