The 2014 Formula One season is in full swing and following last weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, one thing is certain and that is the fact that the Sahara Force India Formula One Team and the Williams Martini Racing Team have risen to the challenge of adapting to the new 2014 regulations. Force India have so far in 2014 scored exactly the same number of point's in the opening seven Grand Prix of this season as they did during the entire 2013 season which just goes to show the massive step forward that the Silverstone based team made over the course of the Winter. The team currently lie fourth in the Constructors championship just 10 point's shy of Ferrari.
As the Williams Martini Racing Team, the Grove based outfit have themselves had a sensational start to the 2014 season compared to last season. In 2013, the team only managed to score 5 point's in the entire season, however so far in 2014, the team have scored 58 point's. The team came extremely close to scoring their first podium since the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix at the weekend at the hands of Felipe Massa however the Brazilian was forced to retire from the race following an extremely heavy accident with Sergio Perez.
For the Williams team, the 2014 season was looking up even prior to the start as the team signed Felipe Massa (one of the most experienced drivers on the current F1 grid) to partner Valtteri Bottas. The team then announced that they had signed a new sponsor in the form of Brazilian oil giant Petrobas. On the eve of the season opening Australian Grand Prix the team then announced that it would be renamed Williams Martini Racing after signing a long term title sponsorship deal with the alcohol manufacturer.
The team then announced that they had hired Felipe Massa's former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley as their new Head of Vehicle Performance to help improve the communication between the team at the track and their colleagues back at the factory in Grove.
(Williams Martini Racing Team)
Williams, like Sahara Force India have scored point's in every Grand Prix so far this season and have a combined total of 135 point's. Force India secured their podium since 2009 at the Bahrain Grand Prix when Sergio Perez finished the race in third place behind the two Mercedes.
It is only a matter of time before the Williams team score their first podium of the season which should have come at the Canadian Grand Prix where the two team's emerged as the main challengers to the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. The next race at the the Red Bull Ring in Austria is going to be extremely interesting as the team's haven't been there since 2003 when the circuit was known as the A1 Ring.
For the Williams team the last time the Austrian Grand Prix was held their then driver Ralf Schumacher finished the race in sixth place while Ralph Firman who drove the Jordan (now Force India) team finished the race in eleventh place while Giancarlo Fisichella retired from the race as did Juan Pablo Montoya in the second Williams.
It fantastic for Formula One that the likes of the Williams Martini Racing Team and the Sahara Force India F1 Team are doing so well this season. At the start of the season Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams said that the team's aim for 2014 was to score point's in every race this season and so far they have done just that with the new supply of Mercedes power.
©Ben Johnston 2014
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