F1 News - Williams' late start to testing 'embarrassing'
https://ift.tt/2ScrPUR Williams say it was "embarrassing" to miss two days of pre-season testing because their car was not ready. The Williams finally made it on to the track at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Wednesday - with a day and a half left of the four-day test. George Russell drove it, with Robert Kubica getting his chance on Friday. "It's not a situation that we anticipated, or that we ever wanted to find ourselves in," said deputy team principal Claire Williams. "We're not just disappointed. It's embarrassing not bringing a race car to a circuit when everyone else has managed to do that, particularly a team like ours that has managed to bring a race car to testing for the past 40-odd years." Williams said she wanted to apologise to the team's fans, but also to British driver Russell - who is making his debut this year - and team-mate Kubica. The Pole is returning to F1 after an eight-year absence following a 2011 rally crash that left him with partial movement in his right arm. Williams said the delays "became apparent quite late on" and, after initially hoping they could make the second day of the test, "parts just weren't coming through as we hoped they would". She refused to expand on why the problem had happened. The situation has raised questions within the team about the future of chief technical officer Paddy Lowe, who is ultimately responsible for all technical parts of the company. The team cancelled a media briefing that had been scheduled for Lowe, saying it would now not take place until next week's second test after the car had undertaken significant running. Williams ducked questions about Lowe, saying: "I've read a lot of speculation about his position. Right now all I am focused on - and the team should be focused on - is making sure the car is in the right place." Kubica is due to drive the car on Friday morning, before Russell runs again in the afternoon, and Williams is hopeful the team will be able to make up for lost time. "We've missed two days of testing, and that's not ideal," she said. "That's a lot of potential kilometres. But I don't think that we will actually know the full impact of having missed those days until probably a bit later on. "Clearly we're doing everything we can to condense the programme that we had, to make sure that we maximised the time available and we really focused our efforts and attention on the most important and critical areas to make sure the car is in the best shape possible for Australia." #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://bbc.in/OHg7x6 February 20, 2019 at 10:48AM Leave a Reply. |
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2/20/2019
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