Felipe Massa reckons Williams has to make progress with the balance of its FW40 after a sub-par showing during practice for the Austrian Grand Prix.
Neither Massa nor team-mate Lance Stroll broke into the top 10 during Friday’s running, with Massa finishing the day in 14th position overall, 1.582s behind practice pace setter Lewis Hamilton.
“It definitely wasn’t an easy Friday for us,” said Massa, at the venue where he claimed his most recent pole position three years ago.
“We were struggling with balance in the car, with some difference between high speed and low speed.
“I just wasn’t happy with the balance and there’s work to do to improve for tomorrow. I really hope our lap times are better and we can be more competitive in qualifying.”
Stroll classified in 16th place, 1.985s down on Hamilton, believes Williams has not yet been able to extract the maximum from its package.
“The field is very tight,” commented Stroll, who took two wins of the three wins at the Formula 3 round in Austria last season.
“We are missing a bit so there are bits and pieces to work on overnight. We don't look as competitive as we were in Baku, for example, but that can change.
“It is such a short lap round here and a couple of tenths can get you quite a few places.
“We are going to work to try and solve it for tomorrow, as we are lacking a bit of grip everywhere and are just not able to push the car as hard at some of the others.
“I haven’t debriefed with the engineers yet, but I do think we have a good race car.”
Stroll also received a reprimand, his first of the year, after he crossed the white line while entering the pits during second practice.
Discussion about this post