Sergey Sirotkin was the leading Williams Martini Racing driver during Qualifying at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday afternoon, but setting the eighteenth fastest time was not what he was hoping for in what has been a tough weekend for the team.
Sirotkin managed to out-qualify team-mate Lance Stroll for the Spanish Grand Prix, but the Russian will fall behind the Canadian thanks to his penalty carried over from his first lap contact during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Williams has been the slowest team throughout the weekend, and even with the penalty, he knew he was going to be at the back of the grid ahead of Qualifying.
“It’s been a tough weekend,” said Sirotkin. “We know it’s not the best track for us, and it doesn’t hide our weaknesses, but it’s definitely more difficult than we expected.
“Missing FP1 made it more complicated for me and our three-place grid penalty doesn’t help, but it won’t make a big difference for us. We have been doing quite a good job to recover the situation since Bahrain, and we have made some improvements.”
Sirotkin insists everyone within the Williams team is doing everything they can to improve and he is determined not to be negative, although he acknowledges it is just not their weekend in Spain.
“Today is not our day, nor is it our weekend, but I don’t want to be too negative,” said the Russian. “I don’t want to break the positive trend in the team just because of one weekend. It’s tough but what can we do.
“Believe me, everyone is working and applying the maximum pressure. It is how it is, we are going flat out to improve things.”
