Smedley: Williams needs recovery plan for all areas of business

Outgoing Williams head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley has called for the maligned British Formula 1 team to improve in multiple aspects of the entire business and ‘there’s never one magic bullet’.

During the build-up to the Brazilian Grand Prix, Williams confirmed Smedley would leave the team at the end of the season having joined in 2014 from Ferrari.

Smedley, who is looking forward to spending more time with his family before assessing his future options in F1, has reflected on his time at Williams and pointed to where the team needs to improve after a disastrous 2018 campaign which leaves them at the foot of the constructors’ championship.

“There’s never one magic bullet. I think in all areas really, you can never stop learning and improving,” Smedley said. “I think it would be a mistake to pinpoint one area and say that has to be the sole concentration or that’s the sole problem; it’s not.

“As with anything that’s not quite working as well as it should be, or as efficiently as it should be, with any business, with any organisation, it’s never one thing.

“There are areas that need modernisation, there are areas that need change and there are areas you should recognise that are strong compared to other Formula 1 teams but are not supported in other ways.

“It’s a long road, they’re a talented bunch there, there are some really good technical people, some really good engineers and a good management group and the trick now is they have to pull together and start to go in one direction.”

Smedley reiterated his faith in the current Williams management headed by Claire Williams to lead both the business and F1 team through its tricky period.

“They’ve got strong leadership and Claire is at the front of that leadership and I think what they need to do at that leadership level is they need a recovery plan,” he said. “That has to attack all areas of the business. It has to be technical, but it has to be all the support structure of the business as well.”

Smedley says he’s eager to remain in F1 having been approached by different offers from rival teams but expressed his plan to serve his gardening leave from Williams without any distractions of weighing up his next career move.