Paul Jeffrey
Premium
As Williams woes continue in Bahrain, Robert Kubica adds further mystery to their performance as he believes he's driving a "completely different car" to George Russell.
Despite admitting that both Mercedes powered FW42 cars are near identical in both spec and baseline setup, Robert Kubica has admitted that the telemetry gathered by the team suggests the Polish drivers car is displaying characteristics that vary significantly from the sister machine - leaving Kubica with a near impossible task to drive the car heading into Saturday of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
"At least we understood that in Australia I ran a different set-up than George and we could clearly see the different characteristics in the cars," Kubica told reporters on Friday.
"Here we started with the same set-up and the characteristic is still different. "I thought in Australia that it was maybe caused by some damages to the floor, and maybe a different set-up, but at least after the first session here we got an answer.
"It's clear that we are driving two different cars with the same set-up, so that is something we need to understand. It's quite obvious on the data. So now we need to try and find the reason."
"It's clear that we are driving two different cars with the same set-up, so that is something we need to understand. It's quite obvious on the data. So now we need to try and find the reason."
Sadly for Williams and Kubica, despite being what feels like a completely different car, the results remain the same - firmly planted at the foot of the timing screens with little in the way of encouragement displayed by either driver.
Kubica then went on to explain that the issues found with his car are making life extra difficult in the cockpit, with the team finding it hard to understand how to unlock extra lap time without making the driving characteristics of the car too difficult for Kubica to push to the limit.
"It's looking strange, to be honest, and it's putting me in a very difficult position to drive the car. Additionally, if I try to follow it up with some balance shift I have to reduce a lot the grip, and the potential of the car.
"Neither way is good. I make it more drivable, I am slow. I make it let's say as it should be and it's undriveable. It's a very, very difficult situation. "I just hope that we will be able to solve it and if we are able to solve it will probably be the first time I am driving the car with better potential".
"It's matching my feelings, and it's clearly visible on the data. There has to be a reason, nothing happens without a reason, so we just have to have a deep think".
Despite once again propping up the timesheets in Bahrain, Williams can at least take heart from the fact that the gap to the rest of the field appears to have reduced slightly, with George Russell managing a best time on Friday eight tenths adrift of next slowest man Antonio Giovinazzi in the Alfa Romeo."Neither way is good. I make it more drivable, I am slow. I make it let's say as it should be and it's undriveable. It's a very, very difficult situation. "I just hope that we will be able to solve it and if we are able to solve it will probably be the first time I am driving the car with better potential".
"It's matching my feelings, and it's clearly visible on the data. There has to be a reason, nothing happens without a reason, so we just have to have a deep think".
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Best-case scenario: he beats his team mate...
