Willis slates Dallara

[Retro Formula 1]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82630

Don't hold back Geoff. Not pulling many punches is he.

[AJP]

What is wrong with what he is saying?

Clearly this team has gone about their business in the wrong way from the start, and Willis is now trying to rectify this...

[christophulus]

I can understand his frustration, but the fact they've got a functioning car is a minor miracle, judging by the fact the team was on the rocks about two weeks before the first GP. I can't imagine Dallara put in 100% commitment when they weren't sure whether the next payment was going to turn up or not.

[Roamy]

good for Willis - rage on !!!

[Valve Bounce]

Someone in Willis's position would have been much better remaining silent than giving that interview. To me, he looks as if he is standing at arm's length and throwing shyte at the car.

[gloomyDAY]

Valve, the guy is giving an honest opinion of the car at hand.

What's wrong with that? I'll take Geoff's word!

Willis is just stating that he needs to see some clear direction with Hispania, and the tacit message is that he'll split if things don't get arranged.

[Saint Devote]

Willis is an idiot and a peasant. The team ought to bid him goodbye.

[maximilian]

His remarks are hardly constructive. If Dallara didn't get paid for periods of time, it's only natural for them to stop development until "Campos" got their crap in order again. He should be careful, too... they may need to heavily rely on Dallara again for further development of the car, since it doesn't look like Hispania will have their own development facilities anytime soon?

[Valve Bounce]

Valve, the guy is giving an honest opinion of the car at hand.

What's wrong with that? I'll take Geoff's word!

Willis is just stating that he needs to see some clear direction with Hispania, and the tacit message is that he'll split if things don't get arranged.

Sure, if you are a "Consultant" for a company and you do not fully agree with the way things are proceeding, you go to the press and say what that company is doing is shyte. Good one!

[Roamy]

Willis is an idiot and a peasant. The team ought to bid him goodbye.

oh tell us how you really feel :)

[gloomyDAY]

Sure, if you are a "Consultant" for a company and you do not fully agree with the way things are proceeding, you go to the press and say what that company is doing is shyte. Good one!Willis can find future employment in F1 if the Hispania can't handle a little taste of reality. Hell! I bet this is his letter of resignation.


Willis is an idiot and a peasant. The team ought to bid him goodbye.Uh oh. The wise words from our very own F1 engineer.

Tell us again how you know more about tire usage than Bridgestone.
If you don't remember, then I can go ahead and quote it for you.

Also, Bridgestone's own engineers agreed that the best person on their tires (in terms of wear) at OZ was Alonso and not Bunsen.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82635

[CNR]

you all need to have a good look at your self and ask how do you do your job when you can not get hold of any of technical blueprints and data,

http://i43.tinypic.com/2ch9xma.gif

[CNR]

Willis is an idiot and a peasant. The team ought to bid him goodbye.

to put in a way that you would understand
it would be like telling button to use a different tyre to the other drivers for the race with no testing on them

you all need to have a good look at your self and ask how do you do your job when you can not get hold of any of technical blueprints and data,

http://i43.tinypic.com/2ch9xma.gif

Ah, my finest hour.

[ShiftingGears]

Valve, the guy is giving an honest opinion of the car at hand.

I am inclined to agree with Valve's opinion on this. There is no advantage in slating the team who you work for in public. And it does not do anything to solve the problems that he mentioned.

On the positive side, it makes for a good article.

[DexDexter]

Willis is an idiot and a peasant. The team ought to bid him goodbye.

An idiot an a peasant who can design much quicker racing cars than the Dallara HRT currently has. This just goes to show you that these manufacturers such as Lola or Dallara are a long way off F1 standards.

[F1boat]

Willis is an idiot and a peasant. The team ought to bid him goodbye.

That's a bit harsh, but he was really rude. I never appreciate such people.

[Retro Formula 1]

I'm inclined to agree with Squirrel and Valve Bounce on this.

It was a scathing attack on the professionalism of Dallara. He pointedly stated that taking into account all the issues, the basic engineering and package was seriously flawed.

That being so, it was still an extraordinary statement against the engineers. He might have wanted to threaten them with being sacked and the car reverse engineered but strikes me as a pretty obtuse way of doing it.

[AndyL]

Ah, my finest hour.

Building an Airfix kit? ;)

[ioan]

Willis is an idiot and a peasant. The team ought to bid him goodbye.

Then he ought to idolize you.

[ioan]

Building an Airfix kit? ;)

Looks like a Revell to me! ;)

[ioan]

I just don't understand you people.
When someone tows the corporate line you call them politically correct, boring, bland an other such.
When they come out and speak their mind you get on your high horse and slag them for it.

Make your minds up for F's sake.

[Valve Bounce]

I just don't understand you people.
When someone tows the corporate line you call them politically correct, boring, bland an other such.
When they come out and speak their mind you get on your high horse and slag them for it.

