Following a disappointing qualifying performance ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Felipe Massa has stated that his Williams team is ‘going backwards’ in the development race.
Involving six teams in 2017, the midfield battle is as close as ever. The new technical regulations have placed an enhanced emphasis on car development across the course of the season.
With Massa qualifying in 16th and team-mate Lance Stroll 18th at Spa, both Williams drivers dropped out of the session at the Q1 stage for the third time in the last four races.
“It’s quite disappointing to go out of qualifying in Q1,” Massa stated. “It shows that the main issues are that the car is not going forward. Others are going forward, we’re going backwards.
“It’s pretty clear that we need to improve the development, and to improve the pieces we put on the car and to make the car better, which is not what’s happening at the moment.
“I was happy with my lap time, but the car is not competitive enough.”
Spa-Francorchamps is a circuit that is considered power-sensitive and should, therefore, have favoured Williams who utilise the all conquering Mercedes power unit.
However, the long and technical sector two serves to highlight downforce inefficiencies and is where Williams, in particular, struggled for performance – an issue acknowledged by Stroll.
“We clearly see the downforce is not there in the long corners with a lot of load, and combine entry and traction, and we’re really lacking a lot,” he said.
“That’s kind of been the case for the last few events. It’s very frustrating – it’s not where we want to be.”
The team currently sit an uncomfortable fifth in the constructors’ standings on 41 points. Toro Rosso, Haas and Renault are close behind and all within 15 points of Williams.
