Smedley: We’re not a one trick pony

Editor

Williams performance chief Rob Smedley is convinced that their cars can perform on various tracks instead of only ones that are power-sensitive.

During the Russian Grand Prix, the British outfit recorded their best points tally of the season, with Valtteri Bottas finishing in fourth and Felipe Massa in fifth.

However, it was overshadowed by the belief that their Mercedes-powered car can only perform on tracks where power is a big factor, something Smedley strongly denies.

"You've got to remember that we are not a one trick pony, this is not purely about power round Sochi," he claimed.

"We've got cars with exactly the same power unit who we've managed to either move towards or move away from so it is a little bit about how we are managing the tyres as well or how we are using the tyres over a single timed lap, which has certainly helped us and managing the tyres in the race.

Smedley, though, is not getting ahead of himself and understands the limits of the FW38, revealing that they are not afraid of challenging if they feel their car is not suited for a track.

"I would hope that yes characteristic wise they are not the greatest circuits for us but we've just got to go there and take everything that we can from them," the 42-year-old continued.

"Certainly we're not scared of those circuits, we’ll go there and do the absolute best and I'm convinced we'll do better than we did, certainly in Monaco than last year with all the work that we’ve done."