As the year end is round the corner Formula one team’s are going through many realignments and witnessing massive changes. In a recent one Williams technical head, Pat Symonds is saying goodbye to the Formula One team and he announced this on Tuesday, Dec 20 amid speculation that Paddy Lowe is set to join from champions Mercedes in a similar role.
The team released a statement saying “Pat will be departing on 31st December 2016.”
Pat Symonds, 63 years old has worked with Ayrton Senna at Toleman in the 1980s and Michael Schumacher at Benetton in the 1990s, joined Williams in 2013. Deputy principal Claire Williams said, “Pat’s appointment was the start of a major restructuring exercise, and he has been pivotal in reshaping Williams into what is a much stronger racing team today,” “We now look to the future and will be announcing details regarding the team’s technical leadership in due course.”
Symonds left Formula One in 2009 when his then employers Renault were embroiled in a race-fixing scandal after it emerged that they had ordered Brazilian Nelson Piquet to crash deliberately at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Since then Symonds took a backseat and was off with any activity related to Formula One Sports. However, the Briton returned as a consultant in 2011 with Virgin Racing, now Manor. So, now his departure from Williams will be a big blow to the team and the former world champions, who finished fifth this year. The team will be undergoing a significant internal shift as they start the year with new rules and a different driver line-up.
18 year old, Canadian Lance Stroll will be making his race debut in March and his team mate remains uncertain after the surprise retirement of Mercedes newly crowned world champion Nico Rosberg. Williams’s current driver Valtteri Bottas is already in talks and bookmakers favorite to replace Rosberg.
If Finn is allowed to go than Brazilian veteran Felipe Massa is tipped to come back to the retirement which he started at the end of November. So, a lot of things look still uncertain after the racing calendar for this got over and now all the teams look forward to a promising start next year.
