Formula 1: Drive to Survive (2019) s02e09 Episode Script
Blood, Sweat & Tears
- [kisses.]
Say "love you.
" - Love you.
Bye.
[in sing-song voice.]
Silverstone I love Silverstone.
I just love it.
I think there's something incredibly spiritual almost about Silverstone.
It really holds a very special place in my heart.
I want to have my ashes spread at Silverstone.
You know that, don't you? [Jonathan.]
I do now.
- I thought I told you.
- [Jonathan chuckles.]
No.
[both laughing.]
I think Dad does as well.
Over my childhood, I really understood how famous my dad was, and how big Williams was.
It's just been the venue of so many historic moments for our team.
That was our heyday.
[crowd cheering.]
Dad's always been my hero.
Dad's got two laps to try and convince you to come to Williams.
[all laughing.]
[Claire.]
He is Williams.
I don't wanna disgrace the Williams name.
I don't want Williams to fall apart under my watch.
We have a fighting spirit, and it's really being put to the test, but I can tell you it's 100% back.
Ladies and gentlemen, please put it together for Claire Williams.
[crowd cheering.]
[indistinct chatter.]
- That's like it.
You got that? - [man.]
I did.
Lovely.
Thrilled to bits.
- [kisses.]
- You're the best.
- [Frank.]
Bless you, Clairy.
- [Claire.]
See you later.
- Silverstone.
- [Claire.]
Yeah.
I'm deputy team principal, which has really turned into de facto team principal.
My dad's taken a step back in the past few years, and so really, I operate as the team principal.
Morning, Gwen.
How are you doing? I'm responsible for making sure that we've got the right people in the right jobs, with the right equipment to do those jobs.
And to make sure that this is a great environment for people to work in.
I'm very protective over it.
Obviously, it's very close to my heart.
I'm sorry I didn't make it down.
It was a busy day yesterday.
Was it? I was looking forward to you coming down.
[chuckles.]
[Claire.]
Williams is in a very difficult place at the moment.
Last year was pretty horrific.
We just got it wrong.
We designed a bad race car.
And we've gotta fix it.
[man.]
Jack.
Okay? - That was all of it.
- It's not your lunchbreak, as usual.
- Jeremy settle down.
- [Jeremy.]
No, it's not.
[Paddy.]
I actually found you doing some work.
[Jeremy and man.]
Whoa! [Jeremy.]
Straight in there, on Netflix.
[Paddy chuckles.]
- [Jeremy.]
Thank you, Paddy.
- [Paddy chuckles.]
[man.]
It's gonna be Paddy's comedy special.
[Jeremy.]
Yeah.
My name is Paddy Lowe.
I'm Chief Technical Officer for Rokit Williams Racing.
[Jeremy.]
There's no pressure when Paddy is looking.
One of the biggest challenges is the one that we face at the moment, which is to take Williams back to the front of the grid, where they have been in the past.
We brought Paddy in from his extraordinary successor, Mercedes.
Trying to breathe new life into Williams.
Rear is all ready to go.
- Pretty much.
- [man.]
Pretty close, yeah.
Paddy was the one who came up with active suspension at Williams, back in the 1980s.
He was the tech genius that was responsible for so much of Williams' glory years.
[Paddy.]
Those days, a garage was quite an oil-stained, concrete sort of place.
Now, very flash places with glossy floors and sophisticated equipment.
So, a very, very different world.
Thank you.
[Claire.]
He's an incredibly clever individual, and he has really stripped everything back to basics.
[Paddy.]
We made a lot of changes to how we developed the car.
Changes within the team, changes within our technical approach.
So, we're optimistic that we've made some good improvements.
[man.]
We are just connecting the ERS pack up, getting ready to fire up the FW42 for the first time.
We're positive about this car, but I was last year as well, so hopefully, we've learnt.
[engineer.]
Okay.
[Paddy.]
I wanna see a feeling within the team that the team has turned a corner and moved forwards and capable of winning championships in the future.
[drilling.]
[drilling continues.]
- [Paddy.]
So we get the year I hope.
- Yeah.
[George.]
So, should we do a race? We'll do a quick corner.
I mean I'm doing quite enough.
- [laughs.]
- [Robert talking indistinctly.]
Paddy simulation.
Oh, this is good.
It's not just back at base that Williams are making changes.
They've got two brand new drivers for 2019.
[Claire.]
Are you ready for the professionals to come and kick your ass? - [man.]
So, we having a race, are we? - [Claire.]
Yes.
[Robert.]
We give you the advantage.
How many laps? - [Claire.]
Shut up, "how many laps.
" - [all laugh.]
[Claire.]
"How many laps?" - Do you know who pays your wages? - [all laugh.]
[Claire.]
Christ.
Our driver lineup's wonderful this year.
I'm so happy.
I was really clear around what we wanted.
I can't even see the car.
- It's right - Oh, yeah.
[Claire.]
Robert and George are two quite different personalities.
George is, I think, a one-in-a-million driver.
He rarely puts a foot wrong.
- Oh! [chuckles.]
- Hey! Man, come on.
- Who's the yellow one? - That's me.
George Russell, hotly tipped, Mercedes youngster, Formula 2 champion.
Really exciting guy.
[commentator.]
He can see the checkered flag.
George Russell wins! [Claire.]
He's fought his way up the ranks.
Some pretty senior people in F1 who know what they're talking about, there's a lot of talk that George is a future world champion.
- Have you won? - [Claire shrieks.]
- George! - [George.]
Sorry, Claire.
- [Claire.]
That's really unsportsmanlike.
- [George.]
I know.
Right.
I'm George Russell.
I'm racing for Rokit Williams Racing.
For me, it's a dream to be part of Formula 1.
I've lived my whole life wanting to become an F1 driver.
Out of the hundreds and thousands of people who've tried, I'm one of 20.
And that's Yeah, that's incredible.
Oh, my God, my eyes are going weird.
- You're surprisingly not [chuckles.]
- Oh! Something's gone wrong.
