Despite not collecting a single point in Melbourne, the Williams team will travel from Australia to Malaysia in upbeat mood.
The famous British outfit’s slide from its race and title-winning days hit rock bottom in 2011, scoring just five points all season and only finishing ahead of the three struggling new teams in the constructors’ championship.

But Oxfordshire based Williams has restructured for the 2012 season and is now led technically by former McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan, and in Australia the newly Renault-powered FW34 qualified comfortably in Q3.

In the race, Pastor Maldonado was pushing Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso for fifth place when he crashed heavily on the very last lap.

If he had made it round to the chequered flag, Williams would have scored more points in one hit than it managed all last season.

“The car was considerably better than anything I have seen in recent years,” said team chairman Adam Parr.

Referring to Maldonado’s crash, the team’s new driver mentor Alex Wurz told Austrian ORF television: “Of course nobody is happy.

“The bad news is that we have to leave with no points, but the team has made a huge leap forwards.”

Jaime Alguersuari, the former Toro Rosso driver turned radio co-commentator, called Williams’ step compared to 2011 “giant”.

“No doubt about it, Williams are the big surprise,” the Spaniard told Mundo Deportivo when asked about the new field of 2012.

“Last year their car was really, really, really bad, and so they have taken an exceptional leap.”

 Williams will not rush into signing a new title sponsor, chairman Adam Parr insists.
The famous British team performed woefully in 2011 and lost its naming backer ATT, yet recently revealed improved turnover and profits.

And Parr told Reuters the Grove based team has more than $45 million in the bank.

“I am very satisfied with what we have done overall with the business,” he said.

“We don’t have a title sponsor at the moment and obviously that’s an important initiative for us. But it’s something that you have to get right because your title sponsor is the most visible of your partners,” Parr explained.

“In many ways, it sets the character of the team. You want a title partner who is very active in the way they promote and activate the partnership.

“This is not something we are going to rush into, this is something we want to get right.”

For the moment, Williams’ main source of income appears to be the controversial deal with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA, including Pastor Maldonado as driver.

“PDVSA is an important partner of the team in financial and other respects but it is by no means the only one,” insisted Parr.

Sir Frank Williams has stepped down from the board of his own formula one team.
Earlier this week, the Grove based team’s 69-year-old founder, major shareholder and team principal named chairman Adam Parr as his future successor.

“If for whatever reason I couldn’t come in to do my job, Adam would fill the gap,” he told the British magazine F1 Racing.

On Friday, a team statement read: “Sir Frank Williams, founder and team principal, announced his decision to step down from the board.”

He explained: “I turn 70 in April and I have decided to signal the next stage in the gradual but inevitable process of handing over the reins to the next generation.

“This is not as dramatic a move as it may appear: I shall continue to work full-time as team principal and I shall continue to attend all board meetings as observer,” added Williams.

He will also have a Williams family member on the board, as his daughter Claire steps up to be director of marketing and communications.

Frank Williams said: “I am proud to say that she has fought hard to earn this appointment and of all the battles she has had to fight, the prejudices of her father were not the least challenging.”

Late last year, the team’s co-founder Patrick Head also stepped down.

 Sir Frank Williams has named Adam Parr, the Oxfordshire based team’s current chairman, as his obvious successor.
69-year-old founder Williams remains the major shareholder and team principal, but he has already handed over the day-to-day running of the once-great outfit to fellow Briton Parr, 46.

“If for whatever reason I couldn’t come in to do my job, Adam would fill the gap,” Williams told the British magazine F1 Racing.

“He’s not a racer but, in a way, that’s probably an advantage in these distinctly commercial days,” he added.

Parr began his career with the investment bank Barclays de Zoete Wedd, and later worked for Rio Tinto.

He practiced law until the late 90s, meeting Williams in 2000.

Bernie Ecclestone has revealed he would welcome Kimi Raikkonen back to Formula 1.

The 2007 world champion, having driven mainly in world rally but also Nascar-style racing since leaving Ferrari two years ago, is being strongly linked with a comeback with the Williams team.

New reports, including in the major Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, claim the 32-year-old has been training hard for the past four months to get back into shape for F1.

“It would be nice to see him do it,” F1 chief executive Ecclestone told Finnish broadcaster MTV3. “I am not sure if he is serious about it.”

Throughout the Indian grand prix weekend, Williams chairman Adam Parr batted away the Raikkonen speculation.

But he finally relented on Sunday in a television interview with the BBC. “From what we can all see, he (Raikkonen) is very hungry to come back,” said Parr, as Williams reportedly contemplates pairing Raikkonen with Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado.

“And I think having a world champion in your midst of course energises people.” Contrary to recent speculation, Helsingin Sanomat said Williams does not need to secure new sponsors to sign Raikkonen.

“We need to get the best driver lineup for next year,” said Parr.

A hot topic in India this weekend is the rumoured return to formula one next year of 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Reports suggest the 32-year-old Finn, who left Ferrari to try his hand at world rallying and NASCAR two seasons ago, could come back in 2012 with the beleaguered Williams team.

