Robert Kubica admits Williams’ focus is on being ready for next week’s second test after completing a first full day of running.
The British team finally got the FW42 to the track on Wednesday in Barcelona, with teammate George Russell conducting essentially a shakedown in the afternoon.
Then the returning former Grand Prix winner completed a series of aero runs at a slow pace before finally setting a somewhat representative lap time on Thursday morning.
“Definitely we cannot talk [as though] I did prepare something for Australia,” he commented. “I’m in the same situation as I was one month ago, three months ago.
“So this week it was more about getting something done for the team which was a big challenge to bring the car first and now we are here it’s more about preparing the car for next week.
“I got the opportunity for 12 laps to get a feel for the car, which is of course limiting,” he admitted, referring to those done at an increased speed. “At least we achieved all sorts of stuff – not all, it wasn’t an easy morning.
“It doesn’t feel like day four of testing. It felt like day one.”
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Teammate George Russell is remaining upbeat, however, looking to the past to point out why 2019 shouldn’t be considered a write-off just yet.
“We’ve seen it before, Force India missed the whole of 2015 testing and they still finished fifth in the championship,” he noted.
“Obviously, the whole team is a bit frustrated and disappointed at how things turned out this week, but we still need to stay positive. It’s not the end of the world.
“We score points in the races, not in the testing, so we just need to keep our heads held high and make the most of the situation,” the F2 champion continued.
“We’re all excited to get back out on track on Tuesday, but first we have a lot of work to do make sure the car is in the best possible state with no issues, and [so that] we can do the laps because we have some catching up to do.”
Williams has received a small boost with permission to conduct a 100km filming day in Barcelona, which will give them another 20 or so laps of running before next week.