Williams will not write off 2021: 'But you can't be late with anything'

For three seasons, Williams have been at the bottom of the championship, but with the new owners, the team would love to move up the ladder. The new rules from 2022 give the team a good chance to progress.

For the first time since the team was founded in 1977, no points were scored this season. To close the gap with the other teams, all efforts have to be made. With major rule changes scheduled for 2022, all teams will be starting from scratch and this should be the team's chance.

However, the new regulations also ensure that Williams cannot afford to be late in development, team principal Simon Roberts also knows. "It's a great opportunity for all the teams, but it's also a great risk," he told Autosport.com.

According to Roberts, everything is therefore being done to get the car as good as possible for 2022, but the team does not want to sacrifice the coming season just like that. "What we are concentrating on is that there is no carryover from '21 to '22, so you can't be late with anything."

Williams, therefore, has a clear plan in terms of the development of the 2021 and 2022 cars. "We're working backwards from the first race in 2022, looking at what we need to have in the house, what we need for the winter test, and then going all the way back into the development programme to find out how much room and capacity we have across the organisation."

For now, Roberts is not worried about the team running out of time. "We have time, the people, wind tunnel and CFD availability in the first part of the year to develop the '21 car. At some point, there will be a crossover point, but I don't know exactly when that will be," Roberts concludes.