It is believed static electricity could have sparked Williams’ garage fire two weeks ago in Barcelona.

Even in the Monte Carlo paddock, the huge Spanish blaze was still a hot topic.

The British team and the FIA conducted investigations, but there has been no definite finding about the cause of the fire.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reported suggestions simple static electricity, caused by the specific weather conditions and the fact a container was not grounded at the time, was the culprit.

Williams has scrambled to be ready for Monaco, but the only obvious sign of the fire on Wednesday was one missing mechanic, who is still recovering from burns.

“He’s on the road to recovery,” said co-owner Toto Wolff.

It is believed the mechanic was pumping fuel from one container to another when the fire started.

Wolff confirmed the static electricity theory.

“This is extremely rare. The weather may have played a role, as we had low pressure over Barcelona that day,” he explained.

Auto Motor und Sport said Williams lost mainly computers in the fire, but the crucial data survived. Of the team’s 150 radios, only 40 were intact.

Wolff said Bruno Senna’s chassis survived because of the partitions at the back of the main pit area.

“They are flame retardant,” he confirmed. “This meant the fire did not come beyond the back (area). The walls melted in the heat, but they didn’t burn.”

And financially, the Oxfordshire based team is completely undamaged, due to insurance.

Last Sunday proved that Pastor Maldonado is no mere ‘pay driver’.

“If he was a fool, he would not be with us, no matter how much money he brings,” Sir Frank Williams is quoted by Brazil’s Globo Esporte.

Venezuelan Maldonado, whose links to the state owned oil company PDVSA and president Hugo Chavez controversially deliver many millions to Williams’ Oxfordshire based team, became F1′s fifth different winner of 2012 last weekend in Spain.

It has helped him to shake off the ‘pay driver’ insult, Williams insisting he is now a potential world champion instead.

“Without a doubt. He is very fast and makes no mistakes,” the newly 70-year-old Briton said.

Williams does, however, acknowledge that Maldonado’s money was a key factor in the decision to sign him.

“Yes, it was to some extent,” he said. “I don’t deny that. But he’s also a real driver. He fully deserves to be on the team, with or without money.

“The truth is that if you don’t have money, you don’t get to be in formula one,” added Williams.

Team shareholder Toto Wolff agrees: “If you want to race in GP2, you need a few million pounds. So, the drivers need not only to be fast and talented, but able to attract the sponsors.

“So let’s forget this thing about ‘pay drivers’,” he insisted.

Triple world champion Nelson Piquet, however, has some lingering doubts.

He ran Maldonado in his own GP2 team some years ago, and this week recalled a driver who was often “too aggressive” and made too many mistakes.

“We’re not talking about a guy who shone in his youth, like Nico Rosberg,” said the famous Brazilian, “or someone like Lewis Hamilton, who always had everything he needed thanks to Ron Dennis.

“In GP2, when you don’t stand out in your second year, you begin to be doubted. In Maldonado’s case, he only shone in his fourth year.

“Perhaps because of this he only made it to formula one as a paying driver, without having anything special, apparently. He was perceived as just a good pilot, but clearly no Alonso.

“Now he was at the right place at the right time but he still managed to beat Alonso in Spain as well as another world champion, Kimi (Raikkonen). So hats off to him.”

Two days after winning in Spain, Williams is scrambling to put together the equipment it needs to contest next weekend’s Monaco grand prix.

Mere hours after Pastor Maldonado secured the once-great British team’s first victory since 2004, a huge fire broke out in the pits, leaving one team member still in a Barcelona hospital with burns.

“His family are in constant communication and he is in good spirits,” Williams said in a media statement.

The Oxfordshire based team is now making efforts to ensure it can race in Monte Carlo, having lost a lot of equipment in the fire.

Mercifully, however, Bruno Senna’s car appears to have survived, with the Finnish broadcaster MTV3 saying an initial inspection of the chassis showed no devastating damage.

Maldonado’s winning car was in parc ferme at the time of the incident.

“We had a lot of damage and lost a lot of equipment, including IT equipment,” chief operations engineer Mark Gillan said, according to the Daily Mail.

“Over the next couple of days we will be looking at where we are parts-wise.

