5
Head of performance at Williams Rob Smedley says that he is aiming to stay in Formula 1 following his exit after the 2018 season. The Briton recently confirmed that he would be departing the Grove squad, who he joined in 2014.
Smedley will serve a six-month gardening leave before he is eligible to return to F1 again. The former race engineer of Felipe Massa has been linked with a move to Formula E (where Massa will race in 2018/19), however he says he is planning on remaining in F1.
“I definitely want to stay in Formula 1," Smedley said. "Formula 1 is my passion, all my working life that I’ve been in Formula 1 and it’s still the pinnacle of motorsport. There are other series that are snapping at its heels, but it’s still got a lot to offer.
"Formula 1, we’re working on it all the time, it’s not the complete package. It has so much more potential than what you actually see. I do want to stay in Formula 1 on the technical side. I’m lucky, because I’m already talking to people and that’s a fortunate position to be in and we’ll just see where everything takes us.”
When pushed on where his next destination will be, Smedley replied: “I’m in a really fortunate lucky position that people want to talk to me so I’m talking and there’s absolutely no avenues closed off. “What I actually need to do is to at some point, towards the start of next year, is to get all the options on the table.
"And after having spent a little bit of time away from it and being able to look at things with a clearer head, slightly less fatigued, then I will make a decision. But until that point, I will see what the options are as they come in and go from there."
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
4 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Felipe Massa
158,025 comments on Williams 39 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about Williams
Vega23
Posts: 17
6 months gardening leave? Williams are worried that their inside knowledge of how not to do things might leak out? but seriously, good luck to the guy.