New Williams technical director Paddy Lowe says he firmly believes it is possible to for a customer team to win an F1 world championship provided it is given a fair opportunity to do so by its partner

With big budget factory teams or exclusively supported independent outfits dominating in recent seasons, there is the impression a customer outfit like Williams - which relies on Mercedes for its power - cannot hope to challenge whilst the other is focused on its own title tilt.

However, Lowe - who left triple champions Mercedes for a move to Williams - is adamant it needn't take an exclusive partnership to make that happen, insisting the Grove squad can return to its glory days.

"The engines are all the same between the different Mercedes teams, they are supposed to be between all engine suppliers" Lowe explains.

"So it's absolutely possible to win a championship. There's no better example of that than Red Bull who have done very well with the Renault engine when they were not classified as a works team."

OPINION: Why Valtteri Bottas can defeat Lewis Hamilton in 2017

Latest Tweets from Crash.net & GPF1rst



Indeed, the deep pockets of the Austrian drinks giant went along way with the development of the car, Renault still provided engines to Williams and Renault, who both won a race and fought for podiums in the 2012 season.

Lowe acknowledges the spending gap between the top teams and the midfielders, and says the key for Williams to maximise their potential is to utilise current resources as best as possible, similar to how rivals Force India operated last season, seeing them finish ahead of William in fourth.

"It's been discussed many times the disparity of funding between teams in the pit-lane so clearly it's more difficult to compete at the front when you have less money, nobody will deny that," Lowe continued.

POLL: Who will win the 2017 F1 world title?



"The challenge here is to make the most efficient use we can with the resources we have. In parallel you're constantly trying to gain access to more resources that's what drives success in this sport. Do a good job, generate more income so you can do an even better job. If we want to move forward we have to move forward technically and then financially when you make all of those factors contribute together."

While Williams will continue with Mercedes power for the foreseeable future, Lowe concedes there won't be a quick fix to vault the Grove-based team back to its championship winning ways.

"This is a very tough sport and I think people forget that every team operates at a very high level. So you can't come in to any team and expect to find quick answers that will jump you ahead.

"What it will take is a lot of solid work, it will take time and great teamwork. These are the elements that you require to move up the grid or stay where you are at the front, it's the same stuff that I was doing with my colleagues at Mercedes."

Latest Tweets from Crash.net & GPF1rst