“We will have everything we need to run operationally at Monaco, but we may be missing a few of the extras because obviously we don’t carry a complete set of spares for everything,” he said.

It is believed more than one rival team has offered to help Williams by loaning the Sir Frank Williams-led outfit any equipment it needs.

A McLaren spokesman confirmed the Woking based team has offered to help.

Germany’s Bild newspaper said Williams’ damage bill runs into the millions.

Team manager Dickie Stanford denied a rumour the fire was caused by a cigarette in the vicinity of Senna’s fuel tank while it was being emptied.

“We don’t know the cause, but we would never allow smoking in the pits,” he insisted.

Williams and F1′s governing FIA are investigating.

 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.”

 Bruno Senna has confirmed reports he has signed with Williams for a single season only.
We reported recently that the former HRT and Renault driver, reportedly taking EUR 14 million in sponsorship to the famous Oxfordshire based team, is guaranteed the seat for 2012 only.

With countryman Felipe Massa’s Ferrari contract also expiring this year, the situation raises the prospect that there will be no Brazilians in F1 in 2013.

“All drivers, Brazilian or not, have great pressure to deliver results,” Senna is quoted by Agencia Estado.

“Of course it is very important to have Brazilians in formula one, but we always do the best we can, regardless of the duration of the contract.

“I think this is the beginning of my career, as with a good job this year, we can extend the contract and, god willing, keep on getting better in the future,” he added.

“Last year at this time all I could do was work on my fitness, but now I am driving the car, working with the engineers in the team and doing everything else that has made all the difference in this preseason.

“I have got to this stage of the championship with a preparation probably better than last year when I finished the race in Brazil,” he added.

The 28-year-old said Williams’ target for this season is to score points regularly, after a woeful 2011.

“All the teams have taken a leap forward; I think Force India, Toro Rosso and Sauber are strong,” said the Brazilian.

“Lotus seems to be strong, Mercedes as well. Ferrari do not seem to have the performance, unless they are hiding their game.

“It seems like McLaren and Red Bull are a little in front of everyone.

“I think the big surprise has been Caterham, who seem to have a reasonable performance. So it’ll be very interesting to see what will happen,” added Senna.

 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.

 Former Williams driver Alex Wurz has returned to the famous British team as a “driver mentor”.
Austrian Wurz, 38, was Oxfordshire based Williams’ Friday driver in 2006, and Nico Rosberg’s teammate the following year, before he left F1 with 69 grands prix under his belt.

Now a Le Mans driver, he will return to the F1 paddock in 2012 to mentor Bruno Senna, Pastor Maldonado and test driver Valtteri Bottas.

“Alex will start his duties at this week’s Barcelona test before accompanying the team to races this season,” said Williams in a media statement.

Wurz made his grand prix debut in 1997, and was also highly regarded as a test driver for McLaren and Honda.

On his new role, he said: “This is a great initiative by Williams and highlights just how hard the team is pushing to optimise its performance.”

 A leaked invoice suggests PDVSA, the state owned Venezuelan oil company, is paying a staggering US$46 million for its sponsorship of the Williams team in 2012.
Despite its authenticity having not been confirmed, the invoice from Williams – includes the Oxfordshire based team’s correct Barclays bank account – requests the full amount in pounds sterling.

Also appearing on the internet in recent months were the full contract between team driver Pastor Maldonado and Williams, and a stamped letter from Venezuelan congressman Carlos Ramos.

The leaking of the documents, with the invoice now published on the website of the Spanish sports daily Marca, surrounds Venezuelan officials’ doubts about the legality of Williams’ lucrative PDVSA deal.

Ramos’ letter to Williams’ communications boss Claire Williams last November referred to an “ongoing investigation” by the Venezuelan parliament.

“You may … be aware that our congress granted no approval to the sponsorship contract between Williams F1 and PDVSA,” he wrote, demanding Williams divulge the “amount disbursed to date to Williams F1 by PDVSA”.

Maldonado is backed directly by PDVSA, and is famously close to Venezuela’s controversial president Hugo Chavez.

