Consistency is the key word for Williams Technical Chief Paddy Lowe for the remainder of 2017 and beyond after what the Briton called a “disappointing” first half of the season.
The British team currently sits fifth in the Constructors’ Championship but a massive 60 points behind Force India in fourth. The main reason for that is while their main rivals from 2016 have had both drivers in the points at nine of the 11 races so far, Williams has only achieved that once with a ninth and 10th in Austria.
Following Lance Stroll’s podium in Baku, there has also been a recent slump in results caused by a lack of single lap pace as the team struggle to optimise updates brought in Spielberg.
“Definitely at the half-term report stage, we’re not looking as good as we’d like. We’re very disappointed, the car is quicker than that points table would reflect,” Lowe suggested.
“I think one of our biggest problems has been that we haven’t been scoring the points we should have done at the track with our speed of car. That’s for a number of different reasons.
“On top of that, we’ve seen a lot of variation from circuit to circuit. There are places that we significantly underperform and we really need to have a car that will perform more equally at different destinations, so that’s a big focus for next year.”
That variation is proving to be the biggest hurdle for Williams’ competitiveness as they have become increasingly dependent on their performance at power circuits such as Baku and Canada and the upcoming venues of Spa and Monza after the summer break to score their best results.
Now it is almost a given that at twisty tracks such as Monaco, Hungary and Singapore they won’t be in the top 10 and it is that broadening of the strengths of their car that has helped Force India become the team they are today, leading the midfield.
Should there not be an improvement at their weaker circuits, it could leave Williams exposed to particularly Toro Rosso and also Haas and Renault who all sit within 15 points in the Teams’ standings with nine races to go.
