ROKiT Williams Racing will miss the first day of Formula 1 pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya next week.
The team had already cancelled the shakedown it had scheduled for Saturday to focus on making testing, but have made the decision to not partake in the first day, with the other nine teams set to run.
Deputy team principal Claire Williams said: “Unfortunately, we have had to delay the start of our pre-season Barcelona test to Tuesday morning.
“We have had an incredibly busy winter at Grove getting the FW42 prepared for the season ahead and, despite everyone’s best efforts, we need some more time before it will be ready to run.”
Credit: ROKiT Williams Racing
Williams had a tough 2018 as it finished bottom of the Constructors’ standings with just seven points, but the British team have a brand new driver line-up in rookie George Russell and the returning Robert Kubica to take on the 2019 season.
“Our absolute priority is to always ensure we bring a car to the track that is the best that it can be and sometimes that takes longer than you’d anticipate or like,” Williams added.
“It’s clearly not ideal, but equally it’s not the end of the world.
“We will obviously have our work cut out to recover the time lost but we still have seven days of testing left and we will be maximising that time to prepare the car for the first race.
Williams has not yet revealed its testing schedule and which driver will start the test on Tuesday.
