Expectations measured at Williams for the end of the turnaround program

Unstable and restive, the FW41 has hardly shone so far and it took a somewhat crazy race in Baku for the British team to score points thanks to 8th place in Stroll in Azerbaijan, the only ones in a very complicated first part of the season.

From the winter tests, Williams knew that his 2018 mount was not going to panic the clock and quickly launched a set of measures aimed at correcting the situation by making improvements between now and the summer break.

Asked about their expectations for this Hockenheim meeting, the final stage of the process, Sir Frank's two drivers were not very talkative.

« We have more reason to be positive this weekend with the introduction of bigger developments than at Silverstone, Sirotkin said. These are the parts from our recovery program, implemented from Bahrain. They're meant to improve the overall package and fix the fundamental issues we had with the car. The front wing has been modified in particular but the changes are located almost everywhere around the car.

These new features do not necessarily offer us more aerodynamic load, nor even any gain in lap time on paper.. Above all, we hope that the developments give rise to a more stable base on which we can add other elements which will aim to generate more support. The improvements must inspire confidence not only in the drivers but also in the engineers. We have to be able to say to ourselves: ‘if it does that, then the performance on the track will be like this’. And it is with this confidence that we will be able to unlock more competitiveness with new parts. ».

« I was told the same thing, continued his teammate Lance Stroll in a rather astonishing formulation. It’s a very important weekend for the team and we hope to record positive results with the arrival of the new parts. That said, I don't want to jump to conclusions before even having the car in hand.. We'll see what the driving sensations are like during the first free practice sessions. ».

Words that do not really exude confidence, precisely.