Make your minds up for F's sake.

Basically, in my professional opinion, Willis was out of line. Such diatribes do not contribute positively to any team's effort. It just makes everyone in the team feel bad.

[JasonD]

Sounds like hes on his way out the door, either by choice of force and is trying to distance himself and say "Hey this is completely not my fault, will someone else please hire me, please?".

[jens]

Interesting claim that Dallara is missing tricks that all experienced teams have found by now. Shows that Dallara's experience in spec-series doesn't count much beyond building a similar basic car for F1.

Willis is a highly-qualified specialist and he is hired for spotting the weaknesses in the team and car design. A more critical question may be whether he should do it in the media. Maybe he has done it to put more pressure on the team to decide and work on the future. I think he seems to hint that HRT only has a future if they allow him to start designing the next car with all the tricks he has up in his sleeve instead of relying on Dallara in the future. But it's unsure, whether HRT has the finances to perform designing and building the car on their own... They don't have any infrastructure, do they?

[AJP]

Basically, in my professional opinion, Willis was out of line. Such diatribes do not contribute positively to any team's effort. It just makes everyone in the team feel bad.

I understand where your coming from Valve, but...this could also have a great affect on the team in a positive way, ie, getting them off there arses and changing what needs to be changed, correcting the way they are working now, and putting in place a more proactive process for the rest of the year and leading into 2011. If they take this as a big negative and it makes them feel bad...then they are in the wrong business.

[DexDexter]

I just don't understand you people.
When someone tows the corporate line you call them politically correct, boring, bland an other such.
When they come out and speak their mind you get on your high horse and slag them for it.

Make your minds up for F's sake.

People are hypocrites. The bottom line is Dallara sucks and I don't understand how telling the truth can be considered rude. I mean the guy said that money problems etc. affected the project so he gave them some benefit of the doubt.

[ioan]

People are hypocrites. The bottom line is Dallara sucks and I don't understand how telling the truth can be considered rude. I mean the guy said that money problems etc. affected the project so he gave them some benefit of the doubt.

Exactly.

[Robinho]

it mights not be the best thing to say publically about the guys paying the bills, but he is only a consultant, and i don't think he's wrong in what he said, in fact his F1 expertise is what they are paying for, so they already know they are missing a bit of something. with the whole thing taken in context its not that much of a rubbishing, more of an accurate appraisal of where they are and why. if they take heed and learn then they might move forwards

[maximilian]

I guess the jury is out as to which new team took the best approach. It could well be that a more "simple" approach without too many gimmicks and tricks that can malfunction and stifle progress *coughvirgincough* may be the better way to go...

[VkmSpouge]

An idiot an a peasant who can design much quicker racing cars than the Dallara HRT currently has. This just goes to show you that these manufacturers such as Lola or Dallara are a long way off F1 standards.

Well since Lola were not given entry we don't know how far off the pace they would have been. Given that Dallara will have been given a tight budget to work on plus a very stop-start process on the car due to Campos' money trouble, the Italian constructor certainly has legitimate reasons for not producing a world beating car.
That said I am sure Geoff Willis' comments are quite correct, Hispania have got a long way to go to even get on the pace of Lotus and Virgin.

[wedge]

Sure, if you are a "Consultant" for a company and you do not fully agree with the way things are proceeding, you go to the press and say what that company is doing is shyte. Good one!

What should he do? Say how great the car is even though its stupidly off the pace?

Frank Dernie & Mike Gascoyne have criticised the corporate structure of Toyota.

[Malbec]

What should he do? Say how great the car is even though its stupidly off the pace?

He should have given constructive feedback privately to Dallara so that they could keep on developing the car with his input, not slag off the team and car supplier in public and hence devalue them.

I would like to know how much harder it is for HRT now to negotiate with sponsors who have just heard their 'F1 consultant' slam the car in public. Compare that to, say, Fernandes or even Branson who would never degrade their car or team in public purely because they don't want to devalue their own investment.

Willis has been sacked by Williams, Honda and Red Bull. He didn't have his contracts expire, he was sacked from all three IIRC. That ought to tell you something about the man.

[AndyL]

Surely Willis is angling for Hispania to sack Dallara and set up their own design office, headed by him?

[wedge]

He should have given constructive feedback privately to Dallara so that they could keep on developing the car with his input, not slag off the team and car supplier in public and hence devalue them.

I would like to know how much harder it is for HRT now to negotiate with sponsors who have just heard their 'F1 consultant' slam the car in public. Compare that to, say, Fernandes or even Branson who would never degrade their car or team in public purely because they don't want to devalue their own investment.

It was constructive and balanced what he said to the press.

HRT have their excuses - money and the stop-go with production and the result is a half hearted effort from a 'reputable' chassis maker.

