Former Williams head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley believes two key failings are holding the British team back.
The Briton, who was the man in the ear of Felipe Massa at Ferrari before joining Williams with the Brazilian in 2014, would leave his post at Grove after last season to spend more time with his family.
However, he has watched on to see Williams' situation deteriorate further this year, as they sit at the back of the field and some way off the pace of the rest.
“The team clearly needed a lot of work,” he said of the immediate impression he got at Williams in next month's edition of Motor Sport magazine.
“We instilled lots of new engineering practices, but the next part of the journey was R&D (research and development) investment and that never happened.
“If you want to be a true constructor, you have to have that level of investment or you’ll be left behind, regardless of how good your people might be."
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The financial situation has been an area often talked about with Williams, who had to make up for the departure of Lance Stroll and the big money backing he brought.
However, there has also been some focus on the leadership and Smedley did hint that something was amiss.
“I don’t want to talk about particular individuals, but it’s clear some bad decisions have been taken for the team to be in its current position," he stated.
“It’s a real shame.”
Williams is now the only team without a point in 2019, with Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin scoring their more recent top 10 at Monza last year.
