Williams’ Dave Robson: “We can be pretty pleased with the way that we executed the race”

Dave Robson was pleased with the way the Williams Racing team executed their Dutch Grand Prix, at least on Alexander Albon’s side of the garage, although it was not enough to find their way into the points.

Albon was able to finish twelfth at the Circuit Zandvoort, ahead of both Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN and both Haas F1 Team drivers, as well as McLaren F1 Team’s Daniel Ricciardo and Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team’s Sebastian Vettel.

Robson, the Head of Vehicle Performance at Williams, admitted it was disappointing to lose out to Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly in the final result after the Frenchman got a ‘free pit stop’ behind the safety car, but twelfth was still a good result at a track where the team were not expecting to be competitive.

“I think we can be pretty pleased with the way that we executed the race today,” said Robson.  “There were a huge range of valid strategies, with all three compounds offering potentially useful trades in the overcast conditions.

“The Safety Car periods mixed things up a little and gave teams the opportunity to change from their base strategies. We were quite comfortable on the Medium tyre and looked to be finding a good rhythm on the Hard before the Safety Car gave us the opportunity to switch Alex to the Soft.

“Ultimately, we couldn’t score any points and the Safety Car didn’t help our cause today as it allowed Gasly a free tyre change. However, we were able to beat the Alfa Romeo and Haas cars as well as a McLaren and an Aston Martin.

“It was a shame to finish behind Pierre for the second weekend in a row, but he had good pace and qualified four places ahead of Alex. Hopefully we can turn the tables on him next weekend!”

On the other side of the garage, it was a struggle for Nicholas Latifi, who finished a lapped eighteenth, and the team will investigate just why the pace was not there for the Canadian in the Netherlands.

“Nicky went for an aggressive start on the Soft tyre but fell back and completed a fairly lonely race in free air,” he said.  “He showed decent pace on new tyres but struggled to control the degradation.

“We will investigate this over the coming days to see if we can find some ways to improve the situation in Monza.”