Dave Robson, Williams’ head of vehicle performance, spoke to the media in Bahrain about the progress the team has made, and the expectations going into the season.
Photo credits: Williams Racing
“Our assessment [after testing] was probably similar to everyone else—that we were towards the back. Which, I think, we potentially still are, as we go to other circuits.”
Newcomer Logan Sargeant failed to progress to Q2 after setting an identical lap time to Lando Norris as, according to the rules, the driver who sets the time first is given precedence. Alex Albon advanced to Q2, but was unfortunately forced to abandon his flying lap due to an issue with his front wing. Robson stated that he felt Albon “had a shot at Q3” and that he “could’ve been several places further up” had it not been for the technical issues.
He pointed out that the team felt “pretty good” about their first qualifying session of the season, despite the problems.
“I think [the car] certainly improved since last year, undoubtedly. The car is better, for sure. I don’t think it’s quite as big a step as we were hoping it would be, but it is more usable.”
“To see the pace and potential was there is good.”
Indeed, the car showed promise, and in the race on Sunday the drivers fought back to finish P10 and P12, with Albon bagging the first point for Williams this season.
Robson also spoke about wind-sensitivity, an issue that had plagued the FW44 last year, making it a tricky car to drive. “It’s difficult to know after one session, […] I think there’s probably still a slightly stronger correlation between our relative performance and the wind we measure than we would like. I think it is better but it’s still something we’d like to improve.”
Asked if he agrees with the notion that floor tweaks made this year’s cars more wind-sensitive in general, Robson replied: “No, I don’t think it’s worse for us than last year. I think it’s probably a bit better.
“On the whole, things don’t seem too different [performance-wise] to last year. I think we’re quite quick in a straight line, even when we run quite a big rear wing. The sensitivity seems fairly similar to last year—better, but still probably not as good as we would like. So, I think, at the moment, things do look quite similar to last year.”