- Yes! - [laughs.]
- I'm surprisingly what? Not bad? - You're surprisingly not Oh! [laughs.]
Can't believe you said that I'm surprisingly not that bad.
Oh, no.
This is all we did at home when we were growing up.
Oh! Robert's at pole.
Robert's at pole.
[Claire.]
I wanted Robert in the car, 'cause I wanted a driver that was able to understand the issues with the car.
Robert had seriously impressed us over the course of last year, as our development driver.
I'm Robert Kubica, I'm from Poland and I'm racing for Rokit Williams Racing.
It is strange to be back in Formula 1 after more than eight years.
[Will.]
Talk to anybody from go-kart all the way up to Formula 1, Robert was one of, if not the best.
[crowd cheering.]
Robert was the one they feared, the one that they knew could and would make it.
He was supposed to go to Ferrari to join Fernando.
That was supposed to be the dream team.
My career, unfortunately, changed quite drastically.
In 2011, I suffered a big accident in Italy.
I suffered a lot of injuries.
The crash was so bad that it nearly severed his right arm.
The fact he can control a Formula 1 car is incredible to all of us.
It's a huge thing for Robert to come back.
It is the Hollywood story.
It's one of the great sporting comebacks.
To be back is a dream.
[Claire.]
He's a bit like a dog with a bone.
He will push and push and push until we fix the issues with the car, and he is not shy in telling us what those issues are.
- My finger's hurting.
- [man laughs.]
They signify everything that I've always wanted in a driver lineup.
Oh, yes.
I'm still in the - Am I still in the lead? - [man.]
You are.
[George.]
Oh, no! [chuckles.]
[man.]
Claire wins! - Did I win? Did I? - [man.]
You win.
- Mentally, I'm destroyed now.
- [laughs.]
That's better.
Everything is focused on getting your car to that first day of testing.
[Claire.]
Would you There are a few bits of printing.
Would you mind just printing them for me? It's a letter.
Thank you very much.
This is car build week.
Mike, I'm on my way down.
It's gotta go on Saturday night, and everything has gotta be on it.
Everything's gotta be ready.
Doesn't that blue look nice? - [man.]
Yeah.
- I can see - Have you seen your team kit yet? - Yeah.
- [Claire.]
Do you like it? - It's really nice, yeah.
[drilling.]
[Claire.]
People just think we have a car, and it goes around the world to every race.
A few guys change the tires on it, and that's about it.
You have to depressurize, so they both can get through there.
So we can get this all the way down.
[Claire.]
These cars are extraordinarily complex.
There's 20,000 parts that we're manufacturing ourselves.
[man 1.]
How many of these have we got? - One for the moment? - [man 2.]
Yeah, we're not gonna scrap it.
[man 1.]
No, no, no.
[Claire.]
When you are an independent team, when you are a team on a budget the size of ours, it's an extraordinary challenge to actually get your car to testing.
[man 3.]
The rear end is on there, and the rear end is actually structurally complete.
The mirror idea is a real winner.
Haven't heard that word for a long time.
- [man 3.]
Yeah.
- Jesus.
- [man 3.]
And it's - [Claire.]
New wing mirrors.
They could be the reversal of our fortune.
- [man 3.]
Yeah.
- [Claire.]
Something so simple.
[man 3.]
We are a very, very long way behind having a finished car here before we go to the test.
Massive challenge at the moment is the delivery of diffuser.
[Claire.]
What's the issue with the diffuser? - What's the holdup on that? - [man 3.]
Um The complexity of the parts are delaying the delivery.
And we've got a host of components which We've got an issue with the front bell crank pivot shafts are not finished.
The pin for the tower bracket we've somewhat lost track of.
These are for bigger problems that We haven't even got any wheel nuts to hold the wheels on.
Have we not worked it out yet? - [man 4.]
We're still digging into it.
- [man 3.]
Still digging into it.
[woman.]
Meeting with Mike and Nicky.
Did you say tomorrow? [Paddy.]
No.
I need to speak with them today.
- Okay.
- [cell phone rings.]
Hello? Yes, speaking.
It's not all on schedule at the moment.
Uh, we have had a number of slippages.
There are 101 different issues with the car that weren't expected.
They're all being dealt with, and, inevitably, that means that things can take longer than was planned.
Re-machine the holes? Change the dials.
But we will get to the test.
We always do.
- [Claire.]
Everything's all right? - [man 1.]
Yeah.
[Claire.]
Still smiling? - Yeah.
- [man 2.]
Good.
[Claire.]
It's in better shape than it did yesterday.
Yeah.
It's just frustrating, the little bits of rig parts.
[Claire.]
Yes.
Yes, I know.
It will be an extraordinary feat if we make this on Monday, right? - Yeah.
Yeah.
- [Claire.]
Which we're gonna.
Yeah.
We are.
- I'll leave you to it.
We will.
- [man.]
I hope so.
Yeah.
- See you later.
- [man.]
See you.
[indistinct chatter.]
[Will.]
There are only eight days of pre-season testing to put your car on track, figure out what works, figure out what doesn't.
To be as ready as your rivals once you get to the first race of the year.
The big news really today is the fact that Williams will not run today and they won't run tomorrow, either.
The car isn't ready yet.
It was a huge shock.
With only eight days of pre-season testing, every second on track counts.
Missing half a day, missing an hour is huge.
You don't miss testing.
[Claire.]
I'll take that one with me.
- [man 1.]
This one? - Yeah.
- [man 1.]
And the other one? - [man 2.]
This one's coming on this side.
They need to be very safeguarded.
- [man 2.]
I think I broke it.
- [Claire and man laughing.]
- It's a million man-hours, right? - [Claire.]
Yeah.
That is a lot of blood, sweat and tears in there.
Realizing the car isn't going to be ready for winter testing brings out disbelief.
It was like, "Are you kidding? How did this happen? How did we get to this point? How do we protect the damage that this is going to do?" I was I was incredibly angry.
Get these bits to the garage 'cause they need to start working on them.
