Claire Williams should consider her position as deputy team boss, says Ralf Schumacher.
The German, who raced for the British outfit between 1999-2004, made the claim as he evaluated their difficult start to 2019, which has seen their problems from last year only worsen.
Having missed almost three days of pre-season testing, Robert Kubica and George Russell circulated at the back in Australia, well off the pace of the rest of the grid.
Offering his view, Schumacher pointed to the long-standing management approach of Williams to their F1 team, believing it doesn’t work in today’s environment.
“Williams has a very special leadership style. As long as Patrick Head was there it was balanced,” he was quoted by Motorsport-Total.com
“It’s a style of leadership from the 70s and 80s, a bit of a reign of fear and terror. It’s a shame because I think people need to be motivated.
“With the current structure, Williams cannot get the best out of its employees, because there is no team cohesion,” Schumacher continued.
“The engineers are working against each other more than with each other.”
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Since pre-season testing, technical director Paddy Lowe has taken a leave of absence, but that, Ralf claims, is just another example of Williams’ approach failing.
“Unfortunately, Claire has kept her father’s habits, and she should certainly wonder if that is the right job for her,” he said. “Perhaps Williams’ team management needs to be restructured.
“A man [Lowe] who has just been fired was very successful at other teams, and even he failed to put Williams back on track. That’s enough to start asking questions.”