Williams, another year in the dulldrums? - toyota cost

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Heikkirocks
Heikkirocks
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Williams, another year in the dulldrums? - toyota cost

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Kazuki Nakajima, son of Sataru, is officially announced as williams test driver for '07, come on!! there are any number of drivers available better suited to help Williams get back on form, Klien? Paffet? Speed? et al, the price of Toyota engines is to take a Toyota Development driver under their wing? perhaps they should have re badded a Cossie lump 'hyundai' and signed an experienced driver, Alex Wurz had a tonne of responsibility on his shoulders now, can Williams really pull it around with two test drivers of this caliber? As a brit, I want Williams to suceed, but i have great misgivings, please prove me wrong Frank.

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NickT
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Joined: 24 Sep 2003, 12:47
Location: Edinburgh, UK

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I have to agree with you there, but Wurz is still very hungry after been left out in the testing doldrums over the last few years. Don't get me wrong I can see the work he did for McLaren during this time has given him the depth he lacked before. I hope he is ready to take on the team leader's role and move it forward.
NickT

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joseff
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Joined: 24 Sep 2002, 11:53

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well the Nakajima guy can't be as bad as Narain...

As for taking Hyundai money, well, it'll also come with a Korean driver.

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johny
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wow what a great test driver lineup has found williams toyota :lol:

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m3_lover
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Joined: 26 Jan 2006, 07:29
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I really doubt that Williams is going to make a difference in 2007..they do not have the budget anymore.
Simon: Nils? You can close in now. Nils?
John McClane: [on the guard's phone] Attention! Attention! Nils is dead! I repeat, Nils is dead, ----head. So's his pal, and those four guys from the East German All-Stars, your boys at the bank? They're gonna be a little late.
Simon: [on the phone] John... in the back of the truck you're driving, there's $13 billon dollars worth in gold bullion. I wonder would a deal be out of the question?
John McClane: [on the phone] Yeah, I got a deal for you. Come out from that rock you're hiding under, and I'll drive this truck up your ass.

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f1.redbaron
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Joined: 31 Jul 2005, 23:29

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I don't like what Williams has to put up with, but, hey, money is money - and Williams needs it badly. They lost major bucks with HP pulling out of F1, and when they parted ways with BMW!

So, Narain might be bad (or, not as good as others), but he brough in TATA as the sponsor, and if Toyota will give them engines for free in return for a place to develop their driver, then, if i were FW, I'd say "so be it!"

(perhaps that is the reason why I'm not Frank Williams :D )

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johny
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Joined: 07 Apr 2005, 09:06
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that could be true but money isn't everything. Using those kind of drivers is a backmarkers practice, if williams wants to forget last year that's not the way. Maybe a team of williams experience and tradition has the poorest test drivers in the grid, and that couldn't help much

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joseff
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Joined: 24 Sep 2002, 11:53

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Also remember that last year although Narain was the "official test driver" the bulk of the job ended up on Alex Wurz' shoulders. Frank is not stupid. The way he treats his *race* drivers, I'm sure he has some mileage-limiting clause in his test drivers' contracts if they underperform.

That being said, it's not the test drivers I'm worried about. It's Nico Rosberg. He'd better get his act together or people like Kubica, Vettel and Ammermuller will swamp him.

DaveKillens
DaveKillens
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Joined: 20 Jan 2005, 04:02

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No doubt having Kazuki Nakajima on the driver's list has taken care of any lack of Toyota engine support. This will be important as the season goes on, Williams should be able to keep abreast of development, one of their major shortcomings last year. At least,I sure hope so.

mcdenife
mcdenife
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Joined: 05 Nov 2004, 13:21
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Joseff wrote:
Also remember that last year although Narain was the "official test driver" the bulk of the job ended up on Alex Wurz' shoulders.
Wurz, not Narain, was the 3rd and therefore official test driver.
Long experience has taught me this about the status of mankind with regards to matters requiring thought. The less people know and understand about them, the more positively they attempt to argue concerning them; while on the other hand, to know and understand a multitude of things renders men cautious in passing judgement upon anything new. - Galileo..

The noblest of dogs is the hot dog. It feeds the hand that bites it.

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joseff
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Joined: 24 Sep 2002, 11:53

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So how's the situation next year? Is it Nakajima #3 and Karthikeyan #4, or the other way around?