Imago
Felipe Massa
Imago
Felipe Massa
The Williams F1 team have undergone a long nightmare in the past few seasons. The Grove-based team fell long and hard from grace, to become the F1 backmarkers. The Netflix Formula One: Drive to Survive series actually highlighted their tale of woe for the 2019 season.
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Recently, the British outfit appeared at a RoKit event in London. Team Claire Williams actualy joked that things all started going wrong when Brazilian veteran Felipe Massa left the team. Funnily enough, Massa was also present for the RoKit event. He went along with the joke and admitted that he wants to try and get his seat back.
On a more serious note, Massa turned up in London because RoKit sponsors his Venturi Formula E team. The Brazilian had a poor run in the recently concluded Marrakesh ePrix, finishing 17th. However, he confessed that he enjoys racing in the series, owing to the competitive nature of the series.
How is Williams F1 doing since Massa’s departure?
Felipe Massa was originally supposed to retire at the end of the 2016 F1 season. He even had an emotional farewell at that year’s Brazilian Grand Prix. However, the team hastily recalled him when Valtteri Bottas got shoe-horned into Mercedes. The Finn was roped in after Nico Rosberg’s sudden retirement after winning the title.
In 2017, the Williams team was still a semi-decent car and sneaked onto the podium in Baku. After the veteran left, the team’s form plummeted dramatically and they were relegated to backmarker status. Last year, it got even worse, as evidenced on track and on the Netflix episode.
This time, the team have ticked all the right boxes and managed to get their car running on time. After Robert Kubica left, Nicholas Latifi was brought in to partner George Russell. So far, everything seems fine in the Williams F1 camp, but they still expect to stay at the back of the pack for the moment.
To make matters worse, they have been hit by a number of engine issues. The comforting news is that they are not the only ones, as there were failures for Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda-powered cars.