Amid all the speculation about the identity of his 2012 teammate, it seems clear that Pastor Maldonado can relax about keeping his race seat at Williams.

Rubens Barrichello, Adrian Sutil and – to the delight of F1′s rumour mill and headline writers – Kimi Raikkonen are reportedly in contention for the Oxfordshire based team’s second seat.

But although Venezuelan rookie and last year’s GP2 champion Maldonado has not yet been officially confirmed for 2012, boss Sir Frank Williams admitted in Abu Dhabi that the heavily backed 26-year-old can relax.

“I am sure Pastor will be in one car,” he said at Yas Marina.

In some quarters, Maldonado is still dismissed as little more than a pay-driver, with his PDVSA sponsorship and personal support from Venezualan president Hugo Chavez said to run into the dozens of millions.

But when asked who he thinks is this year’s standout rookie, Fernando Alonso told AS newspaper: “I like the season that has been done by Maldonado.

“He is usually always fighting with Barrichello or beating him and doing some pretty serious racing. I think he has done very well in his debut,” said the Ferrari driver and former back-to-back world champion.

Williams has settled a legal dispute with NASCAR team Michael Waltrip Racing.
In July, the NASCAR team alleged breach of contract when Oxfordshire based Williams signed Mike Coughlan as its new chief engineer.

Michael Waltrip Racing claimed Briton Coughlan’s deal was set to run through 2012.

Williams announced on Thursday that the parties have “reached an amicable solution”.

“Waltrip is a super team competing in a fantastic sport — the best thing for me is that as part of the deal I will get to see my first NASCAR race,” said team boss Sir Frank Williams.

Adrian Sutil on Thursday denied reports he recently visited Williams’ Oxfordshire headquarters.
The reports had triggered rumours the 28-year-old, backed by personal sponsors Medion and Capri-Sonne, might switch to the British team next year to replace veteran Rubens Barrichello.

“I didn’t go there and there are no contacts,” the Force India driver told reporters in Singapore.

Sutil’s manager this week said the German’s focus is to stay at the Silverstone based team in 2012.

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.

Sam Michael is headed to McLaren in 2012, it was announced officially on Tuesday.
Earlier, the rumour was doing the rounds on the microblogging website Twitter.

Amid Williams’ struggle for performance in recent years, Australian Michael resigned his post as technical director in May. The Oxfordshire based team said on Tuesday his last race will be Singapore next weekend.

In 2012, the 40-year-old will then return to the paddock as McLaren’s new sporting director.

He will have “responsibility for the development and management of the team’s trackside operations”, a McLaren statement said.

“I am delighted that Sam has found a new role that will enable him to continue to apply his energy, passion and experience to formula one,” commented Sir Frank Williams in a separate statement.

Williams has already replaced Michael with Mike Coughlan as well as Mark Gillan, who will start work next week.

Williams’ former marketing boss has said he doubts the famous British team will ever again win in formula one.
With its 7 drivers’ and 9 constructors’ championships, Oxfordshire based Williams is one of F1′s most successful teams but the outfit has not won a single race since 2004.

Not only that, the team is ahead only of the three backmarker teams Team Lotus, Virgin and HRT in this year’s constructors’ standings and the Daily Telegraph reports that its share price on the Frankfurt exchange is crashing.

Williams floated 24 per cent of its shares in March at EUR 24.38, but the current price (EUR 15) represents a 40 per cent decline in six months.

Former marketing chief Scott Garrett, now vice president of brands at Heinz, admitted he does not believe Williams “will ever have the budget” to win again in F1.

“The sorry state of the WF1 equity price indicates a team that is more desperate than confident, and confidence is critical when presenting oneself to sponsors and asking them for money,” he said.

Williams is reportedly considering replacing its highly experienced lead driver Rubens Barrichello for 2012 with another driver able to bring sponsorship dollars to the team.

Rookie Pastor Maldonado’s place is considered safe due to his lucrative backing by the Venezuelan state owned oil company PDVSA.

“My feeling right now is unless Williams have money problems, they should stick with what they have right now”, the news agency AFP quotes Barrichello, 39, as saying.

“To have two kids for next year is the wrong thing to have,” added the Brazilian.

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.