The team was just heavily under funded when it was still managed by the Williams family. There was no money to change anything. Former drivers that have visited the factory have all told that it felt like they had traveled back in time, everything is outdated at the Williams factory. They were stuck in a downward spiral. They couldn’t build a fast car to get into the points because of the outdated factory, which meant they didn’t get a lot of prize money and also couldn’t attract enough sponsorship money. Thus they didn’t have the money to improve the car for the next season. When the team was sold to an investor group they finally got enough funds to turn this sinking ship around.