2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

[Mr Brooksy]

The distance to Red Bull is looking pretty unassailable.

So according to Teds notebook, Paddy says Williams are going to focus on catching Red Bull... Wow, tall order. I appreciate looking ahead, but its another postcode!

But we will see.

[Schuttelberg]

The distance to Red Bull is looking pretty unassailable.

So according to Teds notebook, Paddy says Williams are going to focus on catching Red Bull... Wow, tall order. I appreciate looking ahead, but its another postcode!

But we will see.

As an old hack, it pains me to see Williams. Forget Red Bull, they'll struggle to keep Haas, FI, STR, Renault and by year end McHonda behind. Why? They have a very very weak driver pairing. Stroll is just not prepared enough to be in F1, not in this generation of cars anyway and Massa is known to slip away by season end. Apart from Renault, each of those teams have two solid drivers, capable of scoring points.

[Sevach]

Something is still going well.

[edu2703]

Paddy says Williams are going to focus on catching Red Bull...

LOL What kind of marijuana Paddy Lowe is smoking these days? With a limited budget there is no way to make Williams FW40 to get 1s faster to catch Red Bull.

Unless if Paddy Lowe and Dirk de Beer find a gigantic breach in the FIA technical regulation or if Williams launches a B-spec car in the middle of the season, which is very, very unlikely.

And even if that miracle happens (If the car performs similarly to Red Bull), Red Bull will still take advantage in the drivers pairing. Stroll still needs to learn to drive.

[aleks_ader]

Paddy says Williams are going to focus on catching Red Bull...

LOL What kind of marijuana Paddy Lowe is smoking these days? With a limited budget there is no way to make Williams FW40 to get 1s faster to catch Red Bull.

Unless if Paddy Lowe and Dirk de Beer find a gigantic breach in the FIA technical regulation or if Williams launches a B-spec car in the middle of the season, which is very, very unlikely.

And even if that miracle happens (If the car performs similarly to Red Bull), Red Bull will still take advantage in the drivers pairing. Stroll still needs to learn to drive.

On other hand that is only way to go forward. No matter how difficult seem to be. Williams will need to make break trought eventually. On long run correct mindset. And i m not saying that they will succeed but at least they could try to shake off the midfield teams.

Driver pairing is one of weakest one at the moment. And now we see how really crucial was to get Massa back. Spot on decision by management. Stroll needs to relax and we need to be patient. At last boy had decent youth career. And those cars are unforgiving so we need suppord the lad to find the car limits.

[Sevach]

Paddy says Williams are going to focus on catching Red Bull...

LOL What kind of marijuana Paddy Lowe is smoking these days? With a limited budget there is no way to make Williams FW40 to get 1s faster to catch Red Bull.

Unless if Paddy Lowe and Dirk de Beer find a gigantic breach in the FIA technical regulation or if Williams launches a B-spec car in the middle of the season, which is very, very unlikely.

And even if that miracle happens (If the car performs similarly to Red Bull), Red Bull will still take advantage in the drivers pairing. Stroll still needs to learn to drive.

He can't come forward and be a realist, he has to encourage the troops.

In a way this season was always gonna be a transition year, with Paddy and Dirk developing a car that wasn't conceived under them.

[adam812007]

Sorry guys but i think a lot of you are wrong with Stroll.....For his first race in F1 he started last in the grid and before he DNF he was thirteenth. And in my opinion if he didnt had the brake failure then he could finished in points.

[djos]

Sorry guys but i think a lot of you are wrong with Stroll.....For his first race in F1 he started last in the grid and before he DNF he was thirteenth. And in my opinion if he didnt had the brake failure then he could finished in points.

Agreed, he actually preformed very well and his off was caused by the brake failure which led to his retirement.

[Mr Brooksy]

Sorry guys but i think a lot of you are wrong with Stroll.....For his first race in F1 he started last in the grid and before he DNF he was thirteenth. And in my opinion if he didn't had the brake failure then he could finished in points.

I have no doubt he has good potential. After watching various onboards from last weekend it looks awfully like the car was driving him more often then not.
That can be attributed to many different things.
1. Not used to the physical nature of the new cars.
2. The track is bumpy and not a normal representation of a typical circuit he is used to.
3. The cars seem to react more to the bumps than over the recent past, if you watch a few F1 clips it seems that being smooth is a bit harder now.

Can he be a good driver, no doubt, but I personally can't shake the feeling that he has entered the sport a tad earlier than he is ready for. If of cause we were still under the previous gen cars, I'd have a very different view. Alas, it's not.

I honestly hope that he proves all us doubters wrong, and quickly!

I wonder when will Williams get some of the suspension tech that is buried in both De Beer and Lowe's heads... Hopefully not for next year.

[LookBackTime]

WILLIAMS PADDY LOWE: “IT WAS IMPORTANT TO KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THE THREE TEAMS AT THE FRONT”

Paddy Lowe was happy with the Williams Martini racing team's performance in Australia, and believes they have the potential for a strong campaign in 2017.

New Williams Martini Racing Chief Technical Officer Paddy Lowe was pleased to score some strong points at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, with driver Felipe Massa’s sixth place finish a bonus, after a disrupted race weekend for the Grove based squad.

“The first race is always very important and it’s great to get good points with sixth position for Felipe.”

Lowe praised the Brazilian’s efforts throughout the race, and stated that finishing best of the rest behind the top three teams was a great achievement, especially with all the missed tack time Massa endured during the weekend, an electrical issue curtailing his running in FP2, and brake problems hindering his performance in FP3.

“He had great pace the whole way through the race, and was very controlled with a strong start, good first corner and so managed to get ahead of Grosjean.

“His tyre management was also very good so we were able to do the one stop that we had planned all along.

“Probably even more important though, was to see solid pace that keeps us in touch with the three teams at the front.”

Lowe was also impressed with rookie driver Lance Stroll’s performance during his first ever F1 race, and has advised the team will be investigating what caused the 18-year-olds brakes to fail, ending his race early.

“It is a shame for Lance, who put in a good first drive with some overtakes in his first race in Formula One, so it is a shame that he then had to retire with a brake failure.

“Clearly that’s an issue we need to get on top for the races to come and make sure we don’t have a repeat.”

The Brit is impressed with his new team so far, and believes they have a strong car with which to fight this season.

“But, overall, congratulations to the team back in Grove who have built a great car to launch our 2017 campaign.”

http://www.thecheckeredflag.co.uk/2017/ ... ams-front/

[LookBackTime]

Iolande at Large: Williams - Fine racing and fine dining

https://www.motorsportweek.com/news/id/14164

[LookBackTime]

Massa column: Mercedes still quicker, but Ferrari can be champions

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mass ... ns-887781/
...
"Of course, the gap to the big teams is quite large and it is clear the change of regulations has helped those who have more financial resources. Red Bull has not yet shown its full potential, being half a second adrift of Mercedes and Ferrari, while our gap is double that."
...

[LookBackTime]

Massa: Stroll will improve in time

http://www.planetf1.com/news/massa-stro ... e-in-time/

[LookBackTime]

DHL Fastest Pit Stop: Australian Grand Prix 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3xP7kOLUtU&t=0s

[LookBackTime]

Williams "too far ahead" in F1 2017 midfield battle - Perez

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/will ... ez-888083/