Qualifying Result ‘Frustrating’ for Williams after ‘Good Work’ in Practice – Dave Robson

Dave Robson admits the Williams Racing team did not execute Qualifying as well as they should have, and it meant that Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi will share the back row of the grid for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Traffic at the Yas Marina Circuit ahead of his final flying lap meant Albon was unable to generate the heat needed in his tyres to start the lap strongly, while Latifi was also compromised as the duo finished nineteenth and twentieth on the grid, just 0.026 seconds apart. 

For Latifi, it was his final Qualifying session with Williams before he ends his three year stint with the team after this weekend.

Robson, the Head of Vehicle Performance at Williams, says the hard work the team had done ahead of Qualifying kind of went to waste, and they will be looking now to look to rebound on Sunday and try and make progress forward towards the top ten.

“Qualifying was a frustrating session, which we didn’t execute as well as we needed to,” said Robson.  “We knew how to get a good lap out of the car, but we didn’t give Alex a good chance to achieve it as he had too much traffic on his final outlap.

“Although Nicholas had an easier outlap, he was still a little compromised and the margins are so fine that, whilst he drove well, he was unable to progress.

“After the good work of the last few days, this was a disappointing day, but we now need to look to tomorrow.”