Williams secures 3rd in championship despite disappointing Brazilian GP
Williams F1 have secured third position in this year's Constructors Championship, despite a largely disappointing performance at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering said the team had met its goals this season, even though they are sure to end the season with considerably less championship points on their tally..
"We have achieved our primary target for the season which was to retain third in the constructors', showing a marked improvement compared to where we were a few years ago", Smedley said.
"We've shown consistency in consolidating that position and the team has worked very well to achieve that. Today's race was not what we wanted, we just didn't have enough pace. Valtteri was able to get past Hulkenberg and Kvyat in the first stint and show the car's true pace, while Felipe was unfortunately caught behind them for most of the race and unable to do the same."
The Brazilian Grand Prix itself didn't go all that smoothly for the team though, with Valtteri Bottas finishing 5th, unable to match the pace of Mercedes or Ferrari, while Felipe Massa lamented a dreadful performance and was eventually excluded from the result as on of his tyres was deemed to be above the maximum allowed 110°C at the start of the race. The team however have lodged an appeal against that decision.
EDIT: Williams dropped their appeal 2 days later, saying "there was no point in wasting time on it", as it wouldn't impact its championship ranking anyway.
