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Williams' Robert Kubica feels he is driving a "completely different" car to teammate George Russell after finishing a second down on his rookie teammate in today's second practice in Bahrain. Unlike Melbourne, both drivers ran identical setups in the practice session.
Kubica cannot understand why there is such a difference in the timesheets, and believes that the data is showing the two cars as having different aerodynamic characteristics to each other.
He also ruled out any damage that the car could've sustained, as in Melbourne, Kubica suffered from floor damage.
"At least we understood that in Australia I ran a different set-up than George and we could clearly see the different characteristics in the cars," Kubica said. "Here we started with the same set-up and the characteristic is still different."
Kubica explained that due to the ongoing problems with a shortage of parts within the team that the floor would not be fully repaired in time for the race in Bahrain, and noted also that the overall car behaviour was making things very difficult when pushing the car on the limit.
"It's looking strange, to be honest, and it's putting me in a very difficult position to drive the car," Kubica added. "Additionally, if I try to follow it up with some balance shift I have to reduce the grip a lot and the potential of the car.
"Neither way is good. I make it more drivable, I am slow. I make it, let's say, as it should be and it's undrivable.
"It's a very, very difficult situation. I just hope that we will be able to solve it and if we are able to solve it will probably be the first time I am driving the car with better potential."
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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Replies (7)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I wonder whether there is any truth to this, and his car is set up wrong, or it's him hiding just how much his handicap plays in. This is why i was very cautious about my expectations about him, and will continue to be so for a time to come. Like I've said before, it is amazing enough that he is back on the grid and can race at all.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
I think everyone has those doubts but there have been a few cases in the recent past when one car of a team isn't behaving right and it takes some time to figure out, so it's not unheard of. I'd give him a chance to drive the other car if possible and see what happens. Williams doesn't seem to be doing well with their car so it may take a long time to get to the bottom of his problems.
f1ski
Posts: 726
Calle we are both thinking the same way. I hope there is something wrong with the car but i fear it is time and physical limitations that are the cause.
wronatlen
Posts: 6
I agree with Your fears, but there is some unbelievable and unseen if F1 reasons - in fp2 his max speed on straights was around 285kph. He doesn't used 8 gear and drs. There is got to be something wrong except grip and handling with that car.
Of course I'm aware of Kubica physics, but those situation has place (at least) when he was in race sim, and he has got around +7,5s to vettels time. Next hulk and Riccardo had around +7 without such problems. So there's a hope.. :)
Sadtomato
Posts: 48
The team will want to get to the bottom of this so I expect they will replace the chassis for the next race or swap them over if they have no spare. It might even give them some clues where to go next.
maalibu
Posts: 17
In race sim Williams was... not soooo bad. Robert has great understanding of a Car. He might be bit slower than George but He isent talking BullS****. Williams ...Oh Patrick Head - It will be a mounitain to climb.
Kean
Posts: 692
I remember Nasr having similar complaints when Ericsson was outperforming him, he got a new chassis and things got a bit better. However I think that Sirotkin really was faster than Kubica last year, and Sirotkin wasn’t really that fast so... That being said, it could also be that Russell is the new Alonso in getting the most out of a crappy car.