Sam Michael plans to stay in F1

The 40-year-old Australian said to the BBC: « It was my decision to leave Williams. I thought it was the right thing to do since the board wanted to review the company’s technical structure and that this would impact the staff working for me. I felt it was entirely appropriate that as technical director, I take responsibility if the board felt the performances were not good enough, and I was not willing to accept not being included in this restructuring. So I made the decision to resign, which I did after the Malaysian Grand Prix. »

Sam Michael could make this decision all the more easily because he knows he shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a new job in F1, where teams don’t hesitate to open their checkbooks to attract the most experienced and high-performing engineers. Thus, teams are known to have selective memories and don’t hesitate long when it comes to hiring personalities who may have been treated as pariahs in the not-so-distant past, as shown by the recruitment of Mike Coughlan at Williams or Pat Symonds’ consulting contract at Virgin. He assures that we will see him again next year: « I’ve already received expressions of interest from outside, which is encouraging. I’ll definitely be in F1 next year. Where? I don’t know, and I can’t talk about it.»

He does not intend to leave Williams in the current state and plans to honor his contract to the end in order to help such a prestigious team catch up in terms of performance. There might come a time when new engineers will arrive and Williams will want me to step back from these works, but for now, it’s out of the question. For me, nothing will change until I complete my contract. If at some point, Williams believes it’s best for me to step back, I will accept it. But I want to leave Williams in a professional manner and in the best position for the future.

With the participation of RacingBusiness.fr