Williams technical chief Paddy Lowe has defended the team’s decision to put Sergey Sirotkin into their 2018 car ahead of Robert Kubica.
The Russian got the nod for the seat having out-performed Kubica at the post-season test in Abu Dhabi in 2017, but the Grove-based outfit kept the Pole on a reserve and development driver.
Having to contend with a very difficult car last year, however, Sirotkin only scored a single point, which was earned after Romain Grosjean’s exclusion at Monza, and his sponsor SMP Racing withdrew their support leading to Kubica’s promotion for 2019.
“It’s never that easy to chose drivers on a technical basis,” Lowe said to Motorsport.com.
“If you look in the past, very often they weren’t picked on a technical basis, team principals just sort of put a finger in the air and decided they like the look of somebody and then gave them a job.
“So we went through a pretty careful process and from that picked Sergey. I believe that was the right choice, but within that process, I don’t think [Robert] was able to show his best,” the former Mercedes boss noted.
“And I think that’s been disappointing to him all year, but I think 12 months later we’ve been able to see, get to know him better and see what he can contribute and how he can perform.”
Also Read:
- Williams: Kubica a ‘proper driver’ but 2019 prospects unknown
- Sirotkin: 2019 Williams seat ‘looked quite obvious’ for a while
- Williams: Kubica decision about ‘choosing the best driver for us’
Now Kubica will get his first F1 opportunity since his near career-ending crash in 2011 but expectations are limited because of the scale of Williams’ problems last year.
“We are 100% committed to both George [Russell] and Robert,” Lowe reassured. “Once we become committed and they become 100% part of the programme we work with them, they work with the car, then you know, that plays out, and we see where it takes us.”