Williams Racing drivers George Russell and Robert Kubica will once again prop up the rest of the grid after another disappointing qualifying session.
In what is becoming an unwanted streak, the two Williams drivers qualified nineteenth and twentieth in Barcelona. They’ve occupied those lowly positions on the grid all season and the team are struggling to chase the rest of the pack.
And, it went from bad to worse for Russell as his spin at the end of Free Practice 3 saw him punished with a five-place grid penalty as his team were forced to change his gearbox.
Despite his frustrating start to the season, which continued in Spain, Russell remained in good spirits. He appeared positive and upbeat after the qualifying session and thought he did the best he could with the car.
“It was a good session, considering the circumstances in FP3,” said Russell. “Thanks to the mechanics for their hard work getting the car ready after my error in practice.
“However, I was really pleased with my last effort in qualifying and I felt I got the most out of the car.”
Although rookie Russell remained positive, on the other side of the garage Kubica seemed downbeat about his performance.
He set his fastest time of the session on his second run during Q1 and set a 1:20:254 but he was more than a second behind his team-mate.
And his frustration was clear as he explained he felt the changes the team were doing to the car weren’t delivering as they should on the circuit.
“I started the weekend with a positive feeling in FP1, but this disappeared session by session,” revealed Kubica.
“We kept reducing front-wing and aero balance which should have given us some understeer, but we were still struggling with oversteer, especially on the last run when the track was getting better.
“The changes that we are making are not giving us the results, so it is a bit confusing.”
