The details behind an F1 team's painful revolution | Hacker News Reader

The details behind an F1 team's painful revolution

the-race.com

30 pointsalexzeitler8 comments

For further evidence, this is the team that just had to pull one of their drivers out of the upcoming race because they didn't bring a spare chassis to replace the one their other (better) driver crashed.

They've shown signs for the last decade of being behind the times in terms of manufacturing logistics; this isn't the first time in recent years they've been riding the edge in terms of having a car built on time.

> because they didn't bring a spare chassis to replace the one their other (better) driver crashed.

They didn't bring one because one doesn't exist. It's not like they forgot or didn't think they'd need it; Vowles is recovering from YEARS of badly done manufacturing practices and this is just something they haven't had the time to get up to speed yet.

That's my point; this isn't the first time that Williams have been under-prepared at the start of the season, it just may be the first time it's visibly affected their race entry.

Ok, others are reporting it as if it was just a goof. I mean, one doesn't "forget" to bring a spare chassis.

But Vowles has said (and is mentioned in that article) that the Capito years being run with an Excel sheet are just unacceptable, and it's going to take them some time to dig out from under it.

>because they didn't bring a spare chassis to replace the one their other (better) driver crashed

You re making it sound like that was a goof. They didn't bring a spare chassis because they couldn't afford one because they have not much money.

>They've shown signs for the last decade of being behind the times in terms of manufacturing logistics; this isn't the first time in recent years they've been riding the edge in terms of having a car built on time.

And yet despite being massively outdated and underfunded, they can still outperform teams like Alpine(former Renault) who have more money. It's actually impressive what they can achieve given their circumstances.

Reading about the use of Excel and the complications it has brings back memories when I worked at a firm that used Excel for vendors and suppliers for mechanical drives.

The spreadsheet became a monster, loaded with complex formulas, pivot tables, and macros that were supposed to automate tasks but instead introduced a fragile, error-prone system.

Every time I needed to update a supplier's information or check on a component's delivery status, I felt like I was navigating a minefield. A single misstep in updating the data could cascade into significant inaccuracies, affecting decision-making and project timelines. It was a constant game of double-checking and triple-checking, which was not only time-consuming but also mentally exhausting.

Family Business Pattern

This pattern has repeated ever since the dawn of family businesses have existed.

Williams was a family company, and like most family businesses - when the children of the founder take over, the business typically slowly dies off.

Then the children sold it to a PE firm, and of course it has only gotten worse.

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/single-seaters/f...

Hard to believe that at one time Williams was one of the dominant teams in F1. The first F1 car I ever saw at full-song was Alan Jones in the Williams FW07 @ Montreal. I simply could not believe what I was seeing (and hearing).

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