So what would you do if you were Frank Williams?We’ve already had the answer from Eddie Jordan and it’s pretty clear cut in his opinion: sell to Toyota. He suggests to Frank that he should sell Williams to Toyota over five years. So that there will be a cash injection to to team each year. So Frank gets a chance to set things right and then hand over the reigns.

A deal like this would only work if Toyota were guaranteed to get the team but the amount they have to pay to Frank is based on the teams position in the constructor’s championship. That way Frank wouldn’t be able to relax under the deal.

But is Frank ready for a deal? People point to Williams winning ways of the past. The fact that they haven’t been winning for a while. And these things are hard to deny but look at the prospects for next year. First Nico looses his rookie status and grows up a bit as he becomes Williams number one driver. Two the management aren’t constantly trying to work out which engine they’re going to have in the future. They have a secure multi engine deal with a supplier of good engines. Third they have a test driver. The promotion of Alex Wurtz seems like a backwards step. Like they aren’t going to be moving forward next year. But actually everyone has been saying about this years car is that it’s fast but tragically unreliable. So I think they might have played a very clever move with Alex. He has the continuity for the team. He has the consistency on track. And he’s supposedly one of the best testers there is for feedback. So why not give him the most mileage they can?

I’m not saying that their worries are over or that they won’t someday become Lexus F1 but I think the most important factor will be that Frank would want to be the last private team to quit not the second last. While McClaren are still going he won’t want to sell.