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Kubica: Williams should have listened to the drivers

Published on 11 Dec 2018 14:39
4
By: Fergal Walsh

Williams' 2019 driver Robert Kubica says that the team should have listened to its drivers early on in the 2018 season to avoid ending up where it did. Williams concluded the year at the bottom of the standngs, picking up just seven points.

Kubica spent the year as its reserve and development driver, while Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin handled racing duties. The team had issues with its aerodynamic package, which led to the departure of a couple of key figures at the team.

But ahead of his full-time come-back, Kubica believes that the team should have taken on more driver feedback in 2018: “We really thought we had a good car according to data from the simulator and the various departments,” Kubica told Auto Motor und Sport.

“Maybe they should have listened to the drivers and reacted faster. I don’t build the car but sometimes the driver becomes aware of a problem earlier than the best engineer in the world.

“At the beginning of the season we still had correlation problems. In the end these deviations between tools and reality led to the misjudgment with the car. Nevertheless, we made good progress in the second half of the season, especially in the simulator.”

Kubica added that the team kept discovering more issues, and failed to recover and keep up in the development race, causing it to plummet further down the pecking order: "We improved the car, but in the course of the development work we also discovered some other weak spots that had nothing to do with the lap times.

"From our position, it was really difficult to close the gap," he added. The others also continued to develop. Sauber were behind us at the start of the season but they had an incredible pace of development, eventually making it into the midfield.”

F1 News Sergey Sirotkin Lance Stroll Robert Kubica James Key Carlos Pace Paddy Driver Sauber Williams

Replies (4)

ajpennypacker

Posts: 2,475
There is A LOT Williams should have done. As much as I derided their drivers, I think that they were victims to an extent of Claire's catastrophic mismanagement of the team. She really needs to vacate her role. Team managers get fired for so much less than what she has done.

Anyway,I think it would be best for Robert to keep this comments to himself until he re-establishes his reputation in F1. Because (1) Williams will continue to be an embarrassment, and (2) they will continue to prioritize cash over performance of a driver. So Robert probably needs to think of this as his one chance to impress and make it to another team.
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- Dec 11 2018 - 21:13
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  Absolutely, the car was abysmal. Williams were the only team to actually lose pace between 2017 and 2018, if memory serves, which is amazing in itself, but not the kinda achievements they were looking for I guess.
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  Dec 12 2018 - 17:17
Rindtchamp

Posts: 304
I can put all of Willams problems in two words. 'Claire Williams'
Until she goes, the team will sufffer or collapse.
(I've nothing against her personally but she's just not capable of running the team and is only there because of nepotism)
- + 0
- Dec 12 2018 - 15:23
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  Yeah, she seem like a pleasant person, yet she isnt good for Williams right now. They are currently merely surviving. Williams need a Vasseur that steps in and makes Williams "git gud", as we Dark Souls players tend to say.
  + 0
  
  Dec 12 2018 - 17:18