Williams’ chief technical officer Paddy Lowe has admitted the team switched its technical focus on 2018 as early as September.
Having endured a difficult year in terms of performance against previous seasons in the hybrid era which saw them secure third in 2014 and 2015, the 2017 campaign currently sees the Grove-based team in a battle for fifth place against Toro Rosso, Renault and Haas.
Lowe had also explained there will be ‘significant changes‘ to the design philosophy of the team, as they look to improve its performance in order to move back up grid.
“We’ve got into a mode, going back a month or more, that we’re only bringing to the car things that are relevant to next year,” the Briton told Autosport.
“Mostly we what we’re doing now is directed at 2018, so I don’t think we’re going to see any substantial shift from that. We’ve still got a few things coming to races ahead of us, but not substantial stuff.
“All the upgrades we’ve brought since September have had that characteristic, but I don’t think that balance is very different to how it would be normally as a function of the design we intend for next year.”
Felipe Massa believes since he joined the former world champions in 2014, Williams has been out-developed every year and explained some parts on the car from the beginning of the year were still there towards the end of the European leg of the season.
The Brazilian added: “The first year [was OK], then all of the other years it was the same as now – no improvement through the year, the way we expected to have.
“This year we started in a good way, and we didn’t improve like other teams. Last year we didn’t understand anything – we just couldn’t improve the car through the year like other teams were doing. 2015 was the same.
“This year the same. We had many bits, but they didn’t work. The team had to understand why it was not working, change some stuff.
“We still have the same parts, but now things are working much better. From Barcelona to maybe the race before Monza we had a car that was maybe the same as the beginning of the season.
“Now we are catching the other teams, but it’s too late.”
