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Williams F1 Possibly Facing Major Financial Trouble in 2019

Published 09/10/2019, 8:57 AM EDT

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The Williams F1 team have struggled a lot this season and things are about to get a whole lot worse. Already, they have been superglued to the back of the pack, and their financial situation is not looking any prettier either. Apparently, the team has recorded numerous losses for the start of 2019, owing to poor results last year.

Last year, they propped up the tail of the 2018 constructors championship. As a result, the home-grown team lost a huge chunk of funding from Sergey SirotkinLance Stroll and title sponsors Martini. In other words, the British team’s F1 operations recorded a loss of £16.8m, making £0.2m in 2018.

It was worth noting that the Grove-based squad generated a revenue of £46.3m in the first six months of 2019. Unfortunately, that was a far cry from £60.7m earned in 2018, in spite of backing from new title sponsors ROKiT. Even the cash flow from PK Orlen through Robert Kubica, was not enough.

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via Imago

The good news was that their overall records were balanced out, via improvements from Williams Advanced Engineering. WAE helped boost revenue between January-June in 2019. The revenue moved up to £30.9m from £21.5m in 2018.

The revenue for the first six months of 2019 stands at £77.8m with a deficit on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of £18.8m.

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“Our financial results reflect a challenging half year for our Formula One operations, yet also demonstrated continued growth in the Williams Advanced Engineering business,” said Mike O’Driscoll, Group Chief Executive Officer at Williams.

“The F1 financial results primarily reflect our finishing position in last year’s Constructors’ Championship and the consequent reduction in prize money (which is paid a year in arrears). There was also an overall reduction in partnership income compared to the first half of 2018, although we secured major new partnerships with ROKiT and Orlen.”

“Although we are enduring another tough season on track, we have seen some recent signs of improvement, and we continue to attract interest from potential partners as one of the longest standing Formula 1 teams. This is best demonstrated by the recent two-year extension to our title partnership deal with ROKiT who will now continue with us until at least 2023.”

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So far this 2019 season, things have been rocky, right from missing the opening days of pre-season testing to dismissing technical head Paddy Lowe. To date, Williams F1 has resigned itself to its fate to be the bottom-feeders the teams’ championship. They lucked out when Robert Kubica bagged a valuable 10th place and one point at the German Grand Prix.

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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