Williams’ Dave Robson: “The car is essentially unchanged from Japan”

Dave Robson says the Williams Racing team will not be bringing any updates to its FW44 for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, and instead they will be looking to maximise the options they have with the car and set it up as best they can to suit the Circuit of the Americas.

A lot of Williams’ attention has switched to developing their 2023 car, which they hope to be more competitive than this years’ effort, but they have not switched off completely on this year as they bid to add to their tally of eight points across the remaining four races.

Robson says they will need to adapt the settings of the FW44 to better suit the COTA track and the softer compounds Pirelli are bringing to the track compared to two weeks ago in Japan.

“As we start to head towards the end of the 2022 season, the car is essentially unchanged from Japan and our job is to maximise the options around us to best suit the demands of COTA,” said Robson, the Head of Vehicle Performance at Williams.  

“Although there are some similarities to Suzuka, the overall demands of the circuit are different, and we’ll need to make some changes to the car to suit both the track layout and the softer tyre compounds that Pirelli have made available this weekend.”

Williams will give Logan Sargeant a run in the first practice session on Friday in place of Nicholas Latifi, but Robson says the extended running in second practice and the result from the Japanese Grand Prix two weeks ago will give the Canadian a good chance of advancing out of Q1 on Saturday.

“With this weekend having another extended FP2 session during which all teams will test candidate 2023 tyres for Pirelli, Logan’s input during FP1 will be vital to our progress,” he said.  

“Although Nicholas will get a short amount of time to refamiliarize himself with the track before he starts the FP2 Pirelli programme, he will miss out on a lot of normal Friday running. However, he comes into this weekend off the back of a strong performance in Suzuka, and he will be able to use that momentum to get himself into a good position by qualifying.”

After two consecutive wet races, this weekend is predicted to be hot and sunny, and Robson says this will see tyre management become key if Latifi and team-mate Alexander Albon are to be a contender for the points.

“We know from previous experience of coming to Austin that the weather at this time of year can be very variable, but the forecast for this weekend is for hot and sunny conditions throughout, which will mean that tyre management will be key on Sunday,” Robson concluded.