Williams' Lance Stroll believes that the Grove-based team could be "in the mix for points" at the Australian Grand Prix despite both himself and Sergey Sirotkin having a disappointing qualifying performance at Albert Park.
In qualifying, Stroll failed to make it into Q3 and qualified in 14th place after running wide at Turn 3 on his final flying lap while Sirotkin managed 19th, beating only Pierre Gasly.
"We would have signed up for P14 coming into the weekend after Barcelona. It was not ideal, as we could have improved on the lap in our second run in Q2," said Stroll.
"However, I got held up a little bit in the last sector and I didn't have the tyres in the window, as the fronts were cold and that kind of cost me. I felt good in the car and there was probably a little bit more in it."
Looking ahead to Sunday's race, Stroll admitted that Williams could be set for some points at the first round of the 2018 season although this is based on circumstances:
"We are kind of in the mix for the points, depending on what happens. We will see where we end up tomorrow," he added.
Paddy Lowe, Williams' Chief Technical Officer, mirrored Stroll's comments and believes that there was more to come from his drivers in terms of qualifying performance:
"Overall, it’s a disappointing set of grid positions because I think actually there was more in both the drivers and the car. Both Sergey [Sirotkin] and Lance [Stroll] had reasonable first runs in Q1," he said.
"Sergey was improving in his second run but he made a mistake in the second sector which cost him the chance to get into Q2.
"Lance got into Q2 and did a very good first run. He pushed it a bit harder in the second run, which should have improved quite a bit, but he made a mistake at turn three. So the grid positions could have been slightly better.
"Having said that, we have got two young drivers, one of them a rookie and one only 19-years old, and I think they’re both making really good progress," he continued.
"At the same time the car is clearly not quick enough at the moment. We haven’t done laps quick enough to get into Q3 which is our goal, so there’s clearly a lot more to do to develop the car in the weeks and months ahead.
"Tomorrow is predicted to be dry. It will be a tough afternoon as there are a lot of difficult things to manage at this circuit. Being the first race of the season, one of the major points will be to get to the finish with both cars and that may well indeed be the best way to get points," he added.
In 2017, Williams finished in fifth place in the Constructors' Championship but faces stiffer opposition this season as McLaren and Renault return to form while Haas has also made significant gains over the winter in its third season of competition.
