Claire Williams is confident her team's 2020 car will suit the Hungaroring track, which hosts the third round of the season this weekend.
At the Styrian Grand Prix, Williams escaped the Q1 dropzone for the first time since Brazil 2018, with Russell securing 12th place in the session, only to be promoted up one spot following the application of grid penalties.
Russell asserted that his goal for the race was to score his first championship points, however he slipped off the road and fell to the back of the grid while battling Kevin Magnussen early in the grand prix.
Looking forward to the upcoming race in Hungary, deputy team principal of the Grove-based squad Williams states that she is hopeful the team can enjoy another positive performance, having spent the entirety of the 2019 season at the back of the field.
“Hungary is a circuit that definitely suits our car,” Williams said. “The engineers are going to have their work cut out analysing the data from this weekend and making sure we optimise where we can.
“Certainly, over the course of the week between race one and race two, a lot of work was done in the factory and here in order to coordinate efforts to work on issues that we unearthed during race one.
“So a lot of work will go on behind the scenes to make sure we optimise the opportunities we'll have.”
Williams commended her team for the lack of errors during the opening two rounds, following on from a four-month delay due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“George's qualifying in race two in Austria was a real shot in the arm for everyone at Williams, and just to see how well everyone in the team is working and the operations here trackside have gone pretty well.
“Very few mistakes have been made and that's quite an impressive achievement considering nobody has bene trackside now for many, many months.”
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Replies (8)
Login to replyJuJuHound
Posts: 352
So I started to read this article: Claire Williams is confident ... and so I stopped reading.
siggy74
Posts: 194
Maybe offer reverse points ;p
At least Williams could score the most :D
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
lol it's hard. I really want Williams to do well, but I likewise, feel she is utterly incompetent and unable to successfully manage an F1 team
f1ski
Posts: 726
slow track, slow car, still relatively slowest? This is what happens when privilege
supersedes performance. Failure
JuJuHound
Posts: 352
Fast George can make some miracles. Last year in qualies he outperformed Renailt and Racing Point with 16. place on the grid.
RogerF1
Posts: 501
Whatever may be thought of Williams / Clare Williams with her at the helm it is still a private, family firm. If she goes then so probably does the Williams team (in name at the very least) and with it the history. Like so many before, it’ll be gone forever.
Consider an analogy with the UK football premiership. Would you want the top 6 in their own little mini bubble without the rest of the league - no. So it is with F1 where lower ranking privateers bring passion, hope, enjoyment and dedication but for a lot less than €350 - €500M, not least also an entry point for new young talent. If they’re happy to continue then so should we be for them otherwise F1 will just turn into a manufacturers derby, even more so than it is now. As we all know, it’s a money game now and if Merc has kicked off on a Williams size budget would they be where they are now - No. In my opinion credit where credit is due for no sign of “a towel being chucked over the pit lane wall”. Keep trying Clare, keep the legacy alive.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I don't think she should go in part due to that, but I don't think she should retain her current position. Retain her as a spokes person, but allow someone of Brown's calibre to go in, preferably with a cash infusion, and revamp the team.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Thing is, I'm not convinced that is good news for ya, Claire. Hungary's GP differ a bit from a lot of the other tracks what you'll face this season, so it won't be optimal for ya to have a car welladapted for that venue.