Paul Jeffrey
Premium
New Williams updates fail to make an impact in Austria, both cars struggling to remain in the fight for points.
Following a disappointing day on Friday, experienced Brazilian Felipe Massa claims the new updates brought by Williams haven't had the expected benefits in Austria, with the team number one claiming the car is "not good" after struggling to find form similar to that displayed by the team at Baku.
With Massa achieving a best result of 11th in FP1 then dropping to just 14th in the second session of the day, it has been a very difficult start to the weekend for a team hoping to make significant gains with a new update package for the two FW40's.
"It definitely wasn’t an easy Friday for us" said Massa following practice. "We were struggling with balance in the car, with some difference between high speed and low speed. I just wasn’t happy with the balance and there’s work to do to improve for tomorrow. I really hope our lap times are better and we can be more competitive in qualifying".
Furthermore, Canadian rookie team mate and last time out podium finisher Lance Stroll also found the going difficult in Austria, struggling to stay on the tail of the midfield throughout Friday following the fairly substantial update package brought to the Red Bull Ring.
"The field is very tight" said Stroll. "We are missing a bit so there are bits and pieces to work on overnight. We don't look as competitive as we were in Baku, for example, but that can change. It is such a short lap round here and a couple of tenths can get you quite a few places. We are going to work to try and solve it for tomorrow, as we are lacking a bit of grip everywhere and are just not able to push the car as hard at some of the others. I haven’t debriefed with the engineers yet, but I do think we have a good race car".
It wasn't all doom and gloom at Williams despite the poor results for both drivers, with Chief Technical Officer Paddy Lowe remaining optimistic about the prospects of an improved showing come qualifying and race day later in the weekend.
"We were carrying out tests across the garage on suspension and aerodynamics with some new parts that we brought this weekend. Both cars ran wide at Turn Nine in the morning session and suffered some damage unfortunately, but we were able to put that right for FP2. We’re doing more work with set-up in FP2 and we ended the day with a lot of good data, indicating the direction to take tomorrow. There is some analysis to do this evening but we hope to be in good shape tomorrow".
Williams headed into the Austrian Grand Prix weekend on a high following their first podium of the season last time out in Baku, and coupled with a sizeable update package from the team and on a track where Mercedes horsepower should play a big advantage, both cars struggling to remain close to a top ten positon in the times has come as quite a shock to the British team.
Both Massa and teammate Stroll tried out the new aerodynamic package during Free Practice One, with neither driver appearing happy with he car the team elected to return to the Baku specification car for the second session, which raises a fairly major red flag as to the effect of the changes brought to the circuit by the Grove based squad.
With several changes coming to the car, including new taller bargeboards, a Mercedes-esque chassis fin and sidepod-surrounding deflectors, it was expected that the team should be challenging right up at the sharp end of the field this weekend, making Fridays performance all the more disappointing for "everybody's favourite second team".
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Can Williams pick up the pace in Austria and challenge for strong points? Can the team win a race in this its 40th year? Let us know in the comments section below!
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