“Slow” and“difficult” Williams at crisis point
Ex-racer alex wurz says an aero dynamic flaw is costing the british team big
Williams is facing an aerodynamic “crisis” according to team advisor Alex Wurz after its upgraded car was labelled as “slow” and “embarrassing” by its drivers across the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.
The Grove team endured a dire weekend in Barcelona, with both of its cars off the pace. During practice, both Williams were rooted to the bottom of the order, and Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin also locked out the back row of the grid in qualifying.
While Stroll managed to take the chequered flag in 11th place, he was lapped twice, with Sirotkin three tours down in 14th as the last classified finisher.
Robert Kubica made his first appearance of the year to handle the FW41 in practice on Friday, and didn’t hold back on his criticism of the chassis.
Kubica said: “It’s got a difficult balance. It was a bit of a shock for me. It is difficult to be comfortable in such a difficult balanced car. I felt embarrassed when I was driving inside the car because it was so difficult and I felt so slow in some places. But we couldn’t do more.”
Stroll added: “The car is pretty slow. I would agree with Robert [Kubica]. It’s definitely not the balance a racing driver wants to feel. But we are where we are. We have got to understand what to do so we can get better. We’re struggling a bit everywhere.”
Sirotkin added: “It’s tricky to drive. Mentally, it makes you concentrate on every single thing. It takes a lot of energy from you just to drive it.”
Williams is one of just two teams to have not made a Q3 appearance so far this year – the only other being Sauber. The team brought a raft of upgrades to Spain hoping for a boost, but appears to have taken a step backwards.
EX-F1 driver Wurz, who advises the British team, told Austria’s national broadcaster ORF that the car had a fundamental aerodynamic flaw that was holding it back.
“We lose downforce at the diffuser, at the floor,” he said. “We had this problem a little last year, but it was only annoying. Now it’s basically a stall. We lose so much grip, and then the driver has no confidence in the car at all. That’s our problem. Identifying the problem is only 10 per cent. To correct and implement this is in fact the difficult task. It must be a mistake somewhere in the software and in the simulation.
“But it is very good for the team that we are extremely aware of this, that the lap times are falling so catastrophically that everyone is pulling in the same direction. This crisis is an opportunity for us all to get to the same denominator and to have a culture in the team for us all to be open with each other so that we can move forward. This is a chance for the team to build a healthy foundation.”
Williams is last in the Constructors’ Championship, having scored just four points.
The team came in for criticism over the winter for its decision to field two well-funded rookie drivers this term and shun Kubica for a race seat. Fans unveiled banners in support of the Pole in Barcelona ( above).