095f2344580acdeff7986e8047aee9a0bd7cdcec

Rowland surprised by Williams experience

18:12, 25 Apr 2018

byJake Williams-Smith

Oliver Rowland says he is surprised by how Williams have accepted him as part of the team. The Brit joined the Grove outfit as a part of their young driver programme having graduated from Formula 2.

Rowland expressed his surprise with how Williams was accepting of him from the moment he arrived.

“It’s nice to work with a team like Williams and move on from F2 and given a chance with an F1 team. I’m really surprised with how they’ve taken me in,” he said. “They’ve looked after me and I’m helping them with my feedback.

“They are really taking it onboard and integrating me within the team. Obviously I’ll be testing in Barcelona in a couple of weeks so they’ve really prepared me well for it. It’s been really nice and a big thanks to them.”

Rowland joined Williams after testing for Renault, however, Rowland says that his new team is a much better suiting environment for him to continue with his career.

“Renault is pretty closed for the next few years from what I understand and from what I was told at the end of last year, I had an option to stay there with what I was doing but there was nothing to go from that moving forwards.

“I didn’t just want to be a development and sim driver I wanted to try and make it into F1, as difficult as that may be, I didn’t want to close the option. That was the real motivation for me and Williams were keen to have me.”

The British driver will be competing in the World Endurance Championship in their 2018/19 super season for the Manor LMP1 effort.