“At the Moment We’re C Class” – Russell Laments Williams’ Weaknesses Ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix

Williams’ George Russell expects the team to endure difficult races at the upcoming circuits. The British driver is wary of the 2020 car’s “draggy” nature preventing a positive result at Spa or Monza.

However, Russell maintained that the team was motivated to break out of the “C” class to join the real midfield fight.

With a Mercedes engine in the back, it would be surprising to see Williams struggle at tracks like Monza and Spa. With long straights, pedal happy circuits, the Italian and Belgian Grands Prix are tracks that demand the most out of an F1 engine over a race weekend.

A tough triple-header coming up for Williams

Sadly, the FW43 cannot harness the true potential of Mercedes’ power. Engine ‘grunt’ is complemented by a competitive and efficient aero package.

“Even though we have a lot of power, we’re not really utilising it, because we have so much drag on the car,” Russell explained.

“Compared to the Racing Point and Mercedes we are a huge margin amount of speed down on them purely because the car is so draggy.

“Unfortunately, aerodynamically we have a really poor efficiency in the car. And that will actually make it really tough for us.”

The Briton went on to add that Williams was focused on its primary goal of clawing its way back into ‘F1.5’. Unfortunately, Williams has dropped down the field in a dramatic manner and has a long road to recovery ahead of it.

“But the fact that we are on par with the Haas and the Alfas – they probably still just have the legs on us – but they are really within striking distance.

“At the moment we’re in the C class, along with Haas and Alfa. We still need to keep pushing to get to the B class.”

Despite not scoring any points so far, Williams can take comfort in the fact that the team’s future is secure. Recently, the team announced its sale to a private American firm.

Despite no longer being a family-owned team, the Williams name is here to stay.