The famous British squad’s chairman Adam Parr was asked directly about the speculation in India on Friday by Finnish journalist Heikki Kulta.

“I am afraid there is only one answer to that question, which is that our race drivers are Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello and if, and when, that changes we will make an appropriate announcement,” he answered.

Parr was later asked a nearly identical question in the Buddh paddock by MTV3, Finland’s television broadcaster.

“Kimi has been one of the most competent drivers in the last few years,” acknowledged Parr, “and I think everyone would like to see him back in F1.”

The Former McLaren driver is notoriously unforthcoming with the media, but German-language reports this week have quoted Raikkonen as responding to a question about a hypothetical return to F1.

“Of course you always want a winning car,” he said, “but as we have seen this year, there is only one team that really has that.”

Williams has promoted the former ‘spygate’ engineer Mike Coughlan.
The former McLaren chief designer was sacked and also banned after receiving secret Ferrari information in 2007.

He went to NASCAR but in June returned to F1 with the famous British team Williams, whose technical director Sam Michael has just departed.

Coughlan initially joined as chief engineer.

“We have just confirmed (Coughlan) as our new technical director,” team chairman Adam Parr told reporters in India.

Mark Gillan joined Williams last month as chief operations engineer.

“In terms of how they are going I think it has been a very positive step for us,” added Parr.

Williams is the lowest-placed team in the 2011 constructors’ championship except for newcomers Lotus, Virgin and HRT.

“There are some areas where we need to invest a little bit and we are doing that as fast as we can to really try and take a big step forward for next year,” said Parr.

Reports are gathering steam that Kimi Raikkonen is seriously considering a return to formula one in 2012 with Williams.

In the Singapore paddock, it is now an established fact that the 2007 world champion – and recent world rally and Nascar driver – was given a detailed tour of the famous team’s Grove headquarters by Adam Parr.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said the visit took place on the Wednesday before Monza. Chairman Parr is not in Singapore this weekend.

The magazine is however sceptical about Williams’ motives: “Raikkonen could be used as leverage for other interested parties,” said the report.

“It could drag another one or two million from their sponsors.”

31-year-old Raikkonen, on the other hand, is apparently serious. “He wants to return to the tracks. And he does not want to put more of his own money into his racing,” said Auto Motor und Sport.

Also reportedly in the running for the 2012 seat alongside Pastor Maldonado are Adrian Sutil, Jules Bianchi, Giedo van der Garde, Vitaly Petrov and Romain Grosjean.

Auto Motor und Sport insists that, despite the German’s categorical denial, Sutil made a low profile visit to Williams late on the Wednesday before Monza.

It would be good news for Nico Hulkenberg, who after losing his Williams seat in 2010 would almost certainly fill Sutil’s place at Force India.

“There’s a lot of talk and rumours but I just try to concentrate on myself, do my best and watch what happens,” reserve driver Hulkenberg told the Today newspaper in Singapore.

The rumour mill is rumbling on Friday with the news Kimi Raikkonen made a visit to F1 team Williams’ Oxfordshire factory.

The sport10.at (Austria) and plaza.fi (Finland) websites said the famous British team had confirmed the 2007 world champion was given a tour.

Reports said it was Adam Parr who showed world rally driver and former Sauber, McLaren and Ferrari driver Raikkonen, 31, around the Grove facility.

The Finnish broadcaster MTV3 also reported the news and said Williams had confirmed Raikkonen’s visit indeed took place last week.

The reports said Raikkonen’s visit was for “personal reasons”, but speculation that he might one day return to formula one has been circulating ever since he left the sport at the end of 2009.

Williams’ Pastor Maldonado is regarded as having a solid seat but the Venezuelan rookie’s teammate Rubens Barrichello is still seeking a deal for 2012.

“We are talking day by day so we just need to see,” Brazilian veteran Barrichello told The Sun newspaper at Monza.

“I wish we had done a deal already but it’s taking a little longer. The team is taking everything into account and they know what I can offer,” he said.

Bernie Ecclestone has revealed the formula one calendar could expand beyond 20 races.

Originally, the 2012 schedule featured an unprecedented 21 dates, but FIA president Jean Todt insisted the number would ultimately drop to 20 as agreed with the teams.

Indeed, the latest version circulated in the Hungaroring paddock last weekend featured 20 races, with Turkey dropped.

The teams, fearing staff burnout, are keen for the calendar to remain capped at 20 races per season.

But Williams chairman Adam Parr told Reuters this week that the schedule “can increase a little bit” in conjunction with a change to the event format.

“We could have 21 (races),” F1 chief executive Ecclestone, the author of the annual calendar, told the Daily Express.

He suggested the teams will agree to an extra race on the grounds that the one it would need to replace might be Monaco or another favourite.

“If we say we have got to get rid of Monaco, they would say we would rather not,” predicted Ecclestone.

Rubens Barrichello’s future at Williams remains clouded.
The Brazilian veteran recently admitted he has not yet been offered an extended contract by the famous British team.