They're gonna have their work cut out this morning getting all those bits on the car.
It would be so nice to see it out on the track.
It's not been a good few days.
I'm hoping that when people see it on track today, everyone will have forgotten about it and hopefully will bring us a bit of performance.
And to have George and Robert, it's really exciting.
I can't wait to see those guys get in the car for the first time.
It'll be really nice.
[Will.]
It's not unheard of for parts to be flown out last minute, but when team management are flying out with them, you get the impression it's pretty drastic.
[Claire.]
Here you go.
How you doing? You all right? We've got your bits.
[Will.]
At times like this, you can't look to the boys on the factory floor.
They're doing as much as they can with the equipment at their disposal.
It has to go higher.
The ultimate question is where does the buck stop? Does it stop with the person appointed to head that technical direction and the ultimate design of the car, or does it fall to the person who made that appointment? Whose head's on the block? [Claire.]
Are you all right? [Dave.]
Yeah.
It's just nice to see the car in the garage.
Christ.
If we could've had it three weeks ago, we'd be laughing.
Hi, Claire.
Hindsight, Dave, is a wonderful thing.
Hi, Paddy.
You all right? - How was your flight? - Fine.
- [Paddy.]
Early? - Yeah, it was early.
Got all the bits with you? Got the bits.
Yeah.
They're out at the back.
Yeah.
[Claire sighs.]
It happens when you get out onto the grounds.
[Claire.]
Yeah.
All right, let's see those bits.
- Hi.
You all right? - [woman.]
Yeah.
You? - [Claire.]
Yeah.
- [woman.]
Good.
Yes.
All good.
[reporter.]
But what has been the reason of the delay? We're not going to be discussing those issues in public.
It's not ideal.
Um, this is not the situation that we wanted to find ourselves in.
Particularly after last year.
We wanted to come out strongly.
That's one of the hardest parts of the job, when you're feeling down and you feel like you couldn't be kicked anymore.
I'm getting a kicking at the moment from every angle.
We're not just disappointed, but it's It's embarrassing not bringing a race car to a circuit.
[Paddy.]
I don't need anyone else to give me a hard time.
I'm my worst judge, let's say.
The bottom line is we didn't do the right things.
We have many difficulties at the moment.
Lots of challenges to face.
I suppose it's part of my makeup to not reflect any sense of panic.
I'm an engineer, so problems are objective.
They're not emotional things because emotions don't get us anywhere.
[engineer.]
You good? - [George.]
Yeah.
Ready for it.
- [engineer.]
Yeah? Been ready for three days, mate.
[George.]
It feels like - This is how we normally do things.
- [George laughs.]
We just leave it late.
Well, you can see there's a little bit of a crowd around the Williams garage.
The good news for them is they have finally got their car sorted out.
So, Williams up and running, but a lot of questions being asked why they initially missed the first two days.
[Paddy.]
Very large rank.
- [man 1.]
Sorry? - Very large rank of media in here.
[man 1.]
Well, it's the only time you've spoken in days.
[Claire.]
Yeah, we'll do that.
[Paddy.]
Work to do.
[man 2.]
Paddy, what happened? Why was the car late? Um, that is a very, very complicated matter and I Frankly, I don't even know the answer because it's It will take a lot of investigation and analysis.
In general, the thing that has got us out is the, uh The sheer quantity and complexity of parts you have to produce to make a Formula 1 car these days.
[Will.]
I spoke to Paddy over testing and he refused to take responsibility.
You're either responsible or you're not.
So, you gotta take it on the chin.
And he kind of refused to do that, so [clicks tongue.]
See you later, Paddy.
[reporter.]
There have been some big developments at Williams.
With immediate effect, Paddy Lowe, "has taken a leave of absence from the business for personal reasons.
" [interviewer.]
Can we talk about Paddy at all? [Claire.]
There's no point wasting that energy, focusing on something that's been and done.
You gotta move forward.
Formula 1 moves fast.
We gotta start racing and that's where it really matters.
- Okay.
Bye, girls.
- [Claire.]
Kisses.
Can I get kisses? - Bye.
- [Marc.]
See you later.
See you later.
Girls, go inside before you get cold.
Have a nice breakfast.
- Bye, monkey.
- [Claire.]
Okay.
I've got butterflies in my stomach.
I always get them driving to Silverstone.
I wonder what George and Robert must feel like going into this race weekend.
[Marc.]
I don't worry, necessarily.
I just worry that we can keep it.
That's really important to me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I'm fed up with drivers.
Buggering off, leaving us to go somewhere else.
We nurture all this talent and then they get to go off - They get their success somewhere else.
- Yeah.
I want to be the one that gives a driver a good car.
Formula 1 is not easy.
Sometimes, I think to myself, "Christ, when is it gonna get easier and what more do we have to do to close that gap down to the midfield?" We're here in this sport because we love racing.
We do not love being at the back of the pack.
- Good morning! - [George.]
Good morning.
Are you gonna get near the podium this morning? I will do my best, but I can't promise anything.
- [woman 1.]
Of course he will.
- [George.]
Thank you.
- [woman 2.]
Good to see you.
- [man.]
Drive well.
Thank you.
Likewise.
Nice to meet you.
Overall, it's not been ideal at all.
I mean, obviously, you dream of coming into Formula 1 and winning races.
That's the dream.
[sighs.]
Morning.
Morning.
Just driving around on my own.
No one in front of me, no one really behind me.
[man.]
Are you gonna race next year? Can't tell you that.
Can't tell you that.
- Sorry, I have to go.
- Go.
- I'll see you later.
- [woman.]
Go.
[George.]
Obviously, I want more.
I want to be a world champion.
I'd love to be in Lewis' shoes, you know.
In a car, firstly, capable of winning almost every single weekend, and performing to a level that he performs week in, week out.
But I believe I'll get there one day.
I believe I'll have that opportunity.
[reporter.]
Difficult to show your potential when you're always at the back of the grid.
No, it's not difficult at all because the people who will make a difference in my career, the top people at Williams, the top people at Mercedes, they know exactly how I'm performing, even if the result isn't exactly the same every week.
So, I have no concerns with that.
Cheers, thanks.
[Will.]
George is on the Mercedes young driver scheme, so that means he has, at least in part, his future assured.
I'm late for something, guys.
Cheers.
Thank you.
The air condition's calibrated so that the most power goes in my room.
- That's why the race took their team off.
- [woman.]
That's probably true.
- It's not true.
- [woman chuckles.]
I know.
[Will.]
Toto Wolff as head of Mercedes has always been very impressed and has always spoken incredibly well of George.
Whether that means George will make it into the big Mercedes team? Only time will tell.
But it's certainly on George's radar.
It's really nice to see the Mercedes junior program - has come back to life.
- Yeah.
And we're taking the most potential young guys, and here we go.
Firstly, Mercedes are the number one team in Formula 1 and have been for so long.
They were the guys who invested in my junior career and ultimately really helped me to make the step into Formula 1.
[Toto.]
It's very rare that a rookie wins the F2 season.
So, he won the F2 season, - and now we have a problem.
- [man.]
I saw it last year.
[all chuckle.]
- He's gonna be a future world champion.
- [man.]
I know.
That's what some of my colleagues - [Toto.]
They say that.
- [man.]
told me earlier this year - When you put me in your car, Toto.
- [Toto.]
Yeah.
That's the [chuckles.]
[Toto.]
That's the trick.
- Yeah.
- [laughs.]
[announcer 1.]
Welcome to the historic Silverstone Circuit for the British Grand Prix.
[George.]
I am a rookie.
I don't have experience, but I'm deadly serious, and when it's got anything to do with making me go quicker, I'm definitely incredibly serious.
I need to work my socks off to justify why I'm in Formula 1.
And show my true colors that I can be a team player and really build this team through the tough times.
[Claire.]
George very much encapsulates a Williams spirit.
He's got that, you know, "I'm gonna just get on with it.
" [announcer 2.]
Last car approaching the grid.
[Claire.]
I'm so pleased that he's joined Williams at the start of his F1 career.
And all I hope and pray is that he is with us for a long time.
[engines revving.]
[commentator.]
Everybody cleanly through the first corner at Abbey.
It's the Williams bringing up the rear.
[George.]
It's all over the place.
Understeer is atrocious.
These brakes aren't improved.
We're gonna have to stop.
It's getting to the point of danger.
Struggling a lot.
Do we really need to leave me out here, overtaken like this? Hit me.
[Marc.]
Stay out.
Stay out.
[George.]
However.
Come on.
You don't wanna risk anything.
Car's all over the show.
[commentator.]
Lewis Hamilton wins the British Grand Prix for a sixth time.
What a performance from him.
[George.]
Still quite incredible for me how you can finish a lap, it feels like one of the best laps you've ever done in your life.
Still, in the scheme of things, incredibly fast, but these guys have just got something more.
We need to sort this out.
We really, really need to sort this out.
In my previous years, I had one target, and that was, you either put it on pole or win the race.
I'm driving around in 19th position week in, week out and I don't wanna be there.
[Claire.]
I'm sure he's frustrated by some things that we haven't been able to action fast enough.
I wish for both of them that we'd given them a better car this year.
- It's pretty brutal out there.
- [George.]
Yeah.
I know.
Tell me about it.
[man.]
Frustrating, isn't it? [Claire.]
You've gotta take the small wins to make yourself feel good every so often.
Okay.
We beat Vettel.
[laughs.]
- Yeah.
Exactly.
- [man.]
Yeah.
Yeah.
We did.
You're not spraying champagne each and every weekend.
Only one team can do that.
Only one driver can do that.
[George.]
It's just a joke at the moment.
I've never been so inconsistent in my life.
You look at my lap chart, you think I'm a bloody rookie or whatever.
I felt like I was driving very similar lap after lap, and it was like a yo-yo.
I felt like an idiot.
We need to seriously pull our fingers out.
[man.]
Okay.
All right.
We'll see what we can do about that.
Good job.
Well done.
Well done, thank you.
[Frank.]
No real point.
[Claire.]
No.
We were only lapped once which makes a change.
Yeah.
[indistinct chatter.]
[Claire.]
Certainly, I feel enormous pressure whether I'm good enough to do this job.
The pressure is there because it is our family business and I took this job on for a very particular purpose, and that was to protect a legacy.
- Is that it? - [interviewer 1.]
All good.
- Yeah? - [interviewer 1.]
Yeah.
Okay.
You didn't ask the last question about, "Has Williams got a future or is Williams going to be in trouble?" - [interviewer 2.]
I didn't? - No.
[chuckles.]
[interviewer 1.]
She didn't I was thinking when I read it, I was like, "I am not answering that question.
" And then I was thinking about it and I said, - "Maybe I should answer that question.
" - [interviewer 2.]
Do you wanna answer it? - You can.
- Yeah.
[interviewer 2.]
I was told you didn't want to hear it because you shouldn't.
- I don't wanna - [Claire.]
No.
[interviewer 2.]
Make you answer something you don't wanna answer.
You can ask me.
Ask me the question.
[interviewer 2.]
So, is there a danger that if this goes on, - it could be the end of Williams for you? - [Claire.]
Yeah.
Okay.
Williams isn't on its way out just 'cause it's had a few A couple of bad years.
We're fighters, at the end of the day, at Williams.
That was what we do.
We will fight whether we're winning the championship or we'll fight if we're losing the championship, and we will continue to fight in this sport for many, many years to come.
You're Netflix? Not anymore.
Fuck you, Netflix.
[crowd cheering.]
[man 1.]
This is where I'll have my single life.
This is the no-go zone.
[man 2.]
What do you think you did better than Pierre Gasly to grab his seat? [chuckles.]
[man 3.]
What the hell is he doing? If I get knocked, I try to knock even harder.
[man 4.]
Very hard to keep up with that man.
- [yells indistinctly.]
- [screaming.]
[man 5.]
This is the best day of my life.
Say "love you.
" - Love you.
Bye.
[in sing-song voice.]
Silverstone I love Silverstone.
I just love it.
I think there's something incredibly spiritual almost about Silverstone.
It really holds a very special place in my heart.
I want to have my ashes spread at Silverstone.
You know that, don't you? [Jonathan.]
I do now.
- I thought I told you.
- [Jonathan chuckles.]
No.
[both laughing.]
I think Dad does as well.
Over my childhood, I really understood how famous my dad was, and how big Williams was.
It's just been the venue of so many historic moments for our team.
That was our heyday.
[crowd cheering.]
Dad's always been my hero.
Dad's got two laps to try and convince you to come to Williams.
[all laughing.]
[Claire.]
He is Williams.
I don't wanna disgrace the Williams name.
I don't want Williams to fall apart under my watch.
We have a fighting spirit, and it's really being put to the test, but I can tell you it's 100% back.
Ladies and gentlemen, please put it together for Claire Williams.
[crowd cheering.]
[indistinct chatter.]
- That's like it.
You got that? - [man.]
I did.
Lovely.
Thrilled to bits.
- [kisses.]
- You're the best.
- [Frank.]
Bless you, Clairy.
- [Claire.]
See you later.
- Silverstone.
- [Claire.]
Yeah.
I'm deputy team principal, which has really turned into de facto team principal.
My dad's taken a step back in the past few years, and so really, I operate as the team principal.
Morning, Gwen.
How are you doing? I'm responsible for making sure that we've got the right people in the right jobs, with the right equipment to do those jobs.
And to make sure that this is a great environment for people to work in.
I'm very protective over it.
Obviously, it's very close to my heart.
I'm sorry I didn't make it down.
It was a busy day yesterday.
Was it? I was looking forward to you coming down.
[chuckles.]
[Claire.]
Williams is in a very difficult place at the moment.
Last year was pretty horrific.
We just got it wrong.
We designed a bad race car.
And we've gotta fix it.
[man.]
Jack.
Okay? - That was all of it.
- It's not your lunchbreak, as usual.
- Jeremy settle down.
- [Jeremy.]
No, it's not.
[Paddy.]
I actually found you doing some work.
[Jeremy and man.]
Whoa! [Jeremy.]
Straight in there, on Netflix.
[Paddy chuckles.]
- [Jeremy.]
Thank you, Paddy.
- [Paddy chuckles.]
[man.]
It's gonna be Paddy's comedy special.
[Jeremy.]
Yeah.
My name is Paddy Lowe.
I'm Chief Technical Officer for Rokit Williams Racing.
[Jeremy.]
There's no pressure when Paddy is looking.
One of the biggest challenges is the one that we face at the moment, which is to take Williams back to the front of the grid, where they have been in the past.
We brought Paddy in from his extraordinary successor, Mercedes.
Trying to breathe new life into Williams.
Rear is all ready to go.
- Pretty much.
- [man.]
Pretty close, yeah.
Paddy was the one who came up with active suspension at Williams, back in the 1980s.
He was the tech genius that was responsible for so much of Williams' glory years.
[Paddy.]
Those days, a garage was quite an oil-stained, concrete sort of place.
Now, very flash places with glossy floors and sophisticated equipment.
So, a very, very different world.
Thank you.
[Claire.]
He's an incredibly clever individual, and he has really stripped everything back to basics.
[Paddy.]
We made a lot of changes to how we developed the car.
Changes within the team, changes within our technical approach.
So, we're optimistic that we've made some good improvements.
[man.]
We are just connecting the ERS pack up, getting ready to fire up the FW42 for the first time.
We're positive about this car, but I was last year as well, so hopefully, we've learnt.
[engineer.]
Okay.
[Paddy.]
I wanna see a feeling within the team that the team has turned a corner and moved forwards and capable of winning championships in the future.
[drilling.]
[drilling continues.]
- [Paddy.]
So we get the year I hope.
- Yeah.
[George.]
So, should we do a race? We'll do a quick corner.
I mean I'm doing quite enough.
- [laughs.]
- [Robert talking indistinctly.]
Paddy simulation.
Oh, this is good.
It's not just back at base that Williams are making changes.
They've got two brand new drivers for 2019.
[Claire.]
Are you ready for the professionals to come and kick your ass? - [man.]
So, we having a race, are we? - [Claire.]
Yes.
[Robert.]
We give you the advantage.
How many laps? - [Claire.]
Shut up, "how many laps.
" - [all laugh.]
[Claire.]
"How many laps?" - Do you know who pays your wages? - [all laugh.]
[Claire.]
Christ.
Our driver lineup's wonderful this year.
I'm so happy.
I was really clear around what we wanted.
I can't even see the car.
- It's right - Oh, yeah.
[Claire.]
Robert and George are two quite different personalities.
George is, I think, a one-in-a-million driver.
He rarely puts a foot wrong.
- Oh! [chuckles.]
- Hey! Man, come on.
- Who's the yellow one? - That's me.
George Russell, hotly tipped, Mercedes youngster, Formula 2 champion.
Really exciting guy.
[commentator.]
He can see the checkered flag.
George Russell wins! [Claire.]
He's fought his way up the ranks.
Some pretty senior people in F1 who know what they're talking about, there's a lot of talk that George is a future world champion.
- Have you won? - [Claire shrieks.]
- George! - [George.]
Sorry, Claire.
- [Claire.]
That's really unsportsmanlike.
- [George.]
I know.
Right.
I'm George Russell.
I'm racing for Rokit Williams Racing.
For me, it's a dream to be part of Formula 1.
I've lived my whole life wanting to become an F1 driver.
Out of the hundreds and thousands of people who've tried, I'm one of 20.
And that's Yeah, that's incredible.
Oh, my God, my eyes are going weird.
- You're surprisingly not [chuckles.]
- Oh! Something's gone wrong.
- Yes! - [laughs.]
- I'm surprisingly what? Not bad? - You're surprisingly not Oh! [laughs.]
Can't believe you said that I'm surprisingly not that bad.
Oh, no.
This is all we did at home when we were growing up.
Oh! Robert's at pole.
Robert's at pole.
[Claire.]
I wanted Robert in the car, 'cause I wanted a driver that was able to understand the issues with the car.
Robert had seriously impressed us over the course of last year, as our development driver.
I'm Robert Kubica, I'm from Poland and I'm racing for Rokit Williams Racing.
It is strange to be back in Formula 1 after more than eight years.
[Will.]
Talk to anybody from go-kart all the way up to Formula 1, Robert was one of, if not the best.
[crowd cheering.]
Robert was the one they feared, the one that they knew could and would make it.
He was supposed to go to Ferrari to join Fernando.
That was supposed to be the dream team.
My career, unfortunately, changed quite drastically.
In 2011, I suffered a big accident in Italy.
I suffered a lot of injuries.
The crash was so bad that it nearly severed his right arm.
The fact he can control a Formula 1 car is incredible to all of us.
It's a huge thing for Robert to come back.
It is the Hollywood story.
It's one of the great sporting comebacks.
To be back is a dream.
[Claire.]
He's a bit like a dog with a bone.
He will push and push and push until we fix the issues with the car, and he is not shy in telling us what those issues are.
- My finger's hurting.
- [man laughs.]
They signify everything that I've always wanted in a driver lineup.
Oh, yes.
I'm still in the - Am I still in the lead? - [man.]
You are.
[George.]
Oh, no! [chuckles.]
[man.]
Claire wins! - Did I win? Did I? - [man.]
You win.
- Mentally, I'm destroyed now.
- [laughs.]
That's better.
Everything is focused on getting your car to that first day of testing.
[Claire.]
Would you There are a few bits of printing.
Would you mind just printing them for me? It's a letter.
Thank you very much.
This is car build week.
Mike, I'm on my way down.
It's gotta go on Saturday night, and everything has gotta be on it.
Everything's gotta be ready.
Doesn't that blue look nice? - [man.]
Yeah.
- I can see - Have you seen your team kit yet? - Yeah.
- [Claire.]
Do you like it? - It's really nice, yeah.
[drilling.]
[Claire.]
People just think we have a car, and it goes around the world to every race.
A few guys change the tires on it, and that's about it.
You have to depressurize, so they both can get through there.
So we can get this all the way down.
[Claire.]
These cars are extraordinarily complex.
There's 20,000 parts that we're manufacturing ourselves.
[man 1.]
How many of these have we got? - One for the moment? - [man 2.]
Yeah, we're not gonna scrap it.
[man 1.]
No, no, no.
[Claire.]
When you are an independent team, when you are a team on a budget the size of ours, it's an extraordinary challenge to actually get your car to testing.
[man 3.]
The rear end is on there, and the rear end is actually structurally complete.
The mirror idea is a real winner.
Haven't heard that word for a long time.
- [man 3.]
Yeah.
- Jesus.
- [man 3.]
And it's - [Claire.]
New wing mirrors.
They could be the reversal of our fortune.
- [man 3.]
Yeah.
- [Claire.]
Something so simple.
[man 3.]
We are a very, very long way behind having a finished car here before we go to the test.
Massive challenge at the moment is the delivery of diffuser.
[Claire.]
What's the issue with the diffuser? - What's the holdup on that? - [man 3.]
Um The complexity of the parts are delaying the delivery.
And we've got a host of components which We've got an issue with the front bell crank pivot shafts are not finished.
The pin for the tower bracket we've somewhat lost track of.
These are for bigger problems that We haven't even got any wheel nuts to hold the wheels on.
Have we not worked it out yet? - [man 4.]
We're still digging into it.
- [man 3.]
Still digging into it.
[woman.]
Meeting with Mike and Nicky.
Did you say tomorrow? [Paddy.]
No.
I need to speak with them today.
- Okay.
- [cell phone rings.]
Hello? Yes, speaking.
It's not all on schedule at the moment.
Uh, we have had a number of slippages.
There are 101 different issues with the car that weren't expected.
They're all being dealt with, and, inevitably, that means that things can take longer than was planned.
Re-machine the holes? Change the dials.
But we will get to the test.
We always do.
- [Claire.]
Everything's all right? - [man 1.]
Yeah.
[Claire.]
Still smiling? - Yeah.
- [man 2.]
Good.
[Claire.]
It's in better shape than it did yesterday.
Yeah.
It's just frustrating, the little bits of rig parts.
[Claire.]
Yes.
Yes, I know.
It will be an extraordinary feat if we make this on Monday, right? - Yeah.
Yeah.
- [Claire.]
Which we're gonna.
Yeah.
We are.
- I'll leave you to it.
We will.
- [man.]
I hope so.
Yeah.
- See you later.
- [man.]
See you.
[indistinct chatter.]
[Will.]
There are only eight days of pre-season testing to put your car on track, figure out what works, figure out what doesn't.
To be as ready as your rivals once you get to the first race of the year.
The big news really today is the fact that Williams will not run today and they won't run tomorrow, either.
The car isn't ready yet.
It was a huge shock.
With only eight days of pre-season testing, every second on track counts.
Missing half a day, missing an hour is huge.
You don't miss testing.
[Claire.]
I'll take that one with me.
- [man 1.]
This one? - Yeah.
- [man 1.]
And the other one? - [man 2.]
This one's coming on this side.
They need to be very safeguarded.
- [man 2.]
I think I broke it.
- [Claire and man laughing.]
- It's a million man-hours, right? - [Claire.]
Yeah.
That is a lot of blood, sweat and tears in there.
Realizing the car isn't going to be ready for winter testing brings out disbelief.
It was like, "Are you kidding? How did this happen? How did we get to this point? How do we protect the damage that this is going to do?" I was I was incredibly angry.
Get these bits to the garage 'cause they need to start working on them.
They're gonna have their work cut out this morning getting all those bits on the car.
It would be so nice to see it out on the track.
It's not been a good few days.
I'm hoping that when people see it on track today, everyone will have forgotten about it and hopefully will bring us a bit of performance.
And to have George and Robert, it's really exciting.
I can't wait to see those guys get in the car for the first time.
It'll be really nice.
[Will.]
It's not unheard of for parts to be flown out last minute, but when team management are flying out with them, you get the impression it's pretty drastic.
[Claire.]
Here you go.
How you doing? You all right? We've got your bits.
[Will.]
At times like this, you can't look to the boys on the factory floor.
They're doing as much as they can with the equipment at their disposal.
It has to go higher.
The ultimate question is where does the buck stop? Does it stop with the person appointed to head that technical direction and the ultimate design of the car, or does it fall to the person who made that appointment? Whose head's on the block? [Claire.]
Are you all right? [Dave.]
Yeah.
It's just nice to see the car in the garage.
Christ.
If we could've had it three weeks ago, we'd be laughing.
Hi, Claire.
Hindsight, Dave, is a wonderful thing.
Hi, Paddy.
You all right? - How was your flight? - Fine.
- [Paddy.]
Early? - Yeah, it was early.
Got all the bits with you? Got the bits.
Yeah.
They're out at the back.
Yeah.
[Claire sighs.]
It happens when you get out onto the grounds.
[Claire.]
Yeah.
All right, let's see those bits.
- Hi.
You all right? - [woman.]
Yeah.
You? - [Claire.]
Yeah.
- [woman.]
Good.
Yes.
All good.
[reporter.]
But what has been the reason of the delay? We're not going to be discussing those issues in public.
It's not ideal.
Um, this is not the situation that we wanted to find ourselves in.
Particularly after last year.
We wanted to come out strongly.
That's one of the hardest parts of the job, when you're feeling down and you feel like you couldn't be kicked anymore.
I'm getting a kicking at the moment from every angle.
We're not just disappointed, but it's It's embarrassing not bringing a race car to a circuit.
[Paddy.]
I don't need anyone else to give me a hard time.
I'm my worst judge, let's say.
The bottom line is we didn't do the right things.
We have many difficulties at the moment.
Lots of challenges to face.
I suppose it's part of my makeup to not reflect any sense of panic.
I'm an engineer, so problems are objective.
They're not emotional things because emotions don't get us anywhere.
[engineer.]
You good? - [George.]
Yeah.
Ready for it.
- [engineer.]
Yeah? Been ready for three days, mate.
[George.]
It feels like - This is how we normally do things.
- [George laughs.]
We just leave it late.
Well, you can see there's a little bit of a crowd around the Williams garage.
The good news for them is they have finally got their car sorted out.
So, Williams up and running, but a lot of questions being asked why they initially missed the first two days.
[Paddy.]
Very large rank.
- [man 1.]
Sorry? - Very large rank of media in here.
[man 1.]
Well, it's the only time you've spoken in days.
[Claire.]
Yeah, we'll do that.
[Paddy.]
Work to do.
[man 2.]
Paddy, what happened? Why was the car late? Um, that is a very, very complicated matter and I Frankly, I don't even know the answer because it's It will take a lot of investigation and analysis.
In general, the thing that has got us out is the, uh The sheer quantity and complexity of parts you have to produce to make a Formula 1 car these days.
[Will.]
I spoke to Paddy over testing and he refused to take responsibility.
You're either responsible or you're not.
So, you gotta take it on the chin.
And he kind of refused to do that, so [clicks tongue.]
See you later, Paddy.
[reporter.]
There have been some big developments at Williams.
With immediate effect, Paddy Lowe, "has taken a leave of absence from the business for personal reasons.
" [interviewer.]
Can we talk about Paddy at all? [Claire.]
There's no point wasting that energy, focusing on something that's been and done.
You gotta move forward.
Formula 1 moves fast.
We gotta start racing and that's where it really matters.
- Okay.
Bye, girls.
- [Claire.]
Kisses.
Can I get kisses? - Bye.
- [Marc.]
See you later.
See you later.
Girls, go inside before you get cold.
Have a nice breakfast.
- Bye, monkey.
- [Claire.]
Okay.
I've got butterflies in my stomach.
I always get them driving to Silverstone.
I wonder what George and Robert must feel like going into this race weekend.
[Marc.]
I don't worry, necessarily.
I just worry that we can keep it.
That's really important to me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I'm fed up with drivers.
Buggering off, leaving us to go somewhere else.
We nurture all this talent and then they get to go off - They get their success somewhere else.
- Yeah.
I want to be the one that gives a driver a good car.
Formula 1 is not easy.
Sometimes, I think to myself, "Christ, when is it gonna get easier and what more do we have to do to close that gap down to the midfield?" We're here in this sport because we love racing.
We do not love being at the back of the pack.
- Good morning! - [George.]
Good morning.
Are you gonna get near the podium this morning? I will do my best, but I can't promise anything.
- [woman 1.]
Of course he will.
- [George.]
Thank you.
- [woman 2.]
Good to see you.
- [man.]
Drive well.
Thank you.
Likewise.
Nice to meet you.
Overall, it's not been ideal at all.
I mean, obviously, you dream of coming into Formula 1 and winning races.
That's the dream.
[sighs.]
Morning.
Morning.
Just driving around on my own.
No one in front of me, no one really behind me.
[man.]
Are you gonna race next year? Can't tell you that.
Can't tell you that.
- Sorry, I have to go.
- Go.
- I'll see you later.
- [woman.]
Go.
[George.]
Obviously, I want more.
I want to be a world champion.
I'd love to be in Lewis' shoes, you know.
In a car, firstly, capable of winning almost every single weekend, and performing to a level that he performs week in, week out.
But I believe I'll get there one day.
I believe I'll have that opportunity.
[reporter.]
Difficult to show your potential when you're always at the back of the grid.
No, it's not difficult at all because the people who will make a difference in my career, the top people at Williams, the top people at Mercedes, they know exactly how I'm performing, even if the result isn't exactly the same every week.
