In an effort to reverse their slide down the grid, Williams opted to run Robert Kubica during the final day of testing in Barcelona on Wednesday, after which the Pole revealed that the team had pinpointed issues with the car but at the same time suggested there was no quick fix for the team.
Kubica did 123 laps on the day, setting the eighth fastest time using the Pirelli Hypersoft tyres, the team tapping into his experience as they seek to put behind them problems that have made life a misery this season for their drivers Lance Stroll and rookie Sergei Sirotkin.
Last week, the Pole did FP1 for the Grove outfit on the first day of free practice for the Spanish Grand Prix in place of Sirotkin as the team struggle to find solutions to the balance of the car which at the moment has both their young drivers in a crisis of confidence.
After his day in the car, Kubica told reporters in Barcelona, “I think we’d be happier to have a car that goes two seconds per lap faster than being in this situation, but I’m here to help. If the team decided to let me drive this day, to give me this job to do and this running plan, then I was happy to help them and happy they appreciate it.”
“I did try my best, as always, and I think we have quite a lot of data, so now we’ll have a busy time at home. The conclusions are that there will be a lot of things to look at, to analyze and double-check.”
“There were quite a lot of things going on, with gathering data and trying to get on top of our issues. It was an interesting day from the driver’s point of view, but I think it was an even more interesting day from the aero point of view and for the guys at the factory to now have a look and see what we can get out of it.”
“The route to follow, I think, is quite clear where we have an issue. Let’s say what the balance is we know… We probably need to find the best way of fixing it, with the limited time we have to be as fast as possible. For sure there are a few things we need to sort out, but that’s not something we’re going to be able to do in 24 hours,” explained Kubica.