Smedley ruing William’s lack of pace

Editor

Rob Smedley has claimed that the lack of pace shown by their FW38 at the Hungaroring over the weekend is a worrying factor for the rest of the season.

At Sunday’s race, Williams duo Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas struggled for power throughout the Hungary Grand Prix, with the Finn placing in a lackluster ninth place while his teammate suffered a frustrating afternoon with a steering problem and eventually finished 18th.

Smedley also noted that the Brazilian's accident during qualifiers hindered his chances of completing the race without any problems, saying that the car was out of balance as a result of the incident.

"I'm disappointed with that result," said the Williams boss.

"We had to work very hard for those two points. I think we achieved the maximum we could with Valtteri, he drove a solid race, but the pace of the car is just not there.

"After Felipe’s accident the car was out of balance and he just couldn’t get into a rhythm. Starting from 18th with an un-balanced car was always going to be difficult.

"We had to re-build the car following his crash in qualifying, which meant the steering was off centre and was heavy in right-hand corners.

"We had to try and get it fixed before the race, both in the garage and on the grid. The guys did a very commendable job."

Looking ahead to the German Grand Prix, the former Ferrari employee wants to put their Budapest experience behind them.

"These are tough times for the team. We have to knuckle down, be introspective, work as a team and start to understand how we’re going to get more performance from the car," he concluded.