That’s perhaps not surprising given that for many years the team struggled to balance the books. Spending on equipment for the factory was not a priority compared to reaching the end of the season. It’s taken the arrival of Vowles, a man with so much intimate knowledge of how Mercedes operates, for the realisation to fully sink in in terms of just how far the team lags behind.
The good news is that this is a boom time for teams in terms of income and potential values, and owners Dorilton are well aware that they also need to protect their investment by keeping up with the competition. Williams simply has to have state-of-the-art facilities, even if there are no potential plans to sell on the horizon.
The complication is that it takes time to plan and undertake infrastructure projects, and more importantly they now have to be conducted under the auspices of the cost cap. Even if you have the money and the willingness to re-equip the factory, there’s a hard limit on what you can allocate to capital expenditure each year.
That has become a point of debate in recent months as teams such as Williams, Alpine and Sauber – all of whom reined in spending when times were tough – now seek to improve their facilities.
PLUS: The hidden cost cap rules hindering Williams' F1 progress
“Twenty years of underinvestment is why we are where we are today,” says Vowles. “But I'm in a fortunate position that my predecessors weren't – where we have investment, significant investment, behind us.
“In fact, there is a strong desire to have Williams return back to a competitive position. But to do that requires investment. So the money's available and ready. The cost cap itself is split into two things. There's an operational cost cap, which is about $145m, which everyone knows and talks about.
“Perhaps more hidden than that, there is a CapEx, a capital expenditure version of the cost cap. That's round about, it's a bit complicated, but $36m spread across four years. But if you like, every year you can spend six or seven of that, if you just do it fairly equally.
Source: Autosport