HRT are a joke team. They didn't even attend winter testing and therefore shouldn't even be attending GPs at this moment, IMHO.

They do not deserve sympathy though One person I applauded is Karun Chandock - his high spirits and good nature makes a good ambassador for the team.

[Malbec]

It was constructive and balanced what he said to the press.

It is precisely by talking to the press that the criticism ceased to be constructive and became destructive instead. Constructive criticism would have been to point out to Dallara how and where the car could be improved in the least time.

Willis is an HRT employee. He therefore has a responsibility not to devalue the stock of his employer by rubbishing its products. None of the new cars are cutting edge, that is why they are all 4-5 seconds a lap off the pace and treat a race finish like a race victory. Virgin even made a colossal error with their fuel tank yet you do not hear senior Virgin personnel or Branson openly criticising Wirth and his company.

I'm afraid the joke here is very much on Willis. Who the hell is going to employ a man like that with his record, not only has he been serially sacked, he publicly slags off his own employers. I'd be getting ready for yet another P45 if I were him.

[wedge]

He's a consultant. He can say what he likes.

[Alfa Fan]

It was constructive and balanced what he said to the press.

HRT have their excuses - money and the stop-go with production and the result is a half hearted effort from a 'reputable' chassis maker.

HRT are a joke team. They didn't even attend winter testing and therefore shouldn't even be attending GPs at this moment, IMHO.

They do not deserve sympathy though One person I applauded is Karun Chandock - his high spirits and good nature makes a good ambassador for the team.

If Hispania shouldn't be attending GPs then neither should any of the other new teams which they are beating atm.

[jens]

Willis has been sacked by Williams, Honda and Red Bull. He didn't have his contracts expire, he was sacked from all three IIRC. That ought to tell you something about the man.

And all three teams have been suffering without him IMO. Maybe Willis is a bit of a Gascoyne-type character. He says what he sees and thinks and who doesn't like it - well, it's their problem if they can't stand criticism.

[Big Ben]

And all three teams have been suffering without him IMO. Maybe Willis is a bit of a Gascoyne-type character. He says what he sees and thinks and who doesn't like it - well, it's their problem if they can't stand criticism.

The point here is not the criticism but the way he did it. All in all slamming the team in public could do more harm than good. That's my opinion.

[Bagwan]

Willis slated Reynard , back in the days of BAR , when wings regularly fell off under load because of his CART clip-ons , and rightly called it a dinosaur .

This car is crap , too , so why anyone should be surprised that a designer slates a crap car when he's been hired to fix it , I don't know .

At least with this crew , unlike Reynard , who refused to listen , they are asking for help from a respected aero guy .
Hopefully , they will take the criticism on board , fix a few basics , and get into the ball park . 3 laps down , IF they finish , is just not there .

[V12]

Surely Willis is angling for Hispania to sack Dallara and set up their own design office, headed by him?

I was thinking that when I read the story too!

I agree that constructive criticism would have been going to Dallara in private with a detailed technical description of what he felt was lacking and where it could be improved, rather than moaning to the press

As a fan it's no skin off my nose and it's always good to have a bit of a story when someone speaks their mind, but that doesn't change the fact that if I was Dallara I'd be pretty peed off right now, and I'd probably be thinking "given our track record in pretty much everything outside of F1, do we really need this crap right now?"

[wedge]

If Hispania shouldn't be attending GPs then neither should any of the other new teams which they are beating atm.

How did you work that out?

Lotus are best of the new teams.

[Malbec]

And all three teams have been suffering without him IMO. Maybe Willis is a bit of a Gascoyne-type character. He says what he sees and thinks and who doesn't like it - well, it's their problem if they can't stand criticism.

Willis is actually usually quietly spoken. He is not like Gascoyne at all in the flesh and comes across as more of an anorak. This outburst from him is actually quite surprising given his character.

BTW the point isn't whether the team or chassis maker can stand the criticism, its the effect it has on potential sponsors. Willis is employed specifically to improve the car, a process which will require criticism. Doing it in public however is not the way to do it.

I'm curious to see how you feel that RBR has suffered from his loss, my take on their situation was that they were doing rather well at the moment.

Honda? Well there were many problems at the team with many departments that were poorly staffed and managed so I wouldn't necessarily pin their drop in performance on his departure.

Williams? Patrick Head thought he was too conservative and simply not very good. They haven't done too badly without him.

Ultimately it says a lot that once Red Bull got rid of him the only team willing to take him on was Hispania after months of unemployment. Good guys get snapped up quick. Bad guys don't.

[jens]

I'm curious to see how you feel that RBR has suffered from his loss, my take on their situation was that they were doing rather well at the moment.

Honda? Well there were many problems at the team with many departments that were poorly staffed and managed so I wouldn't necessarily pin their drop in performance on his departure.

