Williams warn against aggressive development "risk"

Williams

Williams warn against aggressive development "risk"

Williams sit at the foot of the constructors' championship on just three points

Sam Hall

Sunday 14 August 2022 15:30

Williams head of vehicle performance Dave Robson has warned against going aggressive with aerodynamic developments as "the house normally wins" when gambling.

Williams is rooted to the foot of the constructors' table on just three points after lifting itself to eighth last term, ending a two-year streak as the lowest finisher.

With new technical regulations introduced this season, the team had hoped to join the midfield battle but, although the gap is at times considerably smaller than it had been previously, Williams has not made the jump it had aimed for.

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Ordinarily, spending money on aerodynamic developments would at least give Williams a fighting chance of making up further ground, but the strict financial regulations act as a limiting factor to this.

And although Williams could go aggressive on this year's car, Robson explained why this is not viewed as a viable option.

“When you’re behind, you can’t just take risks, you can’t just gamble, that rarely pays off. The house normally wins when you go gambling, don’t they?" said Robson.

“But you’ve got to push things because, A, you want to understand that when you push them they work as you expect them to, which ultimately is the important bit going forward. But equally, we also wanted just to make up for the slow start.

“It’s important that not only do we show the progress, but it’s important for everyone who is working so hard that we do a better job this year. It would be nice to score some more points in the second half of the season and I think there is a chance to do that.

“And the knock-on effect amongst the whole team back at the fact and the drivers is, just to see that progress, to hopefully push on and score some points, that whole morale boost is also important.

“It’s hard to quantify but it definitely has a material effect.

“It’s necessary and right to push everything hard now to keep up that momentum and make sure we continue to act like a proper race team and then behind the scenes, there is the learning to take from that which can only help next year.”