Williams Martini Racing Chief Technical Officer Paddy Lowe, believes that the FW40 had performance in reserve, but they were just unable to unlock it at this weekend’s British Grand Prix.
The Grove based squad decided to go with an alternative strategy to most teams, by bolting on the soft compound tyre for their first stint, in the hope of creating themselves a bit of an advantage later on. However, as is often the case come race day in F1, the tyres did not work quite as expected.
Having believed that those around them would need to pit earlier on the super-soft compound, as tyre degradation would be high compared to the harder option, they found that was not the case, and struggled for performance in the closing stages, despite being on the softer tyre.
“We had planned to do a one-stop, starting on the soft tyre. From 14th and 15th that looked like the best way to try to gain some places.
“The race went reasonably to plan, the only issue was that the super-soft didn’t degrade in the way we had hoped for those around us in the first stint, as then we would have had an advantage in the closing stages.
“Felipe was able to challenge the two Force India’s at the end, but couldn’t overtake.
“Lance drove a good, solid race, but he suffered some bodywork damage, at which point he was losing too much lap time and was degrading the rear tyres. We pitted for another set, but it was a struggle to the finish.”
Lowe was disappointed to come away with just one point on home soil at Silverstone, but believes the car was quick and is confident they will be stronger at the next round in Hungary.
“Overall, it’s a disappointing result at our home race. The car was quicker than our result would indicate. We need to learn from this experience and be better next time.”
