Williams: Paddy is our CTO and I back him 100%

Lowe once again shouldered the blame for the shortcomings of their current car, while protecting their inexperienced drivers Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin, during an interview with the official F1 website, "We haven’t given them the equipment this year to fight for points, which is unfortunate but within that, they have stayed disciplined, committed and hardworking."

"People have asked if that [inexperienced drivers] has been a problem to us. I’d say the car is our main problem. We don’t assign any of that responsibility to the drivers."

"What we have done is produce a car where some of those aggressive steps have not worked and on the contrary has taken us backwards, not forwards. On top of that, it’s uncovered a range of areas in which we have slipped behind in terms of our capability and process to develop the car. That’s been disappointing."

Williams has revealed that "a reset and rebuild" is in process at Grove, with Lowe adding, "We’ve done a lot of very good work, but when you go and look at the numbers, we’ve probably stood still relative to our competitors."

"We’re not going to give up, but if we’re realistic, the idea of getting back towards the front of the midfield at this stage in this season is maybe not going to happen."

"So naturally, which happens anyway, a lot more focus moves to the following year," explained Lowe who survived the axe, but once the dust settled Head of Aerodynamics Dirk de Beer and Chief Designer Ed Wood were no longer in the building.

Next year may be even tougher for Williams, Martini title sponsorship will terminate after Abu Dhabi and now the Strolls are taking their business to Force India, who are also heading for a significant dip in prize money earnings from FOM.

Their last world champion Jacques Villeneuve, a staunch critic of the team, predicts this is the beginning of the end for the once mighty team that has 16 Formula 1 world titles to their name.

Prior to Lawrence Stroll pulling his investment, Williams said, "We’re in fine shape financially. Of course we’d always want the money. Engineers spend as much as you give them. But we’re not about to go under, we’re not in a fight for survival."

“We have a good budget. There are lots of losses financially for us next year, but we have other avenues. I’ve grown up in this sport, I’ve grown up in this team where we’ve been in much harder situations than this."

"When Mum and Dad have been sat around the dinner table and Mum saying: what on earth are we going to do next year Frank? and Dad replying: Don’t worry, something will turn up. I have that approach because something always does.

“I believe we will be fine next year, we already know we do have a healthy budget and that we’ll be okay next year," added Williams in the interview, before the news of the Stroll led buyout of Force India.