Williams deputy team boss Claire Williams says the squad has no plans to write off the 2018 season despite its difficult start to the campaign, in which it has scored just four points.
The current season is Williams' worst since 2013, when the team scored no points in the first six races and went on to amass just five in total to finish ninth in the standings, ahead of only Marussia and Caterham.
The team's fortunes turned round after that with two third-placed finishes and then two fifth-placed finishes, but the team now sits tenth and last, seven points adrift of the Alfa Romeo-backed Sauber squad.
Both Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin have publicly spoken out about how difficult the FW41 is to drive, forcing Williams to enact a recovery plan, but with the recent loss of their chief designer Ed Wood and head of aero Dirk de Beer, some are questionning how Williams will recover and suggest focusing on 2019 is a smarter plan.
"We’ve never said we’re going to write this season off," said Williams on Friday in Canada. "In no way would we ever say that at Williams.
"We’re only a third of the way through this year. There are a lot of races left to go. We haven’t done what we wanted to do in the first third – scoring four points is not where we want to be. But the guys are doing a good job, as I said. But it does require a little bit of patience. It’s not easy turning things around that fast.
"We’ve got a lot of work to do, particularly on the aerodynamics side of things, and that takes time. So we’ll be bringing updates to forthcoming races, we’ll have to see how they pan out. It’s just a case of working hard and keeping everything crossed so that we deliver the performance that we need to do, so that by the end of the year we’re back up to the front of the field, but that’s going to be hard work for us."
When asked to evaluate the performance of the team's two drivers, Williams was sympathetic with the task Stroll and Sirotkin both have driving such a difficult car.
"Obviously, they haven’t exactly got the best equipment this year in order to demonstrate their potential, of which I think both have a considerable amount," she added. "It’s our responsibility to give them a car in which they can demonstrate that.
"Both have had quite considerable weight upon their shoulders. It’s not easy when you’re quite a young driver in Formula 1, having to drive a car that that they’re having to drive, to go out in qualifying, to go out in the race, knowing that they’re probably going to be at the back. Can’t be easy for them psychologically, and I think they’re doing a very good job in order to go out there and do what they’re having to do."
