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From Williams
British engineer Pat Symonds, who started his Formula 1 career in 1982 with the small Toleman team and worked alongside a young rookie called Ayrton Senna, has recently been appointed chief technical officer of the Williams F1 Team.
What does this new challenge entail?
“Firstly, I think it's a great team. The facilities are top class, we have a huge number of talented people and yet the results on the track are not a reflection of the quality we have. So I think my challenge is to analyse why this is happening, make the changes that are needed to empower the people and really get the focus in one direction: performance”, said Symonds.
“I was reminded the other day, by a good friend, that many years ago when I was at Renault I was quoted as saying that the only other team in Formula 1 that I would work for was Williams”, Symonds added.
“Frank (Williams) has always been a fierce competitor but one that always competes with a lot of honour and dignity. Sometimes I beat him, sometimes I lost to him but I always had the utmost respect for him. I'm really thrilled that now we can combine our efforts to beat our competitors,” he continued.
Symonds was the track engineer of Ayrton Senna when he started in Formula 1 in 1984. But Symonds has worked with other fantastic drivers.
“Indeed. I've worked with many outstanding drivers from Senna, Schumacher, and Alonso but if I had to pick one, I do have a special place for Michael (Schumacher). He is obviously a super talent, he very much thinks like an engineer and yet he's also a really great person, so I definitely have a soft spot for him,” the Briton said.
Coming into the team at this stage, can he make a difference this season or will he focus be on next year?
“There are developments going on for the remainder of this season. We have new parts coming to races as far out as Korea and beyond,” he said.
“They are not things I've had influence on but I can see them in the development programme. I hope we can look at some smaller details from the wind tunnel to improve things over the coming races and I'll be looking at the operational side too. Fundamentality focus has to be much more towards 2014 as it's an immensely difficult programme, the most difficult we have had to tackle for a long while.
“The FW36 is well underway and I think it's important I get my influence onto that. However, my influence will be much more on process rather than detail, so I hope that pays off and leads to the sort of structure that can lead to on-going success for the team,” he ended.
British engineer Pat Symonds, who started his Formula 1 career in 1982 with the small Toleman team and worked alongside a young rookie called Ayrton Senna, has recently been appointed chief technical officer of the Williams F1 Team.
What does this new challenge entail?
“Firstly, I think it's a great team. The facilities are top class, we have a huge number of talented people and yet the results on the track are not a reflection of the quality we have. So I think my challenge is to analyse why this is happening, make the changes that are needed to empower the people and really get the focus in one direction: performance”, said Symonds.
“I was reminded the other day, by a good friend, that many years ago when I was at Renault I was quoted as saying that the only other team in Formula 1 that I would work for was Williams”, Symonds added.
“Frank (Williams) has always been a fierce competitor but one that always competes with a lot of honour and dignity. Sometimes I beat him, sometimes I lost to him but I always had the utmost respect for him. I'm really thrilled that now we can combine our efforts to beat our competitors,” he continued.
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| Photo: Williams F1 Team |
Symonds was the track engineer of Ayrton Senna when he started in Formula 1 in 1984. But Symonds has worked with other fantastic drivers.
“Indeed. I've worked with many outstanding drivers from Senna, Schumacher, and Alonso but if I had to pick one, I do have a special place for Michael (Schumacher). He is obviously a super talent, he very much thinks like an engineer and yet he's also a really great person, so I definitely have a soft spot for him,” the Briton said.
Coming into the team at this stage, can he make a difference this season or will he focus be on next year?
“There are developments going on for the remainder of this season. We have new parts coming to races as far out as Korea and beyond,” he said.
“They are not things I've had influence on but I can see them in the development programme. I hope we can look at some smaller details from the wind tunnel to improve things over the coming races and I'll be looking at the operational side too. Fundamentality focus has to be much more towards 2014 as it's an immensely difficult programme, the most difficult we have had to tackle for a long while.
“The FW36 is well underway and I think it's important I get my influence onto that. However, my influence will be much more on process rather than detail, so I hope that pays off and leads to the sort of structure that can lead to on-going success for the team,” he ended.