Why Williams' progress remains under the radar

Williams head of vehicle performance Dave Robson has conceded the progress made by the team this year has been masked by a lack of points on the board.

Despite F1's new regulations tightening up the midfield this season, the performance of Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, Alpine and McLaren has made it increasingly difficult for others to secure points finishes.

With Williams at the back of the midfield pack, Alex Albon has mustered just two top 10s to leave the team at the foot of the table.

Asked if the team is disappointed to still be at the back or if progress across the year is 'something to build on', Robson said: “I think it’s a bit of both.

"I’m not sure I’m going to score ourselves [out of 10] because the problem is that it’s not an absolute score, it’s all relative to what everyone else has done.

“We started the season slower than we would have liked but I think I’m actually quite pleased with how we’ve progressed. I think we have closed the gap and we have been able to fight at times.

“We’re just a little bit too slow generally to see that translate into points. But generally, when we finish 11th, 12th, and 13th, I think that’s actually quite good.

“We don’t ultimately get anything to show for it but I think the progress that we’ve made with the car is not too bad."

Williams find positives in difficult spell

Despite the promise provided by rising to eighth in the constructors' championship last year, Albon's efforts have not been enough to see Williams make a move from the bottom this campaign.

But Robson has found the positives, adding: “You’d always like it to be better, of course, but I think it’s ok and at least things have worked.

"The concepts that we have tried are working reasonably well so hopefully we can use that to learn and build on next year which is obviously the main objective now, to not start next year quite as far back as we did this year.

“So it’s a bit mixed. A slow start but I think some decent progress.”

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