Williams Chairman Adam Parr has revealed that he offered to resign from the team in the wake of its troubled start to the campaign.
On Tuesday the team announced a technical restructuring at the team that will result in technical director Sam Michael and Jon Tomlinson leaving at the end of this year, with Mike Coughlan joining as chief engineer next month. Although the focus has been on the technical areas of the team, Parr said in a teleconference call on Tuesday that he, too, offered to step down because he felt responsible for Williams' worst-ever start to an F1 season.
When asked if he had considered his own position, Parr said: "Absolutely. I tendered my resignation to Frank [Williams], Patrick [Head] and Toto [Wolff, shareholder]. I am responsible and I took the responsibility to do whatever they wanted to do."
Speaking about the team refusing to accept his resignation, Parr said: "They did, yes. But that doesn't mean I don't feel responsible for what happened. I've addressed the whole factory and explained that I am responsible and have apologized for my part in this failure."