George Russell says Williams is still feeling the consequences of the the “rushed” completion of its car at the beginning of the season.
Williams made a delayed start to testing and did not have all the parts ready for its new car when it finally ran for the first time. Russell says there are gains the team can make in that area.“The main limitation is aero and the downforce side of things,” he said. “Obviously as things were rushed probably the quality isn’t up to their normal standard and we are lacking a bit in that department.
“I think our overall package is probably better than what we’re showing at the moment. Not better that we’ll be moving forward but better that we’ll probably be a couple of tenths ahead. So even if we just make the most of what we’ve got we would go forward.”
However Russell acknowledges it will take a long time for Williams to close on their rivals, who were well over a second per lap faster at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
“There is certainly light at the end of the tunnel but that tunnel’s quite far away. We’ve just got to not do anything drastic because at the end of the day even if you’re one of the top three teams you can’t just overcome that lap time in a day, a week, a month or whatever.
“It’s a process. The team made it clear from the end of last year that this is a longer-term project for them and we’re not looking in short term.”
Russell explained the shortcomings with the team’s current car are different from its troubled predecessor.
“Last year it was quite clear they had drive-ability issues. Whereas at the moment the drive-ability is not perfect [but] I certainly have good confidence to push the car. We’re just missing the grip compared to the others.
“It’s positive in some ways that we’ve got sort of the foundations to build on but like I said the guys in the wind tunnel, you can’t just wake up and you find a second or two in downforce, it’s a long process, it takes time.”
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kpcart
28th March 2019, 11:42
Go williams! I hope they can catch up to the back of midfield by the end of the year. Sometimes I wonder why a struggling f1 team doesn’t just take a step back and compete in say f2 for a year or 2, then they can properly restructure, not lose too much money and come back as a strong rookie team like haas. Kind of like what rebellion did in lmp1/lmp2
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
28th March 2019, 15:53
I suspect that would be a one-way step. Also, Williams do get some sort of Constructors’ Bonus, which they’d loose if they went down that path.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
28th March 2019, 12:55
I hope it will get better. For the team, for the family, for the drivers. The situation is even darker if you think that they have a Mercedes PU, which certainly doens’t lack power.
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
29th March 2019, 2:12
Power’s not much good if you can’t get it to the ground.
Sush Meerkat
28th March 2019, 13:38
Now that the Williams has stripped the weight of Paddy Lowe,s ego it should be a few tenths faster
bosyber (@bosyber)
28th March 2019, 14:22
Well glad to hear that it’s not lack of driveability this year, though lack of downforce/grip when last years cars were already lacking in that respect is still quite sad.
BlackJackFan
29th March 2019, 4:11
“Not better that we’ll be moving forward but better that we’ll probably be a couple of tenths ahead. So even if we just make the most of what we’ve got we would go forward.”
Duh… Sometimes these guys would be better to just say: “No comment…” – far less embarrassing to the team, and to themselves…
Or is Williams forcing the drivers to be the ones that look idiots…? ;-)