Much was expected of Paddy Lowe when he joined Williams from Mercedes in March last year, triggering talk of a renaissance at Grove, however, the first car built under his watch has been hopeless and has sunk the team to the lowest level in its illustrious history.
If Lowe survives in his post he has to fix the costly blunder rather quickly as the team is facing a departing title sponsor as well some very frustrated pay drivers who are already looking elsewhere for alternatives.
Nevertheless, Lowe believes he and his team have what it takes to turn the tide, "I have some really great people around me. There are some reinforcements needed, but we have the core of a really great team, so I think we're in a position to start turning in the right direction."
To start with they have to figure out why their car is a brick, described by team chief Claire Williams as "evil" to drive, a potentially dangerous one too as their drivers Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin will testify. Without a solution to the fundamental problems, they risk compromising next year's car too.
Lowe admits they were stumped by a never before seen aero phenomenon and acknowledged, "Many of the problems of this year’s car are simply exaggerations of those we had last year."
"The degree of instability of our car has been very extreme this year. Last year’s car was not great in terms of stability, but that feature has become even worse on this year’s car."
"You have to go right into the heart of what you are doing and some core science of how you are generating performance," explained Lowe who now has the spotlight firmly on him as he engineers a solution to lift Williams from the doldrums.
Big Question: Is Paddy the right man for the job?
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