18/01/2019
NEWS STORY
Joining Williams from Mercedes was very much as case of 'crashing to reality' as far as Paddy Lowe was concerned.
While the Grove outfit, like its Woking rival, McLaren, can boast a long, proud and very successful history, having won countless drivers' and constructor titles, it now finds itself struggling to keep pace in the midfield with teams that have only been around for a few seasons or more.
Lowe believes that it is Williams mind-set that has contributed greatly to its fall from grace, admitting that he too fell victim to the mentality.
The Grove outfit must "get out of this mind-set that there are just two or three things to fix and then everything will be OK, and we'll be winning races," he warns, according to Motorsport.com.
"It is a mind-set that I think has been in Williams for a very long time," he adds. "The mind-set we need is to say, 'everything is available to be challenged and everything has to be done better every year', otherwise you're being left behind by a very strong set of competitors.
"All ten teams in Formula 1 are well financed, relative to history," he continues, "they're well populated with really, really well educated engineers, some of the most talented in the world.
"You can't stand still in any area, and this is a mentality that we need to adopt and we are adopting. That was not present before. Even I fell into that trap as a new fresh set of eyes to the team."
However, at a time McLaren is restructuring in a bid to end its 'lean streak', Lowe insists Williams will take a different approach.
"The work we've got to do is internal, and we would rather do it internally, and not to declare it or define it in the media," he admits. "I don't want my staff to read first in the media that we're about to sort of reorganise such and such department. We like to be as open as we can, and be honest, but some things you have to do internally first."