Lowe: "We're not writing off this season"

After struggling massively in the first part of the 2018 season and currently being in last place in the constructors' championship, Williams team principal Paddy Lowe is not yet ready to write off the teams' season, as he thinks there are positives as well.

“We are not writing off this season," he insisted.

"From the minute this car ran, it was clear there were some issues we had to deal with.

"There are many things that are good about the car and they're unable to show themselves because the car is let down by particular aspects."

Ed Wood, the team's long-time chief designer, suddenly handed in his resignation as well after the first races of the season, but Lowe doesn't think that that is a cause of the woes of the team.

“We have to accept we haven’t done a good job.

"We just lost our way in some critical areas, which we now understand.

"I haven’t done a good enough job in making the right level of progress.

"I’ve been with the team 12 months, and there are things which we should have responded to earlier."

Now, it's time to get this team back on its feet. Lowe did so by hiring engineers from other teams, including Dirk de Beer from Ferrari who is now head of aerodynamics, and McLaren's Doug McKiernan, who will be the new chief engineer.

“We have put in place a programme with the team, which we call a recovery programme," Lowe explained.

"That programme is timed up to the midseason point, but I can’t guarantee anything."