“Zandvoort provides quite a different challenge to last weekend in Spa” – Dave Robson

Dave Robson says the experience of racing at the Circuit Zandvoort last year should help the Williams Racing team start the weekend this year at a good level of performance, although he is not expecting the track to be a strong one for the team.

Robson, the Head of Vehicle Performance at Williams, says the hard compound tyre might be a challenge to get working this weekend, but Pirelli’s medium and soft compounds should be easier to work with and are likely to be the tyres of choice.

Alexander Albon will need to relearn the Zandvoort track having not raced there since 2015, and Robson says they will be doing their best to give the Thai driver the chance to familiarise the circuit on Friday.

“Zandvoort provides quite a different challenge to last weekend in Spa with the circuit configuration being considerably different and the tyre compounds being a step harder,” said Robson.  

“The hard C1 compound was previously taken to Bahrain, Barcelona and Silverstone and could be a tricky compound this weekend. However, the Medium and Soft compounds are likely to work well.

“The banking and elevation changes at this track were easier to accommodate than we first feared last year, and by qualifying we had the car in a decent window. That experience should allow us to start Friday in a good position and give us opportunities to both explore the tyre behaviour thoroughly and allow to Alex to familiarise himself with the circuit.”

Robson says the performance of the FW44 was good last weekend in Belgium, but the different characteristics of Zandvoort will mean different challenges for Williams, and they are expecting it to be more difficult to break into the top ten than at Spa-Francorchamps.

“We enjoyed a good weekend in Spa,” said Robson.  “However, whilst the car performance was good at the low downforce level and Alex was able to drive a very strong defensive race, we know that we also benefited from a lot of grid penalties for our competitors.

“This weekend should be more difficult, but we have some momentum and confidence from Spa which will be invaluable as we take the fight to the midfield at a circuit less naturally suited to the FW44.”