Williams is again warning Mercedes they will not budge over the future of George Russell.
Last week, deputy boss Claire Williams insisted there had been no thought of the current Formula 2 champion leaving the team at the end of this season, despite their poor performance.
Indeed, Williams has indicated that the Briton is the driver that they hope can lead their recovery back into midfield contention.
“I told [Mercedes boss] Toto [Wolff] that George is on a three-year contract with us, he is firmly in our plans for the future and is going nowhere,” she said via the Daily Mail last week.
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However, as a Mercedes junior driver, it is upto Wolff to decide what he considers the best for Russell, and he suggested that a future promotion may not be too far away.
“We’re very happy with the development of Esteban [Ocon] and equally George,” he said at Hockenheim.
“They are our most senior junior drivers and the aim is to make them ready for a seat in a Mercedes.”
For his part, Russell has also indicated that, if the chance came to replace Valtteri Bottas, he would take it immediately.
And he wasn’t too pleased with Williams after finishing behind teammate Robert Kubica in Germany and missing out on his first F1 point.
“The car felt really poor in all conditions,” he said. “The worst thing was we had the opportunity to go onto slicks under the last Safety Car when I was ahead of Lance [Stroll].
“I wanted to pit, but I probably wasn’t forceful enough to tell the team to pit for slicks. For some reason, we decided to stay out and next thing, we’re pitting one lap later and Lance is up to P2.
“So it could have been so much more.”