‘Kubica says FW42 is far more driveable’

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Robert Kubica: Privately happy with FW42

Robert Kubica: Privately happy with FW42

Robert Kubica has not been very encouraging about the FW42, at least not in public, because in private he’s been telling Williams it is a “huge step forward” in performance.

Wrapping up testing at the Barcelona circuit last Friday evening, Kubica covered 90 laps with a best time of 1:18.993.

That, though, was over a second slower than the second slowest runner, Sergio Perez.

Kubica didn’t have many kind words to say in the immediate aftermath.

“There were some positive things,” he said.

“But it’s difficult to say [if] it moved forward when actually you are staying in the garage or you are running in the car which is not in the configuration it should be.

“It’s difficult to get any valid information, any valid feedback.”

He added to RaceFans.net: “Unfortunately the car was not representative to what it should be.”

However, according to Williams’ chief technical officer Lowe, Kubica is happy with the team’s progress.

Lowe told Motorsport.com that the Polish driver, who was a test driver for the team last season, felt the team had take “a huge step forwards in terms of the platform”.

Lowe added: “[Kubica said it was] a car that is far more driveable, a car that you can work with from a driving point of view, you can control your management of tyre, you can control the balance and pace, was definitely not a description we could have given about last year’s car.

“So that is very encouraging.”

Lowe is hoping Williams can put their 2018 misery firmly in the past, saying the car has improved “considerably”.

He added: “Something where you turn into a corner and you know what’s going to happen because it happened last time. This is one of the key aspects that has been improved very considerably.”

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