Williams will not be on track for the first day of Formula 1 preseason testing which begins tomorrow (Monday) with the first day of official track action at Circuit de Catalunya.
The announcement comes in the wake of the team being forced to cancel the shakedown for the Fw42 which was scheduled for yesterday (Saturday) at Silverstone.
The news is a blow for their new drivers, as both Robert Kubica and George Russell need as much track time as possible, while the team are depending on this car – the second under the watch of technical boss Paddy Lowe – to reverse their fortunes and lift them off the bottom of the F1 pecking order.
Claire Williams, Deputy Team Principal, ROKiT Williams Racing said in a statement, “Unfortunately, we have had to delay the start of our pre-season Barcelona test to Tuesday morning.”
“We have had an incredibly busy winter at Grove getting the FW42 prepared for the season ahead and, despite everyone’s best efforts, we need some more time before it will be ready to run.
“Our absolute priority is to always ensure we bring a car to the track that is the best that it can be and sometimes that takes longer than you’d anticipate or like. It’s clearly not ideal, but equally it’s not the end of the world.”
“We will obviously have our work cut out to recover the time lost but we still have seven days of testing left and we will be maximising that time to prepare the car for the first race,” added the deputy team chief.
Williams Driver Schedule for Barcelona Test 1:
- Monday 18 February: No Running
- Tuesday 19 February: George Russell (AM), Nicholas Latifi (PM)
- Wednesday 20 February: Nicholas Latifi (AM), Robert Kubica (PM)
- Thursday 21 February: Robert Kubica (AM), George Russell (PM)
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