Williams technical director Paddy Lowe says the teams disappointing first half of the season is no reflection of how fast their 2017 car is.
The Grove-based outfit is involved a tight midfield scrap this year, currently sitting just two points ahead of Toro Rosso for fifth place in the constructors’ championship, with one podium finish.
With Force India’s fourth position a long way out of reach, Williams, realistically, can only aim to finish as the fifth best team in Formula 1, and Lowe believes their inconsistency has been a major factor as to why they have under-performed from expectations.
“Definitely at the half-term report stage we’re not looking as good as we’d like,” he said. “We’re very disappointed. The car is quicker than that points table would reflect.
“We’ve seen a lot of variation from circuit to circuit. There are places that we significantly under-perform.
“We really need to have a car that will perform more equally at different destinations. That’s a big focus for next year.
“Some of those things we understand, some of them we don’t. So there’s a lot of work to do. But we’re very much hoping we can have a better second half of the season and put some of that right.”
Lowe admits the team will soon begin to switch their attentions to the 2018 car but insists efforts will be made to ensure their is not a significant drop-off in performance on the FW40.
“It’s always a bit of a merge really,” he added. “You gradually put more and more focus onto the following year.
“You may reach a point where you say you’re not going to invest the effort in those within the current season,” he said. “[It’s] a case-by-case basis rather than having some sort of overall black and white decision.”
