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Williams' Technical Director Paddy Lowe has spoken of his disappointment in the team's season so far, as it sits fifth in the Constructors' Championship a whopping 60 points behind fourth-placed Force India.
It is also facing a challenge from behind as Toro Rosso continues to close in on the top five - the Italian squad is just two points behind, meaning that Williams must try to up its game in the coming races. Taking the time to review its 2017 performance so far, Lowe said: "Definitely at the half-term report stage we're not looking as good as we'd like.
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"We're very disappointed. The car is quicker than that points table would reflect. We've seen a lot of variation from circuit to circuit. There are places that we significantly underperform. We really need to have a car that will perform more equally at different destinations. That's a big focus for next year.
"Some of those things we understand, some of them we don't. So there's a lot of work to do. But we're very much hoping we can have a better second half of the season and put some of that right."
Williams' quest for better performance means that it will soon start to focus increasingly on its 2018 car. Despite this, however, Lowe has confirmed that upgrades on the current FW40 will not be completely abandoned: "It's always a bit of a merge, really. You gradually put more and more focus onto the following year."
How the team approaches the process will depend on the elements it decides to continue developing for next season and those it will disregard after 2017. Their fates are determined on an individual basis. "You may reach a point where you say you're not going to invest the effort in those within the current season," Lowe added. "It's a case by case basis rather than having some sort of overall black and white decision."
Mason Hawker
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (3)
Login to replyboudy
Posts: 1,168
Again .... swop your lineup. It doesn't matter how much you spend without an competative lineup you will end lower down. Look at force india, better lineup more points. Is that FI really that much better than the Williams? The issue for williams is attracting the right driver .. would have thought that Button would do a better job than Massa. Stroll is still learning at needs to learn much more.
Barron
Posts: 625
I think the car is a dog because I'm sure Massa could have dragged it up the field on one of his good days if it wasn't. Paddy Lowe worries me though, if he was any good Merc wouldn't have let him go & the the last car he designed at McLaren was a slouch too. I guess we'll find out in 2018 just how good he is..(or isn't).
boudy
Posts: 1,168
I think that the competitive issue is mostly driver related. No way that the FI is a better car. Paddy is excellent and Merc did not want to lose him. His role is not to design the car per se. Keeping the same lineup is a bad choice there will next to none driver improvements from massa and limited improvements from stroll; he doesn't seem to be an massive talent.