Is there a way back for them? Clearly they believe there is, and that the might of Mercedes-Benz, Red Bull and Ferrari can be challenged once more. And I hope they do, not just because I’d love to see Williams and McLaren slugging it out for top spot once more, but because one of many problems to beset Formula 1 is that if you’re not in the Big Three these days, you have literally no chance of winning a Grand Prix. No chance? Well there will always be a chance because there is always the odd freak result, like at Monaco in 1996 where literally all you had to do to stand on the podium was not crash or break down, which is how Olivier Panis got to win his one and only Grand Prix. But otherwise, no: the last time a car from any team other than those three won a Grand Prix was a Lotus driven by Kimi Raikkonen in Australia at the start of the 2013 season. And that, as I write before this weekend’s British Grand Prix, is 106 races ago. Seems crazy to me.
But if there is a way back, it’s going to be hard, just because when I look at the resources of a Mercedes-Benz or a Red Bull compared to what I imagine even McLaren let alone Williams has at its disposal, I see something I see in all forms of motorsport I follow: long-term, the teams with the most money win. And when you think about it, it would be very peculiar were it any other way.
That said Formula 1 is trying to reduce costs for all teams in order to even up the field, though perhaps unsurprisingly those with most to spend (and therefore most to lose) are less than keen. Mercedes-Benz and Red Bull have voiced reasonable concerns and Ferrari has threatened to pull out of F1 after 2020 when proposed rules imposing a $150 million cost cap per team would be imposed. It should perhaps be mentioned that Ferrari has some previous when it comes to threatening to pull out of F1 yet remains to date the only team to have been on the grid throughout its 68 year history.