Former Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has warned Williams
it is not close to challenging for race victories, with a "big" gap
remaining to reach the top four teams. Williams has made huge
strides under the leadership of James Vowles who replaced Jost
Capito as team principal at the start of 2023, marking the start of
a major transformation. The British team has been modernised after
using extremely old equipment for several years, triggering a stark
improvement in results. Vowles wants to get Williams to the top of
F1, although has now at least reached the top of the midfield.
Carlos Sainz's first podium for the Grove-based outfit in the
Azerbaijan GP has put Williams in a commanding position in fifth,
29 points ahead of Racing Bulls in sixth. Steiner is adamant
Williams is the fifth strongest team on the grid this season and
will claim the spot in the constructors' championship, although is
far away from breaking into the top four. Asked on the Red Flags
podcast if Sainz's Baku podium was a sign of things to come,
Steiner answered: "No, I think it's an outlier. Obviously, they had
an opportunity, and they took it. "But they are now, in my
opinion, clearly the fifth best team, but the step to being the top
four is still big. At the moment, they're not there. Still a long
way to go, but I would say the only ones which at the moment can
get somehow near them is Racing Bulls, all the other ones they left
behind. "And obviously, Williams sometimes have a bad race. But in
general, if you take the average [result], just look at how many
points they've got. They are the fifth best team at the moment.
"Now that picture becomes very clear, so they don't have to worry
about not finishing fifth. Obviously, they look backwards to Racing
Bulls, because Racing Bulls has been strong the last races. "But
Williams cannot challenge the top four. They are quite a bit away
from them, but they made their own space in the championship in P5
pretty clear."
it is not close to challenging for race victories, with a "big" gap
remaining to reach the top four teams. Williams has made huge
strides under the leadership of James Vowles who replaced Jost
Capito as team principal at the start of 2023, marking the start of
a major transformation. The British team has been modernised after
using extremely old equipment for several years, triggering a stark
improvement in results. Vowles wants to get Williams to the top of
F1, although has now at least reached the top of the midfield.
Carlos Sainz's first podium for the Grove-based outfit in the
Azerbaijan GP has put Williams in a commanding position in fifth,
29 points ahead of Racing Bulls in sixth. Steiner is adamant
Williams is the fifth strongest team on the grid this season and
will claim the spot in the constructors' championship, although is
far away from breaking into the top four. Asked on the Red Flags
podcast if Sainz's Baku podium was a sign of things to come,
Steiner answered: "No, I think it's an outlier. Obviously, they had
an opportunity, and they took it. "But they are now, in my
opinion, clearly the fifth best team, but the step to being the top
four is still big. At the moment, they're not there. Still a long
way to go, but I would say the only ones which at the moment can
get somehow near them is Racing Bulls, all the other ones they left
behind. "And obviously, Williams sometimes have a bad race. But in
general, if you take the average [result], just look at how many
points they've got. They are the fifth best team at the moment.
"Now that picture becomes very clear, so they don't have to worry
about not finishing fifth. Obviously, they look backwards to Racing
Bulls, because Racing Bulls has been strong the last races. "But
Williams cannot challenge the top four. They are quite a bit away
from them, but they made their own space in the championship in P5
pretty clear."
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