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Felipe Massa has acknowledged that Williams has fallen behind the top three teams in 2016. The independent British team finished third overall in both 2014 and 2015, the other two seasons in the new 'power unit' era.
But after the third race of this year, in China, Brazilian driver Massa admitted: "I think now there are three teams that are faster than us." He is referring to reigning champions and engine suppliers Mercedes, 2016 title challenger Ferrari, and the resurgent Renault-powered Red Bull team.
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"Three teams are in good shape, better than us," Massa is quoted by Brazil's Globo. "We can get a little closer - depending on the track - to Red Bull in qualifying. But we know that in the race they have a much stronger car," he added.
Massa finished sixth in Shanghai. "I finished in the best position I could," he said. "We really need to understand where the other cars are better than ours. We know it will not be easy, but we will continue to fight and to work." (GMM)
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C. Sainz jr
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Replies (7)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Thats too bad. They talked so much about their new car being revolutionary, yet I dont see it do very well. I really hope they'll upgrade it soon, I really want them to beat Red Bull.
Vet5
Posts: 225
Williams have a very small budget compared to the likes of Merc, Ferrari and RedBull so ofcourse in due time they will start to lose, they done well in 2014/2015 due to the power unit alone, now that Renault are progressing it will start hurting them in the championship. Time to invest more money Frank!
mclarenfan1968
Posts: 1,027
Frank apparently has very little to invest. He might go bankrupt trying it.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
They should have changed their drivers, Massa is overrated, Bottas wanted to leave for Ferrari. Williams need a big name driver to pull in some more sponsors, maybe Rosberg/Alonso/Button next year? Paired with a younger driver who is keen.
And you are correct their budget will always be under stress, such is formula 1 this has always been the case. Ploughing more money into a 2016 car seems not very productive.
I like williams however it seems that they have not been aggressive with their choice of drivers, they really need an factory engine supplier like mcLaren did.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Well, Rosberg do have ties with them since earlier, but I dont see Mercedes ditching him in a nearby future. Maybe Wehrlein could be a nice addition to the team? I could see either Alonso or Button in the team, that would make room for Vandoorne, and I'd like that.
Barron
Posts: 625
I think Massa/Bottas is as good as they can get right now...
khasmir
Posts: 893
Williams has always performed well with a more limited budget and being the 4th fastest team is not bad at all considering their budget.
Red Bull are definitely one of the surprises at the beginning of the season. They are very close to Ferrari and can probably even beat Merc on certain tracks. Williams will have to work very hard to keep up with them.
And lets not forget Toro Rosso, but the lack of PU development will probably hurt them in the second half of the season.