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Claire Williams still backs Paddy Lowe "100%"

09:35, 12 Aug 2018

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

Williams team boss Claire Williams has said that she still puts all her faith in the team's chief technical officer Paddy Lowe, despite the team's nosedive in form this season.

This year's Williams car, the FW41, is the first car fully designed by Lowe since he made the switch from Mercedes at the start of 2017.

The team sits in last place in the constructors' championship despite having a Mercedes-powered car, as the Grove-based team have only mustered four points in the first twelve races of the season. Still, Lowe has the full backing of the team's management.

"Paddy is our CTO and I back him 100%," Claire Williams told Formula1.com.

"Paddy is a triple world championship-winning Technical Director.

"He’s inherited a team with some issues and weaknesses and it’s his responsibility to fix these issues as our CTO.

"Giving someone a short time to do that and expect miracles is naïve - he needs more time to fix these issues."

The current gap with number nine Sauber is fourteen points, a gap that the team won't be able to close according to Williams rookie Sergey Sirotkin. The Swiss team, led by Charles Leclerc, is simply faster this season, as they've even gotten to Q3 on separate occasions.

"At the end of the day, we’re all relying on Paddy and his team of engineers," Williams continued.

"It’s those guys who make the car go faster.

"We need to make sure we give them everything we can resources-wise to do what they can to give us a good race car.

"I trust Paddy and his team will deliver.

"We’re not going to give up, but if we’re realistic, the idea of getting back towards the front of the midfield at this stage in this season is maybe not going to happen.

"So naturally, which happens anyway, a lot more focus moves to the following year."