 After the relative success of , Williams endured a difficult start to the season, failing to score a point with their FW35 before announcing, on 16 July that Coughlan had been replaced with immediate effect by Pat Symonds.Coughlan's period as chief engineer was dominated by a period of investigation into exhaust driven diffusers, that was described as "a disastrous technical foray".On 9 November 2013 it was announced that Richard Childress Racing had hired Mike Coughlan as the team's new Technical Director, effective immediately.