I’m a Little Bit Concerned For Williams F1 – Coulthard

Currently, the Grove-based team is trying to endure one of their its worst-ever seasons. They are lying 10th and last in the constructors’ standings as of the summer break. The team have so far scored just four points in 2018 so far.

Lance Stroll’s eighth place finish in Azerbaijan remains their only appearance in the points of the year. What doesn’t help matters is that Stroll and teammate Sergey Sirotkin have dropped out of Q1 six times from 12 races.

Coulthard was worried that the Williams F1 team have accepted their position at the back of the pack.

“Williams I’m a little bit concerned for,” the Scotsman said. “I just don’t see the pain of failure that maybe we saw in the past.

“You can fool people about how you’re feeling, but you can’t fake passion. I’d love to see that passion come back to Williams.

“The paddock has a great deal of affection for Williams and what they’ve achieved, but of course things move on and that will dwindle over time. I hope they can turn it around.”

Another team that is having a nightmarish season is McLaren. Coulthard raced with the British outfit from 1996 to 2004 and scored 12 of his 13 F1 wins with them.

The team has failed to bode well with Renault in their first season together. Following a shake-up in the management, resulting in Eric Boullier standing down as race director last month. Former CART champion Gil de Ferran took on the role of sporting director.

Coulthard sympathised with Boullier’s plight, but was confident that the Woking squad will be able to get back on track in due course.

He said: “It is confusing that they are going through such a difficult time, but it always comes down to people: the people with the power to design and build the car, have either not had the resources at their disposal, or they’ve misused those resources, and therefore they are accountable.

“Ron Dennis [former McLaren boss] used to say to me, ‘I don’t design the car, I don’t build the car and I don’t drive the car, so all of those elements are not my responsibility’, which is a fair comment.

“His responsibility was the vision for the company, getting sponsors on board, giving the engineers the resources they need to come up with a good car.

“I think Zak and Gil, someone with a great racing mind, they will turn it around. But it will take time.”