Lowe: Williams better than Mercedes on several levels

Williams' new tech boss Paddy Lowe has had a look around the Grove property and already determined a few areas where his new team surpasses Mercedes.

Lowe has taken up his residency at Williams after a short period of gardening leave following his departure from world champion's Mercedes.

While the 54-year-old engineer admits his input will be limited in the short term,  he hopes to build on a few strengths he has already identified and fully exploit the resources at his disposal.

"The first stage is to get to know the team and see how I can bring value," Lowe told Motorsport.com.

"The challenge is how to make the best with what you have available to get the best gains and the best value from it.

That's no different whether you're working from one particular base, as I might have in another team, or what we have here.

"The process is the same and there are undoubtedly things here at Williams that are much better than they have in Mercedes already.

"I have to see what the strengths are and what are the gaps, and then build on those.

"I've been asked many times over the past several years, 'what is the secret?' but it would be extremely misplaced for anybody to think they can come into any team and expect to suddenly find some sort of miracle or silver bullet."

• Lowe joins Williams as technical officer and investor

Lowe acknowledged it was an emotional return to the team he left two decades ago, but insisted there would be little time reminisce when the new season kicks off next weekend in Melbourne.

"[Coming back to Williams] is an amazing story, I'm still coming to terms with it.

"It was an emotional moment to come back – it's almost 30 years since I started with Williams at the end of '87 and it's very, very special to come back and in effect take on the position of my original boss, Patrick [Head, former Williams technical director].

"At the same time, this is not about the sentimental side, this is about going forward and not telling old stories.

"I'm very excited about the future, and already I'm very happy with what I've seen and how we can build on that."

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