Williams agrees deal for more Mercedes parts
It has been a long time coming and some of us doubted the wisdom of their continued reliance on building expensive in-house components such as gearboxes and suspensions given the development costs, when other non manufacturer teams were taking advantage of deals with their associated manufacturer to buy complete engine transmission and rear suspensions as a unit.
Happily I have to say that Williams have now under their new ownership, agreed a deal in which they have opted to take advantage of the ‘transferable components’ allowance. Initially it will be for gearboxes and assorted hydraulic componentry.
n its latest announcement, the team states that its agreement will “enable Williams to implement a more efficient design and manufacturing process in-house in the long-term, allowing the team to focus its resources more effectively in other performance areas.”
Williams CEO Simon Roberts himself commented, “I’m pleased to see our great relationship with Mercedes extend beyond the supply of engines.
“Williams is an independent team, but Formula One is always evolving, and as a team we must be agile to react to the current climate in order to put the team in the best position to be competitive on track.
“This long-term agreement with Mercedes is a positive step and forms part of our strategic objectives for the future whilst we will still retain our design and manufacturing capabilities in-house.”
Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 Team Principal/CEO Toto Wolff said, “We are pleased to expand our technical cooperation with Williams through this new agreement.
“For Williams, it makes sense to acquire the integrated powertrain after running our power units since 2014 and for our team, it makes sense in terms of economies of scale to supply another team under the new rules.
“This is a project we have been discussing with Williams for some time and I am glad we have been able to bring this extension to fruition.”
Its been a long time coming but with budget caps and the like it has to be seen as a no-brainer to take as much Mercedes componentry as they can. We have seen what Racing Point managed with a similar philosophy of buying in as much as they legally could (sic).