Williams? Patrick Head thought he was too conservative and simply not very good. They haven't done too badly without him.


Red Bull was quite reliable in 2008 and in the first half of 2009 - the level of reliability has clearly dropped since then.

Honda was nowhere in 2007 after having appointed Nakamoto instead of Willis as chief designer. This may not have been the only cause for a freefall, but certainly a notable factor.

Williams hasn't won a race for 5,5 years any more. Head thought he was too conservative? Well, I wonder, what is Sam Michael then...

I can certainly see the case of Willis having positive influence in all teams he has been working in. I don't see a reason, why you should downplay his accomplishments. Good guys definetely getting snapped up by top teams? Well, not always the case. Then you can also claim that Gascoyne is useless - look, where he is now, in a damn backmarker team.

[Malbec]

Red Bull was quite reliable in 2008 and in the first half of 2009 - the level of reliability has clearly dropped since then.

So how does an aerodynamicist like Willis influence reliability?


Honda was nowhere in 2007 after having appointed Nakamoto instead of Willis as chief designer. This may not have been the only cause for a freefall, but certainly a notable factor.

Not really. Honda had a major problem with their windtunnel calibration, their CFD was utterly outdated and understaffed, their aerodynamics team haemorrhaged staff to other teams and Honda's own R/D wasn't communicating well with the team, often coming up with duplicated solutions and wasting time and resources. On top of that they sacked Willis. While the media concentrated on the last point, the only bit they could see and the one thing that fitted in with their rather simplistic image of Japanese corporate types not understanding F1, the truth was far far more complex.


Williams hasn't won a race for 5,5 years any more.

Personally I believe that the steady drop in sponsorship income and thus development budget has been the strongest influence at Williams, along with the additional burden of having to buy in engines after BMW left. Again how can you solely pin their drop in performance to his departure? Secondly Williams did well way before he rose to be deputy head of the engineering team there and in fact their gradual fall from grace started while he was in that position. I don't pin the blame for that on him though, more that Ferrari and McLaren started pulling away from Williams in terms of resources.


I can certainly see the case of Willis having positive influence in all teams he has been working in. I don't see a reason, why you should downplay his accomplishments. Good guys definetely getting snapped up by top teams? Well, not always the case. Then you can also claim that Gascoyne is useless - look, where he is now, in a damn backmarker team.

I don't see Willis as being a top engineer though I also don't see him as incompetent. He took BAR from the back to the midfield mainly by introducing modern design practices he had learnt at Williams but couldn't take them consistently to the front despite the huge resources pouring in from Honda. What did he do at RBR? What exactly was his role, especially with Newey leading the design team?

I don't think Gascoyne is topflight either. He is competent but not topflight. Renault didn't really miss him did they, neither did Toyota (although I'd agree that like Willis at BAR he did improve things there). Mallya thought he was such a negative influence that he sacked him and its noticeable that Force India improved most after he left.

Ultimately when people keep getting sacked it says a lot about how people rate them. They may have talents but the top teams don't let top guys out of their grasp and they most certainly snap them up quickly if they are available.

[jens]

I don't know the ins and outs of Willis' role, but it has been my impression that he was hired to keep Newey in check in terms of reliability, when they were seriously struggling in 2007 with these issues.

Regarding Williams, they were in decline already in 2004-2005, when they still had co-operation with BMW. Willis left them in 2002 IIRC. I don't know, how much connection there is between those two developments, just pointing out. :)

BAR may have not fought for the titles with Willis, but the important aspect to me here is that they were actually improving and rose to a new level after the stagnation during their first four years in F1.

Actually when I recall now, it's not the first time Willis has been outspoken. I vaguely remember an article from 2002 after he had joined BAR, when he told the media that the chassis is overweight, has other problems and he knows exactly, what needs to be done in order to improve performance. What concerns potential negative impression to sponsors, then actually this can be viewed from multiple angles. To some it may seem that the team is internally unstable, but on the other hand it may give some confidence to the public as despite all the uncertainty there is some leadership in the team with clear thoughts.

I personally think this may be the strategy of Willis - to tell the public that even though everything is not fine at the moment (and in this case there is no point in lying, everyone can see that the team is in trouble - like it was with BAR in '02 and now HRT), then at least there is somebody in the team, who knows, what is going on and what needs to be done in order to improve. I can personally admit that my belief in BAR certainly rose during 2002 despite their poor season. Now it's time to the owners and team principal of HRT to unveil some concrete opinions, future plans and strategies, how to go on, because at the moment I have no idea, where the hell are they heading to.

[Saint Devote]

If the HRT - Dallara relationship is over, then what?

How can a team without facilities maintain even reasonable pace and not be so slow as to become a real problem during grands prix. When will the FIA be asked to act?

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=363650&FS=F1