Williams F1 team should put an end to their midfielder tag and improve on their last year’s ranking, says deputy team principal Claire Williams.
The British team finished third in 2014 and ’15 in the constructor’s championship. But as Force India moved up, the Grove-based team slipped down to the fifth place in ’16 and ’17 ratings.
As Renault and McLaren get ready to rise in the standings, there even more pressure on Williams, which has the least experienced driver lineup on the entire grid.
Speaking with ESPN, Williams said: “I think it’s going to be incredibly challenging this year,”
“McLaren has its new engine and Renault has invested heavily within the infrastructure in its team, I think there’s going to be a lot more competition out there, unfortunately, this year.
“But then it’s our responsibility that they don’t overtake us in the championship, and equally we’ve got Force India who are a fantastic team and absolutely deserve their P4 last year.
“For us, it’s about what we need to change and we are a big team and have been in the sport for more than 40 years now and we have the infrastructure, we have the people, we have 700 people working on our racing team and we should be able to deliver a competitive race car. That’s really what we have to be aiming for.
“I’m not going to set any targets, I think it’s dangerous to do so, but we can’t finish P5 or lower this year.”
Williams realizes there is a lot of talk about their inexperienced line-up and suggests it is better to wait to see how they perform on the grid before judging them [the drivers].
“For us, there has been a huge amount of negativity out there, which I don’t quite understand. Why do people judge before they have seen the talent on the track? Let’s see how they do, let’s give them the opportunity to see how good they can be, and then we will have the conversation about it.”
