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Williams must endure more pain before resurgence - Lowe

Published on 21 Aug 2018 13:04
7
By: Fergal Walsh

Williams chief technical officer Paddy Lowe says that the team must face more pain before it starts to make inroads on the teams ahead. Williams has had a torrid 2018 season so far, scoring just four points in the opening 12 races, leaving them at the bottom of the constructor's standings.

The Grove-based team has been suffering from aerodynamic issues, which is making the FW41 very difficult to handle. At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix earlier this year, Lance Stroll crossed the line in eighth place, which remains Williams' only top ten finish this year.

However, a recent front wing update has helped, as Lowe explained to Auto Motor und Sport. However, there is still a lot of work to do: "As you start digging, you find more and more problems. We have to make up a lot of ground," he said.

2019 will see a slight change to the aerodynamic regulations, with the main change being simpler front wings. Lowe outlined that Williams is struggling to fix its 2018 car, while also attempting to put enough resources into the development of its 2019 challenger.

"In the meantime, we have to endure the pain until there is a solution," he said. "It's mainly aerodynamics but also more than that. The car lacks stability. We've fallen behind compared to last year. We hope to make some more changes after the break but it won't be half of what we need. Still, we're hoping for a better second half before we concentrate fully on the 2019 car," Lowe added.

Lowe compared the situation to McLaren in 2009, when he led the efforts to fix a badly-born car: "It's not directly comparable, but it shows that if everyone works purposefully, with discipline and while staying calm and united, you can pull out of it. In the end it's a technical problem, and all technical problems are solvable.

He also defended its two drivers, Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin. The team has the most inexperienced line-up on the grid, but Lowe denied that that has anything to do with its struggles this year.

"It's better for any team to have two multiple world champions," Lowe admitted. "But our problems have nothing to do with the inexperience of our drivers. They're doing a good job in a difficult situation. The car would not be better if we had other drivers."

Fergal Walsh

juju_hound

Posts: 180

I don't think so. This car is a mess, even Alonso wouldn't make much of it.

2
Aug 21 2018 - 13:27

F1 News Sergey Sirotkin Lance Stroll McLaren Williams

Replies (7)

eresix

Posts: 3
There are no doubts that with Kubica as a regular driver Williams would be now in a very different position.
- + 0
- Aug 21 2018 - 13:25
- juju_hound
  
  Posts: 180
  I don't think so. This car is a mess, even Alonso wouldn't make much of it.
  + 2
  
  Aug 21 2018 - 13:27
- eresix
  
  Posts: 3
  @JUJU_HOUND: This car is not as messy as it seems. Comparison of lap times between SS/LS/RK mean nothing to you? I think this car, although tough to drive, is inefficiently utilized by immature drivers.
  + 0
  
  Aug 21 2018 - 13:39
- juju_hound
  
  Posts: 180
  Yes, these laps times means absolutely nothing for me. Kubica is not driving during qualifying and race. His times during practice and tests are sometimes faster as Russel's times are better than Hamilton's and Bottas. This car is a mess and even Lowe says so.
  + 0
  
  Aug 21 2018 - 14:50
- F1todayfan101
  
  Posts: 120
  There are many doubts about that..... No driver can save that team this season
  + 0
  
  Aug 22 2018 - 09:17
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
I wonder if they too have correlation issues? It seems like a very common problem this year, with both McLaren and Toro Rosso having some, Force India suspecting some degree of erroneous correlation and even Ferrari saying some of it doesnt compute.
- + 0
- Aug 21 2018 - 17:33
- f1ski
  
  Posts: 726
  Its always a correlation issue. Even Red Bull had that as a problem once.
  + 0
  
  Aug 21 2018 - 22:52