Formula One news

Team blunders were 'idiotic' - Head

Idiotic. Stupid. Those are the words Patrick Head used to describe BMW-Williams' form since he elected to hand the role as 'technical director' to young upstart Sam Michael.

''[The FW26] is not an evil car to drive,'' he told The Times. He said Nurburgring's foils were because the drivers ''chose to run into each other,'' and nil points were taken home from America due to DSQ's and crashes.

''[Canada was] idiotic,'' said Head, referring to too-big brake ducts. ''[That] should have been picked up at about four different levels within the company.''

What about Indy, where Juan Pablo Montoya was black-flagged for changing cars after the 15-second rule? ''It was due to a stupid problem,'' said the Briton.

''Mechanics tried to start the motor too late.

''Then they decided to get [Juan] into the spare too late.''

Taken as a whole, Head said the blunders 'don't reflect well' on Williams.

So was it right to trade-in 25-odd years of grand prix experience for a 33-year-old engineer (Sam Michael) who started-out sweeping garage floors in Australia?

''It's not shown to be the right decision yet,'' Patrick admitted.

''But I'm certain it will in the future.''

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