Breaking news
Formula 1
Lowe targets “step change” for Williams in 2018
Williams technical chief Paddy Lowe says his team is targeting a "step change" in performance against Formula 1's biggest teams with its new FW41.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Feb 15, 2018, 8:41 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Images of Williams' 2018 F1 car were revealed on Thursday night, with the car being the first that has been designed under the complete influence of Lowe since he joined last year.
Although aware that the fight for top positions will be incredibly tough this year – with McLaren and Renault tipped to challenge F1's big three outfits – Lowe says that his team has its own bold ambitions for decent progress too.
"We are trying to achieve an element of step change and not just a progression," said Lowe, at a Williams team event launch in London.
"We were two seconds or so a lap slower than the front runners [in 2017] and that is something we would like to close up considerably. So we are looking for a step change."
He added: "We are hoping to be well up there, but we recognise some incredible competition out there.
"Obviously the front three teams are established in a good position. We have Force India who did a terrific job last year and beat us in the championship.
"We also have McLaren with a different engine: they will be a threat. And we have Renault emerging. So that is already six out of the nine teams we are competing against. We don't take anything for granted."
Hitting targets
Lowe said that data from the factory about progress with the car had been encouraging, but knew that it would only be when the action starts that the team would know how good a job it had done.
"Broadly we've hit our targets, but we are always pushing until the end," he said. "We have got to the stage where we are finding things in the tunnel and it's on the cusp of 'can we get to them for the first race?'
"We've hit performance targets we set internally, but there are a couple of caveats. Are those targets ambitious enough and will those transfer to the track? That remains to be seen.
"One of the things we can measure is on absolute performance. So while we are reluctant to say we want to come third, our fourth or fifth because we cannot predict what others have done, we would like to see a lap time gain against the guys who were taking pole position last year."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Kubica to have three FP1 outings in 2018
Next article Pay driver rhetoric "inappropriate and unnecessary" - Williams
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1 Dec 31, 2024
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1 Dec 31, 2024
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Dec 28, 2024
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
More from
Williams
James Vowles explains request for review of F1 cost cap
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
5 d
James Vowles explains request for review of F1 cost cap
Williams Racing is suing a local garage owner for £1million
Formula 1
Formula 1
Bahrain GP in Malaysia
6 d
Williams Racing is suing a local garage owner for £1million
Latest news
M-Sport’s 2027 WRC Fiesta Kit car breaks cover
WRC
WRC WRC 1 h
M-Sport’s 2027 WRC Fiesta Kit car breaks cover
‘I’m sideways all the time’ – How Alpine’s feral F1 car plagued Pierre Gasly in Singapore
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
2 h
‘I’m sideways all the time’ – How Alpine’s feral F1 car plagued Pierre Gasly in Singapore
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe