Marc Priestley and Sir Patrick Head discuss Paddy Lowe's arrival at Williams and preview the Australian GP on Wednesday's F1 Report
Wednesday 22 March 2017 13:11, UK
Paddy Lowe could be a game-changing appointment for Williams, Sky Sports F1’s Marc Priestley has told this week’s F1 Report.
Lowe was confirmed as Williams' new chief technical officer last week, having been placed on gardening leave by Mercedes in January after he decided to leave the world champions.
Williams deputy team boss Claire Williams described his arrival as a "game changer" and Priestley agrees with that assessment, highlighting the knowledge he will bring from Mercedes and the speed at which he has been allowed to join the Grove outfit.
"I think there is an argument to say he may well be [a game changer]," said Priestley, who worked with Lowe at McLaren.
"The reason I say that is because he's come from Mercedes where he's orchestrated a huge amount of their success over the last three years or so, so he knows that car inside out. He knows what it takes to make this current era of Formula 1 work very, very well.
"What normally happens when you leave a big team like that, you have at least six months of gardening leave. I think the process has been sped up in allowing him to join Williams so quickly because they had to do this deal with Williams getting Valtteri [Bottas] over at the last minute to replace Nico Rosberg.
"I think part of that conversation meant that Paddy was allowed to start a bit sooner at Williams.
"He comes to Williams with a huge amount of information, experience and knowledge which will now be fed directly into that Williams organisation. That could be a game changer."
Lowe succeeded Pat Symonds, now a Sky Sports F1 analyst, as Williams' chief technical officer and he has also taken a shareholding in the Williams Group and joined the board of directors.
Lowe began his career at Williams in 1987 and spent six years with the team, during which time Nigel Mansell won the world championship. His following 20 years at McLaren brought three more drivers' titles.
The 54-year-old joined Mercedes in 2013 as executive director (technical) and played a key part in the Silver Arrows winning the constructors' and drivers' championships the last three seasons.
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Williams co-founder Sir Patrick Head joined Priestley on the F1 Report panel and he pondered what had gone on behind the scenes to reach the point that Lowe was allowed to leave Mercedes.
"I'm very pleased to see him back. I always got on well with Paddy. I regard him highly as an engineer and as a person and I think he will be good for Williams," he said.
"One interesting thing is you have to wonder why Toto Wolff wanted him to depart, a man who went to Mercedes in 2013 and followed up with three consecutive world championships.
"I'm sure Paddy would be the first to state it, Ross Brawn sort of created the orchestra but if Paddy had not been good as the conductor they would have fallen off the perch at times. So quite clearly Paddy knows what he is doing.
"One wonders why the situation between Paddy and Wolff fell apart a bit. Paddy was essentially on the technical side which certainly Wolff isn't. Maybe it will come out in the wash.
"It certainly seems quite a change. I don't think Williams will have gone and persuaded him to leave Mercedes purely on the basis of salary or facilities or budget or something like that. Something must have caused a few cracks at Mercedes."
Don't miss the F1 Report: Australian GP preview on Sky Sports F1 at 8.30pm on Wednesday as Sir Patrick Head and Marc Priestley join Natalie Pinkham in the studio to look ahead to the 2017 season opener.
Watch the Australian GP, the first race of the 2017 Formula 1 season, live only on Sky Sports F1 this weekend and in incredible Ultra HD for the first time! The race begins at 6am on Sunday. Check out all the ways to watch F1 with Sky Sports - including a NOW TV day pass for £6.99!
