Williams Martini Racing chief technical officer Paddy Lowe was happy to have both cars finish the British Grand Prix but conceded it was not in positions that the team were hoping for.
Lance Stroll finished twelfth after Pierre Gasly’s penalty with Sergey Sirotkin fourteenth.
After problems in qualifying, both Williams cars started from the pitlane which Lowe admitted was a new experience for the team.
“It was not a great situation to arrive at the British GP on race day with two cars starting from the pitlane.
“There are not many of us in the team that have started with one car in the pitlane, let alone two, so it was a new experience and involved some special logistics of its own, particularly to time the preparation of the launch.”
Williams split strategies with their two drivers as Sirotkin started on soft and Stroll went with the medium tyres and to begin with, the race went to plan for the Grove outfit.
“Both cars got away cleanly, emerging into the racing pack and settled down into a race which ran exactly according to the plan that we had set – Sergey on the shorter stint on the soft tyre, and Lance on a longer stint on the medium tyre.”
The safety car interrupted the strategy but overall, Lowe felt the team did a good job to get both cars to the finish but was disappointed not to have them finish in the points.
“The plan was interrupted by the two safety cars but we chose to remain on plan so that the two cars could race each other according to their different strategies.
“During the second safety car, we gave Sergey the option to take another tyre set as he was complaining of tyre vibration but he chose to stay in the fight with Lance, however he ultimately lost the position in the restart.
“It was a good job by the team and the drivers to get two cars home, but once again, not in the positions that we would like.
