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Image Courtesy : www.williamsf1.com.
Throughout its tenure in Formula 1, Williams has been one of the most experienced and successful teams that currently feature on the grid.
In 2014, Williams seem to have a lot of potential and it will be heartwarming for every F1 fan to finally see them perform better and return to their old glory days. The team, since its inception in 1978, dominated through the 80s and 90s and helped several greats of the sport like Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost among others to clinch the world title. In the early to mid 2000s, the team benefited from partnership with BMW and emerged as a championship contender during several occasions, but when they withdrew their support after 2004, their form dipped narrowly.
After this, they went through a difficult period with occasional standout performances produced by drivers like Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg, Nico Hulkenerg and Pastor Maldoando. One such performance was the victory at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix, at the hands of Pastor Maldonado, who drove a brilliant race to keep Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari at bay to win the race. And now in 2014, looking at their current form, they seem to have gotten stronger.
Williams had a dismal 2013 campaign, in which they secured a meager 5 points, which is amongst their lowest points tallies in a season. Also, 4 of these points were scored by Valtteri Bottas just at the second to last round of the season. From what can be understood from the outside, it appears as if they had deliberately given less attention to their 2013 campaign to concentrate more on 2014. This might not be true, but comparing their form in 2012 with that of 2013 might give more details.
In 2012, Williams had many appearances in Q3 throughout the season, including pole position at Spain. Their driver Pastor Maldonado, besides the win at Spain and 5th place at Abu Dhabi, performed strongly at several races, but they were compromised either due to driver error or technical troubles. Overall, in 2012, Williams produced decent results during the year, though they were not able to fully utilize their full potential. Also, just as an afterthought, for 2012, Kimi Raikkonen was rumored to be in talks with them; if he had indeed signed with them instead of Lotus, then he surely would have put the team in a better place and possibly produced more podiums and wins for the team.
Now, if one contrasts their 2012 with 2013, the differences are clearly visible. Thus surely the question arises that what would have led to such a sharp dip in performance for them in 2013, a season in which there were not so many rule changes as compared to the previous year. I could be wrong, but it seems as if they had deliberately given less importance to 2013 in favor of 2014, a year in which there were going to be a large magnitude of rule changes. Now, looking at their current position, it appears that their move has indeed paid off.
They had a very strong preseason testing, in which they appeared to be ahead of everyone except Mercedes. It appears that radical changes in staff and shifting from Renault to Mercedes powered units has helped them a lot. At the opening round in Australia, their good form was visible, even though they were not able to produce the results they had hoped. Both the drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, qualified 9th and 15th respectively and would have fought for podium places had it not been due to certain incidents during the race.
Massa had to retire due to incident at first corner with Kamui Kobayashi. Bottas, while on the other hand was consistently overtaking his competitors, but when he was chasing Alonso for 5th place, he glanced off the wall and had to come back to pits for a tyre change which brought him to the back of the field. What happened after this is a clear testament to the pace Williams is now boasting. After his incident, Bottas made a flying comeback, again out powering his opponents and just before the end of the race, he had again come behind Alonso and finally finished behind him in 5th place.
Now, with the Malaysian Grand Prix just a few days away, it will not be a huge surprise if Williams make it to the podium. Both Massa and Bottas remain determined as ever to bounce back from their disappointing performance in Australia. The team certainly seems to have got the pace and coupled with two strong drivers in the form of Massa and Bottas they sure are going to have a way better season than their recent endeavors. If they are able to maintain and further develop their car during the season, then we can see them turn into title contenders, if not this year, then surely in the coming years.
If Williams indeed live up to the promise which they have shown up until now, then it will help in further spicing up the competition in Formula 1. Add to that, it will also be a great news for Formula 1 and its fans to see a name which has now almost become legendary to finally return to its old glory.
