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Another Blow Dealt to Struggling Williams F1 Team

Published 03/05/2019, 9:41 AM EST

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It is safe to say that the RoKit Williams F1 team are in for a year-long nightmare. To start things off, the Grove-based team were two days late for the first test in Barcelona. However, according to some new developments, it seams that Paddy Lowes’ car sports a few illegal parts. As a result, the car will need to be changed before the season kicks off in two weeks time.

Some sources have told The Judge 13 that the reason for the delay was due to poor decision-making within the management last year. This was when they attempted to sack a lot of staff members, only for the move to backfire in their faces.

To make matters even worse, driver Robert Kubica has given a worrying verdict regarding the team’s and car’s performance. According to him, it would be impossible to make up for lost time. Oddly enough, team principal Claire Williams, and daughter of founder Frank Williams, revealed that Kubica could be a technical director soon.

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As it turns out, when FIA scrutineers carried out observations in Barcelona following the second test, other teams requested some clarifications on the rules. Then, it transpired that Williams were compelled to make alterations to the FW42. This includes, but is not limited to, modifying a concave mirror arrangement. According to the FIA report, the drivers would find it nearly impossible to use them. It was simply installed for aerodynamic purposes.

via Imago

When it was first conceived, Lowe was quite proud of his piece de resistance. In fact, he believed that the FW42 was “a huge step forward in terms of the platform”.

“Robert has driven the old car around here quite a lot last year and has some very encouraging comments on the qualities of the car.” Lowe said.

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“He feels that we’ve made a huge step forwards in terms of the platform. A car that is far more drive-able, a car that you can work with from a driving point of view, you can control your management of tyre, you can control the balance and pace, was definitely not a description we could have given about last year’s car,” he continued. “So that is very encouraging.”

According to Motorsport.com, the front suspension is one of the parts being declared illegal. For the sake of clarification, three different technical aspects of the car are under FIA scrutiny. Andy Green, Racing Point technical director, requested a clarification on the mirrors. Green is of the opinion that the Williams F1 mirrors are simply there to assist in flow diversion.

Coming to the front suspension, two elements have raised more ‘clarifications’ to Charlie Whiting. One element is an arm that aims airflow down to the lower bargeboard. The other is a rubber cover of the bracket.

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So the big question is, ‘Will RoKit William F1 be handed a clean chit or will they have to go one step forward, a million steps back?’.

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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