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Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams says that she has no expectations of Paul di Resta, as he prepares to compete in a Formula 1 weekend for the first time since 2013. After the third practice session, Williams announced that di Resta would be taking over Felipe Massa's duties after the Brazilian has been feeling very unwell.
"I think if we had to have anyone in our car, you're going to have total confidence with someone like Paul," Williams told Sky Sports. "He may not have driven in a Formula 1 race weekend for a couple of years, but he's been our reserve driver for two years and he sits in every single engineering briefing session. I have confidence, but it's going to take him some time in Q1."
"We knew coming into the weekend that it wasn't going to be the easiest track for us, and FP1 and FP2 proved that. Paul is going to have his work cut out this afternoon, so there's no expectation, the very fact that we've got a driver that can take part is all we can expect. If he can score points, that would be wonderful."
Williams went on to talk about Massa, stating that he is very upset over missing out on the rest of the weekend: "I think he's more upset than anything else," she said. "You imagine, you're so in tune to doing a race weekend, then at the very last minute to not be able to do it, he's genuinely upset.
"But he's made right choice, as safety for any of our drivers has to be priority, so we made the decision that he shouldn't take part in the rest of the weekend. After this he will seek some medical advice to make sure that he's fit for Spa."
Some have pointed out the fact that di Resta could have received time in the car in the final practice session, which Williams immediately defended: "We did everything we could have done yesterday to make sure that Felipe was in a position to take part in FP3.
"He was signed off by the FIA medical delegate and by the hospital that he spent a few hours at having tests yesterday, so we had expectations that it would be fine. It's the right thing to do as well, to give your driver that opportunity, rather than stand him down. Of course, it would have been great if Paul had some time in FP3 today, but what can you do? You can't plan for everything, can you?"
Fergal Walsh
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G. Zhou
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Wouldn't it be great to see him beat Stroll. Always an fantastic driver. Good luck to him.