Williams's recent signing of experienced engineer Dan Milner from Mercedes was not just about adding some more brainpower to its Formula 1 team.
Instead, the appointment of a new chief engineer of vehicle technology is part of a bigger-picture move.
Williams aims to fill a gap that has been exposed both in terms of people but, more importantly, of function. This is about improving things across the board long term.
Milner arrives at Williams after a 20-year spell at Brackley; he originally joined in the Honda era, then stayed through its Brawn campaign and into the Mercedes years.
He progressed from simulation and design roles into senior leadership positions, which included six years as head of powertrain integration and transmission design prior to his most recent role as chief engineer for R&D.
His role at Williams will be to head a new vehicle technology work stream that operates in parallel to the main car programmes.
While there are staff who are specifically committed to improving this year's 2026 FW48 and next season's design, Milner is not tied down to a specific project.
Instead, he is tasked with leading the development of base-level technology that can fit in as and when it is deemed ready.
Being a step back from an individual design project, so not being bound to an individual model, opens the door to longer-term improvements.
That is because it can be difficult in the modern era of F1 to ensure that new technology is ready from both a performance and a reliability standpoint within the time constraints of a single car model.
By the very nature of things being new and unproven, timescales for introduction can be uncertain - and money and time often needs to be invested across multiple years.
The payback for such investment may not be immediate nor seen on track for a while, but it is critical to not let these things slip - otherwise a team risks being well behind the curve by the time it realises it needs to catch up.
The strengthening of a new technology department and the appointment of Milner falls into the territory of Williams trying to push its organisation on, which has not been an easy task, and weaknesses have been publicly exposed on a host of occasions.
But rather than shy away from the problems, it is about getting the problems out into the open and then addressing them.
As Milner himself said about the motivation for taking on his new role: "Williams has a clear, ambitious plan to move forward."
Milner's vehicle technology department will also cover Williams's transmission and hydraulics programmes, as the team looks to return to producing its own hardware in these areas rather than taking them ready-made as part of its customer arrangement with Mercedes.
As Williams technical director Matt Harman explained, Milner's arrival is about unlocking better ideas, and ultimately more performance, in years to come.
"Dan has led major programmes across R&D and powertrains, turning ideas into performance, and he knows how to bring teams together to deliver," said Harman.
"He will be central to our vehicle technology plan and to converting innovation into consistent performance gains on track."
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