Rob Smedley felt qualifying eleventh and twelfth for the Japanese Grand Prix was not what was expected for the Williams Martini Racing team, but felt it was what they deserved based on the pace seen during the qualifying session on Saturday.
The Head of Performance Engineering of the Grove-based team felt that with both Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa equally matched during the session that their grid positions were where they should be, feeling both drivers got the maximum out of their FW38’s.
Smedley feels the team can move forward and into the points on Sunday, believing they have a good set-up for any conditions that may arise.
“It’s disappointing to be eleventh and twelfth and not make it through to Q3,” said Smedley. “However, what we can see is that our drivers are evenly matched and we’ve got most of what we could have out of today. The car just wasn’t quick enough.
“It’s going to be more about the race around here and we can definitely have a good strategy from where we are. We’ve got the car set up with a good compromise for all conditions, so whatever the weather brings we will be prepared.
“We’ve got to look forward now and get as many points as we can tomorrow.”
