Rob Smedley Tag

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor After two seasons with regular podiums, Williams Martini Racing slipped behind Force India last year for a disappointing fifth in the Constructor’s standings. A turbulent off season saw them lose Valtteri Bottas to Mercedes after Nico Rosberg’s surprise retirement. This caused an awkward exchange when the team immediately called veteran Felipe Massa out of retirement. The affable Brazilian agreed and he leads Williams for at least one more season. He is joined by Canadian rookie Lance Stroll, who won blitzed last year’s European F3 Championship andRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor In a special press conference inside the Williams Martini motor-home Felipe Massa emotionally announced that he will retire from Formula One at the end of the season. “I must start by especially thanking my wife and my father, my whole family, my manager Nicolas and all the people who have supported me throughout my career. Thank you to God for giving me the opportunities I have had in life and, above all, for protecting me. A huge thank you as well to everyone I have workedRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor From worst to first, Williams Martini Racing has turned around its biggest Achilles heel – their pitstop work. After several disastrous stops in 2014 and 2015 cost the team potential shots at victory, Rob Smedley knew something needed to change. The performance chief of the Grove based outfit put together an internal working group with the goal not only of abolishing mistakes in pitlane, but to become the best on the grid. After the first five races of 2016, the fruit of this endeavor has seenRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor Williams has revealed the first images of its 2016 design, the FW38. While it appears to be a clear evolution of its successful predecessor, major changes have taken place under the skin to help the team hold onto its new found place at the sharp end of the field, including improvements for slow speed cornering and running in the wet. Despite finishing third in the Constructor’s Standings in 2014 and 2015, Williams enters 2016 on defense. A resurgent Ferrari has supplanted them as Mercedes’ strongest challenger,Read More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor An examination of the 2015 Formula One season clearly shows a noticeable dip in the performance of the Williams cars in the latter half of the season. According to Performance Chief Rob Smedley this is because the team stopped development of the FW37 early once they realized they would secure third place in the Constructors’ standings but couldn’t reach Ferrari for second. “We stopped development on this car quite a long time ago having projected we would have a comfortable third position in the championship andRead More