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Williams' co-founder, Sir Patrick Head, has returned to the team as he tries to recover from a resounding start to the season.
The 72-year-old is working on what Williams describes as "a short-term counseling base".
The team was 1.3 seconds behind the slowest car of the first race of the season in Australia two weeks ago.
Head left the sport at the end of the 2011 season.
He is recognized as one of F1's greatest engineers, having driven Williams to seven world drivers' championships and nine constructor titles between 1980 and 1997.
He co-founded Williams Grand Prix Engineering with Sir Frank Williams in 1977 and, with the duo at the helm, the team experienced a series of very successful eras – from 1980 to 1982, from 1985 to 1987 and from 1991 to 1997.
Alan Jones, Keke Rosberg, Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve have all become world champions at Williams.
Williams' technical director, Paddy Lowe, went on leave before the start of the season, after the team missed the first two and a half days of pre-season testing because the car was not ready.
Lowe, who joined the Mercedes World Champions in 2017, is not expected to return to work within the team.
Lowe became a shareholder when he joined Williams, acquiring the remaining stake of Head.
Answer big questions
Williams hopes Head will be able to use his expertise to help them understand how they ended up with such an uncompetitive car – and give them tips on how to get the team back on track.
The car's lack of performance this season was a surprise to the team's leadership, who hoped that Lowe's leadership would help them get back on the road to competitiveness.
They finished last in 2018, with a car that was on average the slowest on the network.
But this machine had specific aerodynamic problems that made driving difficult and unpredictable, as well as an unconvincing crew of Russian Sergey Sirotkin and Canadian Lance Stroll.
This season, Williams has recruited Formula 2 champion George Russell, a young Mercedes driver considered a potential star of the future, and Robert Kubica, back after an eight-year absence caused by the injuries that shook the Pole during 39, a rally crash in 2011.
They hoped that by solving the aerodynamic inconsistencies of the 2018 car and adding what is considered a more solid driver range, they would be able to progress on the grid.
Instead, although the 2019 car is more predictable to drive, it lacks aerodynamic support, is overweight and lacks in a number of other areas.
The lack of performance surprised Team Assistant Director Claire Williams and other senior executives.
Insiders say there is no realistic hope for a major recovery this season, but Head's council will aim to ensure that the team makes the right decisions and understands where they are wrong.
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