Mercedes and Williams extend until 2025
Together since 2014, the Williams-Mercedes alliance does not seem ready to wane. An agreement until 2025 has just been announced.
After two very complicated seasons with Renault, Williams decided to take a completely different turn by choosing Mercedes as their engine supplier for 2014. The beginning of the Grove team in the hybrid era was very surprising. In addition to emerging from the depths of the back-of-the-grid teams, no fewer than 15 podiums were collected between 2014 and 2017, with a third-place finish in the constructors’ championship in 2014 and 2015.
Despite a very poor FW42, serious progress has been made since the beginning of the season. In addition to only being able to progress in the standings, Williams is unlikely to trouble Mercedes any time soon. The other reason to extend the engine supplier contract with the British team is to prove that the German engine block is very reliable. Indeed, the cars have never had to worry about any issues during races. It is the only team to have never retired on a Sunday.
George Russell is undoubtedly part of the equation to continue the Williams-Mercedes alliance. The British rookie is part of the young driver program, and without this partnership, Frank Williams’ team would not feel obliged to keep the Briton. However, it is hard to imagine Russell staying with his current team until 2025. This suggests that Mercedes has a long-term vision for these young recruits and that Williams would essentially be a sister team, similar to the relationship between Red Bull and Toro Rosso, but especially Ferrari and Alfa Romeo.
Claire Williams declared « Over the past six years, we have built a fantastic partnership with Mercedes-Benz, which was originally a seven-year agreement. We are therefore delighted to continue working with them for five years from 2021. Mercedes-Benz has one of the most successful engine suppliers in the sport and we believe they will continue to benefit from an extremely competitive engine package. Throughout our collaboration with them, they have become true friends of the team and we look forward to working with Mercedes-AMG HPP in the future. »
