Smedley: Finding a winning mentality

Si Williams had once appeared as an opposition force in 2014 against Mercedes, the British team has no longer found the same level since the return of Ferrari last year and to a certain extent Red Bull this season.

The results of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, despite the Finn's podium in Canada, remain below the expectations of Williams' management. " After the [wake up to] Canada, we expected much better, but you can't call it waking up, because we never fell asleep, told AUTOhebdo Rob Smedley, Head of Performance. We still haven't got the points we could have hoped for, but our pace is reasonable..."

This is at a higher level than the thinking heads at Williams hoped to see the two FW38s, powered by the Mercedes V6 turbo/hybrid Power Unit, a goal which still remains relevant according to Smedley.

“In Canada, we beat Red Bull because our car was better, and the upcoming trips to Spielberg and Silverstone should be in our favor. Our ambition is to get closer to Mercedes and Ferrari, teams with much greater resources.

It's the winning mentality that we are putting back in place within the team... You don't just need a car capable of winning to win, you also need a state of mind. We need to rediscover our winning mentality. »

In the two Austrian and British events in 2015, Felipe Massa took third place, the two Williams notably showing their advantage at the start of the Grand Prix at Silverstone, before the Mercedes W06s of Hamilton and Rosberg finally regained the advantage.

Find our full interview with Rob Smedley, as well as the report and analysis of the European Grand Prix in Baku, produced by our special correspondents in Azerbaijan, in issue 2068 of AUTOhebdo, available in digital version and on newsstands.