[smr2018test]
Williams has confirmed Robert Kubica will take the place of rookie driver Sergey Sirotkin, not the more experienced Lance Stroll, during his practice session appearances this year.
Kubica “will do three FP1s and he’ll take Sergey’s seat,” deputy team principal Claire Williams confirmed in Spain. Kubica’s first practice outing will be at the Spanish Grand Prix.
“It’s early days and we’ll have to wait and see. It’ll be a learning curve for him in his first season. But everything I’ve ascertained from him so far is he’s incredibly keen to prove his talent and that’s both in the car and outside.”
“He’s very engaged in the team, he’s working well with our engineers. He’s incredibly intelligent – everyone knows I think he’s got a degree in engineering. And that’s going to really help drive the team forward.”
“He’s working well with Lance, he’s working well with Robert, but I think we really have to wait and see when we get to Australia. Last year I don’t think people really had them on their radar, I think probably our driver announcement came as surprise to people. But if we didn’t have the faith in him that he could deliver we wouldn’t put him in our line-up. We’ll wait and see how he goes, but I think he’s promising.”
The team has the youngest driver line-up in the pit lane and Williams is counting on Kubica to help guide its two young racers.
“He has a really important role: Having two young drivers, having someone with Robert’s experience, being in his early thirties, is going to be critical for us. But we’re focused on this year with our two race drivers in Lance and Sergey.”
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nase
28th February 2018, 20:19
Money ranking at Williams: established.
stefano (@alfa145)
28th February 2018, 20:24
I laughed
Toxic
28th February 2018, 22:03
Now I know which is the only part of F1 weekend I’ll be watching.
DocNuke (@)
1st March 2018, 0:26
For Claire Williams to come out and say that this isn’t about the money just proves that this is about the money. The Stroll family must have her in a bind over this. If it wasn’t about the money then Stroll would sit out one of those sessions unless there is something in his contract that says otherwise, which would probably again be tied to money.
Todfod (@todfod)
1st March 2018, 4:27
Completely agree. It started off at the car unveiling, where it seemed like they were trying to justify their position to the media. It’s understandable that a team feels money might move them forward better as compared to better drivers, it would be great if they just stay mum on the issue instead of bringing it up on every occasion.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Stroll has also pushed for reduced FP1 sessions for Sirotkin. He seems like a driver that would try to make himself look better at any cost.
Damon (@damon)
1st March 2018, 10:07
I’m starting to worry that this whole pressure on Williams as regards this subject may actually only harm Kubica.
If there’s a period in the season where Sirotkin underperforms, but Williams still need to keep him in the seat for economic reasons, they might need to cut Kubica’s opportunities to show his talents or purposely diminish his positive impact on the car development in interviews as not to add more wood to the fire.
Todfod (@todfod)
1st March 2018, 11:33
I don’t think underperforming drivers is of concern to Williams. If it was a problem, they wouldn’t have signed Stroll up for another season. They’ll stick with the driver line up that least affects the financial situation, which means keeping Stroll and Sirotkin in full time race seats while keeping kubica’s money happy with occasional tests.
Damon (@damon)
1st March 2018, 11:40
You missed the point from top to bottom, mate.
pSynrg (@psynrg)
1st March 2018, 12:39
Are there really so few (potential) F1 drivers for them to be using Kubica, over nurturing a rookie? There’s no logic to this decision at all.
I can only guess Williams are supporting accessibility in F1?
Gabriel (@rethla)
1st March 2018, 13:54
Williams are supporting money in their pockets.