Formula One motorsport boss Ross Brawn is confident the new rules laid out for the sport over the next few years will help the Williams team attract a new buyer.
Williams is prepared to end decades family control of the team as part of a new strategic direction to revive its F1 fortunes. The team, founded by Frank Williams, is one of the most successful in the championship’s history, winning a string of titles in the 1980s and 1990s.
F1 has moved to future-proof the sport during the coronavirus pandemic, agreeing on a budget cap which will be scaled back from $145 million in 2021 to $135 m by 2023. It will also introduce a sliding scale of aerodynamic development weighted in reverse order of championship finish, in other words giving the team which finishes 10th the most car development time in a windtunnel the following year.
Brawn hopes those new regulations will make investing in Williams, which has finished bottom of the order two years in a row, a good option for any interested parties.
« I think what’s encouraging is there are quite a lot of sensible people looking at Williams because they can see the opportunities in the future, » Brawn told Racer. « I think they can see the improving landscape for Formula 1 – economically, commercially, and the competitiveness that an independent team should have in the future.
« I think they see it as a prime time, even in these extremely challenging times they still see it as an opportunity. So I think there’s every chance Williams will be taking on some new partners in the future.
« We’d like to see it stay as Williams, and stay with the heritage and history of Williams. It’s a great team and we’d like to retain that. I think there’s some fairly sensible people now looking at the opportunity to get involved with Williams and give it the support it needs to be successful in the future. »
The F1 season is set to start on July 5 at a behind-closed-doors Austrian Grand Prix. The race will take place under strict protocols to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/29285790/brawn-hopes-f1-rules-revolution-attracts-williams-buyer
