Williams ‘hasn’t evolved with Formula 1’ – FX Demaison

Jun.24 (GMM) Williams needs a total overhaul to bring it up to modern Formula 1 standards.

That is not the claim of a critical observer, but of the once-great British team’s new technical director Francois-Xavier Demaison.

Better known as ‘FX’, Demaison was appointed by new team boss and former Volkswagen colleague Jost Capito in March – finally filling the place left open by Paddy Lowe in mid 2019.

Since he started work, Demaison has been getting his head around Williams’ current operations.

He now tells France’s Auto Hebdo: “Williams cannot continue to function in the same way.”

Last year, the Williams family finally left Formula 1, selling the Oxfordshire based team to Dorilton Capital, a New York-based private investment firm.

Demaison has been charged with pulling Williams off the back rows of the grid from a technical perspective.

“In Grove there are many people who have worked together for a long time. Everything is built around them,” he said.

“As someone who has come from the outside, it was easy for me to fill in the gaps with a focus on efficiency. Without erasing the past, there is a lot to change.

“We’ve been doing the same thing for 20 years and that has to change. What worked 20 years ago no longer works, especially in Formula 1,” Demaison added.

“The big problem is that Williams hasn’t evolved at the same pace as Formula 1. The sport has become very complex, but it seems that some people are using that complexity to protect one another.

“For them, it’s a big culture change,” he insisted.

“Experience is important and cannot be bought, but it still has to be used wisely. In many ways I think Williams is still under the shadow of the death of Ayrton Senna.

“At Grove, a car has to be safe before it can be fast, but it actually has to be both.”

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