Autosportfoto

Claire Williams: F1 team is not in 'crisis' after testing delays

Claire Williams says her Formula 1 team is not in "crisis mode" after a delayed start to pre-season testing, but says changes will be made to prevent a repeat occurrence.

Williams missed two-and-a-half days of testing before George Russell gave the FW42 its first laps on Wednesday.

The team endured a torrid 2018 and is hoping its late start will not cost it on the road to recovery.

But Williams says that a deep analysis will need to take place to ensure the team is "fit for purpose" in the future.

"I would say now we have the car on track, we're back on track," said Williams.

"We've still got work to do. But we always said this was going to be a long road.

"We said putting this team back together was going to take time and take work.

"I think probably we got to car build and we had to go through that process as much as we went through last season, and that process clearly isn't right at Williams either.

"We haven't nailed that yet and we need to do some work to make sure it is fit for purpose going into 2020. But it takes time.

"It's not crisis mode. We've got a journey we're on and we've got to make sure everything is fit for purpose: so we don't make these mistakes in the future, we produce a better race car and we have more success on the race track."

 
Although the car delays have cast doubt on the future of Paddy Lowe, Williams is not blaming individuals for its delayed start to 2019.

Asked how the team had found itself in its current situation, Williams said: "There are a lot of elements to that, but I don't think it's appropriate for me to air our dirty laundry in public.

"It's not right to do that for the people who are working so hard at Grove.

"We've just got it wrong. And we've got to fix that.

"Hopefully you'll see a much more successful Williams in the coming years."

Zdroj: autosport.com