Williams will focus on 2020 before the 2021 Formula 1 season

Williams will not "write off" the 2020 Formula 1 season before the regulation changes come into place the following season, senior race engineer Dave Robson has confirmed.

Next season, Formula 1 teams will have to be focussing on their 2020 cars as well as their 2021 cars, with the new specifications coming into place, but the British team will have their attention firmly on next season before thinking about the following campaign.

Robson has admitted Williams will need to keep a close eye on their budget when doing this: "Now we've got a much better understanding of the regs for 2021 then we need to sit down and time exactly how we go about it," Robson said to RaceFans.

Williams have now owned the worst car on the F1 grid for two successive seasons, but Robson is hopeful the British team will be able to improve their fortunes in time for F1's new era in 2021.

"Yes, we want to make next year's car quick," Robson admitted. "But the key bit is understanding why it's quick. Then actually all the learning we do next year is still applicable, even though the regs change, the physics and the interaction of how the whole car works is still the same.

"So as long as we can understand that and make sure that the tools back at the factory are delivering on-track, and work as is expected, I still think a lot of effort going into next year will still work in 2021."