Williams Racing go into the Austrian double header back in ninth place in the constructors standings, after George Russell’s excellent twelfth place at the French Grand Prix saw the team move back ahead of the Uralkali Haas F1 Team outfit.
Williams’ Head of Vehicle Performance, Dave Robson, is hoping the cars performance this weekend will benefit from improvements made in France, at a venue notorious for unpredictable weather!
“The Red Bull Ring is a superb test of the Formula 1 car, demanding power, aerodynamic efficiency and good braking. The location of the circuit in the Styrian Mountains makes for a dramatic visual setting but also places some heavy demands on the car.
“The big elevation changes and high altitude have a big impact on the cars’ performance. The track surface and the heavily handed nature of the circuit place additional demands on the tyres.
“For the Grand Prix of Styria, which is the first of two back-to-back races here in Zeltweg, Pirelli bring the traditional compound allocation for this circuit of C2, C3 & C4. This is the middle of the Pirelli range and is the same as we used last weekend in France, and they should offer a good solid set of compounds for this event.
“For the subsequent Grand Prix of Austria, we switch to the softer combination of C3, C4 & C5, which are the compounds that we had in Monaco and Baku.
“We made some improvements to the FW43B in France and this weekend we will be looking to consolidate those gains and to confirm the performance uplift in slightly different conditions.
“The weather conditions can be quite mixed here in Austria, even in late June and so we will be prepared for blisteringly hot sunshine and heavy rain! Both drivers are familiar with the circuit and enjoy being here. As a team we are looking forward to two weeks of racing at this fantastic circuit.”
The second race in Austria will see Williams run Roy Nissany again in place of Russell in the opening free practice session, and Robson is keen to see the Israeli driver on track at the Red Bull Ring.
“For the Austrian Grand Prix we will have Roy in the car again and following another successful outing in France, we are keen to see him in action at the Red Bull Ring. Over the course of the two weekends we will be able to explore more of the setup options than normal and we will be looking to Roy to assist us with this important work.“
