- Williams
'Optimism all round' for '14 and '15 at Williams
Rob Smedley says Williams' improved operational organisation and an aerodynamic upgrade for Japan shows the team is moving in the right direction for both the end of 2014 and next season.
Williams struggled in Singapore, with Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas nursing their cars home for fifth and 11th after huge stints on worn tyres. It was the team's worst points return since Canada but Smedley is excited by Williams' prospects after being impressed by the way it operated in Singapore.
"We're going to tracks now which have a much bigger power effect, much bigger drag sensitivity, so we're really, really optimistic," said Smedley, Williams' head of vehicle performance. "Additionally to that in Japan we have a new aerodynamic package coming. The great thing there is the way we're operating as a whole performance group; take the aerodynamics in particular.
"We've got quite a good upgrade coming for Japan but it hasn't taken anything away from what we're doing next year - we're still operating hugely efficiently and leanly to get the most development we can on the 2015 car, so there's optimism all round.
"I think the next back-to-back races are going to suit us pretty well. We're really, really getting on top of tyre management. [Singapore] helped us immensely; we saw a huge example of that with Felipe, and even Valtteri with a broken down car, able to manage tyres. We were able to extract above the car performance in qualifying via our tyre management.
"I personally am immensely pleased with all of the science and the experience and the engineering that we've put in there. Going to Japan, that stands us in good stead, going to Russia, the compounds are reasonably conservative and that should set us in really good stead."
Smedley says Singapore's result masked the impressive job Williams was doing behind the scenes.
"We didn't expect to have the pace we had in qualifying or in the race, but that's down to the way we're operating. Ironically, it was one of our worst results in a long time but we operated much better than we have done since I've been here. I was very encouraged because if you look at the gap to the two teams, to Red Bull and Ferrari, it was less than I thought it would be at the start of the weekend.
"Pat [Symonds] said to me after the race he thought it was the best race he'd seen Williams operate in the 14, 15 months he's been here and I would certainly second that from the short time I've been here."
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