Williams to miss start of first test

Editor
Williams to miss the start of the first test.

Williams to miss the start of the first test.

Williams will not begin on-track running of the FW42 until Tuesday after delays getting it ready for the start of testing.

After cancelling a planned filming day this weekend due to delays in getting the new car ready, Williams issued a statement on Sunday confirming that it would not be taking part in test running on Monday.

In the statement deputy team principal Claire Williams said: “”Unfortunately, we have had to delay the start of our pre-season Barcelona test to Tuesday morning.

“We have had an incredibly busy winter at Grove getting the FW42 prepared for the season ahead and, despite everyone’s best efforts, we need some more time before it will be ready to run.

“Our absolute priority is to always ensure we bring a car to the track that is the best that it can be and sometimes that takes longer than you’d anticipate or like.

“It’s clearly not ideal, but equally it’s not the end of the world.

“We will obviously have our work cut out to recover the time lost but we still have seven days of testing left and we will be maximising that time to prepare the car for the first race.”

Regardless of Williams’ attempts to play down the situation, it’s still another blow for a team coming into 2019 off the back of arguably their poorest season in Formula 1 in 2018.

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