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Williams hails Lowe arrival as ‘a game changer’

Claire Williams says Paddy Lowe brings 'the best in the business' back to Williams and has pinned her hopes on the new Chief Technical Officer fuelling the team's charge back to the sharp end of the grid.

Williams has confirmed Lowe has officially began work at its new technical boss on Thursday and takes overall management responsibility for the engineering department at Grove.

Lowe has also been appointed on the board of directors with an unspecified shareholding in the company to work alongside Claire Williams and Mike O'Driscoll [Group CEO].

Deputy team principal and commercial director Claire Williams has called Lowe's return to Williams 'a game changer' and is confident the British engineer can guide the team back to the top after a difficult period challenging the top three teams of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

Last year Williams slipped to fifth in the F1 world constructors' championship after Force India beat them to fourth place behind the top three.

"I am delighted that the team is welcoming Paddy back to Williams in the role of Chief Technical Officer," Williams said. "This is a game changer for us and once again makes us extremely excited about this team's future.

"Having someone of Paddy's calibre and engineering competence is not only a morale boost for everyone at Williams, but I know it will also significantly support our efforts to return this team back to the front of the grid.

"Our ambitions at Williams are unwavering, we want to win races and championships, but to do that you need the best talent in the business. In Paddy we believe we have just that as well as a leader who will drive change."

In 1987, Lowe started his F1 career with Williams as a control systems engineer, working with Sir Patrick Head and Adrian Newey. In his six years with the team he helped pioneer the active suspension system that took Nigel Mansell to the 1992 World Championship in the FW14B.

Having switched to McLaren in 1993, Lowe worked his way up the ranks at the Woking-based team to reach technical director before moving on to Mercedes in 2011 where he guided the German manufacturer to three consecutive F1 drivers' and constructors' titles. 

Zdroj: crash.net