2018 Williams F1 Racing - Mercedes

[Vanja #66]

We have three cars on the grid with big conceptual changes from last season - Haas, Sauber and Williams. Haas made big changes but smaller than Sauber. Sauber made smaller changes than Williams. Haas is better than last year, Sauber about the same, Williams is worse (for now). The team has changed too many things for them to handle, biting more than they can chew. They'll turn it around this year, but it will be painful for some time.

[netoperek]

I guess Stroll's father forced them into some contract small letters that somehow prevents RK's showing in free practices. Maybe he can be used on an official event only if one of the drivers are unable to drive...or something similar. Benefits of having pay drivers....

Robert had to negotiate FP time in his contract and from what I remember he only managed to get 3 guaranteed FP sessions. Closest being Barcelona. There are rumors that Paddy was the one on Robert's side with this, as he wanted him in a car as much as possible, with Claire being opposite or rather SS and LS money that they would have to give up for each session given.

[netoperek]

We have three cars on the grid with big conceptual changes from last season - Haas, Sauber and Williams. Haas made big changes but smaller than Sauber. Sauber made smaller changes than Williams. Haas is better than last year, Sauber about the same, Williams is worse (for now). The team has changed too many things for them to handle, biting more than they can chew. They'll turn it around this year, but it will be painful for some time.

My thoughts exactly. I wonder though how they will respond now - one option - uncomplicate the car - take back major changes one after another or the opposite - stick to the plan, try to understand and fix the whole package?
My armchair expert wild guess estimate - first one could be a fight for 7th - 8th place, 6th at most in a long run but could be a safer bet, the other one being an all or nothing with anything between 4th - 10th possible depending on how fast and well the car hits its potential.
I'm hoping for second option, but I'd rather bet on first one.

[bill shoe]

Qualifying Notes
Sergey Sirotkin qualified 16th and Lance Stroll 18th for the Chinese Grand Prix
Both Sergey and Lance qualified on the ultrasoft Pirelli tyre
Both drivers improved lap-by-lap with their first runs initially placing Sergey and Lance seventh and ninth respectively
A flurry of late improvements from other cars knocked both drivers down the order
Both cars pitted for fresh tyres, and despite Sergey’s second and final run initially promoted him to P11, he was eventually demoted to P16 and missed out on Q2 by 0.05 seconds

Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: The team has done some great work so far this weekend to find a few improvements on the car relative to where we were in Bahrain. Therefore, there’s some disappointment that we didn’t manage to get at least one car into Q2, which had looked to be a possibility having seen the performance from FP3. However, it was a great job by both drivers in quite tricky conditions to get good laps. We now focus on the race tomorrow when conditions will be very different.

Sergey Sirotkin: We were very close to Q2 and we have improved from Bahrain. I think we have continued to work well and we’ve done some good work through the weekend. We went P10 this morning, which is extraordinary given our shape at the moment. Even the first lap in Q1 was really decent. I don’t think we maximised the second lap, and we can find more time there. Maybe not as much time as others, because I think our first run was better than most of them, but still I believe we could have got a little more which would allow us to jump into Q2. I’m sorry about this, but at the same time we’re moving forward step by step.

Lance Stroll: It was tricky with both cars out in Q1. To be honest I am not happy with the result of Q1. But we were really struggling all weekend, and I spun yesterday so never got a baseline. We were trying so many different set-ups in FP1 because of the struggles coming out of Bahrain. I didn't actually put everything together in qualifying, but I am really happy to get a bit closer. It is not as good as it was in Australia, but maybe a bit better than Bahrain, however, tomorrow is another day and anything is possible.

[pgj]

It is forecast to be hot for the race. Let's hope it doesn't wipe out the progress that we have made.

[bill shoe]

Race Notes
Lance Stroll finished 14th and Sergey Sirotkin 15th in the Chinese Grand Prix
Both cars started on the soft Pirelli tyre, with Lance starting 18th and Sergey 16th
Both cars made good starts, making up multiple positions to end the opening lap with Lance moving up to 12th and Sergey 15th
Lance made his only pitstop of the race on lap 23 for the medium tyre
Sergey pitted for the medium tyre on lap 28, and then changed to a two-stop strategy under the safety car, by pitting for the soft tyre on lap 33

Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: Although these aren’t great results, and certainly not in the points, compared to where we were in Bahrain it’s fantastic get two cars to the finish in 14th and 15th. We were certainly in the race today whereas in Bahrain we were not even competing, so a much more positive feeling for everyone and something we can build on in the weeks to come. Both cars had really good starts off the line with Lance taking the most profit out of it, through turns one and two, and getting as high as 12th with Sergey 15th. We always planned the one stop soft-medium and we stuck with that as it was working very well for us. The safety car didn’t help us that much but we took the opportunity to put Sergey on the soft tyre, which appeared to be a better tyre for us and for this circuit, as indeed it appeared to be for the front runners. On pace, we were able to beat the Saubers but through strategy, we were able to beat both Toro Rosso cars, as well as the Haas of Grosjean.

Lance Stroll: It was a great start again and, like in Bahrain, I made up five or six positions at the start. Then after that I believe we raced the maximum out of the car. We were not very lucky with the safety car, because the guys on two stops got a free pitstop in front of us. I think the Force Indias were possible to beat today, not on pure pace, but with the good start and everything. It was a bit of a shame, but I am really happy with the race. We got our strategy done and I believe we got everything out of it today.

Sergey Sirotkin: It was a difficult race. I had nothing to lose so I had to fight at the start. I tried to get some positions but when you’re right in the midfield it’s difficult to do something and I think I could have managed better. Afterwards I really struggled to find the pace. It was quite difficult to find the window with the tyre and it was a very tough first stint. At some points when I was in free air for a few laps it was stabilising a bit, but overall it was really tricky. We pitted for a new set of mediums and then new softs under the safety car. I don’t know what happened to them but they had far less grip than the mediums so we lost quite a bit with that, then we were just trying to get to the end of the race.

[johnny vee]

Just saw on Facebook that Kubica is to replace Sirotkin for Baku.
I doubt that it is true...
Can anyone here confirm if it's true?

[Webber2011]

Just saw on Facebook that Kubica is to replace Sirotkin for Baku.
I doubt that it is true...
Can anyone here confirm if it's true?

If it's on facebook it has to be

I just had a quick Google after reading what you said mate, and I can't find much.

Would be crazy if true though

[Sevach]

Only way Sirotkin gets replaced is if his check bounced.

[skwdenyer]

Paddy has been at Mercedes for some years. Their cars have at times found it really hard to run in dirty air.

Paddy is now at Williams, whose car seems now to be finding it really hard to run in dirty air.

Those things may be a coincidence.

[Zynerji]

They should ditch their straight line test and get in the full scale Windshear tunnel for a day to see if they can find the instability.

[johnny vee]

Just saw on Facebook that Kubica is to replace Sirotkin for Baku.
I doubt that it is true...
Can anyone here confirm if it's true?

If it's on facebook it has to be

I just had a quick Google after reading what you said mate, and I can't find much.

Would be crazy if true though

we can only hope....

[Big Tea]

Just saw on Facebook that Kubica is to replace Sirotkin for Baku.
I doubt that it is true...
Can anyone here confirm if it's true?

If it's on facebook it has to be

I just had a quick Google after reading what you said mate, and I can't find much.

Would be crazy if true though

we can only hope....

Stuff like this all the time must unsettle the team. I would like to see RK there, but I also get sick of it being brought up every few days.

[Webber2011]

You're right, it must unsettle the Team to be in the position they're in.
Williams are my first, and favourite Team.

But do you really reckon they worry too much about speculation in the media ?
Maybe if it was affecting sponsors I guess it would be a major concern.

It's a very interesting side of the sport now we have all embraced social media.

What's the world come too

[dren]

The car is having stability issues in the braking zone and on turn in. I'm going to guess it's due to their center of pressure shifting a lot during braking. They've run with a low downforce set-up for quite some years. Now they are running with more downforce, but aren't able to use it where it is beneficial. The suspension set-up is likely wrong and the aero might need some work to remain stable when the car pitches.