Paddy Lowe has joined Williams as chief technical officer, the team has confirmed.
The former Mercedes designer starts work at the team today. He has also been appointed to its board of directors.
“I‘ve always had a deep respect for Williams – my first team in Formula One,” said Lowe. “It is a huge honour to return in this leadership position and to have the opportunity to become a shareholder.”
“I am extremely motivated to play my part in bringing success back to the team. The vision for the future set out by the Williams Board is powerful and has compelled me to join an organisation committed to building on its unique legacy and to reaching the pinnacle of Formula One once again.”
Deputy team principal Claire Williams said Lowe’s appointment was “a morale boost for everyone at Williams”.
“I know it will also significantly support our efforts to return this team back to the front of the grid.”
“Our ambitions at Williams are unwavering, we want to win races and championships, but to do that you need the best talent in the business. In Paddy we believe we have just that as well as a leader who will drive change. This is a game changer for us and once again makes us extremely excited about this team’s future.”
2017 F1 season
- Sepang pays Haas compensation for Grosjean’s 2017 crash
- Williams revenues rose in 2017 after Bottas deal with Mercedes
- Australian Grand Prix cost government £56 million last year
- “Grand Prix Driver” takes you inside McLaren’s nightmare final year with Honda
- Undisputed champion: 10 titles name Hamilton top driver of 2017
sethje (@seth-space)
16th March 2017, 9:37
Nice, Lowe had no opportunity to grow at mercedes. Looking at the management situation at merc it a wise decision to leave there. ( reading RB, that is)
For Williams: strong basis this year. Good chassis, best engine, good team, fastest pitstops.. lot of puzzle pieces available to build a magnificent result.
Anthony
16th March 2017, 10:06
Obvious weak point would be the driver lineup….
GechiChan (@gechichan)
16th March 2017, 11:03
indeed, they are well financed after the Bottas deal and Stroll coming in, and with less degradable tires it will be a lot better for them this year, as this seemed a weekness in previous seasons. But they still have the worst driver line-up IMO and remains to be seen if they fixed their wet track performance with the new aero changes.
sethje (@seth-space)
16th March 2017, 12:53
For now stroll did not disappointed me. bad start but good come back the next days with lots or safe round and lots of useful data for Williams.
Massa seems to have found his mojo again.. so let’s see.
G. (#F1insperations) (@greggriffiths)
16th March 2017, 13:21
+1 on all of that – it would have taken me the usual essay to get tht out.
toiago (@toiago)
16th March 2017, 9:43
Next step: getting a works engine!
Boomerang
16th March 2017, 10:19
In the eighties it was Williams-Honda then McLaren-Honda. Maybe reversed order today? Who knows.
Bobby Balboa
16th March 2017, 9:56
Honda will be available next season
Richard (@rick1984)
16th March 2017, 10:21
Good to see Williams making a strong top end hiring, hopefully over the next couple of seasons they might get things really back together and start winning races regularly again.
as a side note because of my age and when i got into formula one i always think of Williams as one of the sports bigger teams. weird to think that apart from that single Pastor Spanish GP Williams have not had another win in over a decade!!!!
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
16th March 2017, 10:38
Lowe stepping in without gardening leave? That’s interesting. Usually people are at least 6 months away and especially with such high profiles. Could this be a favour from Mercedes in return of the Bottas transaction? Or was that decided before?
Shimks (@shimks)
16th March 2017, 11:34
@spoutnik:
Definitely!
Miane
16th March 2017, 23:56
I don’t think Mercedes would do that “favor” if the cars this year wasn’t 90% new.
Evil Homer (@)
16th March 2017, 10:54
@spoutnik
Yes certainly a sweetener from Mercs, it was large part of the deal by all accounts but played down at the time by Mercedes.
But Paddy did do his gardening leave, I hear he mowed the lawns and pulled some weeds just last weekend :) That should do it!
Graham (@guitargraham)
16th March 2017, 10:58
and with the knowledge of everything mercedes are up to. bozo and chuckles are going to regret messing you about at the last race. welcome back paddy, its been way too long
Andy (@andybantam)
16th March 2017, 11:45
Watch Williams fly in a couple of years.
That’s my prediction….
G. (#F1insperations) (@greggriffiths)
16th March 2017, 13:21
lets hope so
Evil Homer (@)
16th March 2017, 12:02
@andybantam
I hope so mate, I think Force India may still cover them this year but they will be back right up front soon(ish)
G. (#F1insperations) (@greggriffiths)
16th March 2017, 13:25
i wouldnt want to be so sure. force india have the advantage of youth but experience and real experience is a lot bigger player in this game than in others. and tey have speed and experience along with endurence of Massa. if anything i predict Massa, FI, FI, Stroll.
dutchtreat (@dutchtreat)
16th March 2017, 19:26
This made my day! Paddy back at Williams, such great news. I don’t think Stroll is going to disappoint at all. He is young and will learn fast. Go Williams…!!!
Strangely Brown (@irukaviking)
16th March 2017, 22:23
Best of luck to them!
Philip Mathen
16th March 2017, 22:24
If McLaren have actually talked to Merc, then expect Honda to make contact with Grove. And they’re building up nicely to a works deal. This could be interesting. If Honda do get dumped by McLaren, pretty sure they won’t leave without justifying the huge investments so far. Last time they did that Mercedes swooped in built magnificently on their investments. I’m expecting them to go for Williams and Force India as works and customer teams. Both teams would gladly accept the money that Honda is blowing on one team.
Diego (@ironcito)
17th March 2017, 8:07
I don’t think that McLaren will go back to Mercedes. Yes, a Mercedes engine would be an improvement, but they will never return to their former glory if they buy engines from their rivals. Right now, Honda is the only engine provider that doesn’t have its own team.
I’d be worried if I was Red Bull, too. Renault are just starting as a team, so they’ve been having Red Bull as an unofficial works team of sorts. But this year they have their first fully proprietary car. Soon, Red Bull will just be a customer and a rival. I’d be searching for a different engine.
Dave Jones
20th March 2017, 4:20
Did Paddy jump or was he pushed?
Was he fed up with Hamilton’s disrespect?