Head questions reality of cost-cutting

Speaking in Austria, Head said: "There are expensive materials and areas that could be discussed in terms of a saving on hardware, such as suspension, brakes, etcetera, but it needs to be discussed in a rational meeting and so far I haven't seen it. The team principals sit on such different mountains that I don't think they can have a constructive meeting about saving on engineering."

Head pointed out that F1's Technical Working Group could possibly achieve some savings but reiterated that it first needs to be charged with doing so by the team principals. "The TWG was formed to do other things," he said.

Head also doubted whether saving money on engineering would actually make a tangible difference.

"Spending money for no good reason is not worthwhile but Williams as a company has always been pretty careful about making the best use of money available. Our budget is considerably less than Ferrari's and so we have to try to use it more efficiently. But ultimately the teams near the front are wary about diminishing their power to use the best of their equipment. Every time you test you learn something and that helps you to be more reliable and to improve engineering standards.

"In truth, I think you can only save a relatively small amount on engineering. And if you are banned from spending money on something you will spend it on a more expensive driver or more expensive factory testing rigs."