Paddy Lowe thinks that Williams can still win titles despite being a customer team. The team gets their power units from Mercedes, but thinks that despite this, they still possess the potential to return to winning ways.
Former McLaren CEO Ron Dennis said that beating Mercedes with Mercedes power was impossible, hence the switch to Honda in 2015. However, Lowe says that as long as Williams are running equal engines, it is possible to defeat Mercedes.
"The engines are the same for all the Mercedes teams," said Lowe, "so it is absolutely possible to win a world championship as a customer. Red Bull did a very good job with the Renault engine but were never a works team," Lowe said.
The bigger issue in Lowe's opinion is money, with private teams having a dramatically lower budget in an era that is so expensive.
"It is, of course, more difficult to be ahead with a smaller budget. There's no doubt about that. The challenge is to make the best of the resources you have available and generate more resources at the same time," said Lowe.
Williams is one of the most successful Formula 1 teams of all time. winning nine constructor championships, seven driver titles and 114 race victories. Their last titles came in 1997 when Jacques Villeneuve won the driver's championship with team mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen contributing to the constructor's championship.
Fergal Walsh
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Would love to see Williams back at the front, can't see it happening until there is a major regulation revamp plus new engines.. budget caps etc.