So, I have no concerns with that.
Cheers, thanks.
[Will.]
George is on the Mercedes young driver scheme, so that means he has, at least in part, his future assured.
I'm late for something, guys.
Cheers.
Thank you.
The air condition's calibrated so that the most power goes in my room.
- That's why the race took their team off.
- [woman.]
That's probably true.
- It's not true.
- [woman chuckles.]
I know.
[Will.]
Toto Wolff as head of Mercedes has always been very impressed and has always spoken incredibly well of George.
Whether that means George will make it into the big Mercedes team? Only time will tell.
But it's certainly on George's radar.
It's really nice to see the Mercedes junior program - has come back to life.
- Yeah.
And we're taking the most potential young guys, and here we go.
Firstly, Mercedes are the number one team in Formula 1 and have been for so long.
They were the guys who invested in my junior career and ultimately really helped me to make the step into Formula 1.
[Toto.]
It's very rare that a rookie wins the F2 season.
So, he won the F2 season, - and now we have a problem.
- [man.]
I saw it last year.
[all chuckle.]
- He's gonna be a future world champion.
- [man.]
I know.
That's what some of my colleagues - [Toto.]
They say that.
- [man.]
told me earlier this year - When you put me in your car, Toto.
- [Toto.]
Yeah.
That's the [chuckles.]
[Toto.]
That's the trick.
- Yeah.
- [laughs.]
[announcer 1.]
Welcome to the historic Silverstone Circuit for the British Grand Prix.
[George.]
I am a rookie.
I don't have experience, but I'm deadly serious, and when it's got anything to do with making me go quicker, I'm definitely incredibly serious.
I need to work my socks off to justify why I'm in Formula 1.
And show my true colors that I can be a team player and really build this team through the tough times.
[Claire.]
George very much encapsulates a Williams spirit.
He's got that, you know, "I'm gonna just get on with it.
" [announcer 2.]
Last car approaching the grid.
[Claire.]
I'm so pleased that he's joined Williams at the start of his F1 career.
And all I hope and pray is that he is with us for a long time.
[engines revving.]
[commentator.]
Everybody cleanly through the first corner at Abbey.
It's the Williams bringing up the rear.
[George.]
It's all over the place.
Understeer is atrocious.
These brakes aren't improved.
We're gonna have to stop.
It's getting to the point of danger.
Struggling a lot.
Do we really need to leave me out here, overtaken like this? Hit me.
[Marc.]
Stay out.
Stay out.
[George.]
However.
Come on.
You don't wanna risk anything.
Car's all over the show.
[commentator.]
Lewis Hamilton wins the British Grand Prix for a sixth time.
What a performance from him.
[George.]
Still quite incredible for me how you can finish a lap, it feels like one of the best laps you've ever done in your life.
Still, in the scheme of things, incredibly fast, but these guys have just got something more.
We need to sort this out.
We really, really need to sort this out.
In my previous years, I had one target, and that was, you either put it on pole or win the race.
I'm driving around in 19th position week in, week out and I don't wanna be there.
[Claire.]
I'm sure he's frustrated by some things that we haven't been able to action fast enough.
I wish for both of them that we'd given them a better car this year.
- It's pretty brutal out there.
- [George.]
Yeah.
I know.
Tell me about it.
[man.]
Frustrating, isn't it? [Claire.]
You've gotta take the small wins to make yourself feel good every so often.
Okay.
We beat Vettel.
[laughs.]
- Yeah.
Exactly.
- [man.]
Yeah.
Yeah.
We did.
You're not spraying champagne each and every weekend.
Only one team can do that.
Only one driver can do that.
[George.]
It's just a joke at the moment.
I've never been so inconsistent in my life.
You look at my lap chart, you think I'm a bloody rookie or whatever.
I felt like I was driving very similar lap after lap, and it was like a yo-yo.
I felt like an idiot.
We need to seriously pull our fingers out.
[man.]
Okay.
All right.
We'll see what we can do about that.
Good job.
Well done.
Well done, thank you.
[Frank.]
No real point.
[Claire.]
No.
We were only lapped once which makes a change.
Yeah.
[indistinct chatter.]
[Claire.]
Certainly, I feel enormous pressure whether I'm good enough to do this job.
The pressure is there because it is our family business and I took this job on for a very particular purpose, and that was to protect a legacy.
- Is that it? - [interviewer 1.]
All good.
- Yeah? - [interviewer 1.]
Yeah.
Okay.
You didn't ask the last question about, "Has Williams got a future or is Williams going to be in trouble?" - [interviewer 2.]
I didn't? - No.
[chuckles.]
[interviewer 1.]
She didn't I was thinking when I read it, I was like, "I am not answering that question.
" And then I was thinking about it and I said, - "Maybe I should answer that question.
" - [interviewer 2.]
Do you wanna answer it? - You can.
- Yeah.
[interviewer 2.]
I was told you didn't want to hear it because you shouldn't.
- I don't wanna - [Claire.]
No.
[interviewer 2.]
Make you answer something you don't wanna answer.
You can ask me.
Ask me the question.
[interviewer 2.]
So, is there a danger that if this goes on, - it could be the end of Williams for you? - [Claire.]
Yeah.
Okay.
Williams isn't on its way out just 'cause it's had a few A couple of bad years.
We're fighters, at the end of the day, at Williams.
That was what we do.
We will fight whether we're winning the championship or we'll fight if we're losing the championship, and we will continue to fight in this sport for many, many years to come.
You're Netflix? Not anymore.
Fuck you, Netflix.
[crowd cheering.]
[man 1.]
This is where I'll have my single life.
This is the no-go zone.
[man 2.]
What do you think you did better than Pierre Gasly to grab his seat? [chuckles.]
[man 3.]
What the hell is he doing? If I get knocked, I try to knock even harder.
[man 4.]
Very hard to keep up with that man.
- [yells indistinctly.]
- [screaming.]
[man 5.]
This is the best day of my life.