Williams are expecting a tough battle with Ferrari during the early part of the season according to chief test and support engineer Rod Nelson.
Ferrari topped several of the earlier test days before falling back a little, but having analysed their rivals pace, Nelson believes the Italian outfit are closer to Williams than it appears.
Speaking to Autosport, he explained that Sebastian Vettel’s soft tyres run wasn’t where it should have been due to a mistake, which skewed the times a little.
“I think he pushed too hard at the start of the lap and lunched the tyres by the time he got halfway round,” he said.
“So I expect Ferrari to be a little it closer than maybe it looked. We’re going to have a scrap with them, certainly at the start of the season.”
Meanwhile he accepts that Mercedes are some way out in front and therefore Williams can only hope to fight for podiums until that gap is closed.
“Mercedes are looking incredibly strong. I’m sure its pace made a lot of people sit back a little bit,” he added.
“It certainly made us think twice, but we should be in the hunt for podiums.”
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