He then arrived at the Nurburgring announcing that talks about 2012 with Williams chiefs should be “straightforward”, after bosses Sir Frank Williams and Adam Parr both indicated a deal is likely.

But long-time Blick correspondent Roger Benoit revealed that he asked team principal Williams inside the Nurburgring’s Dorint hotel if the team will line up next year with Barrichello still alongside Pastor Maldonado.

“Not necessarily,” Benoit quotes Williams as smiling.

The wheelchair-bound 69-year-old then suggested that it is not the well-backed Venezuelan rookie Maldonado whose seat is in doubt.

“Many people believed we only have him because of the money. But he (Maldonado) is also super-fast, straightforward and the team loves him.

“With a Renault engine, we can give him a better car in 2012,” added Williams.

Cosworth is staying in formula one and designing a V6 engine even though it only has two customers for 2012.
Team Lotus switched to Renault power last year and Williams is following suit for 2012, leaving struggling Virgin and Hispania as the only Cosworth teams on the grid.

The independent Northampton based engine maker said when it returned to F1 in 2010 that it needed a minimum number of customers to make its programme viable.

But when asked if Cosworth can survive with only two teams on the books, boss Mark Gallagher told Auto Motor und Sport: “We can.”

He explains: “We regard each of our customer contracts as a separate deal. Each has fixed costs: engine, support at the track, development, individual adjustment to the car.

“So there is a profit with each deal. With regards to 2012, instead of having three separate profits, there will be only two.”

Chief executive Tim Routsis expands: “In 2010 we supplied mainly new teams, and no one knew whether they would survive. It would not have made sense if we had not taken a potential collapse of one of these teams into account.

“As a fourth team, Williams was for us rather a bonus,” he added.

And Routsis said it was always clear that Williams might jump ship at any moment.

“(Chairman) Adam Parr was always quite clear with us, saying from the outset that they would jump at the first chance of being with a car manufacturer,” he said.

As for the future, Cosworth is happy with the change of plan from four-cylinder to V6 engines to debut in 2014.

Said Gallagher: “For the four cylinder there was no cost-curbing device. The big manufacturers were counting on at least EUR 60 million for development, while for us we are dependent on the payments from our customers.”

He added that the V6 rules restrict development costs much more effectively.

“We also have a customer guarantee,” revealed Gallagher. “Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault have committed that at least two customers will stay with us. Three would be ideal.”

Auto Motor und Sport speculated that Cosworth has set its sights on signing Force India, or the team currently known as Lotus Renault GP.

Patrick Head has admitted he will begin to take more of a back seat at Williams from 2012.
Earlier this year, the famous team’s 66-year-old co-founder released most of his shareholding for the Frankfurt floatation, before chairman Adam Parr announced to the press that Head “will be retiring at some point this year”.

Head reacted angrily to Parr’s statement but at Silverstone admitted that his director of engineering role at the Oxfordshire based team is changing.

“All I know is I’m not retiring,” he is quoted by the Independent newspaper.

“I probably won’t be involved with Williams formula one in the same way from the end of the year but I’ll still be involved in some Williams activities,” added Head.

The newspaper said a change of title is likely for Head, but not a stepping back as a shareholder or board member.

Head added that he will “certainly turn up at a few races” in the future but will not have a hands-on engineering role at the grands prix.

Williams is likely to retain its current driver lineup for the 2012 season, according to chairman Adam Parr.

Team boss Frank Williams at Silverstone described Brazilian veteran Barrichello as “superb”, while rookie and reigning GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado is improving and his Venezuelan sponsor PDVSA is under contract to the famous Oxfordshire based team.

Asked if that means Williams is keeping its drivers, Parr told reporters: “Yes. I think that’s vastly the most likely outcome.”

The previously ultra-successful Williams has had a challenging past half-decade, but the future looks brighter with Renault coming on board as engine supplier and Parr looking to seal new sponsor deals.

“I said to the marketing guys (last year) ‘just back off. Keep things ticking over for the moment because we need to put in place a vision for the future which is very different to the vision of the present’,” said the Briton, as Sam Michael prepares to depart as McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan has come on board.

“We have some fantastic conversations going on and I’m very optimistic we will bring in some stunning new partnerships for next year,” he added.

Team Lotus will develop its formula one cars in one of Williams’ two wind tunnels at the famous British team’s Grove headquarters.
Williams is already supplying the rear end and gearbox to another of F1′s new 2010 entrants, Hispania.

The deal announced on Monday will see Team Lotus expand its aerodynamics programme beyond the Aerolab facility in Italy, while the team develops its own tunnel at Hingham.

“When that facility is operational all activity will be transferred to the team’s own site,” said Team Lotus in a statement.

Team boss Tony Fernandes’ link with Williams was already strong following his former sponsorship of the Oxfordshire based team through his airline AirAsia.

“I owe a great deal of thanks to Frank Williams, Patrick Head and Adam Parr as they were the first people I ever worked with in formula one,” he confirmed.

Meanwhile, it emerged in Canada over the weekend that Team Lotus has inked a new sponsorship deal with the famous computer chip maker Intel.