Byebye to one of the last private teams ins F1.
Such a shame, I looked up to this team in awe in the 90s.
Seems like you cannot be successful in this series anymore without a billionaire/manufacturer in the background.
There once was a time in F1 wherein highly skilled and very talented drivers were offered less than market value...simply to drive a Williams car.
If you wanted a shot at a WDC, Williams was one of only three teams that could possibly do it and they knew it.
How times and fortunes have changed for them.
It is sad to watch them decline to this point.
UPDATE: The Australian MotoGP has now also been cancelled.Silverstone has officially confirmed the cancellation of the 2020 British MotoGP.Circuit Managing Director, Stuart Pringle, issued the following statement explaining that 'logistical restrictions under the current [coronavirus] situation...
www.crash.net
Maybe need a MotoGP section but I am happy to post stuff that takes my fancy
Williams have always been my favorite team in F1. Damon Hill was my sporting hero as a teenager (a man that proved nice guys can win). The factory at Grove near Wantage is an area that I know pretty well as my family were originally from Abingdon just up the road.
Sad day. I hope they can find a buyer or another headline sponsorship deal or something to pull them out of this mess. Otherwise it looks like the reduced 2021 (or 2022) cost cap in F1 will come just a bit too late for this once great team.
This reminds me of the eventual demise of the Minardi name. A small (for the time), fiercely independent team who, in their latter years, sometimes went against the establishment for the sake of their own pride, but ultimately ended their tenures as backmarkers forced to sell the team.
I watched the news of the new rules and was thinking "Williams can really dig themselves out of that hole". Alas looks like it's not meant to be. I hope we do get a good team in their place *cough* Porsche *cough*, however it's a sad day for the priveteer.
Also how didn't they get a bigger historic package from F1?
As I said in another reply in some other thread, the world as we knew it is gone, it has changed and what it will become I have no idea but this as well as maybe the Renault thing mentioned is all part of a unfolding new reality that we have to learn to live in.
I feel for the human side of this that now will have to deal with what this means
I would imagine this has mainly come around from Rokit's side.
I always wondered how a small phone manufacturer pumping tens of millions into sports sponsorship could manage that. I'm assuming they are not selling enough of the things as well.
Ironically I wonder if they get better recognition by simply sponsoring things like e-sports and I assume for far less money.
I hope that Williams can survive all this, it will be very tough though. Williams are fiercely independent but I can see them having to bite the bullet and team up with a manufacturer if they want to keep going.
We don't want to lose another two cars from the grid.
To be honest Williams could benefit from pulling out of F1 and rebuilding by running in other types of motorsport. They were a brilliant touring car team back in the day. So whats to stop them from doing that now? Other than pride.